Cheilinus' basement pool (and rum bar) build

[Cheilinus]

Very nice setup, cool you adopted!

Thank you! Yeah, I have a half-dozen fish now in my pool that have come from systems which they have outgrown. So far there haven't been any real behavioral issues from fish being previously kept in too-small quarters (Blue tang can be a little territorial from time to time, but nothing to be overly concerned about).

 

[Cheilinus]

Just a quick update...

Went to try playing around with a new 'scape the other day, and found that much of my rock work has been "glued" together with growth from a few different types of non photosynthetic sponges. My original idea was to create a smaller, sheltered area in the pool where I could add some hardy corals without worrying about predation from the fishes. Rather than tearing the rock work apart to do so, I decided to let things be, and added a few mushroom frags to the more difficult to reach areas in order to "test the waters".

The mushrooms have been expanding normally, and otherwise doing well for a couple weeks now. The cyano in the pic comes and goes, especially around this time of year when I get a lot of of extra natural sunlight from the window. This is about the worst it's been, which really isn't so bad. I think that a quick re-direct in water flow should take care of the problem.

Before my last cross country move several years ago, I had a 60 gallon hex (wish I had some photos to share) in which I made the uninformed decision to add a small frag of sansibia (blue clove polyps). Was a very pretty coral, but quickly colonized just about every available surface. Not cool in a small mixed reef, but think that having sansibia covering good portions of my LR in the pool would be a nice look. I managed to find a small colony online last night, which arrives tomorrow. Also picked up a couple Xenia and Heteroxenia frags, along with a few more mushrooms.

I'll post some pics once they are acclimated.

 

[Greybeard]

Palythoa, corallimorphs, leathers, xenia... I suspect these will be fine. Don't seem to be very tasty

Xenia, even if the fish _do_ eat it... if it likes your tank, it'll outgrow the grazers

Lookin good What part of the world are you in? I travel some... would _love_ to see this in person, maybe enjoy a short glass of rum

 

[Cheilinus]

Palythoa, corallimorphs, leathers, xenia... I suspect these will be fine. Don't seem to be very tasty

Xenia, even if the fish _do_ eat it... if it likes your tank, it'll outgrow the grazers

Lookin good What part of the world are you in? I travel some... would _love_ to see this in person, maybe enjoy a short glass of rum

I really like the idea of trying some of the leather corals. Especially some of the branching/finger leathers (Sinularia spp.) should they take off and not get eaten. If the sansibia and Xenia do well, these will be next on my list.

I'm in the Detroit area. If you are ever up this way, you are very welcome to stop by

 

[Greybeard]

I'm in the Detroit area. If you are ever up this way, you are very welcome to stop by

I was in Ann Arbor not that long ago... but I generally try and stay out of Detroit. First time I was ever there, during the early 90's, I went to do some sales force automation work for a small grocery wholesaler, near 8 mile and Van **** road. It was _not_ a positive experience. Scary place for a small town boy like me.

Seriously? Filter out a perfectly valid road name? VanDyke... does that work better?

 

[PPi]

I'm in the Detroit area. If you are ever up this way, you are very welcome to stop by [/QUOTE]



In the detroit area! .... well my pond is in waterford, lol. Had been away from this thread and had to catch up. Here is a pic that you requested a while back, lol. Never really did a build, but i certainly can shoot you pics. I am dealing with red slime at the moment, so it looks pretty much the same but red sand lol. In the sps world flow has been the most challenging in this adventure.

 

[Maximizer]

I'm in the Detroit area. If you are ever up this way, you are very welcome to stop by

In the detroit area! .... well my pond is in waterford, lol. Had been away from this thread and had to catch up. Here is a pic that you requested a while back, lol. Never really did a build, but i certainly can shoot you pics. I am dealing with red slime at the moment, so it looks pretty much the same but red sand lol. In the sps world flow has been the most challenging in this adventure.

[/QUOTE]
Would like to hear more about your setup. It's awesome!!

 

[PPi]

Thanks, i have been loving this setup. Its my fish cave for sure, lol. A nice starfire 300 would be nice, but the amount of money i save by not having to pay for the build / ascetics and focus on the contents of the coral and fish is worth it right now in my life. I get to have big fish and not worrying about not enough room for frags.

Have a waveline dc pump pumping through 1.5” to another 100 gal rubbermaid that houses my skimz skimmer, a filter sock, and a mangrove / macro algae section. The return also feeds the brs gfo and carbon reactors as well as the geo CA reactor. From there it returns through dual 1.25” returns. Flow in the pond consists of vortech and koralia’s. All serviced by an apex. Here is a quick pic of the filtration and separate frag system

Seems like everyday i am thinking about what to do next. Want to come up with a surge device that i could implement, but having trouble trying to keep that so it isn’t in the way of everything and look out of place.

 

[caver]

This is so cool I am in Lansing and pruess pets has a decent top down reef that has lots of leathers it looks great.

 

[Maximizer]

Thanks, i have been loving this setup. Its my fish cave for sure, lol. A nice starfire 300 would be nice, but the amount of money i save by not having to pay for the build / ascetics and focus on the contents of the coral and fish is worth it right now in my life. I get to have big fish and not worrying about not enough room for frags.

Have a waveline dc pump pumping through 1.5” to another 100 gal rubbermaid that houses my skimz skimmer, a filter sock, and a mangrove / macro algae section. The return also feeds the brs gfo and carbon reactors as well as the geo CA reactor. From there it returns through dual 1.25” returns. Flow in the pond consists of vortech and koralia’s. All serviced by an apex. Here is a quick pic of the filtration and separate frag system

Seems like everyday i am thinking about what to do next. Want to come up with a surge device that i could implement, but having trouble trying to keep that so it isn’t in the way of everything and look out of place.

Thats why i wanna do one, having the space for things, cheaper, and giving fish the proper room. Is humidity a problem for you? Does the top down view get old and how is the surface agitation? Sorry for all the questions.

 

[PPi]

No problem for any questions, thats what we are all here for. I don’t have any major humidity issues, the room stays at 46% throughout the winter so far, house pipes will sweat, but working on insulating them. Summer it will sit around 55-67%. It helps i have a whole house air exchanger though i think. I love top down, but do miss a side viewing angle. I use a big acrylic viewer when i want to inspect things. Also get 15 min of pumps off during feeding from the apex and that becomes getting personable and being able to feed the fish individually and check out the coral.

 

[PPi]

By the way cheil, didnt mean to fill up your post, just thought it would add to our diy thoughts.

 

[FredsNJReef]

THIS....IS....INCREDIBLE !!

Could we see the Broom Tail Wrasse if the Niger doesn't block him for the pic lol ????

Cheers!!!!

 

[ReefQueen]

I love this! I may have missed it, but what kind of lighting are you using? I have been dying for a predator tank, but now you have me thinking about a predator pool lol.

 

[puffy127]

I love this! I may have missed it, but what kind of lighting are you using? I have been dying for a predator tank, but now you have me thinking about a predator pool lol.

You may have to specify who you are directing your question to. The OP of the thread, @Cheilinus has not updated this nor logged onto R2R since Sept. @PPi, you should start your own build thread rather than add to this one. I love these pond builds and would certainly follow that.

 

[ReefQueen]

You may have to specify who you are directing your question to. The OP of the thread, @Cheilinus has not updated this nor logged onto R2R since Sept. @PPi, you should start your own build thread rather than add to this one. I love these pond builds and would certainly follow that.

whoops, I didn't pay attention to the dates lol. It was to the OP.

 

[PPi]

Yeah, i realized that after the fact, been subscribed to this since the beginning and when someone posted, i was thinkin it was the owner of the thread not lookin to check. I am outta here. Take care

 

[Maximizer]

Yeah that's probably my bad lol. Sorry

 

[owenmck1]

This is awesome! Definitely gives me some ideas for my basement.

 

[Cheilinus]

So sorry it's been so long since I've updated/replied to this thread... My sincerest apologies for not getting back to everyone. Was incredibly busy with work in the fall, and I did a good amount of traveling once things finally slowed down. I also had my email notifications going to an address that I rarely check. Will have to change that.

Hadn't had too much time to do anything other than feed and take care of other usual maintenance, so not a whole lot has changed with the pool since my last update. I did have to make a few stocking changes over the past few months. The 2 large angelfish (annularis and French), along with the unicorn tang were becoming territorial to some of the other fish to the point that I had to re-home them. A friend of mine who watched over things while I was out of town has a 600+ gallon custom tank, and they became his last 3 fish additions. Hopefully being the final 3 fish added to a new system will curb their aggression. He was having a similar problem with an unruly queen angel, which I decided to re-home to the pool. So far, so good on both ends, but in the long run we may have just swapped problems... will have to wait and see.

Here's a pic from today of the queen visiting the cleaner wrasse. Water is looking less than clear, so a much overdue large water change and sump vacuuming is in the works for this evening.

I was in Ann Arbor not that long ago... but I generally try and stay out of Detroit. First time I was ever there, during the early 90's, I went to do some sales force automation work for a small grocery wholesaler, near 8 mile and Van **** road. It was _not_ a positive experience. Scary place for a small town boy like me.

Seriously? Filter out a perfectly valid road name? VanDyke... does that work better?

LOL!! Yes, was surprised by that filter as well! As for Detroit, the downtown area is making a pretty decent comeback, but much of the surrounding areas haven't seen much improvement. We own a Detroit based industrial mechanical systems company, and do a good amount of work in those areas. Unfortunately, we have at least one or two work trucks stolen/gutted every year. Insurance always sorts the financials out, but the down time from having to replace tools, parts... ect... is never fun. Part of the cost of doing business there I guess...

Thanks, i have been loving this setup. Its my fish cave for sure, lol. A nice starfire 300 would be nice, but the amount of money i save by not having to pay for the build / ascetics and focus on the contents of the coral and fish is worth it right now in my life. I get to have big fish and not worrying about not enough room for frags.

Have a waveline dc pump pumping through 1.5” to another 100 gal rubbermaid that houses my skimz skimmer, a filter sock, and a mangrove / macro algae section. The return also feeds the brs gfo and carbon reactors as well as the geo CA reactor. From there it returns through dual 1.25” returns. Flow in the pond consists of vortech and koralia’s. All serviced by an apex. Here is a quick pic of the filtration and separate frag system

Seems like everyday i am thinking about what to do next. Want to come up with a surge device that i could implement, but having trouble trying to keep that so it isn’t in the way of everything and look out of place.

PPi, Your pond and fish room are absolutely incredible!! Really makes me re-think my fish stocking choices! I attempted a few soft corals a while back, but I had to remove them when the triggers kept flipping the rocks that they were attached to. I know it's been a while, but have you made any progress on a surge device yet? That is something that I've considered for my pool as well. And please don't hesitate to post more about your pond and fish room on this thread! I definitely don't mind sharing with a system that looks like yours!!

Also, you mentioned an acrylic viewer. Would love to hear more about that, as it's something that I could definitely use.

This is so cool I am in Lansing and pruess pets has a decent top down reef that has lots of leathers it looks great.

I actually worked there for a bit while I was going to MSU. They didn't have the top-down reef at the time, so I may have to stop by to check that out the next time I go up for a tailgate!

THIS....IS....INCREDIBLE !!

Could we see the Broom Tail Wrasse if the Niger doesn't block him for the pic lol ????

Cheers!!!!

Thanks!!

The broomie is such a difficult fish for me to take decent pictures of. She usually cruises around the bottom, in and out of the rock work. Doesn't help with niger and other enthusiastic feeders constantly making a raucous at the surface.

I love this! I may have missed it, but what kind of lighting are you using? I have been dying for a predator tank, but now you have me thinking about a predator pool lol.

Thank you for the compliment!

I definitely recommend going the pool route for large predators! As for lighting, I have one Kessil A360 hanging directly above the center, along with a RAB lighting LED flood light mounted to the ceiling off to the side to help with glare/reflections. I also get a good amount of natural sunlight from an egress window.



Again, I apologize for the lack of updates and replies!