Custom 100 gallon built in stair landing with slide access

[Ancient Mariner]

Current status Feb2024:

Oct 2022:

This built in 100g reef was constructed in 2003 when we did a major whole house renovation. It was placed inside the landing of the stairs as that really was the only location for a built in aquarium that didn’t require the construction of an additional wall/room/area. To have the tank at eye level when sitting, the top of the tank had to be very close to the floor joist in which the metal halides were to be placed. This imposed design challenges for lighting, temperature control and tank access. The area below the stair landing was developed into a cramped aquarium room. It has a sink, tiled shower pan with drain, 6 outlets on 2 different circuits, and a ventilation fan with an in line supplemental fan that is constantly on. It is accessed through the coat closet.

I had decent success although suffered 3 major crashes. I replaced the display tank in December 2019.

This build thread will concentrate on the development of the replacement tank.

Display tank: 2019 custom acrylic with no center brace 40”X24”HX26”D with exterior overflow box.

Sump: 55g stock acrylic tank (Tenocor 2003) with 4 drilled holes (1”? I can’t recall the exact size) for external pumps. I only use 2, 1 for return pump and 1 for skimmer

Return pump: Iwaki MD-40XRT

Skimmer: external Aqua-C EV-240 driven by Iwaki MD-40RT

Lights:
2 400w MH (20K) —Hamilton Lighting fixture built into floor joist of stair landing.

2 Reefbrite XHO 50/50 36” strips that just rest on top of the tank without mountings.

Circulation pumps:
2 MP-40 Vortech
1 4K maxspect gyre

Calcium reactor:
Korallin C-1502

Chiller: Arctica 1/3 hp

Details of the build to follow!

 

[NowGlazeIT]

It…..it slides out!? Beautiful!!

 

[Just John]

What! A tank drawer!

 

[James_O]

How does that even work!? All of that weight? :0

 

[Tcook]

Wow. Those are teaser pictures. We need more of that sliding action and of the fish closet

 

[Ancient Mariner]

Part1: The sliding stand

As the top of the tank is so close to the floor joists (2.5” from the top of the tank to the bottom of the joist) the only way to access the tank was to slide it forward. Luckily my builder can build anything and knowing the weight and salt issues said it could be done!

The base shelf is 2 pieces of 3/4” plywood supported at the edges by hefty aluminum corner edging:

 

[Ancient Mariner]

The base is attached to 2 industrial strength slides rated at 800lbs each:

 

[Ancient Mariner]

Each slide is attached to 2X4’s bolted to the studs. This view is the backside showing the sump under the sliding shelf. All plumbing has to be flexible tubing due to the movement.
(Edit: Actually the wood for the slide attachment looks more like 3X3 or something more substantial and I’m pretty sure there’s a whole lot of supporting structures behind the wall to which they are attached.)

 

[Ancient Mariner]

The tanks slides out 8”. It’s tight but I have skinny arms!

 

[Tcook]

What did you treat the joists and drywall with? Resin? I'm sure you have a good exhaust fan in there. I have never seen a tank like this. Quite amazing.

 

[Ancient Mariner]

What did you treat the joists and drywall with? Resin? I'm sure you have a good exhaust fan in there. I have never seen a tank like this. Quite amazing.

There is no drywall above the tank. It’s all exposed . I did place an insulated aluminum sheeting used in automotive applications between the joists in which the halides are placed but I’m not sure that was needed as I have a fan that adequately cools things off. The exposed wood was painted with a white oil based paint and does have a light salt covering that seems to act as a preservative. No rotting after 18 years!

 

[Ancient Mariner]

Part 2: The aquarium room

The area under the staircase is our coat closet. But the area under the landing houses the aquarium room. During our house renovation in 2003 we installed a tiled “shower” pan with drain and sink under the landing. Access to this area is through the closet. The aquarium and sump are installed over the pan. There are a total of 6 outlets on 2 dedicated circuits. There is a ventilation fan augmented by a high volume in line fan that is constantly on.

 

[Gedxin]

Amazing custom build. Thank you for sharing!

 

[Ancient Mariner]

Part 3:

The tank

I had the tank custom built from 3/4 inch acrylic (40”x24”Hx26”D) with a rear external overflow box and 2 returns. There is no center brace. The back and sides are painted black. There was no option for using black acrylic.

I used midwestcustomaquariums.com. They were great with great communication, responsiveness, and speed. Shipped freight to a FedEx freight terminal where I picked it up with a rented Home Depot truck. Painless!

The rock/sand

As this was an upgrade from my previous reef I had old manmade artificial Walt Smith live rock that I bought from Pacific East Aquaculture in 2003 that back then was cultured in the ocean before shipping to PEA. So this was very well aged mature rock but covered in bubble algae and cyano! They were also covered in Aiptasia but this was 99% cleared by Berghia nudibranchs in the old reef.

so, I used 1/2 of this old rock after cleaning and scraping the heck out of it. I added new Walt Smith artificial rock (dry and DEAD) I bought from Live Aquaria. So it was 50% old live rock and 50% new dead/dry rock.

I also used accumulated sand and muck from the old reef , uncleaned/not rinsed (5-10#). The old reef was bare bottom so the debris was broken down rock, scraped coralline algae, and precipitated CaCo3 (I presume). I used a bag of new CaribSea medium sand to cover the old muck so it wouldn’t blow around.

The old live rock in the new tank with the old muck covered by new sand:
(November 2019)

The new dead rock (purple) added over the old rock:

 

[Ancient Mariner]

Part 4:

The Cycle and Maturation

Given that I used half live rock and the unwashed sediment that settled to the bottom of my previous reef, I assumed that I’d be able to start with SPS and clams right off the bat immediately. WRONG!

I cycled the new system for several
weeks with 2 surviving corals (ORA mint green pavona and Mummy eye chalice) and a yellow tang from the previous reef. There was no ammonia/nitrite/nitrate spike at all. So the nitrification and denitrification cycle from the old reef was intact.

So I dived in buying SPS with an ORA premium acropora pack and a BTA. However the BTA within hours was sucked into the circulation pump and chopped up turning the water into a milky smelly mess. The end result was a wipe out of all the frags.

I restocked within a few weeks including a splurge in a bunch of clams from Pacific East Aquaculture and two large maximas from my LFS. The bottom line is that my tank couldn’t support Acropora or clams. I had difficulty with Montiporas losing digitatas and encrusting types. I initially blamed lighting as all parameters were good including alkalinity at 9-10 dKH and Ca near 500. I constantly adjusted lighting schedules and coral placements. All clams eventually died within a month or two, and the few Acropora that survived had zero growth. Pocillaporas and Stylophoras (except ORA Stellar Stylo) did OK with noticeable growth. However Seriatoporas were absolutely stagnant. Even my surviving pavona did nothing. I bought replacements hoping that maturity was just around the corner. Over time I bought 2 PC Rainbows, 2 Red Planets, 2 Green Planets, strawberry shortcake, 2 ORA Pearlberrys, ORA Plum Crazy and Purple Plasma, all of ORA’s inexpensive stags (eg Miami Orchid), and maricultured Tenuis and tortuosa. They all did poorly and most died. This went on for a year. All parameters were always good.

In the meantime there was a mild hair algae bloom that only lasted weeks followed by thick yellow slime I assume was dinoflagellates. The dino’s lasted months. I used no additional treatments except regular vacuuming and siphoning and water changes. Nitrates and phosphates were near 0 but I added none. The slime was relentless. But near the 1 year mark there was improvement and I upped my vacuuming and water changes to twice a month. Soon the dino’s we’re gone.

Then came cyano, bubble algae, and Aptasia. And they continue to this day. But that’s for a later section.

 

[Ancient Mariner]

The tank newly stocked February 2020.

 

[HiImSean]

That thing sliding out give me so much anxiety

 

[Little c big D]

Holy crap someone feature this as tank of the month. For the slide alone!

 

[Ancient Mariner]

That thing sliding out give me so much anxiety

There was anxiety in the beginning but not now after 18 years.

 

[Ancient Mariner]

Part 5

Stocking the tank

My plan was an SPS dominant mixed reef. So my approach to buying coral was buy cheaply and often. For SPS I bought a lot of ORA frags from Live Aquaria mainly when they were put on sale. So I got alI types including Pocillopora, Stylophoras, Seriatoporas, Pavona, and Acropora. I also bought LPS frags (hammer, Duncan, Cyphastrea , Acanthastrea) and encrusting Montiporas from Vivid Aquariums. I bought several softies from Live Aquaria including Cespitularia, Red Sea Pom Pom Xenia, Capnella. I got clams which eventually died as described above from Pacific East Aquaculture.

By the 1 year mark the non-acropora frags we’re doing very well. The Acroporas and Seriatoporas were seriously stagnant with very little PE to excite me. I was so thoroughly down on Acroporas that I had shifted my plan to a non acropora SPS tank. I accumulated 10 Pocillopora frags and 6 stylophoras! But at the time the nuisance algae/ Dino’s dissipated the coralline algae started up and Acro’s started to perk up and grow.

By the 1.25 year mark I was back in business with Acroporas. Since then everything has done well. The tank in May 2021: