Project 58!! (Image intense)

[Maxx]

The epic saga of one mans struggle to persevere against overwhelming odds, forces of nature, and financial handicaps to set up........................(Cue theme music from 2001 Space Odyssey)............................... A 58 GALLON REEF TANK!!!!!!!!

This has been a part time project for me for the better part of 2 years. Things have been planned extensively, researched exhaustively, scrapped, and started again many times....
I want to say thanks right off the bat to Mike (Mojo here and elsewhere), Curt Swearingen (CurtSwearing here, no he's not a potty mouth, his full name just doesnt fit.....) who have taken the brunt of all my questions, patiently answered them, and then restrained themselves from smacking me in the head when I asked the same question later cause I didnt like the answer I got originally.......nope, it didnt change......sigh...
Background Info
As a kid I loved to play in the ocean and I had several fish tanks growing up. We moved to Hawaii when I was 12 and I got hooked on Marine Aquariums. Right about the time that Mini-Reefs were taking off, (remember spray bars in your wet-dry filter that rotated? Remember when Zoo's and Xenia were hard to keep and Elegence corals werent?), my family moved off the island, and into Missouri.....I kept a couple of fish tanks then, but marine tanks were really expensive for a kid in high school, and it was tough to explain to girls why you couldnt take them out ot a nice restaurant cause you'd just spent $100 on some fish stuff....
I joined the Marine Corps out of high school and had no time, money, or space for aquariums. When I got out of the Marines in 97, I moved in with a buddy of mine, and started a 125 Saltwater FO tank. His dog promptly chewed through one the sump return lines and drained all 125 gallons of saltwater all over the floors of the my buddy's new house. I got yelled at, the dog got disciplined, and fishtanks were forbidden in the house.
I'm patient, (and sneaky), so I waited a few years and one day when he was gone, went out and got a new 20 gallon tank. I had moved upstairs (2 family house here in St louis...Mike, my buddy w/ the dog, lived downstairs, and I moved upstairs so we each had a place now), so it was easier to maintain. Mike made me swear on my life that there would be no floods with this tank. Otherwise, I was moving out w/ the tank.
The pictures of that tank are in my gallery. I tore it down about a year ago w/ the intent of finishing up the 58 gallon....its been taking awhile. Mike has since married, had a baby, and moved into his Wife's nicer, newer, bigger house, and my girlfriend Rocio and I have moved in together and currently live downstairs in Mike's old place, (Central Air baby!!!) Naturally I have all kinds of considerations now.....does it look aesthetically pleasing enough that Rocio will allow me to place the tank in the dining room?
How can I ensure that this wont leak or flood in the house sincve I have two Lab's myself.......etc
Well, I decided to DIY as much as I could so I would save money, (right.....) and I could make things to suit my needs.
Do It Yourself type stuff
This was interesting for me since my father almost blew the house up attempting to fix the furnace once. The man seriously thought he was going to have to drop the engine on his 1970 Dodge Charger in order to change the spark plugs.....(to be fair, the was a car back then that required the engine being dropped/removed in order to get to the spark plugs......he just didnt have it)......so its not like I come from a strong back ground in DIY and handy type stuff. But I can usually eyeball something and attempt to figure it out and understand what makes it work...So I was willing to undertake this.....
With that in mind, several things here are far from professional looking. I made no attempt to hide the flaws in the photo's in order to help others learn from my mistakes,and avoid issues I had. Hopefully some of you DIY super genius' out there will chime in and explain better ways to do things than I did, so that others who follow will have a better lesson plan....
With that in mind, thanks for reading along, and being patient with all of my ramblings. Feel free to ask any and all questions....
Here we go

 

[Scooterman]

WOW that was a lot to inhale! LOL
Awesome!

 

[Maxx]

First up was the planning.....
I knew I wanted to keep a primarily SPS and Clam tank, but I also liked anemones. I liked certain fish and was determined to have them, but needed to make sure they were compatible w/ my system. So I did some researching on what I needed to keep the critters that I wanted best.
First up was lighting.
I knew eventually I would want a bigger tank, so I have tried to plan w/ the ability to upgrade in mind. I went w/ two Sunlight Supply BlueWave IV Electronic Ballasts (which are basically just IceCap E-ballasts which are already wired, in a pretty blue box w/ a 5 year warranty, (Standard IceCap warranty is only 3 years). I REALLY dislike playing w/ electrical, I've seen fires start and been burned myself by fualty wiring etc....so unless I had no other way of doing it, I have payed to get electrical done by smart people who know what they are doing. I went w/ the 250 watt versions. I went w/ the E-ballasts because they can be used for almost any bulb and use less electricity. I wasnt too concerned about saving money on the usage end of things, as I was at start up. I live in an older house and wiring is older and I want to blow as few fuses as possible....
I bought my lighting from Vince at
Ocean Encounter
and got a great deal. Vince also had the Sunlight Supply Reef Optix III plus and gave a great deal on a package set for everything. I really liked that because as I said I really dislike the wiring aspect of this, and now I was plug and play.
One thing to keep in mind about the lighting though was heat and how I was going to be able acclimate corals to the bright lighting.
While doing some online research, I stumbled on Tracey Gray's set up (Poseidon's Paradise) and was really impressed w/ how his lighting is adjustable in height

Go to his website, click on the pics button, then click on the tank sys button to see these pictures w/ his explanation and descriptions.
This type of set up covered both bases for me heat would be easily dissipated by the open top of the tank, and adjustable lighting meant that I could more easily acclimate corals to the intensity or when changing bulbs.
So I drew up this plan originally:

 

[Maxx]

Yeah, I know Scott....more to come...LOL....
Nick

 

[bonerfortuna]

Looks like Melev has got Nick spooked !

 

[Maxx]

nope just motivated...lol
Nick

 

[Maxx]

I definately needed a water proof/flood proof stand though......
So I built it. I will be the first to admit it, I over engineered the crap out of the stand. It's built out of 4x4's and 2x6's, with some 2x4's acting as non structural members.
Here is the stand base. Basically its a waterproofed box that is intended to hold up to 21 gallons of water (w/o anything in it) in the event of a flood of somesort. When I did this originally, I goofed and siliconed the seams before adding the legs. This prevented me from getting a good fit w/ the legs, so I had to remove the silicon (NOT FUN) and start over.

Then I added the 4x4 legs to the stand. I was impatient and wanted to get started right away, and the only wood that was dry and able to be urethaned anywhere nearby to me was cedar. Cedar is expensive BTW...had I been just bit more patient, I could have purchased some 4x4's that werent Cedar and sealed them and saved some money. Take notes kids....

Nick

 

[Maxx]

So then I used more 2x6's to give the tops of the 4x4's some stability.

Then I added some extra bracing on the side for the skin to mount on. Remember, the intent is that the bottom is water proof and abel to hold water in the event of a leak, so drilling holes in it to mount the wooden skin would have defeated the purpose of all of this....

Nick

 

[Brucey]

Hi Maxx. How you doing bud. Blimey, I managed to feed Drew whilst reading that lot. Love the look of a tank low down to the floor so that you can look down into it. Looking good though buddy, never knew you had it in you . . . . . .
Brucey

 

[middletonmark]

Awesome ... you're going to love it. I've got a 58, and find it just perfect ... small enough to be in your living space, big enough of a playground to stock + grow .... I hope you love yours as much as I do mine.

Great thread, I'll be following along figuring out what you did better than I did ... so I can copy it

 

[Maxx]

Then I made the skin. I used 3/4" Birch plywood for the skin.....cause I didnt see the 1/2" Birch plywood on the other aisle.....the weight and money savings would have been nice....sigh
But over all I like it. I stained it w/ MinWax's Honeymaple #604 gel stain, and sealed all wood w/ 3 coats of Helmsman's spar urethane in a clear satin finish. Here is the front of the stand w/ the skin in place, w/o the door.

here it is w/ the door in place. The skin has been removed from the stand in these next two pictures.

I wanted to have easy access to almost everything I could stuff under there, so I made the door huge.

Nick

 

[Maxx]

Brucey, yeah, I can be long winded...sorry bout that. Actually the tank thats set up in the previous pics is Tracey Gray's not mine. His was the influence for the adjustable height canopy. I wish mine looked as nice as his. I did make mine low to the floor also, but that was intented to make reaching into the tank less of a chore. The total height of the tank on the stand is right at 4 feet, (48 inches...if my math is right I believe that comes out to about 122 cm for you metric folk.....48 x 2.54= 121.92)
Mark...Yeah, I've been following you and LunchBox on your tanks and progress......definately a great sized tank. But naturally, I've already figured out what I want to upgrade to...lol
Nick

 

[Maxx]

Things I learned doing this much.......Its pretty hard to make a straight hole in the wood for the door just using a jig saw. If you look closely, you can see little waves in the open door shots of the skin. A better way of doing this would have been to cut 4 rectangular pieces and mount them and leave an opening which would become the door that made...hope that makes sense to the note takers out there.
Nick

 

[Craig Manoukian]

Awesome Nick!

 

[Curtswearing]

Sweet!!!

At first I saw a picture of a tank with LR and corals etc. You were about to get in real trouble. Then I realized, "That's not Nick's stand". LOL

Keep the pics coming.

 

[Maxx]

Craig,
Thanks so much...its been a work in progress...
Curt,
I have today off and am trying to get beyond what you and I did last time you were over...I've done some figuring out and more planning...
Nick

 

[Witfull]

outstanding Nick, i know you are having fun inbetween all the swearing(en),,,lol. i am lookng forward to my project someday when all the kids are out of the house and my money is mine again.

have fun, enjoy and be patient.

 

[Maxx]

yeah, I'm trying to spend my money while its mine as opposed to "ours"...got rings to buy, uh things to buy.....
Nick

 

[Spooda420]

wow Nick...Seems like stuff is really coming together for you. hope see ya at the sept 11th meeting and we can chat about your accompishments and what you are planning next.

when are you estimating the first inhabitants?

see ya

Chris

 

[Maxx]

Hoping to have the rock in place w/in the month.....depends on how well the plumbing and wet-testing goes....
the there is the electrical to think about...my biggest fear is that the houses electrical cant currently handle everything running for the tank.....
Nick