Coral Beauty & the Clown Fish (Innovative EXT170)

[JM302]

Welcome to our build thread! As with about everything in life, my lovely wife @LeeLoo Lola and I will be sharing this build thread as this is our tank and our shared hobby. We've been reefing together for more than 20 years and this thread will chronicle our latest project.

Dimensionally, this is my absolute favorite tank - ever. It's an Innovative Marine EXT170 - 59x30x22. I would have loved the EXT200 (+1ft longer), unfortunately the designated wall will only support the 5ft tank. We have a ~2 year old Innovative Marine EXT75 - it's too small. Great tank, nice quality. It's given us a run for our money too. It was our first and LAST dry rock / dry sand start.

Although I really like the quality of the Innovative tank - I am NOT a fan of the APS stand - at all. It really surprises me that this seems to be such an unpopular opinion too. So with that said, my first project in preparation for the tank was to have a custom steel stand built.


Plans for the new 170:

LPS/Softie dominant - fish heavy (we love fish)
(3) XR15's (I currently have 2 XR15 G5's)
40B Sump
Red Sea Reefmat 1200 or 500 (up for discussion)
25w AquaUV sterilizer (existing from my old 150 and already has a new bulb)
(2) Cor20's for Return (Currently have 1 on existing tank)
(1) Cor15 Fuge Pump (Currently feeding the external fuge)
(2) MP40mQD (From existing tank)
(2) Tunze 6095 (bought new with 15% off)
Tunze ATO (From existing tank)
20G External fuge with Kessil H160 Tuna Flora
SRO XP2000 Skimmer - From my old 150G. Will replace the AC Pump with a new VarioS-4s
Tampa Bay Saltwater sand and rock for this one + existing rock from current tank

Lots of decisions to make and can't wait to get some others opinions. I'm the gear guy. Chrissy is the coral / fish picker / feeder / money spender.

Fish list to come soon so you all can tell me how I'm way overstocked =p. My 75 is way overstocked yet I can't keep the nitrate.

More updates to follow!

The thread title wasn't my pick but I'm guessing I'm the clown in this scenario.

Jeff & Chrissy

 

[JM302]

So the tank showed up unexpectedly today. For anyone considering an Innovative MTO (Made to Order) tank, they quoted me 12 - 16 weeks. It arrived exactly 16 weeks and 3 days after ordering.

I work from home... sat on meetings ALL day, dipped out for a few minutes to take a quick shower. Noticed my phone lighting up while I was in the shower. I jump out and check and I have a text message from an unknown number:

I mean it was fine but sheesh.... I literally had NO idea the tank was being delivered today. Last I heard, Innovative had sent the tank to the shipper in California mid last week. We're in NC. Sooo yeah. Mad rush to get outside to meet the driver.

For anyone in the Charlotte NC Area that gets a delivery from YRC Freight... Sammy was fantastic. He let me inspect the tank, took all the wood from the crate back with him, helped me get the tank on the dollies, etc. He was super friendly and pleasant.

Here's the tank in all it's glory.... Silicone looks great. Glass is crystal clear. They even use low iron glass on the external overflow. I'm sure it's leftover from their smaller tanks... but still. Very happy with the construction.

More to come ....

 

[JM302]

So - the stand...... Let's talk about that. This is two parts:

1: My dislike of the APS Stand
2: The creation of my steel stand

The APS Stand... I understand my opinion is unpopular here. Most people seem to really like the stand. From an aesthetic standpoint, it looks fine. The extruded aluminum is good too. What I do not like is the fastener system. I could only assume to make it easier on the end-user they use this cam-lock system to assemble the stand. It reminds me of something you'd get from IKEA.

On my EXT75, when I use my magnet cleaner, I can see the stand moving. It's completely unnerving.

Note to Innovative Marine: Should you use brackets with actual nuts and bolts to make the stand completely rigid... it would be much better. It would take a bit longer to assemble... but totally worth it. I'm sure there is a lot of engineering involved in designing this stand by people a lot smarter than me but you ought to consider using some real fasteners for assembly - especially on these larger tanks.

Now - onto the fun part. I'm in no way an expert in structure or Fusion 360 - but I went to Youtube University and did the best I could to learn it and design my stand.

I'm pretty involved in the car scene and because of that I have a lot of friends that are professional welders. I drew up this plan and gave it to my buddy who is a professional TIG welder. This is 2x2 HREW steel with .125 wall thickness. It was about $300 in materials and I spotted my buddy the cash for his welding materials (filler rods / argon gas / etc). All in (including the powder coating I was a little over $600).



Although a simple design, there are a few things I accounted for:
1: The ability to easily attach a wooden face frame / doors without having to drill into the stand.
2: The ability to level it - perfectly.
3: The ability to hold the tank and maybe a car too.. at the same time.
4: Make sure there is no exposed steel or ways for the salt water to easily penetrate the structure.

My closest friend is a machinist. I had him make me the inserts for the levelers. They were designed to fit right into the 2x2 tubing and welded in.

The levelers were purchased from Grainger. They are 3/8-16 and good for 2,000lbs each. More than enough. Finding decent levelers that weren't astronomically expensive proved more difficult than I thought. I am quite satisfied with these. I also went to Lowes and found 2" round felt adhesive pads and attached them to the feet to protect my hardwood floors. The great thing is the bottom of the stand is off the floor, so if there was any water 'issue', I could get under the stand to dry it up.

Here are the inserts into the freshly cut legs

Watching my design come to life was exciting! The frame is just tack welded at this point.

Grabbed the truck and picked the completed stand up and sent it off to the powder coater. Minor challenge during the fab... my friend is a professional welder but not a professional fabricator. We had a little bow in the top rail from the heat. Minor issue. We were able to heat it back up and flatten it out w/o much of a problem. Powder coating...$137. Can't beat that.

And this will be the final resting place for the tank when the time comes

Clearly the carpet won't be under there once the tank is in place. Chrissy needs to find something smaller.

 

[LeeLoo Lola]

Clearly the carpet won't be under there once the tank is in place. Chrissy needs to find something smaller.

Out of all of that I see the part that you want me to go shopping! I’m on it! Lol

 

[JM302]

Big (busy) week ahead of us.

The delay in setting up the new 170 is we're about to have our hardwood floors refinished. Our home is about 15 years old and with our two doodles using the downstairs as a race track, they've done a number to the floor's finish. Shelby (the youngest) is finally losing that crazy puppy energy and although I would have preferred to wait another year to have them done, the incoming 170 is sort of making this a now or never decision. After some debate, we've decided NOW is the answer. With that we need to empty the entire downstairs, including the existing tank / fuge. The floor sanding starts next Monday, June 5th.

Here's the two nut jobs. Shelby is the middle.

Moving the 75 is going to be stressful for me especially considering it will be from Office -> Garage -> Office -> 170. I'm going to have to space things out a bit to reduce stress on the fish and coral. I am lucky to have some great help though. The move will happen on Saturday.

I have a mini split (Heat & A/C) in the Garage, so I'll be able to keep it right at 75 degrees day and night while the tank is there.

The high-level plan is:

1: Have a lot of extra water made and ready (100g)
2: Drain Tank / Sump / Fuge into the 40 breeders and a few buckets
3: Move rock / corals and fish (except for sand) to the breeders. I also have a 100G Rubbermaid trough in the case I need it.
3: Relocate Tank / Stand / Fuge
4: Put it back in the 75 exactly the way it was.

I'm thinking this disturbance won't cause much of any mini cycle. It should be quick and painless. I'd expect the rock structures and corals to be in the 40b for an hour or two tops.



The Fuge is 20G High Aqueon tank drilled with a Modular Marine Overflow fed by a cor15 at 40%. I'll post more on that another day. All I can say is I love it.

Wish me luck........ I feel like I'm going to need it.