I've had this big tank for a minute, it's been freshwater while I owned it but was a FOWLR tank when previous owner had it. I fell in love with Salt this spring when I set up the 75g I have currently and decided this big tank deserves to have a Reef inside it!
Some of the challenges I am working with are low ceilings in the basement, I'm 6'3 and my head almost brushes the floor joists. Tank is 63 inches tall from floor leaving me with only 16.5 inches clearance above tank. Also this tank has a 22 inch wide 1/2inch thick cross brace in the middle that does NOT amplify light in any way, it diffuses light and 1/2 inch corner bracing.
Tank weighs 1000lbs empty.
the Living room in my basement measures 12x24. the tank room measures 12 x 6.5 feet. I built a wall in front of my tank out of old barn-wood.
I'm going to move this tank forward about 6 feet, making my living room 12x18, and giving myself an actual Fish Room behind the tank, 2 foot of tank in a 6.5 foot room, not a lot of space to work.
I got started on some of the Rock-scaping for this build, I looked at thousands of pictures (ya all got some amazing reef tanks here!!) and I started to get discouraged, looking at how well so many of you have re-created what the GODS created in Nature for us to marvel at because I realized I am entirely to OCD and I tend to build things in symmetry. There is no way what I create will ever look Natural, so instead of trying to do what the GODS did, I get to Play God a little myself. I decided I am going to make a reef wall that I like the looks of, and if it looks to symmetrical to have been created in nature so be it, it will still be a ONE OF A KIND! So I bought some Marco Rock, mostly Base and Foundation. I am not a big fan of marco shelf,not only because of the cost, but I like the cave like feel Foundation rock has when you flip it up-side-down and use it as a shelf. I think it gives my negative spaces more of a natural cave feel, in a very un-natural formation, the irony is not lost on me!
Just getting started making shelves.
Foundation I glued together to make longer shelves.
I took some old pink house sheathing and made a footprint 94x22 the size of the bottom of my tank and started laying things out.
Here is all but 1 piece of the rock laid out on my pattern.
This is pretty much it. I will not say for sure I will not add more shelves, or spurs as I call them to this, I have a little bit of foundation and some base left over, hence the "islands" of coral not connected to the structures!
This is going to be a Build in Progress type thread, I will update as I go. I hope!
I already have an Eshopps ES300 sump, eliminated the socks and hung baskets in there instead.
Vectra L1 return pump
Vortech MP40 wave makers, I have 2.
Hydor 3100gph power head
RO Buddy 50gpd 5 stage water filter which I plan to upgrade to a 100gpd unit by end of summer.
Lots of Seachem Matrix bio media, tons of Polyfil pillow stuffing I use for mechanical filter. Activated carbon and spare media bags, etc.
I will be needing to upgrade my lights. I have Aqaumai LRM LED on my 75g. At 100watts they are a nice "little" light in 16 to 18 inches of water depth but don't provide nearly enough illumination in 30 inches of water. I have been looking at the Radion XR30 G6 Pro, since I run Mobius App already, was also looking at the Orphek Atlantik Icon lights. Now I am looking into the Kessil lights, and I am starting to lean towards the x360 light. I'll be doing more research and no doubt asking ya all for feedback!
The only other equipment I want for this, and I could DIY it, is a Skimmer. I have a DIY on my 75g. It works better than I expected. I made it more as a Joke to try and prove Joey the DIY King wrong, and I failed. it does work!! Just not sure it would handle the bio load I anticipate having on that 8 foot tank!
Any feedback you all can give on a decent skimmer, trying for something rated for heavy bio load at 240 gallons, light load at 500g. in that range! I'd like it to be less than 23 inches tall if poccible, but that's not set in stone, I can always locate it to the side of my tank and not under it!
When I do these threads, I don't just share my build, I am sorry for this but ya all get a look into my life also. Up's and downs.. we all have them. So sorry if I drift off Topic occasionally, I will do my best to circle back asap!
More to Come as my adventure unfolds.
Thought maybe I'd include a picture of the Experiment that got me thinking about converting that big tank to salt. this is my 75g fledgling tank. Been up and running since end of January. The how and why of me having a 60day old tank like this is a topic for another discussion I think. But staring at this is what convinced me to convert that 300!
Some of the challenges I am working with are low ceilings in the basement, I'm 6'3 and my head almost brushes the floor joists. Tank is 63 inches tall from floor leaving me with only 16.5 inches clearance above tank. Also this tank has a 22 inch wide 1/2inch thick cross brace in the middle that does NOT amplify light in any way, it diffuses light and 1/2 inch corner bracing.
Tank weighs 1000lbs empty.
the Living room in my basement measures 12x24. the tank room measures 12 x 6.5 feet. I built a wall in front of my tank out of old barn-wood.
I'm going to move this tank forward about 6 feet, making my living room 12x18, and giving myself an actual Fish Room behind the tank, 2 foot of tank in a 6.5 foot room, not a lot of space to work.
I got started on some of the Rock-scaping for this build, I looked at thousands of pictures (ya all got some amazing reef tanks here!!) and I started to get discouraged, looking at how well so many of you have re-created what the GODS created in Nature for us to marvel at because I realized I am entirely to OCD and I tend to build things in symmetry. There is no way what I create will ever look Natural, so instead of trying to do what the GODS did, I get to Play God a little myself. I decided I am going to make a reef wall that I like the looks of, and if it looks to symmetrical to have been created in nature so be it, it will still be a ONE OF A KIND! So I bought some Marco Rock, mostly Base and Foundation. I am not a big fan of marco shelf,not only because of the cost, but I like the cave like feel Foundation rock has when you flip it up-side-down and use it as a shelf. I think it gives my negative spaces more of a natural cave feel, in a very un-natural formation, the irony is not lost on me!
Just getting started making shelves.
Foundation I glued together to make longer shelves.
I took some old pink house sheathing and made a footprint 94x22 the size of the bottom of my tank and started laying things out.
Here is all but 1 piece of the rock laid out on my pattern.
This is pretty much it. I will not say for sure I will not add more shelves, or spurs as I call them to this, I have a little bit of foundation and some base left over, hence the "islands" of coral not connected to the structures!
This is going to be a Build in Progress type thread, I will update as I go. I hope!
I already have an Eshopps ES300 sump, eliminated the socks and hung baskets in there instead.
Vectra L1 return pump
Vortech MP40 wave makers, I have 2.
Hydor 3100gph power head
RO Buddy 50gpd 5 stage water filter which I plan to upgrade to a 100gpd unit by end of summer.
Lots of Seachem Matrix bio media, tons of Polyfil pillow stuffing I use for mechanical filter. Activated carbon and spare media bags, etc.
I will be needing to upgrade my lights. I have Aqaumai LRM LED on my 75g. At 100watts they are a nice "little" light in 16 to 18 inches of water depth but don't provide nearly enough illumination in 30 inches of water. I have been looking at the Radion XR30 G6 Pro, since I run Mobius App already, was also looking at the Orphek Atlantik Icon lights. Now I am looking into the Kessil lights, and I am starting to lean towards the x360 light. I'll be doing more research and no doubt asking ya all for feedback!
The only other equipment I want for this, and I could DIY it, is a Skimmer. I have a DIY on my 75g. It works better than I expected. I made it more as a Joke to try and prove Joey the DIY King wrong, and I failed. it does work!! Just not sure it would handle the bio load I anticipate having on that 8 foot tank!
Any feedback you all can give on a decent skimmer, trying for something rated for heavy bio load at 240 gallons, light load at 500g. in that range! I'd like it to be less than 23 inches tall if poccible, but that's not set in stone, I can always locate it to the side of my tank and not under it!
When I do these threads, I don't just share my build, I am sorry for this but ya all get a look into my life also. Up's and downs.. we all have them. So sorry if I drift off Topic occasionally, I will do my best to circle back asap!
More to Come as my adventure unfolds.
Thought maybe I'd include a picture of the Experiment that got me thinking about converting that big tank to salt. this is my 75g fledgling tank. Been up and running since end of January. The how and why of me having a 60day old tank like this is a topic for another discussion I think. But staring at this is what convinced me to convert that 300!
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