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Unread 03/31/2013, 10:12 PM   #1
Scythanith
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Scott's 270 aka Project Mayhem

Hello All,

We bought a new home 5 years ago and the plan was always to develop the basement into a comfortable living space that accommodates our love for animals. My wife Wendy has ~10-15 snakes at any given time depending on if any one is breeding, a tarantula, Aussie Frilled Dragon, Plated Lizard. I just took down my 85 gal and moved the inhabitants to a 40 gal on rollers to make the development a little easier. I have had a 10 gal nano, 20 gal mantis tank, 85 gal mixed reef. We also have a red eared slider and an awesome pound dog named Jasper.

6 snake tanks are incorporated into one of the walls and mounted on 200lb sliders to make pulling them out of the shelf unit for maintenance easier. They will have pocket doors over the fronts of the tanks that are finished in an Espresso coloured wood veneer. Just think Petland or something like that.

On to the good stuff! Before I get too far into I want to that Steve (sphelps), Colby with Bayside Corals and Denny at Concept Aquariums, I could not have done this without them. I tsarted a thread way back when but it fell to the wayside. You can find it here (http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1141802). I asked Wendy what we should called the build thread and she said Project Mayhem, so I present to you Project Mayhem!



It is a 270 gal (72"w x 36"d x 24"t) with an external overflow on the left hand side. It's all 1/2" glass with the front and right side viewing panels being made out of starfire glass. It has a 1/2" plywood base glued to the bottom pane. The euro bracing is drilled for the returns.

The sumps are in a stacked configuration. The water from the overflow is fed into the sumps with 2 x 2" returns. The first chamber is a frag tank, the second is the return pumps. There is an overflow to the lower sump which will feed the skimmer, reactors, filter bags, and refugium. It's also has a water change chamber and an emergency overflow. I know this goes against the conventional thinking that the dirtiest water should hit the skimmer first, but I am going to utilize the energy from the overflow feeding into the sump for frags. The skimmed/reactor/refugium water will be fed back into the pump chamber and returned to the display tank.

I traditionally have used overdriven T5's for my reef tanks but and switching over to LED's. I have purchased 3 Mitras fixtures so hopefully that should cover the coral's lighting needs. The returns and reactor pump with likely be DC Wavelines. In-tank circulation will be handled by four Vortech MP40w's. One underneath the overflow and three along the back wall. I will put one on the right viewing pane if need be but I want to keep the pane clean. I will likely wrap the pack pane in black vinyl.

I am not sure about my skimmer yet. I have a BK Mini 180 and I like the quality, but I also use a Euro-Reef RC-1000 and it's been great aside from cooking a pump once. I am thinking a BK supermarin 200, but hate to overpay if there is something equivalent in quality/performance for less.

OK, so that should sum up what I am thinking of. Now for the good stuff!

Design phase:





Building the stand, preparing the fish room and getting the basement ready:










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Unread 03/31/2013, 10:13 PM   #2
Scythanith
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The fishroom is wired with 2 20 amp breakers. The first powers the 4 receptacle on the left hand side of the room. The second runs 6 receptacles along the back wall, with the final two on GFCI. I know it's overkill, but I'd rather that than kick a breaker after a power outage. I know the LED's and DC pumps should really soften startup but a little overkill isn't a bad thing. The sink will be a stainless scullery sink that can easily fit 5 gal pails. There is some cabinet and cupboard space, as well as wall space for the RO/DI. The salt and fresh reservoirs will be set in another room most likely, but I will fit them by the sumps if possible.

I plan on using either a profilux or a neptune controller. I haven't really decided either way yet.


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Unread 03/31/2013, 10:14 PM   #3
Scythanith
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Delivery day came and went! There was a great old storm coming through but the tank was unloaded and not a chip or crack in it.





I hired one company that brought it into the house but then looked at the stairwell and said no way. So I built a 2x2 frame of the exact tank dimensions (minus the overflow) and made a dry run through the stairwell and it fit, just like my measurements suggested it would, sans overflow.





After trying to cut the overflow off for over five hours (razor blade, 20g wire, etc.) and with the movers coming in a couple hours I made the hard decision and broke the smallest pane on the overflow and peeled the rest off. It came off easy once I had the once pane off. Made me cry inside a little but oh well, better the tank is downstairs and I have to repair one little pane of glass.

So the movers showed up and looked at the route and weren't too stoked. But they didn't complain, just got their equipment together and got to work, The laid the tank, starfire up, on the piano dolly, then lashed a wheeled dolly onto the overflow side. After some swearing and back breaking work, they had it down safe and sound! I paid them, am tipped them well to boot!









Here it is in place!






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Unread 03/31/2013, 10:54 PM   #4
rpjaws74
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wow nice work man!!


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Unread 03/31/2013, 11:52 PM   #5
Poriferan
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Glad it made it down. Moving that size glass tank is no fun. I feel your pain. Looks great.


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Unread 04/01/2013, 03:37 PM   #6
Scythanith
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Thanks all! The City inspector comes on Wednesday and once he signs off on the framing I can start my general electrical. Once that's signed off on I can start with the drywall. The entire fish room will be green board. The only thing I haven't decided on is if I should leave the backside of the bulkhead over the tank open, or drywall it in. I know drywalling it in will be cleaner but I might want to set stuff on the exposed 2x4 framing.

I imagine I will enclose it so it's clean and that the moisture has that much more to content with to get through to the main living area.


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Unread 04/01/2013, 04:08 PM   #7
Aquatron
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You have a great start going! Very nice size tank and what a picture of the snow....... Here in california we only see snow if we drive up in the mountains
Best of luck with your build!


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Unread 04/01/2013, 09:24 PM   #8
Scythanith
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I am looking forward to getting the walls on that's for sure!

Haahaa I will see if I can get my pictures from my Mom & Dad's house. They had 12 foot drifts last weekend.


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Unread 04/01/2013, 09:47 PM   #9
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cant wait to see the progress


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Unread 04/03/2013, 11:27 AM   #10
Scythanith
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Framing is signed off on! Time to run electrical!


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Unread 04/05/2013, 11:43 PM   #11
Scythanith
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Well no build thread is worth it's weight without some coral pictures! These are all sitting in my 40g interm tank.




















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Unread 04/05/2013, 11:44 PM   #12
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Unread 04/05/2013, 11:44 PM   #13
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Unread 04/05/2013, 11:45 PM   #14
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Unread 04/07/2013, 09:08 AM   #15
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Does anyone have an opinion on how much lighting the Ice Fire Echinata should be getting? Right now mine is getting as much as it could in my tank (4 overdriven T5's wi individual IC reflectors, ~12-15" away).


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Unread 04/10/2013, 08:33 PM   #16
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My friend Steve and my Dad have helped me over the last couple days to get some more drywall put up. The fish room is really near complete in that regard. The drywall in the fish room is Certainteed M2Tech Moisture & Mold resistant so that should help our HVAC fight the higher than usual humidity.












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Unread 04/20/2013, 09:33 AM   #17
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Mudding and tapping is well on its way today! Should be able to paint by mid-week. I am still waiting on the replacement piece of glass for my overflow. If I don't get it from the builder soon, I will go out and get a new one cut at a local glass shop. I am excited to build the sump stand and start working on the plumbing!

And my third Mitras showed up so I will get to work hanging those once the mud dust has settled!


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Unread 04/21/2013, 09:33 PM   #18
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Getting closer!












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Unread 04/30/2013, 02:57 PM   #19
Scythanith
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The mudding and sanding is all done! I am stuck at work so I am going to get my lovely wife to take some pictures for me! She is going to paint while I am away. When I see it next the walls will be done! I can start building the sump stand and plumbing!

Sweet!


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Unread 04/30/2013, 08:27 PM   #20
SPotter
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looks like a great build and very similar dimensions to my tank. It will be fun to watch this develop.


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Am I really doing all of this for a fish tank??????

Current Tank Info: 360g Envision Acrylic Tank, Closed Loops, Vectra L1's, MP40QD's, 400w Radiums, Regal 300ext, Dastaco Ext3 CaRx, Controlled by GHL Profilux
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Unread 05/01/2013, 10:53 AM   #21
Scythanith
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SPotter, if I remember correctly you have a decent chalice collection don't you? I am going to cruise through your build thread and try to learn a bit!


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Unread 05/01/2013, 01:48 PM   #22
SPotter
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Scythanith View Post
SPotter, if I remember correctly you have a decent chalice collection don't you? I am going to cruise through your build thread and try to learn a bit!
I wish!!! I have a couple but nothing exotic.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk 2


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Steve

Am I really doing all of this for a fish tank??????

Current Tank Info: 360g Envision Acrylic Tank, Closed Loops, Vectra L1's, MP40QD's, 400w Radiums, Regal 300ext, Dastaco Ext3 CaRx, Controlled by GHL Profilux
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Unread 06/07/2013, 01:15 AM   #23
Scythanith
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Man developing the basement is taking forever! I finally had time to put in the floor drain, build the sump stand, and silicone the overflow back on. I won't likely get a chance to plumb it before I go back to work but we shall see what happens on monday!

Rigging to hold over flow in place while silicone dried.


General arrangement. The floor drain will have the water change valve and emergency overflow plumbed directly to it.



I will try to describe the flow of water through the sumps. You can see the primary frag chamber top left, return pump chamber top middle, and overflow top right. The skimmer chamber is bottom right, filter basket chamber bottom middle, return pump chamber bottom left, refugium bottom far left.

The refugium will be fed off a manifold powered by the lower sumps return pump. The manifold will also feed a couple reactors for bio pellets and GFO.

Slowly but surely it's coming together.


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Unread 06/07/2013, 04:56 AM   #24
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Nice build, following this


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Unread 06/07/2013, 07:55 AM   #25
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Great start, can't wait to see water in the tanks


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