225 GALLON FRESHWATER IN WALL SETUP BEGINS.

[ronp327]

Hey everyone,
My new house is finally finished and i now have room in my house for a larger tank. I bought a glass 225 from craigslist brought it home resealed it, set it up in the yard and did a test fill. All was good so i'm ready to start the build. I went to lowes and bought all the lumber for the stand and wall for the tank to set behind. I also purchased all the mortar and metal lathe for the scratch coat to stick the river rock to. As far as filtration i bought (2) FX5's for mechanical filtration. I will do a DIY bio filter from a 33 gallon brute trash can,the plastic grate from lowes and i got Dollar General to order me a bunch of scrubbies.
You get (6) for a buck from them...I still need a pump for the bio filter and i need to decide what to run in the FX5's for media. I already had several dual bulb shop lights and i just got new bulbs for them and i will use those for now for the lighting. I also have a UV sterilizer that i can run with one of the FX5's if i want to but i have not decided if its needed at this point. My son has been taking lots of pictures since i started on the wall and i will post ASAP. As always i had to take the redneck swimingpool picture with me inside the tank filled with water...LOL I have an empty floor vent behind the wall where the tank is going. I had the contractor move it due to i did not want to close off the vent to the livingroom. So now i have the hole in the floor straight to the crawl space. I will run the drain line from the tank straight thru the floor and also tap into the pex water lines and run the hot and cold water straight to the tank. Hook up the water filter and turn the valve drain the tank and then fill right back up. No mess...At least i hope not. Again i have lots of recent construction pics and i will post ASAP.
any help with the FX5's and pump size for the bio filter would be great.

 

[ronp327]

Man tough crowd around here..LOL
No one has anything to say?

 

[frnchjeep]

Congrats on the new house. My wife and I bought our first house last year. It's fun to have your own walls to cut up. haha Since you already have 2 fx5's, I would do around 500 to 1k gph through the biofilter. I think any more would be overkill since your mechanical filtration is being taken care of elsewhere. 1k will cycle your total volume 4x per hour. I would put a permanent drain at the water level of the sump, since it is the only component your missing for a drip system. Then you can just leave the fresh water on 24/7 at a slow trickle and never have to do a water change again. Also, the constant parameters are better for the fish than the fluctuations that come with large water changes. You should use the uv. They are a great addition with many benefits. They function better with low flow, and I think the output of an fx5 will be too much for optimum performance. There won't be enough dwell time over the light. What I would do is put a Y on the fx5 output and put the uv on one half with a valve. That way you can control the flow through the uv. Good luck and I look forward to pics.

 

[ronp327]

Thanks for the tip on the UV light.
I did not think about that part. Doing it that way would cut down on the extra pump to run the UV.
Update: I almost finished the metal grate on the wall and mixed up one 80# bag and did most of the scratch coat last night.
I will start on the stand tonight. My only concerns on the stand are can i use the leftover 2x4's from the wall build or will i need 4x4's for the stand? On the drain at the water level in the bio filter i'm guessing you would put a valve on that line and cut it back almost all the way to only let out a very small amount of water?

 

[frnchjeep]

I used 2x6's for my 220. 4x4's tend to warp and twist more than 2x6's. You could use 2 2x4's nailed together, too, and it won't warp like a 4x4.

 

[ronp327]

Came home today cut all the lumber to lenght and nailed all the 2x4's together
for the stand. I will start to put everything together tomorrow.

 

[Capsaicin]

Protip: you get more out of forums when you add pictures...

 

[tonyt]

sounds good, ive gota 220 reef ready tank and i only use a 30 gallon rubber maid with two 5 gallon pails filled with bio balls and a little giant md4 pump.its good enough for a 30 inch arowana and a few oscars and peacock bass.
good luck with the stand build

 

[ronp327]

I will have my son load the pics to the pc tomorrow and then i will post them.
thanks for the reply

 

[ronp327]

ok trying to get a 16 year old to sit still long enough to load my pics on the computer from his camera is like pulling teeth. i painted the back glass and sides last night, made the pvc stand for the white grate and set it into the brute trash can. just waiting on the pumps to come in to cut the holes for the return to the tank then i will fill it up with the scrubbies. I got all the supplies to put in the FX5'S for mechanical filtration and put in all the bulkheads. I will have pics up tonight.