The Xel Ocean! 210G Journey

[xelnaga15]

Originally Posted by blue_eyes53813

(dont add a mandarin for at least 6-12 months of a new tank)

Trust me i am going to take my sweet time with this one Nice and slow. I did that the first time (take it slow) with my biocube and my problems have been VERRY minor. now if I can only get my Maroons to stop feeding their BTA the new fish I put into the tank

[xelnaga15]

OK so my journey to get the tank started today!

But before I show you the goods!(pictures)

This was one EPIC JOURNEY TO GET THIS TANK!
First SPEEDBUMP! my origonal truck loaner backed out on me... after much searching I found another truck...

about 20 minutes into my drive im thinking ...3 people can lift this right? so I call the guy and hes like ..... it weighs 600 pounds.... so we turned around and picked up another strong arm

So we are off and I have a truck and im stoked im getting my tank!

we are about 60% of the way there when the trafic starts to slow down ... and oh btw its POURING

the trafic goes from a nice 65 TO A COMPLET DEAD STOP for over 40 mins now this is where 3 hr round trip drive that turned into a :NIGHTMAREISH : 12 HOUR DRIVE
now this is a 2 lane highway (2 lanes on each side) under construction so the median is filled with gravel and equipment.


after sitting there for 2 hours i said .... oh forget this and I forge on through the median passing hundreds of cars for about 2 or 3 miles to the next exit... of course this took us 40 minutes to navigate these 2 miles but we made it!

after some sneaky sideraoding along the highway we made it to clear SAILING 8 lane highway! Woo hoo!

then we get there.... next speed bump

the as im backing in to this im thinking wow its wet outside... as im getting out he says Oh yeah i for got to tell you its in my basement and the only way to get it up here is out the side door and up the .... HILL ... around the side of the house ..... now this just isnt a hill this is an INCLINE... never the less a wet one! and all that is playing through my head is seeing some one slipp carrying this up the hill and the tank going KAbooSH! and glass ALL OVER!

We ended up making it up the hill no problems and loading everything up!

the trip home was traffic free! and here I am with some nice photos! :

Tank!

Stand I like how the front is Curvy its really nice looking wood too!

CANOPY! lights sit on the open spot!

Light Bar!

From the top to the other side!

Skimmer

Heater

TOOBES!

[xelnaga15]

Forgot to mention ...No pump or antics it looks like

[lcstorc]

Looks like an awesome find. You are going to love it.
That skimmer does look a bit small. I would look it up to see what size tank it is rated for. Generally you want a sump rated for twice your water volume. I would replace it with an ASM G4 plus. Great skimmer but there are other great skimmers out there as well.

[xelnaga15]

so sense I have a sump I will not need to use that heater guard will I? or is it good to use?

[cioutlaw]

Congrats, looks like a really nice start. I like the stand canopy design. Skimmer does look small but will be fine for awhile till you stock up the tank.

[xelnaga15]

Originally Posted by cioutlaw

Congrats, looks like a really nice start. I like the stand canopy design. Skimmer does look small but will be fine for awhile till you stock up the tank.

Thanks for that bit of info I was a bit worried I would need somthing bigger to even start .... looks like this skimmer is rated for a 180 gal tank ... not to bad I guess. Well I am scrubbing out the tank today there was some dirt and grime inside and I would hate any of that to be hostile to my new friends to come. Im also thinking of redoing the piping completly. Useing DIY Durso stand pipes for the overflows

Today I think im going to head on to lowes and pickup what i need for the overflow pipes also Im going to look into unifying my return pipes into one pipe so that one return pump can be used.

I am also going to pick up some paint at lowes to paint the outter sides on the overflow(not the back parts tho) and Also paint the back glass.

[cioutlaw]

You might want to check what those overflows & your sump are designed to handle for flow, dont want too big of a pump.

Originally Posted by xelnaga15

I am also going to pick up some paint at lowes to paint the outter sides on the overflow(not the back parts tho) and Also paint the back glass

Instead of painting you could do what I did & made a panel that matches the stand/canopy. I velcroed mine on.

[Jason25]

Good luck your gonna love that big tank. Can't wait to see your pics as you start to set it up.

[tbittner]

Ok, you had me going with this picture. I was looking at it and thinking "Why show a picture of your couch?"


Then I scrolled down just a bit more...

[xelnaga15]

Originally Posted by cioutlaw

You might want to check what those overflows & your sump are designed to handle for flow, dont want too big of a pump.

Well I dont have a pump yet and my sump is that prebuilt thing that I dont think im going to keep ... It's brand new so im going to see if the LFS will let me trade it for some goodies! Unless you guys seem modding potential. I have no problem going into building my own sump! under guidence of course

Originally Posted by cioutlaw

Instead of painting you could do what I did & made a panel that matches the stand/canopy. I velcroed mine on.

I really like the way Woody's looks with the back painted. Your's does look good though.

Originally Posted by Jason25

Good luck your gonna love that big tank. Can't wait to see your pics as you start to set it up.

Thanks man oh yes plenty of pictures to come of my journey

So I'm sitting here looking at this skimmer just scratching my head thinking ... how do I hook this up... this isnt a in sump skimmer is it?

[cioutlaw]

I would paint the back too. I was just thinking for the sides to cover the overflows. Painting them would be fine to.

[xelnaga15]

Well I have gone ahead and painted the side views to the overflows and the back of the tank! Im not sure if that light of a blue is going to look good with livestock in there what do you guys think?


Here is where I messed up the sides!




so I redid them!




and here is the back! only did this one once.



I did this on the top just so to protect the inside


I still have some concerns tho... I did not have the muscle available to move this sucker to the garage just to paint it. so I did it in the room ... fortunatly I was smart enough to think to cover the top of the tank with plastic wrap.. but unfortunatly I was not smart enough to cover or remove from the room my plumbing and sump (look in picture 3).... do you think I may have an issue with this? they were on the other side of the room but they were in the room. I used spraypaint

[tbittner]

I would just wash out the other things really good with vinegar. This should probably be done with everything anyway.

[BigAl07]

I would just thoroughly wipe it all down with a vinegar/water mixture and then rinse with clean water only. The problems with spray painting INSIDE is if you have an established tank up and running. anything IN the air will get INTO the water very quickly. You should be fine with just cleaning the parts (which you would probably have done anyway).

Looks GREAT!