Ziggy953's 150 Build errrr....120 Build

[Ziggy953]

Well most of you know that I picked up a 150g tank last weekend, for those of you who didn't know that, I picked up a 150g tank last weekend.



Last night on my way to work I picked up 120lbs of Aragamax (sand) for the tank. I'm going to use a mixture of my old sand (about 15% or so) and the new sand. I've also ordered 120lbs of Base Rock to add to the 140lbs of LR I already have. I should have the rock next week sometime. I picked out a mixture of larger and "plate/shelf" type rock along with 50lbs of standard good old Fiji rock. I have had about 30lbs cooking for the last 4 weeks and it is ready to go. Since I just got home from work (5:45am) I am going to take a nice nap before starting things out. I've got the tank clean and ready to start the switch. So far my plans are to use the lighting form the 72 for the 150. Dual 175s with 220w VHO and 108w T5. Total - 678w or 4.52wpg. I know that is a little low for the size tank but for now it will do just fine. I'm going to keep my SPS higher in the tank as I do now so I don't think I'm going to have any issues. BTW the tank is 48X24X30 so my stand will accomidate it. Built tough .

I have a 90g pond (outside type pond) that I use when working on the tank. When I moved the 72 I used the pond to hold all my water and LR. I'm planning on doing the samething this time around. I have 3 totes (32g each) for coral and fish. I'm going to have to make up a lot of SW. I've had the RO/DI unit running like mad the past few days filling my containers. All in all I think this will be a fairly smooth transition. I'll be sure to take pics along the way. Maybe shoot a couple short videos as well.

Well I'm off to bed to dream of corals and LR....

[neilanh]

So is the 150 replacing the 72? and then ultimately going into the 210?

[Ziggy953]

That is the plan! The 72 is up for sale along with the 55 FW.

[cmor1701d]

And so it begins.......

This is going to be a great thread (as long you keep posting new pics).

Come on, you've slept long enough, time to get to the real work!

[neilanh]

Originally Posted by Ziggy953

The 72 is up for sale

Hmmm....

[Ziggy953]

The guy that I got the tank from was nice enough to let me borrow his suction cups to move the tank. We guestimate that the tank weighs about 250 empty.

I'm out of salt so a trip to BRK (my lfs) is my next step. I also need to visit Lowes. I'm still trying to decide whether or not to drill the tank or just use the 2 1200gph overflows that came with it. The guy I got the tank from said he never had any trouble with the overflows. I just can't decide. Maybe I'll let John at BRK talk me into buying a larger diamond bit.

I'm off to see the wizard!

120lbs of sand.

[Fluff]

How exciting. I look forward to watching your progress.

[pat8you]

I will be watching this thread. Can't wait to see it ziggy

[Ziggy953]

I got back about 30 minutes ago....We had to buy a printer and pick up the salt. I went ahead and picked up another 30lbs of sand. So I'm up to 150 of new sand now. I'm getting ready to start the rinsing process. I have to rinse the pond out and get it ready to take all the water and I have to finish mixing up the rest of the new SW. Adding 78 gallons of water plus having water ready for the pwc I will have to do after everything is moved I'm going to have water everywhere.

I'm not sure how far into this I want to go tonight. It is storming here and I don't want to have half of my stuff out of the tank and the power go out. Also I will not be able to plumb the new tank until the old is out of the way. Lowes is closing in about 20 minutes so plumbing supplies are out. I think I will get everything setup and ready for the move, do what I can tonight and get the rest taken care of tomorrow. I will take some pics but it will be tomorrow before they are posted.

[Ziggy953]

So...Here is the latest. I am not going to be able to do the move today or this weekend as it is now. Lowes closed at 8pm today and I am going to need plumbing supplies to get the 150 hooked into my sump system. I have decided not to drill the tank. I'm going to use dual overflows one on either end of the tank 1200gph each.

I have decided to paint the back of the tank blue. My wife and I were looking at colors and decided on:



I got the pond cleand out and ready to go. It is now in the house. I'm going to use it as a holding pen for the LR and corals while I plumb the new tank and get things going.

90g pond


I'm going to go ahead and paint the back of the tank and get the sand ready. I have enough buckets to hold all the sand. I'll post pics of the tank after it is painted.

[neilanh]

Peekaboo!

[Zagz]

Congratulations on your progress so far. I am excited to see your progress as you go.

[Ziggy953]

We decided not to do too much this weekend. I have to leave for work in a few minutes and I still haven't finalized how I'm going to do the plumbing on the new tank. I will have 2 dual overflows which means I'll have 4 drain lines to deal with instead of the current 2 on the 72. I also think it is a better idea to wait until the rest of my rock (100lbs) gets here so I don't have to go back into the tank and redo rock work later. I ordered base rock so I'm going to just rinse the heck out of it and start building the new rockwork with it. I will have around 240lbs of rock in the new tank. We are going to try and do something similar with the rockwork in this tank as we did in the 72. I like the valley in the center. We have also decided to do a medium sized Zoa rock. I'm going to put a few polyps of every Zoa I have on it and see how it does.

We had a 4th party yesterday so I didn't get the back of the tank painted. I'll work on that this week and have as much done and ready for this weekend.

More to come...

[Ziggy953]

Well I have the back painted and I'm still trying to decided whether or not to drill it for a closed loop. I'm getting close to making a decision though. My rock got delayed and will be here tomrrow so I'm behind again with this build. I have to work tomorrow night so I wont get anything done until Saturday.

Before:


After:

[cmor1701d]

You really have to stop taking those sleep breaks :p. They're really slowing you down!

[Ziggy953]

Tell me about it....I can't finish much more today because I have to work tomorrow night. I'm getting sick of working extra days....The money is nice but it's killing my build! LOL

I think I have decided to drill the tank for a closed loop. I haven't got a pump for it yet but I think I will drill it, put bulk heads and shut off valves in.....

[melosu58]

Great looking tank Allen. I`ll keep up with this thread.

[Ziggy953]

Thanks Mike!! I'm working on where to put the Closed loop intake and returns right now...I've decided I want the option so doing it now is the smartest thing I can do.

[MsBeanCtr]

This is a great thread Ziggy....please keep it going. It's interesting 'watching' the progress....especially when someone else is doing the work! LOL

[Ziggy953]

So much work to do....yikes!!! I'm getting ready to pull about 32 gallons of water out of the system and replace it with new water. I have to do something to make up the difference between 64g and the 78 I have to have to fill the new 150. After I have the tank moved and set up again I will do a PWC for sure!!