DigitalFire's Zoo Med 50g Lowboy Build

[Digitalfirex]

So I've been exploring the reefing world for a bit over a year now...

This is my journey:

Before reefing, I had a good amount of freshwater tanks

60g planted community build

Then I built this 125g South American Cichlid tank

Then my first reef tank... 20g H aqueon tank from petco... and my reason to join r2r

A couple of months later

And now

 

[Digitalfirex]

So as you can see... the red sea reefer 250 look pretty full with frags... my wife said it looks ugly with all the frag racks all over the place LOL

Makes sense I guess... so I have to clean it up and make it look more like a display tank.

 

[Digitalfirex]

Frag racks upon frag racks!!!

 

[Digitalfirex]

And now to the good part!

I have a pantry in the garage that is 8ft x 4ft with a doorway in the middle. It's already framed so I will stick to those dimensions.

I clean it up from the storage clutter. The plan is to make a stand built into the wall. Door way is in the middle so I picked existing shelving on the side as a base. I liked the height... so reinforced it (built a tank stand) to hold the tank weight.

 

[Digitalfirex]

The concept is to place the lowboy on that botton area... and I will do an above or overhead sump.

Long story short, my basement has flooded in the past! So in the worse case scenario I don't want any electronics or equipment below the tank.

 

[Gabe]

Love it. Your only solution to the frag racks is to buy more frags to hide the racks.

 

[Digitalfirex]

So upon further consideration... im wondering if I should build the tank the long way? Would give me a side table space for testing area, or fragging :0

 

[Digitalfirex]

Dry fit in the lighting "canopy" and the shelf that will hold the above/overhead sump...

Measurements too close for comfort so decided to undo the stand for the frag table... height was set at 39" so decided to lower everything by 3"... I wanted the extra clearance between the sump and the ceiling to remove skimmer cup and other maintenance in the future.

 

[Digitalfirex]

Also drilled the sump for the return pipe and overflow set up. It was painful. :/

 

[Digitalfirex]

Everything lowered 3" over the original set up for the extra clearance between sump and ceiling. Lost the extra clearance between floor and stand at 36" instead of 39"... hopefully I never get that much water in my basement as I'm sure anything over 30" of water and the frag tank might be the least of my worries :$

 

[Digitalfirex]

Went with the BRS recommended height and space on 2 xr15s for a 48" tank.

Think it's what, like 10 inches from the sides and 9in above water line?

Super snugg fit on the tank

Overall happy with the results

 

[Digitalfirex]

Plumbing configuration. One main drain and one emergency drain. Return line on the other side... pump in the "DT". With an overhead sump everything had to be reversed.

Now my only issue will be the ATO container might not fit above the tank next to the sump... Considering it's placement below the tank as far off the ground as possible.

 

[Digitalfirex]

Picture dump

 

[Rylan5d]

Is your sump above the lowboy? That would sketch me out having my lights under where the sump is haha

 

[Digitalfirex]

Is your sump above the lowboy? That would sketch me out having my lights under where the sump is haha

Yes it is. I have a good amount of wood to support the sump (under the sump) as well as 3/4" plywood on the sides of the lowboy all along the wall, also drilled into the studs of the walls. Overall it's pretty solid for that it is, granted it's not a lot of weight either. I was originally a bit skeptical too but if you think about it, is not much different than a regular tank with a sump. My red sea reefer 250 is glass tank (glass bottom) over the electrical underneath... the design is the same the difference is I'm using the traditional sump (low boy) as the display and the traditional display as sump.

 

[squidarcher]

What did you do to prepare the system for SPS?

 

[Digitalfirex]

What did you do to prepare the system for SPS?

Biggest issue I find with sps is that any system has to be stable/constant. So keeping alk, ca from doing drastic swings. Also, contrary to popular belief, they don't like nutrients at zero. Can't be extremely dirty water either.. but definitely not zero. In the end, a nice balance. A trident, alkatronic or mastertronic will definitely help to test often since the best way to keep a system constant is to always know what your parameters are. Can't correct an issue if you aren't aware. Otherwise, manually test as often as possible. Supposedly, TSA tests their water parameters twice a day. The next step is dosing... sps when happy will literally drink the alk and ca out the water!

 

[squidarcher]

Biggest issue I find with sps is that any system has to be stable/constant. So keeping alk, ca from doing drastic swings. Also, contrary to popular belief, they don't like nutrients at zero. Can't be extremely dirty water either.. but definitely not zero. In the end, a nice balance. A trident, alkatronic or mastertronic will definitely help to test often since the best way to keep a system constant is to always know what your parameters are. Can't correct an issue if you aren't aware. Otherwise, manually test as often as possible. Supposedly, TSA tests their water parameters twice a day. The next step is dosing... sps when happy will literally drink the alk and ca out the water!

That makes sense! I have SPS in my DT and was debating between in-system or a new system if I ever got a frag tank

 

[Digitalfirex]

That makes sense! I have SPS in my DT and was debating between in-system or a new system if I ever got a frag tank

New system works if you transfer live rock and dirty water to stock right away. That worked for me, and a trident that saved me a bunch of times to catch alk swings.

 

[Digitalfirex]

Drilled the low boy.

Installed the ESHOPPS overflow M