Where to begin..I first got into reefing this year (2020) because a neighbor was selling her mother's house and asked my wife and I if we wanted her freshwater aquarium. I grew up with freshwater tanks during my childhood and it was a no brainer for us. YES PLEASE! Within one week, we went out and purchased another tank (55g bowfront) with no idea the depth of the hobby. Classic, right? This was around February. Both tanks are running great. My wife keeps the freshwater and I pour all my love into the saltwater tank. However, the more I learned the more I wanted to change. I learned more about SUMPS and filtration, flow, fish, and corals, ect...the list is endless as you all know.
Fast Forward to July 4th weekend..we found out we were having our first child. How amazing! At the same time I decided I really wanted to take on a new, huge, and exciting project surrounding my growing love as a reefer. I scored a 150G glass tank off craigslist through a local hobbyist and the game was on.
Here she is when I first brought her home in my work van. It was drilled with one hole for a 1" bulkhead but I new I wanted so much more...but first, I needed to build the stand.
I've been in trades my whole life, but, what I know my way around the best is electricity. For the past 7 years I've been working for Tesla within the energy division installing solar panels and doing service changes. Now a days, I install the powerwall battery systems. So I said to myself; why not run a dedicated 60A circuit to my garage to a load center that houses 4 x 20A breakers to power 4 x gfci's and rearrange the whole man cave? WHY NOT?!!?
Here's my basement as a took down the TV to rearrange for the tank.
In process still of moving everything..sorry for the blurry photos there!
There is the run to the load center and where I open/repatched the wall to run/reroute my circuits. I have to say my wife is amazing for letting me create such a mess at times!
And finally painting after all the patching was completed...now back to the tank itself. I widened the hole that was drilled with a dremel to run a 1.5" drain. Once I did that, I realized I wanted to drill it for at least a herbie. Once I drilled that, I figured why not drill two more 3/4" returns and run two pumps back. One being through UV. WHY NOT?!!?
From here I new I was on a budget..CAUTION:BABY ON BOARD and I need to make an overflow. I bought a piece of acrylic from a local plastic company and started on my template and laying out my slot width and depth to achieve the flow I would want at most.
I now realize I should of started this a while ago and updated as I went..not only for the help and suggestion that are provided from all the members here..but it's so much at once to get out! I ended up using a table saw to cut my slots for 1500 gph flow. I chose a piece of black cast acrylic that is 5/8ths an inch. I cut using the table saw 1/2 the depth of the sheet on each side roughly 9 inches in and hit it with a heat gun to mold to my pre made template.
Here is one of the final photos I have loaded up for today of the start of my rough/dry plumbing for draining/returns before I officially used weld to put the overflow in place.
That is my stopping point for tonight. Upnext: A list of what equipment will be going into the tank...but for now here is a nice recent Tesla Powerwall pic for you enjoyment.
Fast Forward to July 4th weekend..we found out we were having our first child. How amazing! At the same time I decided I really wanted to take on a new, huge, and exciting project surrounding my growing love as a reefer. I scored a 150G glass tank off craigslist through a local hobbyist and the game was on.
Here she is when I first brought her home in my work van. It was drilled with one hole for a 1" bulkhead but I new I wanted so much more...but first, I needed to build the stand.
I've been in trades my whole life, but, what I know my way around the best is electricity. For the past 7 years I've been working for Tesla within the energy division installing solar panels and doing service changes. Now a days, I install the powerwall battery systems. So I said to myself; why not run a dedicated 60A circuit to my garage to a load center that houses 4 x 20A breakers to power 4 x gfci's and rearrange the whole man cave? WHY NOT?!!?
Here's my basement as a took down the TV to rearrange for the tank.
In process still of moving everything..sorry for the blurry photos there!
There is the run to the load center and where I open/repatched the wall to run/reroute my circuits. I have to say my wife is amazing for letting me create such a mess at times!
And finally painting after all the patching was completed...now back to the tank itself. I widened the hole that was drilled with a dremel to run a 1.5" drain. Once I did that, I realized I wanted to drill it for at least a herbie. Once I drilled that, I figured why not drill two more 3/4" returns and run two pumps back. One being through UV. WHY NOT?!!?
From here I new I was on a budget..CAUTION:BABY ON BOARD and I need to make an overflow. I bought a piece of acrylic from a local plastic company and started on my template and laying out my slot width and depth to achieve the flow I would want at most.
I now realize I should of started this a while ago and updated as I went..not only for the help and suggestion that are provided from all the members here..but it's so much at once to get out! I ended up using a table saw to cut my slots for 1500 gph flow. I chose a piece of black cast acrylic that is 5/8ths an inch. I cut using the table saw 1/2 the depth of the sheet on each side roughly 9 inches in and hit it with a heat gun to mold to my pre made template.
Here is one of the final photos I have loaded up for today of the start of my rough/dry plumbing for draining/returns before I officially used weld to put the overflow in place.
That is my stopping point for tonight. Upnext: A list of what equipment will be going into the tank...but for now here is a nice recent Tesla Powerwall pic for you enjoyment.
