Getting ready for a peninsula

[Greg Gdowski]

What would you do if the vectra failed? Very interesting concept.

 

[twotangs]

Well the short answer would be get another one. It is very accessible, planed for that so i can get it out to clean it. My goal for this “test” and the next tank is not to see any 0f the pumps in the display. So far, i like what i have going.

 

[Greg Gdowski]

Yeah sure, but aren't you going to put corals onto that rock structure?

 

[twotangs]

Yep. I am able to reach behind the rock disconnect the pump and remove it without disturbing the rock at all. The rock is on a 45 degree angle so the back left corner at the top is pretty open. For corals going more towards LPS and clams.

 

[Dr. Dendrostein]

Hi -
My name is Greg and I live in Shermans Dale, PA. I have been keeping fish for a long time and have had some sort of reef tank for 25 or more years. I have mostly been an observer here on R2R, adding a small comment here and there. I have learned a lot from other peoples systems - both what I like and what I don't and what may apply to our setup here. Thank you to all who post your successes and failures as it helps so many.

To get you up to speed on where I am at aquarium wise.......I had a 120 in-wall (really a converted closet) in our living room. You can see it was a well establish reef, till a day in summer about two years ago I went to work not realizing the GFI had tripped. 12 hours later the tank had that smell of rotting eggs, all my fish were dead, the corals took a big hit as well. I was pretty crushed. I powered it back up, removed the dead and dying and it pretty much just sat for several months. Do I just want to get out all together or maybe have a do over? The display did have some issue that I wanted to resolve - mostly pests in the form of flat worms and bubble algae. Also a good problem to have was some of the colonies were getting really big. After some thought we decided to move forward. The new display will be a peninsula with the sump and a second aquarium in the basement. I am big into DIY, not so much into colored PVC pipe, like equipment to function but not to be seen, minimal electrical cords going into the display and a pest free environment.

Here is my 120 back in the day:

This is the last pic I took before I removed the 120. It shows that we converted a closet. The back side is the foyer, the new tank will be a custom peninsula viewable from the living room and the foyer:

We hope to have the construction part done over the winter (need to install a header to allow for the peninsula) so the new tank can be sized and ordered. So this will be a longer term project. First I want to move to the basement to put in place some of my ideas for the main display in the smaller 70 gallon tank. My thinking is I can workout the issues there so when the time comes to put in the new tank I will have the plan in place.

About a year ago we redid the "fish room" downstairs. Here is what it started like:

All well and good but a few things I need to change......I want to drill the 70 to allow for a bean style overflow, the 40 breeder will be okay for coral QT but I need self contained QT for fish that I can move around and out of the fish room in case I end up with a fish that has ick. I also need to add some more support to the stand the 70 sits on.

Over the weekend I setup my 37 gallon QT tank for fish. It will serve as a temporary location till I get the 70 drilled and plumbed. It is on wheels so I can move it around, includes a UV, Tunze DOC skimmer, HOB filter and a low intensity light. Pending how I am treating; things can be turned off should said treatment call for that. But for now just a temp location for my fish.

The 40 is just sitting on the floor with a few corals in there, this will work for now:

Here it is all move out:

And the current state of the fish room, kind of a mess........

The current todo list:
1- clean up some of the equipment (skimmer, pump, MD-40)
2- reenforce the stand a little
3- run another PVC pipe in the wall to support the Bean from upstairs
4- drill the 70 and plumb it to the sump

Following comrade

 

[twotangs]

@ Greg G just watched your video, nice display. Like all the movement. Here is a pic from the top you can better see the access to the S-1.

 

[twotangs]

Now that for the most part started over with the tank in the basement and it is back up and running, just a few shots of the fish room with most things put away.

 

[Greg Gdowski]

@ Greg G just watched your video, nice display. Like all the movement. Here is a pic from the top you can better see the access to the S-1.

Thanks! Your fish room is pretty darn nice. I can't seem to keep mine that clean. Like the formica top on the sink base. The reason I'm following is because I'm considering a peninsula tank in another space. I had thought about building strictly in the center --- I had not considered a rock slide approach down the length of the tank. Have you tried pointing the two outputs of your internal pump in the other direction. That might generate more of gyre effect in the tank with indirect flow.

 

[twotangs]

Thanks! Your fish room is pretty darn nice. I can't seem to keep mine that clean. Like the formica top on the sink base. The reason I'm following is because I'm considering a peninsula tank in another space. I had thought about building strictly in the center --- I had not considered a rock slide approach down the length of the tank. Have you tried pointing the two outputs of your internal pump in the other direction. That might generate more of gyre effect in the tank with indirect flow.

The counter is not formica it is a cement counter top that we made. That is glass we embedded into the cement. We also created a few fish shapes in there as well. Currently the S-1 is running in Closed loop mode Reef Crest Random. There are four outputs, two at the lower right with RFG's attached and two more opposite side at the top, those each have valves so I can adjust the flow.
I like the rock wall on the one end approach on a peninsula. It gives me a place to hide the single closed loop pump plus allows more open space.

 

[Greg Gdowski]

Even more impressive. We have thought about trying something like that. I wondered about the fish shape.

I did not catch the ones at the top. very nice.

 

[twotangs]

here is a couple pics of the "concrete" fish..........

 

[CoralWealth]

one of the few tank threads from PA. I really like the idea of this and it will be cool to follow along!

 

[Greg Gdowski]

here is a couple pics of the "concrete" fish..........

I'm glad my wife didn't see this... I'd be making concrete tops. That is nice stuff.

 

[twotangs]

I'm glad my wife didn't see this... I'd be making concrete tops. That is nice stuff.

Ha Ha. That was the first time we had done anything like that. As with anything the first one turns out to be more of a learning process. My wife works with stained glass so the colored glass was easy to come by. She also made the fish on the wall.