- Joined
- Jul 23, 2014
- Messages
- 617
- Reaction score
- 705
Yes, I'm back in the hobby... From a successful 90 gallon mixed reef to a 330 gallon build that I completed, but decided not to fill and sell it all because I'd rather dive and travel than be married to a large tank with a huge investment in livestock that could come crashing down, I am now setting up a double 40 Breeder (Petco Sale) Reef as the title states.
I am still diving and spearfishing regularly, in fact heading out tomorrow morning, but my kids have been nagging me for pets and I don't do pet hair everywhere, so water and fish it is. However, I'm building off my previous experiences to set up a very low maintenance, heavily automated tank with the goal of growing out just several large colonies of corals rather than the fruit stand look, crowded with too many species that never grow to any resemblance of their natural structure.
This system will have a frosted back lit background and no visible hardware in the tank in order to make it look as natural as possible. Aquascaping will be thought out to give plenty of hiding spots for fish, yet it will be very shallow to allow room for coral growth.
In the title I mentioned a "true all in one", and that is exactly what this will be. Everything will be confined to the tanks and stand. The 40 breeder sump is being partitioned with a daily automatic water changer reservoir, freshwater ATO reservoir and of course a combination of mechanical, chemical and biological filtration. I built the stand with an internal electronics cabinet to house an Apex, PM2, Auto Aqua AWC, 2x Avast Breakout Boxes, Cor 15 Driver and 7 outlet power strip with individual switches. I am still undecided on powerheads. The Wav pumps have their appeal due to the simplicity of a 1Link connection, however, they take up more real estate than some other options as I will be mounting two PH's hidden in the back corner behind the aquascape and under the Herbie overflow box.
The automation is extremely important to me and the goal is to be able to have a maintenance schedule of cleaning glass and turning the skimmer drain valve once per week, everything else will be once per month. These monthly tasks should consist of adding salt to the AWC reservoir, replacing chemical filtration media, thoroughly cleaning skimmer cup (cup will have an auto wiper), and replacing filter roller paper. Yeah, I ain't doing filter socks anymore. Fortunately I still have a lot of various aquarium related electronics and plumbing from my last two builds so this has saved me time and money.
Part of the goal of this project was to teach my 6 year old son some building skills and so I took the week off before he went back to school and in four days we built the stand. I have attached pictures of those four days. I've made a lot more progress since then but haven't taken any more pictures... Yet. So stay tuned.
I built the stand to be cost effective and maximize space for the mirrored sized sump. Therefore it was built from premium pine 1x4's and a sheet of 3/4" plywood. Pine is a beautiful wood, but is a terrible choice when it comes to staining so I will be painting it and then adding a glaze to reproduce the wood grain and finally top coating it to protect the finish. The interior is also painted high gloss white and everything is caulked and sealed. The back stand structure can be removed by unscrewing the stainless steel fasteners to allow for removal of the sump. Protective floor sliding pads will be on the bottom of the stand and since this is only a 40 breeder, if I had to, I could slide the setup out after draining the water and remove the sump. The hood has an internal flip up access door. You can tell in the picture by looking at the wood grain. This will become more discrete with the paint job.
Anyway, that's about all I can think of to add at the moment. I'm gonna get some rest and go dive some natural reefs tomorrow, maybe eyeball a couple things I could add to this system. I should have a good update in the coming week as the system is just about to be able to be moved inside.
I hope you'll enjoy this build. I've got some cool ideas and tricks up my sleeve.
I am still diving and spearfishing regularly, in fact heading out tomorrow morning, but my kids have been nagging me for pets and I don't do pet hair everywhere, so water and fish it is. However, I'm building off my previous experiences to set up a very low maintenance, heavily automated tank with the goal of growing out just several large colonies of corals rather than the fruit stand look, crowded with too many species that never grow to any resemblance of their natural structure.
This system will have a frosted back lit background and no visible hardware in the tank in order to make it look as natural as possible. Aquascaping will be thought out to give plenty of hiding spots for fish, yet it will be very shallow to allow room for coral growth.
In the title I mentioned a "true all in one", and that is exactly what this will be. Everything will be confined to the tanks and stand. The 40 breeder sump is being partitioned with a daily automatic water changer reservoir, freshwater ATO reservoir and of course a combination of mechanical, chemical and biological filtration. I built the stand with an internal electronics cabinet to house an Apex, PM2, Auto Aqua AWC, 2x Avast Breakout Boxes, Cor 15 Driver and 7 outlet power strip with individual switches. I am still undecided on powerheads. The Wav pumps have their appeal due to the simplicity of a 1Link connection, however, they take up more real estate than some other options as I will be mounting two PH's hidden in the back corner behind the aquascape and under the Herbie overflow box.
The automation is extremely important to me and the goal is to be able to have a maintenance schedule of cleaning glass and turning the skimmer drain valve once per week, everything else will be once per month. These monthly tasks should consist of adding salt to the AWC reservoir, replacing chemical filtration media, thoroughly cleaning skimmer cup (cup will have an auto wiper), and replacing filter roller paper. Yeah, I ain't doing filter socks anymore. Fortunately I still have a lot of various aquarium related electronics and plumbing from my last two builds so this has saved me time and money.
Part of the goal of this project was to teach my 6 year old son some building skills and so I took the week off before he went back to school and in four days we built the stand. I have attached pictures of those four days. I've made a lot more progress since then but haven't taken any more pictures... Yet. So stay tuned.
I built the stand to be cost effective and maximize space for the mirrored sized sump. Therefore it was built from premium pine 1x4's and a sheet of 3/4" plywood. Pine is a beautiful wood, but is a terrible choice when it comes to staining so I will be painting it and then adding a glaze to reproduce the wood grain and finally top coating it to protect the finish. The interior is also painted high gloss white and everything is caulked and sealed. The back stand structure can be removed by unscrewing the stainless steel fasteners to allow for removal of the sump. Protective floor sliding pads will be on the bottom of the stand and since this is only a 40 breeder, if I had to, I could slide the setup out after draining the water and remove the sump. The hood has an internal flip up access door. You can tell in the picture by looking at the wood grain. This will become more discrete with the paint job.
Anyway, that's about all I can think of to add at the moment. I'm gonna get some rest and go dive some natural reefs tomorrow, maybe eyeball a couple things I could add to this system. I should have a good update in the coming week as the system is just about to be able to be moved inside.
I hope you'll enjoy this build. I've got some cool ideas and tricks up my sleeve.