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melev

Working around the Marineland 400g tank

Rating: 5 votes, 4.60 average.
15 Comments
by
melev
, 11-16-2010 at 01:47 AM (6010 Views)
Now that the tank is here, I'm able to get more of the fishroom completed. You'd think the tank would be in the way, but without it on site, it is nearly impossible to finalize the room that surrounds it.

Last week, more wiring was completed. Then the 265g water container was brought in so the last wall could be studded up.





During a recent Home Depot trip - I've made quite a few lately - I checked out the sinks because I'm buying one soon. I found these two:




The first one is a standard mop-sink, which comes with legs and costs $50. Note the tiny drain. Not a big fan of these. The second sink is far nicer for $8 more, and I love the small tray area on the right that allows me to put small things down during clean up. Such as Maxijet parts, or Vortech bits... you get the idea. The drain is bigger as well, less likely to clog up on algae. I could even install a garbage disposal under it, if I wanted one bad enough. The second sink is designed to be installed into a countertop.

The original plan was to put the sink where the 265g poly tank now stands, so today I decided to move things around and see how it might fit. The poly tank was pushed to the rear corner. There's still room to insert or remove the walkboard.





Ceiling clearance is a bit snug. There's enough room to pour my salt-measuring container though, or bagged salt could be easily placed over the opening and slit open. 5 bags would mix up a bunch.





Working from the walkboard seems fine currently with no light rack in the way, but that won't last long. So I tried kneeling to get an idea of what can be reached.



Here's a view from within the tank toward the corner where the sink will end up going.



The 55g barrel is my RO reservoir for top off. It does fit under the walkboard, but it would be in the way if I wanted to remove the board.


So here it is next to the bigger poly tank. A frag tank could go on top as there is plenty of room. Or a quarantine tank.



The tank is going to need to slide over a little bit as it isn't quite situated correctly.



Once all the sheetrock is done to stop the cold air from coming into the fishroom from the garage and attic, I'll remove the pink foam so I can see the tank and get it positioned in its final spot. It'll be leveled, a little more sheetrock work will be done around it, and then it'll be time to fill it up. I may put in a decent countertop for the sink as well as a work area. That will be decided in the coming days.

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‎ Tank Entry

Comments

  1. byrdman's Avatar
    Lookin good so far!! Love how alot of what you will be needing/using will be close to the tank
  2. Jessy's Avatar
    You didn't even bother to shave or brush your hair? :P
  3. Alaska_Phil's Avatar
    Holy cow Marc! there's too much there to comment on! suffice to say it looks like you're making great progress. I still love the work platform idea.

    Edit: I have the first of those two sinks you looked at in my hangar. You get what you pay for, it's a flimsy POS.
  4. Reefski's Avatar
    are you having fun yet? wow!

    how is the livestock doing?
  5. Midnight's Avatar
    Marc, one thing to think about with the sink. You may want to drill a third hole or get one with three. that sprayer comes in real handy as well. All in all it looks absolutely great Marc. Don't remember, is the new sump design all made up?
  6. Hat39406's Avatar
    Looking good Marc! It would be nice if the 265g tank could go in the garage area though, or make the fish room a bit wider. ;-)
  7. diablo30xp's Avatar
    awsome so far. Nice planning as well.
  8. Jnarowe's Avatar
    Looking good! But, um, a bottle of Windex sitting in the overflow???
  9. gerbilbox's Avatar
    I was so proud of the 2 gallon saltwater bucket I bought last night, but then you show up with your 265 gallon monster.

    How much longer til you start filling the tank? The suspense is killing me!
  10. Tumbleweed's Avatar
    The last tank took 14 days from start to finish. How long has this one taken? I figured it would have been done faster since you know what you are doing this time.
  11. dahenley's Avatar
    just a question..
    could you put the 55gal ATO container where the 265 is, then put the sink next to it between the door and top off container.
    this would allow you to put your RO unit above the sink or the ATO container. (you can run the RO drain to the vent pipe of the sink, or saddle it to the sink drain.

    on the sink, i like the 2nd. but you might look into building a vanity or something without doors but just shelving under. this will give you a place to put towels and misc cleaning tools. (scrapers and tongs ect.....)
    this puts the 265 back in the original spot, which looks like you could put a small frag tank between it and the door as well...
    just my opinions.

    this gives you more room between the stand and any obstacle. (i dont know how often you get in your sump, but when i kneel down, my legs stick out quiet far, and you will enjoy not being cramped. (plus, i can tell you will be leaving the walking board and just ducking underneith it. (facts of life)


    lastly, what are you going to be doing for lights.? are you keeping your current light fixtures?
    you might look into getting the "easy tube" and making a rack and hooking it to garage door sliders. (the ones used for barn doors) this will allow you to slide your rack out of the way for maintenance. )
    Glassreef.com has a nice build thread on his light rack. (with a vent fan above the tank, you wont need the PC fans that are used on that build)
    (with the 265 out of the way, this is possible.)
    also, you might put 2 pot lights above the light rack. so when you move the rack out of the way, you have lights to see in your tank without the MH lights burning your neck.

    as i said, just my opinions and thoughts.
  12. melev's Avatar
    I'm reading all of your thoughts as there are times they may spark some ideas with me.

    Sink: I really like Sink #2. I would drill it for whatever faucet I ended up buying - and I'd really like one that looks like a restaurant sink sprayer with the giant spring. I didn't see one at Home Depot but I have seen them at Ikea. Installing that sink into some type of framework or counter top is required, and I do like the idea of shelving underneath. The hot and cold water pipes are in the corner where I want to put the sink.

    265g Poly: The reason that container doesn't go in the garage is because of our very hot summers here in Texas. I want the saltwater to have the same ambient temperature as the fishroom & tank. I have a feeling I'll need a heater for the winter months, but in the summer I hope to not need it. If I use a Liter Meter to do a water change, the slower rate of water entering / exiting the system would be negligible I think. I do prefer it in the far corner. The RO/DI system will stay in the utility room behind my washer/dryer and 25' of tubing will run from it to the fishroom to feed the poly and top off barrel.

    Windex: That's to remove the suction cup marks left on the glass. The tank will need to be seriously cleaned inside and out prior to setting up. I tried some weaker stuff and the rings were surprisingly stubborn.

    Timing: Things are moving along now, but I don't have a deadline. As I stated in this blog entry, I want to take my time and think things through so I don't have to redo anything.

    Frag Tank: I think the frag tank will go to the left of the sink. Or perhaps it will go in the corner with the sink to its right. It could fit on the counter top, if I get one.

    Lighting: I've been in contact with EZ-tube regarding making a light rack, but haven't ordered the components yet. I'm planning to use my Lumenbright pendants and VHO lighting like I did over the 280g. I would like the light rack to move, either over the tank perpendicularly, or perhaps length-wise toward the entry door. I'm not married to either direction yet and am trying to visualize it. Might have to make a prototype of out pink foam. hehe

    Walkboard: It will be used as needed, inserted either in front or behind the tank. I don't want it in there full time because then I'll end up being lazy about doing something in the sump. I did install it now to get a good look and feel for how it will benefit my efforts.

    Tonight all the sheetrock on the ceiling was completed. That was a pain because of the necessary cut outs and the ceilings joists that seem to be randomly placed. I hoped to have that done earlier but today I had a massive headache and burned up lots of usable hours. Oh well. Now I can get the walls covered, perhaps tonight.
  13. dread240's Avatar
    I feel ya on wasting time... I came home at 3:30 and was a little tired since I went in early... so I laid down... 8:30 I had finally woke back up.

    Looks like it's coming along nicely though.... I fixed my bulkhead leak in mine tonight so have water running through it all including my 'ghetto sump' for the time being (it's just a rubbermaid container)
  14. dahenley's Avatar
    just curious, did you have marineland drill for Sch80 bulkheads? its not as big of a deal with the external overflow and ease of access to change one if needed. just a curiosity that has been bothering me. also, do you have any opinions on the Sch 80 bulkheads?
  15. melev's Avatar
    No, I thought about it but I've never had issues with Sch40 bulkheads with any of my tanks or sumps, so to make it hold Sch80 seemed completely unnecessary. Had I drilled the bottom of the tank in the main display, I would have done so as they would have to be reliable no matter what I did forever, but for the overflow - it wasn't called for.