I got into the hobby when my wife agreed to let me buy a tank for my 40th birthday back in January. I jumped in with both feet and bought a used 54 gallon tank complete with 3 fish, a rock, a hob filter and a 30 watt light. Then I found this forum and with the help of several people on here including T Pham... I managed to NOT kill hardly anything. Had I known what all of this might eventually cost... I probably would've passed. I'm glad I didn't though. Here's what 10 months and $3500.00 looks like;
[IMG]http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w172/Kannin_photos/100_0925.jpg[/IMG]
After months of reading threads like Goodwin's 600 gallon tank and dreaming of getting a little bit bigger piece of the ocean... one day... I walked into the lfs for a bucket or two of RODI and there it was! A used 220 gallon tank with a starfire front panel and external overflows "on consignment". It even came with a Guiseman 750 watt fixture, a sump and a stand which didn't suit my taste.
[IMG]http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w172/Kannin_photos/100_1085.jpg[/IMG]
So then came getting my beautiful wife, Allison to agree that WE couldn't live without it.

This task took a couple of weeks!!! Then... it took another week to convince her that WE needed to keep the old tank.
Here she is after we brought her home... I mean "It"...
[IMG]http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w172/Kannin_photos/100_1090.jpg[/IMG]
It hasn't moved from this spot in 4 weeks because I have been building this;
[IMG]http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w172/Kannin_photos/100_1125.jpg[/IMG]
[IMG]http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w172/Kannin_photos/100_1145.jpg[/IMG
The tank is 72" long by 30" wide with external overflows so I built the stand 37" wide so that the plumbing could run straight down thru the top of the stand. It is also 39" high to accomodate plenty of equipment.

[IMG]http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w172/Kannin_photos/100_1144.jpg[/IMG]
Three coats of paint and a lifetime supply of bath caulk to waterproof the bottom 6 inches later...
[IMG]http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w172/Kannin_photos/100_1158.jpg[/IMG]
Does anybody know what comes next???
[IMG]http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w172/Kannin_photos/100_1154.jpg[/IMG]

This is going to be a great build/thread, I will be watching closely. It is a sweet tank, keep us updated

good luck, cant wait to see it when it is done

you my friend are more ambitious then I. Good Luck

It will be a long time until it's done but, I do hope to have it pumping water by New Years. I pretty much only work on it on Saturdays but, I am taking the week after Christmas off from work so that I can spend alot of time on it.

I still have to finish the plumbing this week end which includes 14 ball valves, a whole buch of 45 elbows instead of 90's and two manifolds, (one for the filtration system and one for the closed loop). They will be run by two Reeflo Barracudas for a total of around 6000 gph. Then I start work on the aquascape which will be part Marco Rocks, part foam and part light difuser panel (egg crate).

Then I will invite five of my closest large friend over and while they are visiting... we will move it all in the house.

After it is up and running and I have had a chance to recover from the holidays... I will start working on the lighting, canopy and furniture grade skin for the stand. I am also going to put a refugium above the tank.  

You are going to put rock in it and then move it?

The rock will be attched to the egg crate with zip ties and the gaps will be filled in with insulating foam spray. Then I will stick sand to the foam. The whole thing will be like a rock wall and some pillars and will be much lighter than it looks. But, no... I will install it once the tank is in place.

I installed florescent lights between the joists which I am going to try to connect to a refrigerator switch so that they will come on and go off with opening and closing of the main door... I think???
[IMG]http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w172/Kannin_photos/100_1165.jpg[/IMG]
Here's the closed loop manifold. Three lines to the tank (2 to the lower back corners and one to the top front) and the fourth line will be plumbed to the front of the stand with an extra valve on it so I can drain water from the tank for quick water changes. Each of the 3 return lines will have 2 lock line outlets. I think that with the head pressure, I'll get around 3500 gph which will be more than 500 gph for each of the 6 outlets.
[IMG]http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w172/Kannin_photos/100_1161.jpg[/IMG]
Here's the filtration manifold. A total of 6 outlets... 2 x 1 inch return lines and 4 x 3/4 inch lines. (1 to pump upto the raised fuge, 1 to return water to the sump, and the other 2 will come in handy later if I need to add a chiller or UV or something). Or maybe I should say "When my wife lets me buy a chiller or something".
[IMG]http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w172/Kannin_photos/100_1159.jpg[/IMG]

By the way Brian... Thanks for the luck. I'm sure I'll need a little as this is the first time I've ever done anything like this.

looks awesome, wish my wife would allow me to undertake a project like that. I am actually planning on moving to a new house in the next year or so, and having a 250-350+ tank built into the wall between two rooms. We will see if the wife will allow it.

That would be awesome... to be able to make room for a big tank while building. My original, much more expensive plan was to build a bigger tank into the wall in my basement pool room. There is a 12 ft crawl space behind a 9ft wall that would have made a perfect fish room. My plan had 2 fatal flaws... My wife was afraid she'd never see me again if I put it in the basement and probably more importantly... we are in the mortgage industry which isn't doing too well at present and it would've cost 20 grand. I'll just have to be happy with what I've got.

I got my pumps last night. I was up 'til 2:00, playing with them... If ya know what I mean.
[IMG]http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w172/Kannin_photos/100_1166.jpg[/IMG]
[IMG]http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w172/Kannin_photos/100_1167.jpg[/IMG]
[IMG]http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w172/Kannin_photos/100_1168.jpg[/IMG]

looks like thing are coming togther. cant wait to see it when it is done.

so jealous..

I'm going to work on it alot this weekend so hopefully I'll have some updates. Then I hope to move it in the house the following weekend.

Took most of the weekend and a couple more trips to Lowes and THD but, it's done. I still have to plumb it to the tank but I can't do that until it's in the house... which is scheduled for next Sunday.
[IMG]http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w172/Kannin_photos/100_1233.jpg[/IMG]
[IMG]http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w172/Kannin_photos/100_1232.jpg[/IMG]
Here's both manifolds...
[IMG]http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w172/Kannin_photos/100_1231.jpg[/IMG]
[IMG]http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w172/Kannin_photos/100_1241.jpg[/IMG]

Here's kind of a slick little add on... This little valve is plumbed from the closed loop to the front of the cabinet, just inside the main door. It should allow me to drain 20 gallons in just a few minutes for water changes.
[IMG]http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w172/Kannin_photos/100_1229.jpg[/IMG]

Here's another convenience item... A lazy Susan type sliding apparatus designed to hold two 5 gallon buckets for top off since the closest water source is about a mile and half from the tank.
[IMG]http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w172/Kannin_photos/100_1228.jpg[/IMG]

[IMG]http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w172/Kannin_photos/100_1227.jpg[/IMG]

looks like a lot of fun. I like the quick drain that is a great idea/ add on

Got my rocks last night... I am very pleased... Very!!!

[IMG]http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w172/Kannin_photos/100_1248.jpg[/IMG]

[IMG]http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w172/Kannin_photos/100_1256.jpg[/IMG]

[IMG]http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w172/Kannin_photos/100_1258.jpg[/IMG]

Here's the full frontal shot. You can see the shelving unit on the left side. It will be water tight... So that my additives don't get moist. That wasn't meant to sound dirty.
[IMG]http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w172/Kannin_photos/100_1242.jpg[/IMG]

[IMG]http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w172/Kannin_photos/100_1243.jpg[/IMG]

So my wife goes Christmas shopping and asks me to keep an eye on the kids... So, while I'm working on the stand in the garage, about every 20 minutes or so... I go check on 'em and here's what I found...
[IMG]http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w172/Kannin_photos/100_1164.jpg[/IMG]
My 6 year old son running a poker game with the neighbor girls. I guess I should be glad they were using chips... huh?

This is what my wife's fancy livingroom used to look like...
[IMG]http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w172/Kannin_photos/100_1254.jpg[/IMG]

Then... These guys showed up...
[IMG]http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w172/Kannin_photos/100_1271.jpg[/IMG]

Now... It looks like this...
[IMG]http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w172/Kannin_photos/100_1275.jpg[/IMG]

I think it looks alot better. I'm not so sure she agrees.

looking great

Speaking from the wives point of view,,, LOOKS GREAT, but when you put finished doors on it,, stained to match 'her' furniture, she'll love it better...
looking good though

Thank you... I hope you're right. Right now, all she can think about is she is going to have to move the TV in there if she ever wants to see me again.

Not all mine!!!
[IMG]http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w172/Kannin_photos/100_1279.jpg[/IMG]

[IMG]http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w172/Kannin_photos/100_1277.jpg[/IMG]

WOW, I bet it will be beautiful once it is done. Can you tell me what kind of rock that is?? I have been looking trying to make up my mind of the type or types of rock I want to place in my tank, still not sure I do like the tonga kaelini, and the walt smith premium figi. But I really like one called figi totoka.

FOr my first tank, (pictured at the top of this thread) I bought all of my rock from local stores around here. I paid upto $12 a pound... but, it was very nice stuff. This new tank would have bankrupted me if I paid retail for live rock. So, I bought 120 lbs from marcorocks.com and am building my reef out of them. I am very pleased although... I ran out today and had to order another 50 lbs.