Coming back to the hobby with my dream setup

[spicymikey]

After a 20 year pause I am setting up an aquarium again. Always had aquariums starting with my first Gold Fish bowl at age 8 in 1969. Last aquarium was a 140 gal reef. Unfortunately at age 38, with 3 young kids, and a growing business, I had to put it all aside. Now at age 59, my girls are grown and I just sold my company. My wife and I are now retired with plenty of time on our hands! Unfortunately, during those years I developed MS and am now a bit limited in my walking abilities. Used to love sports but there won't be any golfing in my future LOL. So this sounds like a great hobby for me again. 325 Reef Aquarium here I come

Fortunately, I live down the street from WWC's Orlando store and am working with Alex and the guys there to help me get this built. Its a great benefit with my handicap to have someone to do the physical setup beyond just delivering the tank. No lugging 5 gal water buckets for me anymore, even if I wanted too.

So if you are interested in seeing this happen with WWC's help, I will post some photos and share experiences.

Here is my personal renderings for both the DT (which will be in a large "adult gameroom" off the kitchen), and the equipment room (which is on the other side of the wall and is currently a big 10ft x 4ft walk in closet currently off of a utility room. Its an early design so things might change. Any thoughts are welcome!

Really excited about starting up a new reef aquarium again. Man, has technology really changed things from what I can tell!

 

[Peace River]

#WelcometoR2R and congratulations on the new system! Alex is as good as they come and is a wonderful person!

 

[Mike from TN]

Looks like you have it well planned out! Can’t wait to see pictures as it progresse.

 

[spicymikey]

Looks like you have it well planned out! Can’t wait to see pictures as it progresse.

Thanks! I haven't run this sump design by Alex yet. I'm sure he will have of suggestions. He already convinced me a way from external return pumps (at least for now). Its very early stages. Tank won't be here until late January.

 

[Clownfish_Boy]

What a nice setup that will be !

 

[vetteguy53081]

This will be a beauty

 

[spicymikey]

Update: Using Sketchup, I have mocked up an aquascape design that considers fish and coral. Any thoughts or design ideas would be appreciated. I won't be ordering the Marco rock until after the holidays. Tank won't be here until late January or early Feb

 

[don_chuwish]

I love how carefully you're planning this. But I would say don't stress too much drawing out the aquascape - the rock you get sometimes ends up guiding the result. But also, maybe not as high as you're showing in the diagram. Coral will grow up so you want to leave room for that.

 

[spicymikey]

I love how carefully you're planning this. But I would say don't stress too much drawing out the aquascape - the rock you get sometimes ends up guiding the result. But also, maybe not as high as you're showing in the diagram. Coral will grow up so you want to leave room for that.

I love how carefully you're planning this. But I would say don't stress too much drawing out the aquascape - the rock you get sometimes ends up guiding the result. But also, maybe not as high as you're showing in the diagram. Coral will grow up so you want to leave room for that.

Thanks Don. I hear you. This is the general plan but it will definitely change depending on the rocks I have. I left about 9" to the top of the waterline. The tank is 30" deep. Do you think I should leave more than that for growth along the top shelf?

 

[don_chuwish]

9” is close to the 1/3 rule already - before you put anything on the rock. I’d go lower. I have one tower in my 120G that I really wish I’d made a few inches shorter.

 

[encathal]

Hi, I am also getting back in the hobby. Looking at starting a reef tank this time. Last time I had a fish only build.

I saw one thing that I have a question on. I have seen a few videos on YouTube where people did a floating reef build. Other then appearance is there any benefit to it?

Thanks

Richard

 

[spicymikey]

Hey folks, here's a little update on my dream setup. Its been over two months and I am still in the prep phase. One thing I remember clearly about this hobby is nothing happens fast! Still waiting on the tank but it should be here in a couple weeks. Custom sump I designed has also been started and might arrive around the same time as the tank.

Having been an aquarist for a good part of my life, starting with a single goldfish in a bowl at age 7 and ending with a 140 reef at 39, I learned a lot, but I've forgotten a lot too after 20 years away from the hobby. So WWC has been great to work with as a partner on this effort and have offered much input for me during this phase, especially with equipment selection. They will start ordering all the equipment probably next week and they are going to take responsibility for doing all the setup, plumbing, etc. Going to be nice to sit and watch for a change!

The room where all the filtration sits is 12ft by 4ft. Long and narrow since it was created by the joining of two step-in closets that sat adjacent to each other. Its definitely going to be tight, so I decided to invest time in learning Sketchup and designing this in detail because an inch one way or the other will matter. Here is the "final" rendering for the filtration setup and the Aquarium furniture.
Having furniture wrap built after the tank arrives so we can take some critical hard measurements first. The tank will be sitting on a metal frame. The bottom of the stand will be three panels screwed to the frame. The top will be solid but the front will swing open completely on piano hinges to give full access when those four doors won't meet the needs. The side pieces with the bookshelves, and side compartments for housing powerheads, are separate pieces.

Tried to attach a video of the equipment room all finished now but it was too big, but here are some pics.

Thanks for all the input so far. I am taking the advice to lower and thin out the aquascape a bit. The peak will now sit about 12 inches from the water top. asymmetrical with a large opening 2/3 from the left and also more room in the front as well. Input always welcome!

 

[JumboShrimp]

You live down the road from WWC and are getting advice from them??! I’m jealous— who wouldn’t be.

Following your ‘happy retirement build.’

 

[spicymikey]

Yes a few miles away from their South Orlando store near SeaWorld. Very nice people in addition to having a fantastic facility! No need to look very far for my corals .

Here's a couple pics of the actual room that is now ready for the setup. I just had my garage redone with cabinets . While they were at it I had them build me this custom workdesk to fit in the room. Just melamine and formica desktop on pressboard. I looked around but I wanted a small and tall setup to fit this tiny space. Couldn't find anything that worked off the shelf.

12 weeks and counting so far for the tank. Was supposed to be 10 but everyone gets a pass right now with this pandemic.