Evensong
Community Member
Specs:
- Tanks: 120-gallon display tank (tank build thread), 65-gallon refugium, Trigger Systems Amethyst 34 sump, phyto culture jars
- Lighting: 48" Giesemann Stellar T5, 2x Kessil A360w Tuna Blue, 2x Kessil A80 (one in the fuge, one in the sump for the frag garden/phyto farm)
- Water movers: Vortech MP40, Sicce Syncra 9.0 (DT return), Danner model 3 (fuge return)
- Mechanical filtration: filter socks, Reef Octopus 150-INT classic skimmer, Coralife Turbo Twist 12x UV sterilizer
- Chemical filtration: Chemipure Blue, activated carbon, Miracle Mud
- Biological filtration: ulva, mangroves, and GHA (the mollies love GHA, so I let it grow in the sump and feed it to them as a treat), Gulf Live Rock pico pack, live phyto dosing
- Tech and automation: Apex A3 Pro, Tunze Osmolator 3, Innovative Marine Helio PTC heater and controller, Kasa smart plugs (lighting)
- Testers: Hanna Checker (alk and PO4), Red Sea (calcium, magnesium, and nitrate), Milwaukee digital refractometer, Salifert (pH)
Livestock:
- Fish: white tail bristletooth tang, Lubbock's fairy wrasse, tailspot blenny, cinnamon clown, 3 lyretail mollies, 1 balloon molly
- Inverts: Green trumpet coral, zoas, mushrooms, Reef Cleaners CUC, tiger conch, giant knobby creeper
Dec 9, 2025 FTS:
Original Post:
I’ll start off this build thread with a story. It’s one you’ve likely heard before. Boy meets girl. Boy sets up a dope saltwater aquarium in the dining room. Boy and girl have a bunch of kids. Boy sells his aquarium. :smiling-face-with-tear:
That was over a decade ago. We had two little kids and not a lot of money to spare, but I thought it would be cool to set up a small saltwater tank for us to enjoy. I received a hand-me-down canister filter and assorted other items from a friend of a friend, and against the odds I managed to set up a cool little 26g bowfront on a shoestring budget, and keep it running for 2 and a half years.
And then we had twins. This brought our total to four kids age 5 and under. Our little row-home now had to fit two cribs, two high chairs, two bassinets… you get the idea. No time, no money, no space for my little reef.
But since then we’ve moved to a much larger home, money is less of an issue, and those twins are about to finish up 3rd grade. And I’m getting the saltwater itch in a bad, bad way. I’m binge-watching BRStv, and browsing Facebook Marketplace. We all know where this is headed.
I’m also not in any hurry. Patience is definitely a virtue in this hobby, and I honestly have plenty of other things to keep me busy. But I’m scheming and dreaming just in case the perfect opportunity pops up to adopt a tank from a local reefer who’s taking a break from the hobby. That’s where you all come in. I want to do it “right” this time around (whatever that means), and I’m new to the world of sumps, pumps, rollers, and controllers. The biology stuff (fish and inverts) is all coming back to me, but I’ve forgotten 90% of what I used to know about lights and wavemakers. IOT is a thing now.
I think I have a perfect location for a 120g or a 150g high. See, I bought this big ol’ Victorian house that’s built like a fortress. The main entry foyer gets a lot of foot-traffic and almost no natural light. In this foyer, there’s a recessed nook for who-knows-what. Probably art. It’s 54” wide and 26” deep, just the right size for a 48x24 tank.
Only having one side of the tank viewable is a downside, but I’m imagining building a tank into this nook and adorning it to look as though it’s original to the house. The Victorians were avid collectors of exotic curiosities, and home aquaria really took off right around the time my house was built. Seems like a fun twist on a modern saltwater setup.
However, I’m a bit concerned about plumbing if I encapsulate this thing on 3 sides. What should I be looking out for here, or preventive measures I should take? Or is this concept simply destined to fail? I’d have about 3 inches on each side to work with. The other side of the back wall is a seldom-used hallway, and I could potentially build an access panel there. The basement below is unfinished with open joists, a ceramic tile floor, and a thorough drain and sump pit system. I’m not too concerned about identifying water damage if anything were to leak, but obviously I want to prevent that, not fix it after the fact.
Anyway, here are some photos!
The future aquarium nook?
Some other details from around that house that I'm using for inspo. I'd like the base to look something like this:
Maybe incorporate some wrought iron vents? I have a spare one of these gathering dust in the basement.
Or wooden fretwork? This is above the doorway in the same room...
...or these are found in similar nooks elsewhere in the house:
Although I'm a decent carpenter, I'm not sure I could do a reproduction justice. I do have a friend with a CNC machine, though. I like the idea of building out an archway like this last photo as a way to hide the light fixtures.
And just for fun, here's a couple FTS of that li'l reef that started it all:
So that's the plan. In the meantime, I’m keeping an eye out for equipment, and open to recommendations on this build.
Things I think I need:
Things I think I want:
Things I might add later on:
- Tanks: 120-gallon display tank (tank build thread), 65-gallon refugium, Trigger Systems Amethyst 34 sump, phyto culture jars
- Lighting: 48" Giesemann Stellar T5, 2x Kessil A360w Tuna Blue, 2x Kessil A80 (one in the fuge, one in the sump for the frag garden/phyto farm)
- Water movers: Vortech MP40, Sicce Syncra 9.0 (DT return), Danner model 3 (fuge return)
- Mechanical filtration: filter socks, Reef Octopus 150-INT classic skimmer, Coralife Turbo Twist 12x UV sterilizer
- Chemical filtration: Chemipure Blue, activated carbon, Miracle Mud
- Biological filtration: ulva, mangroves, and GHA (the mollies love GHA, so I let it grow in the sump and feed it to them as a treat), Gulf Live Rock pico pack, live phyto dosing
- Tech and automation: Apex A3 Pro, Tunze Osmolator 3, Innovative Marine Helio PTC heater and controller, Kasa smart plugs (lighting)
- Testers: Hanna Checker (alk and PO4), Red Sea (calcium, magnesium, and nitrate), Milwaukee digital refractometer, Salifert (pH)
Livestock:
- Fish: white tail bristletooth tang, Lubbock's fairy wrasse, tailspot blenny, cinnamon clown, 3 lyretail mollies, 1 balloon molly
- Inverts: Green trumpet coral, zoas, mushrooms, Reef Cleaners CUC, tiger conch, giant knobby creeper
Dec 9, 2025 FTS:
Original Post:
I’ll start off this build thread with a story. It’s one you’ve likely heard before. Boy meets girl. Boy sets up a dope saltwater aquarium in the dining room. Boy and girl have a bunch of kids. Boy sells his aquarium. :smiling-face-with-tear:
That was over a decade ago. We had two little kids and not a lot of money to spare, but I thought it would be cool to set up a small saltwater tank for us to enjoy. I received a hand-me-down canister filter and assorted other items from a friend of a friend, and against the odds I managed to set up a cool little 26g bowfront on a shoestring budget, and keep it running for 2 and a half years.
And then we had twins. This brought our total to four kids age 5 and under. Our little row-home now had to fit two cribs, two high chairs, two bassinets… you get the idea. No time, no money, no space for my little reef.
But since then we’ve moved to a much larger home, money is less of an issue, and those twins are about to finish up 3rd grade. And I’m getting the saltwater itch in a bad, bad way. I’m binge-watching BRStv, and browsing Facebook Marketplace. We all know where this is headed.
I’m also not in any hurry. Patience is definitely a virtue in this hobby, and I honestly have plenty of other things to keep me busy. But I’m scheming and dreaming just in case the perfect opportunity pops up to adopt a tank from a local reefer who’s taking a break from the hobby. That’s where you all come in. I want to do it “right” this time around (whatever that means), and I’m new to the world of sumps, pumps, rollers, and controllers. The biology stuff (fish and inverts) is all coming back to me, but I’ve forgotten 90% of what I used to know about lights and wavemakers. IOT is a thing now.
I think I have a perfect location for a 120g or a 150g high. See, I bought this big ol’ Victorian house that’s built like a fortress. The main entry foyer gets a lot of foot-traffic and almost no natural light. In this foyer, there’s a recessed nook for who-knows-what. Probably art. It’s 54” wide and 26” deep, just the right size for a 48x24 tank.
Only having one side of the tank viewable is a downside, but I’m imagining building a tank into this nook and adorning it to look as though it’s original to the house. The Victorians were avid collectors of exotic curiosities, and home aquaria really took off right around the time my house was built. Seems like a fun twist on a modern saltwater setup.
However, I’m a bit concerned about plumbing if I encapsulate this thing on 3 sides. What should I be looking out for here, or preventive measures I should take? Or is this concept simply destined to fail? I’d have about 3 inches on each side to work with. The other side of the back wall is a seldom-used hallway, and I could potentially build an access panel there. The basement below is unfinished with open joists, a ceramic tile floor, and a thorough drain and sump pit system. I’m not too concerned about identifying water damage if anything were to leak, but obviously I want to prevent that, not fix it after the fact.
Anyway, here are some photos!
The future aquarium nook?
Some other details from around that house that I'm using for inspo. I'd like the base to look something like this:
Maybe incorporate some wrought iron vents? I have a spare one of these gathering dust in the basement.
Or wooden fretwork? This is above the doorway in the same room...
...or these are found in similar nooks elsewhere in the house:
Although I'm a decent carpenter, I'm not sure I could do a reproduction justice. I do have a friend with a CNC machine, though. I like the idea of building out an archway like this last photo as a way to hide the light fixtures.
And just for fun, here's a couple FTS of that li'l reef that started it all:
So that's the plan. In the meantime, I’m keeping an eye out for equipment, and open to recommendations on this build.
Things I think I need:
- 48” x 24” reef-ready tank
- DIY stand (I’m thinking a marble countertop supported by a cleat lagged to the framing, with raised panel oak doors below to match the existing chestnut trim)
- 30-40 gallon sump, with refugium (I like the idea of a fuge, on principle. Algae is such an important part of the natural biome, and I’d like to include that in my setup)
- Skimmer
- Refugium light
- Return pump
- Various pipes, valves, bulkheads, etc…. Going to need to do some research here.
- Heaters x2
- Temp controller
- Wavemakers x2
- LED lights & timer
- RO/DI setup
- 32 gallon Brute trash can
- Mixing pump
- Siphon vacuum
- Refractometer
- Thermometer
- Test kits or Hanna checkers
- Algae scraper
Things I think I want:
- Quarantine tank setup
- Manual fleece roller (love the idea of a roller instead of socks, but the auto-rollers seem to have too many failure points for my taste. I’d rather spend 5 seconds turning a knob every few days)
- ATO and reservoir
- Battery backup
Things I might add later on:
- Apex controller (kinda depends on the other things I get. Seems like pumps and stuff are getting smarter)
- Dosing pump
Last edited:
perfectly
Will do!
