Out with the old (setup) and in with the new 220 gallon UPDATED 3-20-13

[MikeyP]

Hello everyone,

Just want to share our build process. Its a 220 gallon glass tank that we have added 2 Tetra Viquarium waterfalls (older models) and some flagstone and gravel. So far we have some bamboo, bromeliads, and a philodendron (sp?) as well as driftwood.

We have extra filters in there as well to make up for the 60 plus gallons we have in there that the waterfall filters cannot keep up with. Also have a heater in there as well.

We added a DIY fogger system that I made up and the Monsoon RS400 because the wife HAD to have it! But I must admit, it is really awesome and keeps the humidity level nice and high.

I placed an order for some live plants and they should be here end of week.

We are running LED fixtures that are also DIY dimmable.

As of now we have just two turtles who are loving the setup so far.

Question I do have is, we want to add a bunch more plants but we need ones that grow by edge of water where the root system are always wet and can stand high humidity. Where are other good places to order from? Something with color and maybe flowers?

Were still far aways from being done with the tank and the stand and canopy. Still some tweaking in the tank we want to do.

The pic below is one of the many stand and canopies Ive built to date. That one was my reef tank. And this one will mimic the one in the pics. Ive missed it so much that I need to have another.

Here's the old stand and canopy I did






And here are some shots of day 1 progress.













Ran out of tongue and groove boards....trip to H.D. I had to go!

And this is pretty much how the stand / Canopy sits now! Been sick and busy with work so it slowed down the building process. Hopefully this weekend I will be able to get more done to stand and canopy.

And some pics of the scape...

















Please ignore the messy wire management, still need to work on that. I need to build a housing to hold the 6 dimmers not to mention all the other wires. But in the 180 I did awhile ago I built a nice power panel and will be doing the same with this one.

Still need to figure out if I am going to do screen tops or glass. The humidity and temps are actually OK with it being open at the top, so may just do the screen as I already built 3 frames that fit perfectly in between the braces, and depends on how that works out I may install a intake and exhaust fan.