DD's 210G Monster

ddelozier

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Ok I pulled the trigger. I pick it up this weekend. 210g Reef Ready, tank, stand and MH/T5 Lights(those will be upgraded to LED's VERY shortly). I saw the listing on CL and sent the pick to my wife. I was Sending it to her thinking "Maybe someday" She replied with, "I WANT IT". So i contacted the guy. Turns out I knew him. We squared a deal on the tank. He assures me the seals are perfect, plumbing/bulkheads are new, and he's got 12 extra T5ho and 6 extra MH bulbs tossed in. All that for $600. i figured it would take a month or so to save the money. THEN....

As if it was meant to be, i landed 3 different all day jobs, raking up BOO-KOO overtime, so the tank will be picked up Saturday Morning.

Dimensions of the tank are 72"Wide, 24"Deep, and 29" Tall. Much as i hate MH lights, i may have to keep them to light this monster. SO the 150g(http://www.reefsanctuary.com/forum/index.php?threads/diy-aquarium-stand.94214/#post-1288488) and stand are consigned to a corner in the garage until i get a handle on the 210. THEN i plan(per my lovely SW addicted Wife's instructions) to cut the 150 down from 28" tall to 14-16" Tall, and plumb it for Overflows/returns. The last two frag tanks i made were nice, but SHE wants 1 big tank. While i do all the work/research, she is becoming even more of an addict than I am. LOL. I told her the other day "SW is my addiction and you're becoming a serious Enabler!" She replied "Yea, whats your point?"

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DaveK

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For the price, it looks like you got the deal of the century.

If you do plan to keep the MH lighting, check up on the ballasts used. Consider upgrading to electronic ballasts if you have coil and core ballasts on the lighting. You'll save the money in electricity in about 1 to 2 years, and electronic ballasts run a bit cooler.
 

Wrangy

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Awesome!! :) Cannot wait to see this one get the works and be up and running :)
 

ddelozier

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Its up and going in my dining room with Vinegar and Water for a good Cleaning. It was taken down in an apparent hurry, because there's a white haze all over every inch of the glass, and patches of dried coraline Algae. 200g FW + 10g Vinegar + 2 pumps for circulation +3-4 days, and the tank will be crystal clean. then i can start assembling this monster. Ive already put in new bulkhead and i have new plumbing ready to install when i find a sump, so its coming along nicely.
 

ddelozier

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Ok i encountered a problem. The glass was hazy when dry and cloudy when wet. I assumed it was dried on calcium deposits. Not the case. Not even close. I scrubbed the heck out of the tank, with the blue scrub pads in the vinegar/water solution. Nothing. I even tried strait vinegar, soaking a towel and keeping it in contact with the glass. Nothing. I finally broke down and ordered some glass polish and buff pads for my grinder. The results after much work, was worth while.
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Save for some left over Deep scratches, which are less visible now, the tank is perfect. The only issue now is the corner seals were a bit shredded by the polishing wheel. I have ordered new silicone and plan to cut the corner seals out, without separating the inside seals. New silicone should be here friday.
 

Squatch XXL

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I would have NEVER thought to use glass polisher on a tank. I've done a few car windows that developed stubborn water spots....This is great to know!

I Had to reseal a 75 gallon tank TWICE. It had livestock etc when the salt creep in the corner turned into a drip. I tried to simply silicone over, and it failed. A few weeks later I ended up ripping EVERY piece of silicone out of the tank and re-doing it. I read somewhere that silicone will not bind with dry silicone. I don't know if its true, or If I just suck at using calk. In retrospect, I would have done a much better job AND use black silicone. It didn't come out bad...just showed that I was tired of dealing with it. Its much easier to fix something that does not have 200lbs of sand, 150lbs live rock....corals, anemones, and a few fish.....I still shudder 14 years later every time I think of it.

I also love the Minion shirt.


I told her the other day "SW is my addiction and you're becoming a serious Enabler!" She replied "Yea, whats your point?"
Spoken like a true addict that has no control at all. Not only is your tank awesome....Even more awesome at that price.......But your wife sounds like a keeper as well. I wish I could get mine all hopped up on SW.
 
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ddelozier

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After a little research, i know what happened to the tank. The previous owner apparently started neglecting the tank. No water changes, not much flow, etc. He either ignored the tank entirely for a month before or after a catastrophic crash. The levels of H2S built up. H2S mixed with warm SW = H2S04...aka Sulfuric Acid. This naturally occurs in tanks that are configured wrong, and its also a hazard of running DSB's. The owner apparently didnt bother to check the PH, which would have dropped through the floor. Sulfuric acid is among other things, used in car batteries, and Glass Etching operations. The glass in this tank was permanently etched. Thats why vinegar and scrubbing would do nothing. I had to use hard wool pads on a variable speed grinder, with a wet paste of Cerium Oxide to polish the glass back to clear. This in essence totally resurfaces the glass. Its sweaty, time consuming and a bit nasty work, but it will do the job. Be sure to wear safety glasses...cerium oxide is hard enough to scratch/polish glass, its certainly hard enough to reek havoc on the eyes. Keep it wet. It can heat the glass up dry, not to mention kicking up glass dust, which is just as bad on the eyes, and worse on the throat and lungs.
 

Squatch XXL

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up. H2S mixed with warm SW = H2S04...aka Sulfuric Acid. This naturally occurs in tanks that are configured wrong, and its also a hazard of running DSB's.
This certainly explains it. I posted some info earlier in another thread outlining the pitfalls of DSB....H2S....I never thought about it becoming Sulfuric Acid, but that certainly explains the condition of the glass. Oh man....I can't even imagine how bad it would have to be for it to etch glass.....
 

ddelozier

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Ok, she's up and running.
IMG_1342_zps3v9okuoa.jpg

That was pretty much with Everything just sorta dumped in.
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Thats with the rock scaped sort of. The pump with a splitter is there for flow because my new powerheads(were supposed to be here thursday) are on back order, so i had to get inventive
 

ddelozier

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20150802_005521288_iOS_zpslnjngi4p.jpg

Thats what it looks like today.

on the advice of a friend, i went with a two island aproach. The powerhead in the back is now gone, back scraped and 4-5 chunks of GSP have been glued on, and are proceeding to spread.
 
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