hatfielj
2500 Club Member
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!
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!
