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TriggerHappy 
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 Topic: TriggerHappy's 210 Gallon Playground
Posted: February 06 2018 at 10:28pm |
Hello fellow reefers!
So, a brief intro. Been reefing since around 2002 (125gal reef/90gal aggressive), but in 2015 my company moved me to Northern California. There I had a 20 gallon tank in an apartment for two years. Well, we moved back!
Time to play!
This will more than likely be a very slow build, but that's okay! Here is the start:
Here is the room that we decided to use.
I did not want the tank on the carpet, so decided to tile. Notice on the upper left, I had the tile setter cut out a piece of tile so I can plumb down to the basement for the sump, etc.
Here we are ready for some tank action.
I bought the tank and stand used from Jerry @ Reef On. If you've been to the store, you've seen my tank. lol I then got ahold of Chad with Upgrade Your Reef to give me a hand (like a lot of hands) to move the tank to our home.
Talking about the fun to begin!
And here it is, just needs to be set up!
So, this is just the beginning. I do have some of the equipment from before like my Apex, MP40s, AI Sol Blues, etc. but things have really taken off technology wise so I'm open to suggestions. I need to figure out a return pump that is easy on the electric bill, but is suitable for a basement sump as well as lighting; I only have 2 of the Sol Blues and this is a 6' tank.
More to come!
Thanks for looking and I'm glad to be this close to being back!
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shaggydoo
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Posted: February 07 2018 at 7:40am |
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Looks like a very nice start. Good idea putting that tile in, and I wish I could plumb down into my basement for a fish room.
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60g LPS Cube
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knowen87
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Posted: February 07 2018 at 11:49am |
I love having the a fish room that is away from the tank. It is nice to keep the noise away from the display. Just make sure you think about ventilation cause it will get humid down there
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TriggerHappy
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Posted: February 07 2018 at 9:50pm |
Thanks knowen87, I'll keep that in mind. Right now it is a totally unfinished basement, so I can certainly plan that in as needed. Here is a picture of the soon to be fish room.
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210 gallon Mixed Reef
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Krazie4Acans
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Posted: February 07 2018 at 10:02pm |
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Nice. Love that tank. Powerheads I would look at the WAV from Neptune since you already have the apex. As far as pump goes your are putting utter in the basement so plan on spending too get one with head height and lots of flow. Maybe an Abyss DC pump or one of the big barracuda style pumps. Most other DC pumps won't have the heart height you need.
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My ocean. 90g (yup, won it!), 40g, 28g, & 10g Systems PADI Advanced Open Water Tank Thread:
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TriggerHappy
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Posted: February 08 2018 at 7:48pm |
Thanks Krazie4Acans. I'm really looking hard at the Maxspect XF250 and selling my MP40's. Anyone have any experience with these?
As far as the Abyss DC's, not thinking I want to spend that kind of money...maybe back to the Iwaki style...gotta do some more research indeed!
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210 gallon Mixed Reef
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TriggerHappy
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Posted: February 19 2018 at 10:14pm |
Minor update. Holes have been drilled and the plumbing is somewhat in progress. Bought a Reeflo Dart/Snapper Hybrid. The tank came with 1" bulkheads. I measured the holes and found that I can upgrade to 1.25 bulkheads. So, the plan is to now plumb with 1.25 spa flex and I'm going to replace the Durso system with Herbie. Still need to frame the basement, so moved my air compressor down and borrowed a nail gun, just need to find a few hours! :)
Holes!
Reeflo Dart/Snapper
Parts is parts
I'm ready?
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210 gallon Mixed Reef
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TriggerHappy
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Posted: August 28 2018 at 10:26pm |
So, it has been awhile since I have updated. At this point, I decided to not use the "reef ready" durso and go with a quasi bean animal. I have finished all of the electrical and basement support for the tank, drilled two 65mm for a Synergy Shadow Box, two 45mm holes for returns. I have also decided to utilize one of the 1" holes (from the "reef ready" setup) to be a tank drain. Since the sump and all are in the basement, I do not want to have to use buckets...this drain will have it's own separate line. Today, I went to IFA and bought two 65 gallon vertical water storage tanks that will make up my water change station. Slowly but surely this project is coming together. I'll post some pics tomorrow, just wanted to post up and update!
Edited by TriggerHappy - August 28 2018 at 10:49pm
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210 gallon Mixed Reef
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TriggerHappy
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Posted: August 29 2018 at 8:35pm |
Support in the basement done with electrical installed:
Drilling the drain holes for the Synergy Reef Shadow Box: 
New day. Drilling the returns:
Capped drain holes:
Installed:
Love black backgrounds!
Initial leak test, passed BTW:
Who needs a truck?! Yeah, this guy!
Leak test for the 65 gallon storage tanks...also passed! More to come!
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210 gallon Mixed Reef
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TriggerHappy
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Posted: September 04 2018 at 2:51pm |
Another update. Long weekend Labor Day = a lot of tank labor.
Not finished with the plumbing, but here is what the mixing station is gearing up to look like
Here is dry-fitting the plumbing. (sorry for the orientation...we need to be able to rotate to fix this)
The only way to cut pipe! lol (not really, but was a huge time saver!)
Was going to use conduit strapping
Then decided not to...I like this stuff much better!
All glued up
Meanwhile, downstairs.
Gotta love hole saws. had to go through 2 2x4 headers...not fun.
grin and bear the pain
so done with that noise
Medusa...what more to say. 
Getting all wet!
If I had to do it again, I would have gone with straight pipe and not flex. Flex has some give, it is so hard to deal with! Tonight I will try to get sump plumbed and get a full system wet test going.
Edited by TriggerHappy - September 04 2018 at 10:32pm
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210 gallon Mixed Reef
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TriggerHappy
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Posted: September 04 2018 at 10:55pm |
So, the sump is STILL not on-line, but I made huge progress this evening. I plumbed a stationary drain from the tank directly to the sewer; no more buckets! This being my first time time tackling a project like this, I'm feeling pretty good, but still have so much further to go. BTW, I learned to go from ABS to PVC it is best to use some purple primer and some green Oatey transition cement. Better to be safe than sorry. I find myself spending way too much of my time researching and at HomeDepot/Lowe's but it will be all worth it in the end.
In my haste, I forgot to do before pics, but you'll get the idea:
The wye that I bought was too long for a simple cut and fit, so I had to run to Lowe's to buy a new 3" 45. I also had a rubber coupler with hose clamps to help out. So, I cut out the 3" straight pipe and the 45 and went all new.
For redundancy I added another ball valve downstairs.
The result was that I was able to drain off half of the tank in ~10 mins. I plan on having different pipes upstairs to equal how much water I'd like to drain. Very happy with the results and, so far, all is high and dry.
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210 gallon Mixed Reef
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TriggerHappy
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Posted: September 05 2018 at 9:40pm |
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So, tonight I had to take the night off of tank wrangling, however, decided to dig out my two MP40's that have been in storage for 3+ years. As luck would have it, I could only get one to work. Ordered the parts to rebuild/upgrade my tired MP40's to the new QD. Hope this works!
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210 gallon Mixed Reef
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TriggerHappy
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Posted: September 05 2018 at 10:38pm |
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Another short update, just a power supply on the "broken" one. Let me know if anyone has an extra...if not, ebay I go!
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210 gallon Mixed Reef
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TriggerHappy
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Posted: September 16 2018 at 3:49pm |
Another update. The tank is up and running!
So had a major setback; I miscalculated the pump I needed! The Reeflo Dart/Snapper did not have enough to go 11' up. Ordered a Reeflo SunTail. In the mean time, Bruce @ AquaticTranquility let me borrow his Barracuda and that got me up and running. The next major setback was that even though everything passed the leak test after switching everything on and trying to tune the Synergy Reef Shadow Box, I discovered a leak. Turned out to be a fracture on the Shadow Box. I contacted Synergy and they are not sending me a new one...great customer service! Here are some pictures.
The pump that couldn't:
Big ol' 'cuda; the pump that could!
Enlarging my sump drain holes:
Just add sand!
Installed the Reeflo SunTail pump (what a monster!) and flipped the switch! Clearing up nicely...no, this has not been aquascaped yet. :)
Still need to figure out lighting and do more plumbing for my water changing station. Feels great to have a tank up and running again!
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210 gallon Mixed Reef
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WildBill
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Posted: September 16 2018 at 4:12pm |
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Right on. Glad to see it coming together so well.
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TriggerHappy
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Posted: September 16 2018 at 4:50pm |
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Thank you, WildBill!
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210 gallon Mixed Reef
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Krazie4Acans
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Posted: September 17 2018 at 11:36am |
Looks like you'll be ready just in time for the reef tour!  Nice work. #IHateFlexToo
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My ocean. 90g (yup, won it!), 40g, 28g, & 10g Systems PADI Advanced Open Water Tank Thread:
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TriggerHappy
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Posted: September 17 2018 at 8:22pm |
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Thank you sir. We shall see!
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210 gallon Mixed Reef
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Shane H
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Posted: September 18 2018 at 11:01am |
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Nice write up! I'm enjoying watching your tank come to life!
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TriggerHappy
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Posted: September 19 2018 at 6:47pm |
Thanks Shane! This has been quite the project, but a lot of fun!
Set up a 20 gallon QT tank. I will be setting up a 40 gallon QT tank later. I decided that I am going to try some bacteria in a bottle and see what happens, but will be doing it fishless. More on this later, but I'm using the 20 gal QT tank as the guinea pig to see how many ml per gallon of ammonia I need to get to ~3-4 ppm.
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210 gallon Mixed Reef
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