AlexGs 4200 Gallon Display + 2100 gallon fish room? --- New House = New Build

AlexG

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I have been in my new house for just over two weeks and its time to start up a new build thread. I have a temporary tank running right now with a some fish and corals from the old tank but for the most part I sold off what I had and unfortunately had some losses before I was able to move to my new home. Now its time to get building once again and this time I have a completely different plan than the last monster tank system.

Priorities:
  1. Build out the fish room
  2. Transfer temp tank into fish room frag tank
  3. Finish all fish room systems to allow normal operations
  4. Start building the display tanks
  5. Lots of display tank testing
  6. integrate the display tanks into the fish room system
Fish Room
  • Humidity Containment and mitigation system
  • Electrical Sub panel just for the aquariums installed
  • Utility sink
  • 7 Stage 200 GPD RO/DI Unit
  • 80 watt HO UV sterilizer - Will likely add a second sterilizer in the future
  • Radiant heating system with redundant controllers
  • GEO Commercial Calcium Reactor
  • Skimmer - Custom DIY from my last system
  • Primary sump 265 gallon HDPE tank
  • Secondary sump 300-500 gallons TBD
  • 200 gallons RODI water storage
  • 450 gallon frag tank DIY
  • 720 Gallon Refugium/research tank DIY
  • 150 Gallon glass tank Mantis/research tank
  • Main Return Pump Abyzz A400
  • Secondary return pumps for auxiliary tanks TBD
  • Inline water change tanks TBD possibly 250-500 gallons
Display Tanks
  • Construction Glass sides with composite bottom
  • Will feature reef and non-reef safe fish displays
  • Tank Size (CLASSIFFIED) Use your imagination for now (Still not finalized)
Since I have a temporary system running my first priority is to get part of my new system up and running so that I can teardown the temp tank since it is basically an indoor pond made from 2x4s and plywood with a pond liner. I am thinking that if I can get the frag tank up and running along with the 265 gallon sump I can move everything over at that point and then I can continue with expanding the fish room out the rest of the way. So far I have the RO/DI system operational again along with a 100gallon water storage tank. I cannot describe how much I disliked making RO/DI water one five gallon bucket at a time which take 35-40 minutes per bucket. I also decided I wanted my fish room to look nicer so I put down some epoxy paint on the floor. The epoxy paint turned out great it was just not so much fun moving everything from one side of the fish room to the other for painting but its done now. I have moved on to starting to layout the fish room tanks so I can move on to electrical and plumbing. At this time I am not going to share my plans for the display tanks but I included a couple pictures of the finished basement so feel free to speculate about the size but I am not telling. I am going to build my displays DIY again so I can get exactly what I want. I will be sure to post updates as I progress through this build and might even make some YouTube videos along the way.

Temp tank and finished part of the basement where the displays will eventually go
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Fish Room pictures of the mess and the progress
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I hope there are no extra parts left after I get done building the fish room. I did not make an Ikea style set of instructions when I tore down the old tanks.
20201217_125808.jpg


First piece of the fish room puzzle is going together. Resurrecting the old reef tank stand which will now be a frag tank.
20201217_125814.jpg
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Smarkow

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This thread being started is the best thing to happen me today, in an already awesome day. For comparison - first day off work since thanksgiving, wife let me have bacon this morning, picked up my new iphone, found a random unused amazon gift card in an old drawer.

haha all jokes aside, I love that you have a legit “Order of operations” type plan above.

Your last plywood build was super cool. Good luck and godspeed :)

2056CD34-BF44-4CEB-A1D0-DCD668B802B3.jpeg
 
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AlexG

AlexG

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First update so excited to share. Its now official my fish room has had its first flood. When I was moving my water storage tank the other day I snapped off the drain valve assemble but thought I can salvage this. I took out the broken piece of the ball valve and attached a new one to the tee fitting. Guess I should have checked the bottom side of the tee fitting as it was cracked and when ~30 gallons of RO/DI water was in the storage tank it started leaking. I caught it before it was bad and only a few gallons of water got on the floor. I also managed to move something causing my UV sterilizer to fall shattering the quartz sleeve and then I cut myself on the broken quartz sleeve. On the plus side the UV sterilizer parts were on sale :)

20201221_065029.jpg

I also started on my first focus project the 450 frag tank. The 450 will be a pond liner tank with a front window. I am going this route because it should have a faster built time with less expense. Since I already had a stand and glass it seemed like the best route to go. I have started building a frame for the sides of this tank and have even managed to anchor the front and back into the stand. The side frames for the bracing will be different though as I needed them to be on the outside of the stand due to the width of the glass from the old tank. The glass frame will also be getting beefed up with extra supports to ensure the glass has a good bonding overlap surface. Once the framing is done I will move on to adding a plywood skin to the framed sides.

20201221_065103.jpg


I will say though that the bonding of the pond liner to the glass will have some experimentation factor to it as I have not does this before. I have also not been able to find too much on the subject but I know it can be done. I started my first experiment with a small piece of pond liner and silicone 1. Un-sanded pond liner directly to the glass. Seems that the bond is rather weak when trying to pull away from the glass but a lateral pull is holding strong. I am likely going to test this out with RTV108 or another pond product called gold label which I have read can be used for to make a strong bond between the pond liner and glass. I will also make a pond liner test with a sanded pond liner to provide a rough surface for the silicone to see how that holds. As this bonding will be more like pressure seal I do not anticipate this to be an issue but I will still need to do lots of testing. If it works it will give me the green light to use the same method of construction for the 720 gallon refugium tank.

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AlexG

AlexG

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More progress on the frag tank today. All the bracing sides have been secured to the stand and fully secured with screws. I decided I will add one row of cross braces on the tank walls which should not be needed. It's a piece of mind though and I will skin the interior with 3/4" plywood. It's not going anywhere. I will use two cross braces to secure the long sides of the tank together. I have a fun idea for these which will be a new method I have not used before but will be a good test for the new display tanks. Will share once its added to the tank. Here are some pictures of the progress.

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Smarkow

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I will also make a pond liner test with a sanded pond liner to provide a rough surface for the silicone to see how that holds. As this bonding will be more like pressure seal I do not anticipate this to be an issue but I will still need to do lots of testing.
I *think* this is what joey/king of diy advocates for his tanks?

Good luck
 

Devaji

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WOW @AlexG so excited to fallow this was sad that you moved and torn down the other two tanks but I knew you would be back at it and look you're not wasting anytime.

question what epoxy did you use for the basement flor it does look good. I will be doing that to my floor sometime soon. they maybe and I mean maybe get to set up a FOWLR down there.

I like your pond liner 420 gal frag tank I think that was a smart idea using what you have. and man think of all the frag you can grow! I hope you did not sale all those nice "rare" softies.

fallowing this one for sure!
 

Thaxxx

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Hi @AlexG
Loved your last build and watched all of your videos. I may have missed if you mentioned it. Are you planning to make any videos with this build?
 
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AlexG

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WOW @AlexG so excited to fallow this was sad that you moved and torn down the other two tanks but I knew you would be back at it and look you're not wasting anytime.

question what epoxy did you use for the basement flor it does look good. I will be doing that to my floor sometime soon. they maybe and I mean maybe get to set up a FOWLR down there.

I like your pond liner 420 gal frag tank I think that was a smart idea using what you have. and man think of all the frag you can grow! I hope you did not sale all those nice "rare" softies.

fallowing this one for sure!

I used Rustoleum Epoxy Shield - Basement. It was low VOC and the best part was its one coat application. I hate painting so it was a plus for me.
https://www.rustoleum.com/product-c...oncrete-floor-coatings/basement-floor-coating

I still have my Stereoneptheas. One colony had a little bit of die off but there are several small colonies that are doing well. The pink one is growing into a monster and will be fragged once I get everything settled into the frag tank. My giant bali xenia mostly died off right after the first move but a tiny piece survived and is slowly growing back.
 
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AlexG

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Hi @AlexG
Loved your last build and watched all of your videos. I may have missed if you mentioned it. Are you planning to make any videos with this build?
Yes I will be making videos with this build. Lots of DIY projects that I would like to share that might be a great success or a failure. Either way I want to share what works and does not work.
 

Devaji

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I used Rustoleum Epoxy Shield - Basement. It was low VOC and the best part was its one coat application. I hate painting so it was a plus for me.
https://www.rustoleum.com/product-c...oncrete-floor-coatings/basement-floor-coating

I still have my Stereoneptheas. One colony had a little bit of die off but there are several small colonies that are doing well. The pink one is growing into a monster and will be fragged once I get everything settled into the frag tank. My giant bali xenia mostly died off right after the first move but a tiny piece survived and is slowly growing back.

I was wondering if that is what you used on the floor. glad you found it east to use and worked for you. what did you have to do to prep the floor? I have an old basement even and a few cracks i am working with.

oh so glad you have the stereos when its time to frag do let me know :)
 
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AlexG

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I was wondering if that is what you used on the floor. glad you found it east to use and worked for you. what did you have to do to prep the floor? I have an old basement even and a few cracks i am working with.

oh so glad you have the stereos when its time to frag do let me know :)

I just did a really good sweep then vacuumed. Then I went through with a scraper as there were some spots where glues or adhesives had dripped on the floor which all came right off with the scrapper. I also used some dish soap to clean the floor for the first half I did but it really did not make a difference as there was nothing beyond dust on the floor as there were no signs of oil or grease on the floor which would have needed the soap and water treatment. I did a second look with the scraper and pick up a few more little drops on the floor then I vacuumed a second time before mixing the epoxy paint. I was really easy and put down a thick coat without an issue. If you have cracks I would fill them with a specific crack filling caulk after the epoxy is applied as it really does not fill cracks. The expansion joint cracks I am leaving along for the time being in my basement. I will let you know when I have some frags.
 

NoviReefGuy

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I have been in my new house for just over two weeks and its time to start up a new build thread. I have a temporary tank running right now with a some fish and corals from the old tank but for the most part I sold off what I had and unfortunately had some losses before I was able to move to my new home. Now its time to get building once again and this time I have a completely different plan than the last monster tank system.

Priorities:
  1. Build out the fish room
  2. Transfer temp tank into fish room frag tank
  3. Finish all fish room systems to allow normal operations
  4. Start building the display tanks
  5. Lots of display tank testing
  6. integrate the display tanks into the fish room system
Fish Room
  • Humidity Containment and mitigation system
  • Electrical Sub panel just for the aquariums installed
  • Utility sink
  • 7 Stage 200 GPD RO/DI Unit
  • 80 watt HO UV sterilizer - Will likely add a second sterilizer in the future
  • Radiant heating system with redundant controllers
  • GEO Commercial Calcium Reactor
  • Skimmer - Custom DIY from my last system
  • Primary sump 265 gallon HDPE tank
  • Secondary sump 300-500 gallons TBD
  • 200 gallons RODI water storage
  • 450 gallon frag tank DIY
  • 720 Gallon Refugium/research tank DIY
  • 150 Gallon glass tank Mantis/research tank
  • Main Return Pump Abyzz A400
  • Secondary return pumps for auxiliary tanks TBD
  • Inline water change tanks TBD possibly 250-500 gallons
Display Tanks
  • Construction Glass sides with composite bottom
  • Will feature reef and non-reef safe fish displays
  • Tank Size (CLASSIFFIED) Use your imagination for now (Still not finalized)
Since I have a temporary system running my first priority is to get part of my new system up and running so that I can teardown the temp tank since it is basically an indoor pond made from 2x4s and plywood with a pond liner. I am thinking that if I can get the frag tank up and running along with the 265 gallon sump I can move everything over at that point and then I can continue with expanding the fish room out the rest of the way. So far I have the RO/DI system operational again along with a 100gallon water storage tank. I cannot describe how much I disliked making RO/DI water one five gallon bucket at a time which take 35-40 minutes per bucket. I also decided I wanted my fish room to look nicer so I put down some epoxy paint on the floor. The epoxy paint turned out great it was just not so much fun moving everything from one side of the fish room to the other for painting but its done now. I have moved on to starting to layout the fish room tanks so I can move on to electrical and plumbing. At this time I am not going to share my plans for the display tanks but I included a couple pictures of the finished basement so feel free to speculate about the size but I am not telling. I am going to build my displays DIY again so I can get exactly what I want. I will be sure to post updates as I progress through this build and might even make some YouTube videos along the way.

Temp tank and finished part of the basement where the displays will eventually go
20201205_101015.jpg
20201205_101029.jpg


Fish Room pictures of the mess and the progress
20201205_101106.jpg


20201205_101057.jpg

20201213_142807.jpg


20201213_152106.jpg
20201215_201213.jpg
20201215_225107.jpg
20201217_072419.jpg

20201217_125814.jpg


I hope there are no extra parts left after I get done building the fish room. I did not make an Ikea style set of instructions when I tore down the old tanks.
20201217_125808.jpg


First piece of the fish room puzzle is going together. Resurrecting the old reef tank stand which will now be a frag tank.
20201217_125814.jpg
20201217_075752.jpg 20201213_152102.jpg 20201215_201210.jpg 20201213_142802.jpg 20201213_142805.jpg
Looks Amazing.. Im almost at the same stage of my build.. Curious what you are doing fro Humidity mitigation ? what are you doing on the ceiling.. or are you leaving it exposed?

My fish room will be @ 400 square ft. I'm installing a Panasonic ERV (FV-04VE1) and an in-wall humidifier (Innovative Dehumidifier IW-25-4). I'm lining the walls with Azek panels ( PVC) . flooring will be (https://www.motorcityfloorsandcoatings.com/basement-concrete-coatings)

Fish Room 2.jpg
 
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AlexG

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Some updates for today. I have added plywood to the interior of the frag tank and completed the front frame. Moving on to the cross braces on the tank top and then electrical will likely be next on the list of projects to start. Then sealing up the space for humidity control.

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A worm with high fashion and practical utility: Have you ever kept feather dusters in your reef aquarium?

  • I currently have feather dusters in my tank.

    Votes: 71 37.8%
  • Not currently, but I have had feather dusters in my tank in the past.

    Votes: 63 33.5%
  • I have not had feather dusters, but I hope to in the future.

    Votes: 25 13.3%
  • I have no plans to have feather dusters in my tank.

    Votes: 28 14.9%
  • Other.

    Votes: 1 0.5%
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