My 280 Gallon Build!

[EriksReptiles]

Hey. Yesterday we finally moved our new 280 gallon tank. The tank is made out of acrylic. The Stand and Canopy are made out of Oak but were painted black. The tank is 84" long, 25" wide, 31" tall. Two overflows. One on each side of the tank, but they arent your typical overflows. Just little boxes on each side for a minimal impact on the tank (we have alot of room on the inside now for rock work)! The tank also has a closed loop on it. 2 intakes and 2 returns (1 of each in each corner).

The filtration is a sump with a filter sock and protein skimmer. Then some of the water goes to a refugium and then drains back into the sump and pumped back into the tank.

There are two pumps. Both are Dart pumps. One for the filtration and one for the closed loop system.

Ok, on to the pictures!!!

Stand finally in place! Wow, this thing is heavy!!!

Tank sitting in our living room while we moved the stand in its place. Excuse the mess...

Everything finally in place! We just have to move the system back against the wall and over to the right alittle when I get all the pumping done! And Gracie giving her approval of the new tank!

Picture of the left side of the tanks bottom so you can see the closed loop system.

Me standing next to the setup!

Canopy open. Its a clam-shell canopy.

And finally me inside cleaning it up alittle with RO/DI water!

More pics coming soon!! Im working on the plumping this week and the pumps hopefully will come this week!

Thanks Erik

 

[trillyen]

that's about thesize tank I want maybe a lil longer though

very nice man, how come you didn't put it on the back wall seems like you gotta turn to the side to getib the roomhope you don't have any professional wrestlers or contestants from the tv show the biggest losers coming over anytime soon

LOL jk I know how it is to squeeze an aquarium in any place it'll fit LOL

Good luck!!!

 

[EriksReptiles]

LoL. Its not against the wall yet because I pulled it out to do the plumbing. When pushed back it fits perfectly on the wall with a few inches from the door trim on the left side and about 6 inches from the wall and patio door on the right side! Its a perfect fit!

Thanks Erik

 

[logiktest]

Very nice tank! Cant wait to see it grow. Is this going to be a reef display or FOWLR display? Also, did you paint the plumbing blue, or was it purchased this way? Again, everything looks great!

 

[EriksReptiles]

It is going to be a FOWLR. We figured since we have a 180 reef and a 75 reef, we might as well make this 300 fish only. So we got rid of our old 150 gallon fish only and bought this beauty!

Future inhabitants can include (we are still trying to figure out exactly which ones we want.. but it will be a mix of these. We are going to get everything in the 4-6" range so they can grow for awhile and then we will just buy a bigger tank!!); golden puffer, mappa puffer, sohal tang, blonde naso tang, vlamingi tang, a black or a gem tang, imperator angel, Crosshatch trigger pair, a school of small (2-3") morish idols, some anthias, some cardinals, maybe a few other small fish....

The pipe was just spray painted blue.

Thanks Erik

 

[Krish]

Nice setup!!! Really good size tank! Good luck with the build

 

[darklcd]

looks great I wish I had the room for something like that lol. Can't wait to see it up and running.

What are you using for lighting in it?

 

[EriksReptiles]

Thanks! The lighting will be 4 4' VHO's. Since were not going to do any coral were not to worried about the lighting...

PS: krish75, do you live in the Bahamas? I am down there every summer for a marine biology study!

Thanks Erik

 

[trido]

Wow! I cant believe I missed this thread. Looking good guys! Any updates?

 

[EriksReptiles]

Thanks Man!! Ya, everything is coming together... I got all my pumps and sand and all but my skimmer wont be here till tuesday or wed... And I cant start my building until I get it because I have to "shimy" it all under the tank prior to doing the plumbing... But I got all my live rock planned out with PVC and all. I am just waiting on the skimmer..

You should come over and check it and the other tanks out!

I will try and get some new pics asap!

Thanks Erik

 

[EriksReptiles]

So I decided to do the plumbing even though I don't have my skimmer yet.. I figured out I will be able to get the skimmer in the sump even with everything glued together.

But I got some updated pictures!!

Here is the tank with the PVC work done. We will be stacking rock like the PVC is now...

This is the back of the tank. Between the tank and the wall. Just so you can see alittle bit of the pipes.

Inside the left door ( The sump) :

Inside the middle door (the two dart pumps, one for the main system and one for the closed loop) :

Inside the right door ( The refug) :

Picture inside the right door looking to the left:

Inside the stand on the top 2x4 I put little lights to be able to see under the stand. I have done this on all my tanks and love it! it makes working under there so much easier because of the extra light! There are three under this tank:

On the left and right side are a power strip. Here is the one on the right side with the 3 lights for the stand plugged into it:

Thats it for now. Everything is glued into place and ready to be plugged in.. Just waiting for my skimmer! I already have 400 lbs of sand that arrived the other day.. Still looking for alittle more live rock though.

Thanks Erik

 

[trillyen]

Now all u gotta do is take your 150 gl off you sig and add that 280. Gl beauty to it

Unless your just gonna wait til its actually full LOL

congrats man its really nice and I'm guessing its 8 feet long correct???

 

[roscoe]

Looking great! So you have any ideas as far as fish live stock goes?

 

[EriksReptiles]

Well the fish list is still being debated... Here are some things:
- Sohal Tang
- Male Blone Naso Tang (possibly a pair, but most likely just a lone male)
- Gem Tang or Black Tang (going to try my hardest to get a Gem!)
- Pair of Crosshatch triggers
- Imperator Angelfish
- Pair of Potters Angels
- Mappa puffer
- Golden puffer (True Golden, No Black)
- 1.3 Lyretail anthias
- 5 Morish idols
- Wrase of some sort.. Still not sure which one we want to go with.
- 6 Kaudern’s Cardinals

Everything we buy will be small (most in the 3-5" range, some even in the 1-3" range) so that they can grow for awhile before I have to buy a new tank!

Thanks Erik

 

[daReefPeep]

ahhh very nice

 

[EriksReptiles]

Thanks! Well my ASM skimmer finally arrived yesterday. So I am ready to add water once I find some decent live rock!! (I still have alot of live rock from my 150 as well as sand and water, but im going to need alot more live rock... I already bought the extra sand that I will need...)

Thanks Erik

 

[EriksReptiles]

Finally got it full of rock and sand! Were mixing our RO/DI water with salt right now! Tomorrow after the sand all settles I will take some full tank shots and post all my pictures!

Thanks Erik

 

[Krish]

Sounds great!!! Love the plumbing work. You did a good job on it all

 

[veralteaquatics]

Lets see the BIG fishes......

 

[MC Lighting]

any updates?