Wife signed off a full build with an “open budget”

[Swfiend]

So I’ve had this reef bug for years and had downsized all the way to a 10g when my wife and I moved in together, luckily this little tank and the ease of it allowed her to fall in love with the tank and hobby as a lifestyle over the years we have had tanks from 5gallons to 150g

but always second hand other than our last tank which was a custom 48x24x26 peninsula and together we built a steel stand solid oak skin and everything.

This was our first scratch build and she loved it but renting we couldn’t go any bigger and always talked about getting a bigger tank when we found the right house.

That tank was with us 7 years or so (still with us) but I always wished it was bigger and my wife agreed.


We found the perfect little house and we both agreed that this time we will do it no stops.

We were bringing fish with us that we have had for years including our very first fish we purchased together 13 years ago. He has been thru every tank we have owned and moved several times with us.

 

[Jedi1199]

So I’ve had this reef bug for years and had downsized all the way to a 10g when my wife and I moved in together, luckily this little tank and the ease of it allowed her to fall in love with the tank and hobby as a lifestyle over the years we have had tanks from 5gallons to 150g

but always second hand other than our last tank which was a custom 48x24x26 peninsula and together we built a steel stand solid oak skin and everything.

This was our first scratch build and she loved it but renting we couldn’t go any bigger and always talked about getting a bigger tank when we found the right house.

That tank was with us 7 years or so (still with us) but I always wished it was bigger and my wife agreed.


We found the perfect little house and we both agreed that this time we will do it no stops.

We were bringing fish with us that we have had for years including our very first fish we purchased together 13 years ago. He has been thru every tank we have owned and moved several times with us.

Congrats on the new house.. the new build.. and even more for the understanding wife!!! Looking forward to seeing the new tank as it comes to life!! Good luck and best wishes... BTW does she have a similarly understanding sister? lol

 

[Swfiend]

So the house we found was perfect for our growing family BUT we didn’t have an ideal tank location in this house!

I was worried our dream tank would have to hit the back burner for longer but my wife being as awesome as she is went for my wild suggestion of tank location placement

The only spot in the house I liked and was big enough for the tank had a big ugly fireplace and in the 8 years at our previous place with a fireplace we never used it once

We discussed it and talked to an engineer got plans done and demo started along with floor supporting for the incoming tonnage

We left the firebox as it allows us to re open the wall in the future if we ever sell and retain the fireplace.

The engineer had us add piers, girder and sister into the existing joists. Luckily for us the area we chose was also one of the sturdiest built sections of the house as there was 2 near by foundation walls and another pair of girders along with the joists running the right way for us!

We braced up the firebox, mortared up the bricks to smooth up everything aswell as creating a level floor

I sealed up the wall and my first attempt at drywalling

Flushed everything out even thought it will be blocked by the tank
We chose a wall color to help the tank POP

All that was left was to tile up the new floor section and seal everything/waterproof

 

[Swfiend]

Congrats on the new house.. the new build.. and even more for the understanding wife!!! Looking forward to seeing the new tank as it comes to life!! Good luck and best wishes... BTW does she have a similarly understanding sister? lol

She does but she’s married with 3 kids haha

 

[Jedi1199]

She does but she’s married with 3 kids haha

oh well... lol

 

[Swfiend]

We shopped around and himmed n hawwed at what size tank we were going with and more so was I building another stand or are we buying a prebuilt or???


I finally found the tank 72x30x30 3/4” thick starfire 3 sides with an aluminum stand with white piano finish. Definitely “POPs” off that wall

Here’s our little one when we went to take delivery of the tank she was terrified at how big it was, not going to lie I was feeling the stress setting in as we were actually committed to this!

I knew what I was getting myself into well I thought I did until I watched 6 grown men and a forklift attempt to load this massive tank into the trailer I brought to pick it up…

They get it into the trailer and we are on our way! I had a plan get the tank onto the dollys, use our ramp door to get the tank onto the porch and we got some wheelchair ramps and would just roll from the ramp door up the 2 stairs into the house

Measurements of the door opening with the front door removed left us with 1/2” on each side with the cardboard protectors

We get back and call up a few buddies and a couple of guys who work for me who already were aware of the impending delivery. I planned this out perfectly to get them to come over easily. It’s cinco de Mayo. “I need help come over tacos and beer after we get it on the stand”

As we prep the location and get everything ready my buddy Brian and his girlfriend devan show up first and we start off with getting the stand into the house testing the ramp setup and I can’t believe it.

My planning worked out perfectly! The stand (which weighed more than my 120g glass tank) was moved in so easily we actually had time to sit down and admire it while we waited on the rest of the guys to show up.

Fast forward to 6 of us swearing sweating and struggling to move this giant tank into place. 12 suction cups carrying a fragile load worth more than a small car! Needless to say I was sweating bullets and almost had a heart attack when one of the suction cups popped off!!!


We had the girls line us up and the big push! Or lift I should say we gave it everything we had and made it about 30” off the ground and got told your so close but we had 2 guys shorter than the rest of us on the same side/corner. We ended up back on the floor to reassess and retry.

Shook out our hands wiped off the sweat and 3… 2… 1…. Come on guys everything you got!

It made it up onto the stand! I’m elated, relived and overcome with reality of this massive tank.

We pushed it around got it exactly where we wanted it and then the hard works begins. Using my brain and making decisions (harder than brute strength any day)

 

[Jedi1199]

You need to turn this into a "Build Thread" so you can get your build thread badge!!

 

[Swfiend]

Even with all the rocks in our other tank we would still need to add another 120lbs minimum to have any kind of scape. Never did a negative space scape and here goes nothing

My Pinterest fail was in full affect hammering rocks into “cool” scapes gluing and then mortaring them into permanent structures

I spent a couple weeks of an hour here couple hours there, looking trying tweaking smashing and finally found something I really liked but was 100% totally different than what I had originally wanted

It evolved

The house had lots of things needing to be done too so I was being pulled in 5 directions in addition to working.

I did manage to get it all solidified into 3 main structures

I set them into the tank and it just didn’t click for me like it did on top of our scaping table (spa)

A little more tweaking and additions in the tank

Perfect! I think we are ready to introduce water

Aaaand sand!

That’s ugly! But hey we need sand for “Mohawk” our Randall’s goby that we have had for 13 years and I have a love for wrasses so it was essential

Let it run and the filters captured all the nasties and the tanks crystal clear let the long ugly part commence

Notice the big hole on the left? That’s for the rock from our other tank

I forgot to take pics of the awesome sump my buddy John at advanced acrylics whipped up for me in record time to help me get this thing going

I also skipped over the week or so of struggling to plumb the tank cleanly and how I wanted (again Pinterest fail)

I didn’t take any pictures for a while as the tank cycled with some of the rock from the other tank and only 2 lights up

I took this pick while adding our other 2 lights

More rock from our old system is coming (still not transferred as I write this today haha)

 

[Swfiend]

You need to turn this into a "Build Thread" so you can get your build thread badge!!

How do I do that?

 

[Jedi1199]

How do I do that?

How did I know you were going to ask me that? Ugghhh Easiest way would have been from the start.. IDK if you can edit the thread yourself. now... I am sure one of the Mods can do it for you though, or at least explain how you can do it yourself...

 

[Swfiend]

How did I know you were going to ask me that? Ugghhh Easiest way would have been from the start.. IDK if you can edit the thread yourself. now... I am sure one of the Mods can do it for you though, or at least explain how you can do it yourself...

Looks like maybe I had to post in a while different forum?

I’m here to share my tank and journey on this build here I’m dedicated already haha

 

[Jedi1199]

No, you set it in the right forum.. you just missed the tick in the box to label it a "Build Thread" IDK if you can edit that yourself now or not. I believe there is a time frame when you can edit as a standard member. Again, if you can't edit it.. I am sure one of the Mods can help you.

 

[Swfiend]

so here is some pictures once the tank rounded the corner and got some corals fish and with all 4 of the lights over the tank

The camera doesn’t pickup the blue light well and shows big hotspots but with an orange filter the lighting shows a little better it’s pretty even and I don’t want to cook my little zoa garden in the middle but I might have to add a 5th in the middle I know I’m pushing the little kessil 360x over these dims but running both the narrow and ultra narrow cones on the lights

I do need to do some par readings on the rock work but sofar I’m seeing growth and nothing over extending reaching for light so I think I’m ok. The gadgets have come a ways since my last tank and this time I wasn’t buying sales or second hand so I could get some cool stuff.

I got a triton then later keep seeing people have issues?? I hope I’m a lucky one but it’s in there now

Our huge sump with a giant fuge/frag section

I went with filter socks since I’m not familiar with fleece rollers at the time kicking myself now but socks are easy

The curve 9 skimmer was noisy the first week but broke in and got silent I’m happy with the results sofar

It’s nice to open up the stand with these clip on clip off door hinges to work on stuff under the tank.

So that’s where we are today now it’s just keeping it going haha

 

[Swfiend]

No, you set it in the right forum.. you just missed the tick in the box to label it a "Build Thread" IDK if you can edit that yourself now or not. I believe there is a time frame when you can edit as a standard member. Again, if you can't edit it.. I am sure one of the Mods can help you.

I didn’t see one only the prefix one but I could. Have totally missed it I’m a newb on here.

 

[Jedi1199]

I didn’t see one only the prefix one but I could. Have totally missed it I’m a newb on here.

No worries bro.. They will take care of you.. Awesome tank.. I look forward to seeing it once it really gets rolling...

 

[ErikVR]

Congrats on the house and the amazing tank!

 

[Derrick0580]

Does she have a sister with the same mentality on spending money?? Lol

 

[Jedi1199]

Does she have a sister with the same mentality on spending money?? Lol

I already tried that...

 

[Swfiend]

So I’m currently dealing with a worst case scenario situation in our new tank.

Our “clean” fish have somehow become infected with ich even tho the new additions were “qt” before buying.

We have lost the infected fish but it has spread across our residents and I’m worried for my irreplaceable yellowtang that’s been with us for 8 almost 9 years as he is coated! Our cleaner shrimp are useless they don’t clean the fish despite the fishes best efforts to get them to clean them

I’ve been using polyp lab medic but after researching I’m going to start h202 dosing along with keeping our uv running

Pray for us

 

[BrittneyC]

So I’m currently dealing with a worst case scenario situation in our new tank.

Our “clean” fish have somehow become infected with ich even tho the new additions were “qt” before buying.

We have lost the infected fish but it has spread across our residents and I’m worried for my irreplaceable yellowtang that’s been with us for 8 almost 9 years as he is coated! Our cleaner shrimp are useless they don’t clean the fish despite the fishes best efforts to get them to clean them

I’ve been using polyp lab medic but after researching I’m going to start h202 dosing along with keeping our uv running

Pray for us

Love the build and so sorry to hear about the ich outbreak! Did your LFS QT them for you or did you buy from an online QT vendor? Keep us updated on how everyone's doing and praying for a favorable outcome!