ntayler
Active Member
I will preface this by saying I had some fairly detailed build progress pics, however my phone somehow jumped in a lake recently and I lost them all (yes I know there are ways to automatically upload stuff to this cloud thing, but I'm rather technology illiterate/lazy). So I'm bummed about that, however I wanted to share my experience thus far and I just snapped a few finished product pics. Hopefully someone can benefit, as I have from all of you. I have a lot to learn still, but it has been a lot of fun (albeit time consuming) getting everything started. I have been lurking the forums forever soaking up as much info as I can, so thank you all for that!!
Tank is an Aqueon 150 gal (6ft x 18" x30" high). I would never buy a reef tank with these dimensions...way too tall, and the narrow width poses scape challenges. It was my freshwater and what I had on hand, so I went with it.
Full display set up. Custom (inexpensively made) stand and floating canopy (wife didn't like the look of the shelving brackets and Kessils). Stand is a simple 2x4 frame, skinned with 1/8" cheap ply and inexpensive molding, and white glossy paint. This was all done with a cheap chop/mitre saw, and the ply was cut at the wood store. My lack of tools was the biggest limiting factor, so I tailored much of the design toward those limitations.
I cut a hole in the wall (2 gang size) and ran all the cords and tubes through. Tank backs up to a coat closet under the stairs, which is where all the ugly stuff stays. I attempted to make the control panel clean and useful, but with all the varying cord lengths it is still a mess
All is controlled by 3x reef keeper lite. I already had them for my freshwater tanks, and I kind of like 3 independent temp probes.
The sump is a 40 breeder. To plumb the dual overflows (each has 2 holes, 4 total), I used a full siphon with a gate valve and an emergency drain on each side. This allows for a lot of flow and dead silence, the only way I'd ever do drains because of the safety and the silence which is important to me.
Drains go to left side of sump and I am now sock-less for the last month and loving it (I do have a small sock draped over skimmer output for micro bubbles only. My sump is completely baffle-less, and contains the skimmer (recirc) and biopellet reactor (does not contain pellets yet as just yesterday was the first time I was even able to detect NO3), and 2 300 watt heaters. 2 BRS reactors for GFO and GAC. Have not run GFO for the last month, but that is another story for a follow up post. Cut a hole in the sump for the pump intake on the right side.
Fuge is a 20 gallon long on the right side, perched up above the pump (Reeflo snapper/dart hybrid gold). Fuge gravity drains into sump. Everything is fed by the main pump, manifold for the reactors and skimmer, return line teed off to feed fuge. Made a custom overflow box for fugue out of scrap black acrylic just siliconed on. I drilled it to accommodate two 3/4" drains (1 full syphon controlled by gate valve, 1 emergency). The lighting is pretty lame I know. Both are par38's that I already had, one is a cheap grow light, other is a 6500k that was a great light source for my old 10 gal planted, so I figured they should work ok. My recent lack of phosphates has limited much new Chaeto growth, but again, thats a follow up post story
Plumbing pics:
I cut some makeshift lids for my sump and portion of fuge with cheap hardware store light diffuser. It is light, strong, and easy to work with. It removes in multiple pieces. I like to think it helps cut down on moisture under the stand, some winter time heat retention, and evap, but who knows.
Pump sits in a tray on the ground, and is below the base of the sump. Return from the pump is 1.5" flex pvc (only about 3 feet for vibrational noise reduction) which goes into 1.5" rigid pvc that tees off at the top and reduces to 1" which extends to each side on the back corners. I used 1" black pvc fittings an pipes for my return outputs. Really glad I went with black, looks much cleaner than white would have.
The actual nozzles are tees with 3/4 inch locline nozzles. There are 3 on each side, and tees are dry fit so I have unlimited options on where the nozzles point, depending on where I want flow. For instance, I needed more flow straight down, so I rotated the first one downward.
Summer time cooling is a cheap fan inside of the canopy. I have been amazed at the cooling power of evaporation! It kicks on automatically when the temp gets too high, and kicks back off a couple tenths higher than the heaters are set for.
Just recently made these cheap screen tops, had my first jumper, an orange spot goby, which was a bummer. Cheap and easy and unable to be seen due to tank height, so I think it was a good idea. Especially since I have diamond goby and melanurus wrasse in QT, figured I better get them done
My scape is all dry rock, mostly the purple walt smith 2.1 or whatever its called. And a couple previously used dry pieces from a buddy. If I do it again I might go with "the package." I am seriously lacking in biodiversity, but I wanted a pest free tank. Tall skinny tank was a pita to scape, but I am fairly content with it. The small pieces on the bottom have moved around a bit, don't know where they will end up. (and yes I know that monti at the top looks dead, my buddy brought it over with flatworms and it did not appreciate the bayer dip...looks like is starting to regain some color in a couple places though)
Mixing station in the garage, fed by a BRS rodi 150 gpd. You'll notice the small gray panel on the wall to the left, it goes through the wall into the room with the tank sad, I know, but it means I only need 15 feet of hose and the pump can quickly fill the tank after a water change or my ATO reservoir in the closet. Ease of maintenance is important to me, and without the wall port I would have to try and run 60 feet of hose from mixing station to tank area.
I also have a 15 gallon QT tank in the laundry room, all fish have gone through at least a 2 week QT/observation period (I know 2 weeks isn't enough, but it will take me 5 years to stock this thing if I did everything for 8 weeks lol). The last addition, hippo tang, displayed ich within a day of getting him home in the QT. He is now in the display after an 8 week hypo treatment which appears to have been successful.
Fish Inhabitants:
Hippo tang
1 firefish
2 chromis
royal gramma
pj cardinal
banggai cardinal
mocha clown female
regular clown male
*in QT now is a melanurus wrasse and diamond goby
Inverts:
various lps, softies and monti, just getting started.
2 emerald crabs (one likes to flip coral frags so he will be going into fuge if/when I catch him
yellow cucumber (actually 2, since he split recently)
cleaner shrimp
tiny brittles
larger brittle star
8 trochus snails (only snails I will ever buy again...they are workhorses)
red legged hermit
15-2- cerith snails
tiger tail cucumber (rarely seen, doesn't cover very much of the tank, would not re purchase)
5 nerites in fuge (did not appreciate the egg cases in the display)
Future planned fish inhabitants:
Magnificent fox
Flame angel (on the fence still, don't want a coral muncher, but they are so beautiful and one of the reasons I wanted to get into saltwater!)
yellow tang (will be one of the last additions)
more fire fish
more chromis
midas blenny
lawnmower blenny
leopard wrasse
flasher wrasse
other small stuff I can't think of right now
That is all for now, I will follow up with trials and tribulations along the way!!!!!
Tank is an Aqueon 150 gal (6ft x 18" x30" high). I would never buy a reef tank with these dimensions...way too tall, and the narrow width poses scape challenges. It was my freshwater and what I had on hand, so I went with it.
Full display set up. Custom (inexpensively made) stand and floating canopy (wife didn't like the look of the shelving brackets and Kessils). Stand is a simple 2x4 frame, skinned with 1/8" cheap ply and inexpensive molding, and white glossy paint. This was all done with a cheap chop/mitre saw, and the ply was cut at the wood store. My lack of tools was the biggest limiting factor, so I tailored much of the design toward those limitations.
I cut a hole in the wall (2 gang size) and ran all the cords and tubes through. Tank backs up to a coat closet under the stairs, which is where all the ugly stuff stays. I attempted to make the control panel clean and useful, but with all the varying cord lengths it is still a mess
All is controlled by 3x reef keeper lite. I already had them for my freshwater tanks, and I kind of like 3 independent temp probes.The sump is a 40 breeder. To plumb the dual overflows (each has 2 holes, 4 total), I used a full siphon with a gate valve and an emergency drain on each side. This allows for a lot of flow and dead silence, the only way I'd ever do drains because of the safety and the silence which is important to me.
Drains go to left side of sump and I am now sock-less for the last month and loving it (I do have a small sock draped over skimmer output for micro bubbles only. My sump is completely baffle-less, and contains the skimmer (recirc) and biopellet reactor (does not contain pellets yet as just yesterday was the first time I was even able to detect NO3), and 2 300 watt heaters. 2 BRS reactors for GFO and GAC. Have not run GFO for the last month, but that is another story for a follow up post
. Cut a hole in the sump for the pump intake on the right side.
Fuge is a 20 gallon long on the right side, perched up above the pump (Reeflo snapper/dart hybrid gold). Fuge gravity drains into sump. Everything is fed by the main pump, manifold for the reactors and skimmer, return line teed off to feed fuge. Made a custom overflow box for fugue out of scrap black acrylic just siliconed on. I drilled it to accommodate two 3/4" drains (1 full syphon controlled by gate valve, 1 emergency). The lighting is pretty lame I know
. Both are par38's that I already had, one is a cheap grow light, other is a 6500k that was a great light source for my old 10 gal planted, so I figured they should work ok. My recent lack of phosphates has limited much new Chaeto growth, but again, thats a follow up post storyPlumbing pics:
I cut some makeshift lids for my sump and portion of fuge with cheap hardware store light diffuser. It is light, strong, and easy to work with. It removes in multiple pieces. I like to think it helps cut down on moisture under the stand, some winter time heat retention, and evap, but who knows.
Pump sits in a tray on the ground, and is below the base of the sump. Return from the pump is 1.5" flex pvc (only about 3 feet for vibrational noise reduction) which goes into 1.5" rigid pvc that tees off at the top and reduces to 1" which extends to each side on the back corners. I used 1" black pvc fittings an pipes for my return outputs. Really glad I went with black, looks much cleaner than white would have.
The actual nozzles are tees with 3/4 inch locline nozzles. There are 3 on each side, and tees are dry fit so I have unlimited options on where the nozzles point, depending on where I want flow. For instance, I needed more flow straight down, so I rotated the first one downward.
Summer time cooling is a cheap fan inside of the canopy. I have been amazed at the cooling power of evaporation! It kicks on automatically when the temp gets too high, and kicks back off a couple tenths higher than the heaters are set for.
Just recently made these cheap screen tops, had my first jumper, an orange spot goby, which was a bummer. Cheap and easy and unable to be seen due to tank height, so I think it was a good idea. Especially since I have diamond goby and melanurus wrasse in QT, figured I better get them done
My scape is all dry rock, mostly the purple walt smith 2.1 or whatever its called. And a couple previously used dry pieces from a buddy. If I do it again I might go with "the package." I am seriously lacking in biodiversity, but I wanted a pest free tank. Tall skinny tank was a pita to scape, but I am fairly content with it. The small pieces on the bottom have moved around a bit, don't know where they will end up. (and yes I know that monti at the top looks dead, my buddy brought it over with flatworms and it did not appreciate the bayer dip...looks like is starting to regain some color in a couple places though)
Mixing station in the garage, fed by a BRS rodi 150 gpd. You'll notice the small gray panel on the wall to the left, it goes through the wall into the room with the tank
sad, I know, but it means I only need 15 feet of hose and the pump can quickly fill the tank after a water change or my ATO reservoir in the closet. Ease of maintenance is important to me, and without the wall port I would have to try and run 60 feet of hose from mixing station to tank area.I also have a 15 gallon QT tank in the laundry room, all fish have gone through at least a 2 week QT/observation period (I know 2 weeks isn't enough, but it will take me 5 years to stock this thing if I did everything for 8 weeks lol). The last addition, hippo tang, displayed ich within a day of getting him home in the QT. He is now in the display after an 8 week hypo treatment which appears to have been successful.
Fish Inhabitants:
Hippo tang
1 firefish
2 chromis
royal gramma
pj cardinal
banggai cardinal
mocha clown female
regular clown male
*in QT now is a melanurus wrasse and diamond goby
Inverts:
various lps, softies and monti, just getting started.
2 emerald crabs (one likes to flip coral frags so he will be going into fuge if/when I catch him
yellow cucumber (actually 2, since he split recently)
cleaner shrimp
tiny brittles
larger brittle star
8 trochus snails (only snails I will ever buy again...they are workhorses)
red legged hermit
15-2- cerith snails
tiger tail cucumber (rarely seen, doesn't cover very much of the tank, would not re purchase)
5 nerites in fuge (did not appreciate the egg cases in the display)
Future planned fish inhabitants:
Magnificent fox
Flame angel (on the fence still, don't want a coral muncher, but they are so beautiful and one of the reasons I wanted to get into saltwater!)
yellow tang (will be one of the last additions)
more fire fish
more chromis
midas blenny
lawnmower blenny
leopard wrasse
flasher wrasse
other small stuff I can't think of right now
That is all for now, I will follow up with trials and tribulations along the way!!!!!
