hatfielj's 600+ gallon SPS system build

[hatfielj]

Hello R2R!
It's finally time for me to start a build thread for what is my most ambitious system to date. This has been in the works since at least September of 2025, but is just now finally starting to take shape.

This system will consist of a main display and a frag tank plumbed together with a shared sump.

Display ~450 gallons 72" x 48" x 30" built by Planet Aquariums
Frag Tank ~ 140 gallons 60" x 30" x 18" built by Miracles in Glass
Sump ~100-140 gallons (hard to calculate actual volume) 84" x 24" x 16"

Total Volume will be somewhere between 600-700 gallons

Will be in my basement, which is a finished space. We use it as a kids playroom and have a little sitting area as well as a desk/office space. My wife was kind enough to let me take over a significant portion of the basement for this build. So, I went crazy, lol!

Here are the blue prints for the display from Planet. The tank is built with 3/4" low iron on 3 sides, a 1" PVC bottom, and a stainless steel frame around the top and bottom along with eurobracing/splash guards on top. It weighs over 800lbs! The stand, also built by Planet is constructed out of huge steel beams, and lots of them. It's a beast by itself. I'll be skinning it myself with walnut (more on that later).

This is the location pre-build. Had to do quite a bit of prep work to have a dedicated sump room behind the tank with access to the back of the display from behind. I also had to do a little bit of electrical work to make sure there's plenty of power nearby with 2 dedicated 20 amp circuits.

This is the room under the stairs before I started working on it. I had already put some outlets in here from a previous system but they hadn't been in use for years and needed to be moved for the hole I had to cut in the wall.

I also had a ton of work to do preparing the other side of the basement for the spot where the frag tank, mixing station, and utility sink would go. I spent months preparing these rooms and painting.

Much more to come!

 

[Gumbies R Us]

Following along!

 

[hatfielj]

Ok, I'm going to try my best to get this thread up to date on where I am as of today. I've done a TON of work on this project since I first started planning it a year ago and I'm now finally to a point where I'm nearing the finish line. Be prepared for a lot of pics and then I'll start bringing you a long on the next few steps before I can finally get it running...

 

[hatfielj]

This was back in December. I made a cut out in the wall of the fish room for access to the back of the frag tank. I already had this stand from a previous set up. I also started cooking some Australian live rock, hence the new stock tank.

 

[hatfielj]

Shortly after the frag tank from Miracles was picked up and brought home. I got it inside and rigged up a chain hoist to the ceiling to get it on the stand. It wasn’t quite as easy as I had hoped but I was successful in the end.

Here you can see I did a ton of painting after getting it in place. I also painted the entire basement on the other side of this wall. I also had to add a couple of doorways, move electric, and lots of trim work in various spots. It was exhausting but looks really good now.

 

[hatfielj]

Re-did my RO/DI set up too. Added a booster pump which has been awesome.

My current mixing station which I may end up changing slightly but works fine for now. The smaller tank was from a previous set up. The large tank is new and can hold 200 gallons. The pump is kind of in the way so I plan on re-plumbing that and moving it. It works well though.

 

[hatfielj]

Next I built a cabinet for next to the sink. I do wood working as a second hobby (as if I need more hobbies, haha). I also will be building the stand covers for both tanks.

 

[hatfielj]

Next up, sump from Advanced Acrylics was finally delivered.
This thing is a beast! 84” long. You can see the room under the stairs is quite a bit different now too.

 

[hatfielj]

And last but not least the display was finally delivered and set on the stand.
I picked up the stand myself from my LFS (Aquarium Artisans in Cincinnati).
But had the tank delivered by a small crew.

You can see the cut out I made behind the tank so I can have access to all the plumbing from behind. I couldn’t make it as big as I would have liked because the staircase above got in the way. But it will work.

 

[hatfielj]

I didn’t get a pic of us actually hoisting it up because my hands were full but it basically involved one guy using a hydraulic foot truck to lift one side of the tank while the other 4 guys lifted with suction cups the other side. It was a bit sketchy but worked out fine. I was sweating it, haha.

And the mandatory kids pretending to be fish pic haha

 

[hatfielj]

Also, before starting to work on the plumbing the last week or so, I also started working on the stand cover for the frag tank. It’s turning out really nice. I’m excited for the finished product. I have to build doors for it still but that’s on hold until I finish the plumbing. It’s being built using Cherry which I plan on finishing with a natural, water resistant finish of some sort.

Preview of how it looks on the stand.

 

[hatfielj]

And this leads me to what I’ve been working on furiously the last week or so. I have been off work on a little staycation and decided to get all the plumbing done now since this is by far the most time consuming part of the build. I can’t even tell you how many trips to the hardware store this took and how many deliveries of special plumbing parts!!
Nearly done in this pic. The second drain line and closed loop still in the works here. Will post final pic when done.

And here is the scene behind the frag tank. 100% done with this side. Closed loop and all!

Just finished plumbing the closed loop and sea swirls on the display yesterday. I am still waiting for the pump to arrive so I can’t make the final connection to the suction side yet.

 

[JumboShrimp]

Don't ask me why, but among all the incredible equipment I love the humble laundry sink. They are a 'must!'

Keep up the amazing work.

 

[hatfielj]

Don't ask me why, but among all the incredible equipment I love the humble laundry sink. There are a 'must!'

Keep up the amazing work.

Absolutely a must! No more getting the stink eye from my wife when cleaning out my skimmer in her laundry sink, haha.

 

[Schlagerdogin]

Insane set up! Looks so good! Excited to see how it looks wet lol

 

[McPuff]

Looks really good!

 

[hatfielj]

Saturday update. I’ve spent the last couple of days or so getting a few more odds and ends done. I am done with all plumbing except for the UV sterilizer and eventual chiller. Still not sure where I’m going to put those items so gotta do some more thinking. I did a lot of electrical organizing! Took forever but I’m pretty pleased.

I added a 15amp outlet to the frag tank side of the system because I realized my 2, 20 amp outlets in the sump room are not going to be enough with all the pumps, lights, and heaters. If I do add a chiller, I will need to run a separate circuit for that.

I went ahead and mounted all of my power supplies for the pumps and lights. Still a couple more left to do. Also got a curtain to hide the rear tank access on the frag tank. Most of this will be covered by the light rack though.

Also got my Hydros system up and running. I added a high and low water level sensor to my RO/DI reservoir which will keep that tank full for the auto top off system. I’m going to run a Tunze Osmolator, tried and true. The reservoir is under the frag tank. It was the only spot I could fit it. It’s a 35 gallon tank from a previous set up. It’s been in storage for probably 5 years.

Things are coming along though! I think next up I will probably start designing and building the light racks so I can get the lights hung and organized. I also need to do a little more plumbing for my water change system. I’m going to do a simple system with a hose reel and just drain directly to the floor drain. I plan on only doing small water changes on this system because we are on a septic tank and it would not be wise to dump large volumes of salt water in there. I’ve done 20 or 30 gallon water changes on my previous system and it didn’t cause any issues that I’m aware of so I think it would be fine to keep doing that.

Last step will be building the canopy and stand cover. Then it’s time for a leak test! I might get this tank running sooner than I thought. Though I go back to work this week so progress will slow considerably as I usually only have snippets of time each weekend to work on stuff like this. Looking forward to the next steps though.

 

[hatfielj]

Also, I can't stop watching this video! I want one of these so bad! Haha, if I hadn't already spent all my money on this tank, I'd probably be actually considering ordering one!