I've been meaning to start a build thread for a while, but haven't gotten around to it. So I have some catching up to do. This is my first build thread, but the build has been in progress for a few months. Moving along slowly but surely.
To start off, I currently have a 150 gallon display that was a DIY build in my dining room. That started off as a leaking tank that I resealed, and build a wooden stand and canopy for. Currently I have a 20 gallon sump that was converted from a wet dry in the stand for my skimmer, biomedia, and return pump. The sump is packed full and I've always struggled to find room for equipment I'd like to run. This, along with me having gotten into fragging this year has made me decide it's time to upgrade. I am now planning out a DIY sump from a 125 gallon glass tank. The tank was bought as part of a bunch of aquarium stuff I bought together and was leaking when I bought it. I've since resealed it, but haven't tested it for leaks yet.
The plan is to separate the sump into 3 equally sized 40ish gallon sections. First section will have a filter pad, and be filled with live rock for bio filtration. I have a few hundred pounds of dry rock that I've bleached and dried sitting ready to add once the sump is ready. The second section will be my first refugium which I plan to house a variety of macroalgae. The third section will be for the return pump, skimmer, and any other equipment I decide to run in the sump. The sump will be located in the basement almost directly under the display tank.
In addition to the sump, I have a 30 gallon deep blue tank that I plan to set up to house my frags to keep my display tank frag rack free. This frag tank will be tied into the same sump as the display to allow one easy system to maintain and to bring the stability of a 300 gallon system to a 30 gallon frag tank. The frag tank will also be in the basement next to the sump with room to add additional frag tanks in the future.
The build started with me having to make some fixes to my yard and basement, which is what I'm currently working on. Not the funnest, but the build has forced me to make some home improvements which I should have done anyways. My gutters overflow and spill alot of water next to my foundation, and the ground is sloped towards the house. All of the water seeps into the walls and leaks water all over the basement when we get a heavy rain. To combat this, I've installed a french drain across the front of the house, and re-graded the gutters to keep them from spilling over. One gutter was actually tilted the wrong way and basically dumped all of the water from the roof right into the foundation. After this work was done, the basement still leaks some, but is about 90% better. I am going to now have dirt delivered and slope the ground near the house away to push rainwater out. I am also painting the basement walls with drylok extreme as a final measure to block any remaining water away to keep it from getting into the basement.
Once I finish with sealing the leaking water from the basement, I can start the fun part of finishing the sump, installing it, tying it into my current display tank, and setting up the frag tank. I will post many more pictures once I get to that part as I'm sure nobody wants to see a bunch of pictures of me simply working on my house to get it ready.
For the frag tank, I plan on setting it up as a sort of hybrid between a tank that has amazing filtration, and a tank that can be used to take to frag swaps. To do this, I plan to build a short platform for it to sit on that the plumbing can be housed in and capped off with a union when I want to take the tank to a frag swap. Then when I get back, simply put the tank back in place, connect a couple of unions and go back to my usual filtration.
I will get some better pictures to add once I get a chance. You can see my display tank, current sump with my son helping, french drain being installed with my dog helper, 125 gallon tank to be used for sump next to a 225 gallon, and a picture of what the dry storage side of my stand currently looks like. I'll be looking forward to doubling the amount of dry storage under my stand as well so it doesn't keep getting so cluttered.
To start off, I currently have a 150 gallon display that was a DIY build in my dining room. That started off as a leaking tank that I resealed, and build a wooden stand and canopy for. Currently I have a 20 gallon sump that was converted from a wet dry in the stand for my skimmer, biomedia, and return pump. The sump is packed full and I've always struggled to find room for equipment I'd like to run. This, along with me having gotten into fragging this year has made me decide it's time to upgrade. I am now planning out a DIY sump from a 125 gallon glass tank. The tank was bought as part of a bunch of aquarium stuff I bought together and was leaking when I bought it. I've since resealed it, but haven't tested it for leaks yet.
The plan is to separate the sump into 3 equally sized 40ish gallon sections. First section will have a filter pad, and be filled with live rock for bio filtration. I have a few hundred pounds of dry rock that I've bleached and dried sitting ready to add once the sump is ready. The second section will be my first refugium which I plan to house a variety of macroalgae. The third section will be for the return pump, skimmer, and any other equipment I decide to run in the sump. The sump will be located in the basement almost directly under the display tank.
In addition to the sump, I have a 30 gallon deep blue tank that I plan to set up to house my frags to keep my display tank frag rack free. This frag tank will be tied into the same sump as the display to allow one easy system to maintain and to bring the stability of a 300 gallon system to a 30 gallon frag tank. The frag tank will also be in the basement next to the sump with room to add additional frag tanks in the future.
The build started with me having to make some fixes to my yard and basement, which is what I'm currently working on. Not the funnest, but the build has forced me to make some home improvements which I should have done anyways. My gutters overflow and spill alot of water next to my foundation, and the ground is sloped towards the house. All of the water seeps into the walls and leaks water all over the basement when we get a heavy rain. To combat this, I've installed a french drain across the front of the house, and re-graded the gutters to keep them from spilling over. One gutter was actually tilted the wrong way and basically dumped all of the water from the roof right into the foundation. After this work was done, the basement still leaks some, but is about 90% better. I am going to now have dirt delivered and slope the ground near the house away to push rainwater out. I am also painting the basement walls with drylok extreme as a final measure to block any remaining water away to keep it from getting into the basement.
Once I finish with sealing the leaking water from the basement, I can start the fun part of finishing the sump, installing it, tying it into my current display tank, and setting up the frag tank. I will post many more pictures once I get to that part as I'm sure nobody wants to see a bunch of pictures of me simply working on my house to get it ready.
For the frag tank, I plan on setting it up as a sort of hybrid between a tank that has amazing filtration, and a tank that can be used to take to frag swaps. To do this, I plan to build a short platform for it to sit on that the plumbing can be housed in and capped off with a union when I want to take the tank to a frag swap. Then when I get back, simply put the tank back in place, connect a couple of unions and go back to my usual filtration.
I will get some better pictures to add once I get a chance. You can see my display tank, current sump with my son helping, french drain being installed with my dog helper, 125 gallon tank to be used for sump next to a 225 gallon, and a picture of what the dry storage side of my stand currently looks like. I'll be looking forward to doubling the amount of dry storage under my stand as well so it doesn't keep getting so cluttered.