In-wall/Behind-wall, 180g peninsula, with a basement fish closet

schuby

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Oh, that's interesting. Have you considered directly connecting the two sumps together, maybe a few inches from the top? This might prevent one from overflowing if a sump drain somehow got fully or partially blocked. The water would still flow as you've designed with this cross-connect in place: it would only come into play when the water-level got high.
 
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That's a good thought. I have been wondering about what to do if there was a blockage. I wanted to test and see what would happen by closing one of the drain valves under the tank. I also need to verify that the sumps won't overflow due to loss of power. Typically I do that as part of setup when adding water, but I didn't at the time, and now I keep putting it off my list.
 

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I was specifically talking about the sump-drains. If one of them became fully or partially clogged, with the tank-drain still inputting water, I'm concerned that the clogged sump would overflow (input overwhelming output).
 
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I was specifically talking about the sump-drains. If one of them became fully or partially clogged, with the tank-drain still inputting water, I'm concerned that the clogged sump would overflow (input overwhelming output).
I understand what you’re saying, yes that is a good backup
 
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Tank has finally cleared. Next step is to move the rock, corals, and fish from the 75 over. I’m going to give the tank a couple weeks before I do the big transfer.

070DC49B-12A4-49B4-8F8E-11B6E4E2A44D.jpeg
 

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My second table is set up. It would match height-wise if my floor were level. The front of the table is good, but the back is slightly lower. I'll get some shims and get them to be the same.
8D041D6A-979F-4468-8095-BAD0A6689610.jpeg

I added a hose hook to the end of the table for my hose coming off my water station. When I do a water change, I can now pump directly from my saltwater barrel into the sump—no more carrying buckets of water. YAY!
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I had been using my husband's game room to store all the stuff I bought. Now that the fish closet was done, I moved it all down there.
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My next step is to start playing with rocks and aquascaping. I will be moving over the rock that I have in my current tank, but I will be adding more. I'm not sure what look I want to go for with this new tank. My existing tank has multiple islands. However, I'm thinking for this new tank to have a connected structure. I'm a little worried about incorporating my current rock into something new without being able to play with it much. I will have to leave gaps in the new rock, cycle the new tank and new rock, and then fit the old rock into the scape.
Wow that look wonderful I can't wait to see it up and running iam a newbe so I love seeing everyone tanks
 
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Wow that look wonderful I can't wait to see it up and running iam a newbe so I love seeing everyone tanks

Thanks, I've only been doing this a couple of years, so I still feel like a newbie, especially with this tank. There are many things I've never done before with this setup wise, and I'm learning a lot as I go. I am also hoping to have SPS in this tank finally. In my last tank, I could not keep them alive for more than a couple of months. I am hoping the better lights and increased flow will be the key.
 

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I believe that biodiversity is an important key to successfully keeping SPS alive long-term. This post describes what I did to increase my biodiversity: https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/c...-looking-for-help-advice.815190/#post-8738124

I haven't lost SPS (that arrived alive and lasted more than two days) for several years now.

I was looking at IPSF a couple months ago. I was considering getting some Wonder mud, but I wasn’t sure how to use it. Does it just go in the sump, do you put it in a container, does it need to be changed out? I do agree bio diversity is important for so many parts of the aquarium.
 

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I was looking at IPSF a couple months ago. I was considering getting some Wonder mud, but I wasn’t sure how to use it. Does it just go in the sump, do you put it in a container, does it need to be changed out? I do agree bio diversity is important for so many parts of the aquarium.
I put everything from IPSF.com into my DT.
 

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About 7-8 months in. After realizing that dry rock needs a lot of help. My first tank was started with150 lbs real live rock and matured much, much faster. There's been almost no comparison.

I put fish in as soon as cycle finished. Fish had been in QT for more than a month already. Turned lights on after a few months. Hood wasn't done until then. Both my stand and hood were made by friend/former-boss who is a master woodworker in his spare time.
 
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I am starting to add pods to the refugium to help build up a population before adding the pod eating fish in. I will add the chaeto I have growing in my current sump and some live rock full of pods. I bought pods from multiple places to get some diversity, and one order came with some free macroalgae. I think it's a little early to add macro into the tank, but I don't have room in my current sump for it, so I'll give it a try. This also gives me a chance to get the light set up.
BA4EDFC6-0937-4011-8704-C331747963D6.jpeg
 

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I am starting to add pods to the refugium to help build up a population before adding the pod eating fish in. I will add the chaeto I have growing in my current sump and some live rock full of pods. I bought pods from multiple places to get some diversity, and one order came with some free macroalgae. I think it's a little early to add macro into the tank, but I don't have room in my current sump for it, so I'll give it a try. This also gives me a chance to get the light set up.
BA4EDFC6-0937-4011-8704-C331747963D6.jpeg
Looks amazing! You can simply have a very short light-cycle for the macro if it is earlier than needed. Maybe something like an hour or less.
 
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Looks amazing! You can simply have a very short light-cycle for the macro if it is earlier than needed. Maybe something like an hour or less.
That's what I thought too. I have the timer set for three hours and the light intensity down. I thought I would check it in a couple days and see how it was doing. I do have shrimp and snails in the tank right now and so I'm feeding the tank a couple times a week.
 

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That's what I thought too. I have the timer set for three hours and the light intensity down. I thought I would check it in a couple days and see how it was doing. I do have shrimp and snails in the tank right now and so I'm feeding the tank a couple times a week.
For now, you want to keep macro alive but not growing much if at all. I'd recommend not letting some free item disrupt your plan for growing your new reef tank into a mature reef tank. You can always get more macro later on when it becomes necessary.

I think adding fish early on helps a lot with minimizing the duration of the ugly phases. Feeding fish once a day keeps some phosphate and ammonia (excess gets converted to nitrite/nitrate) throughput occurring in the tank. It seems that allowing phosphate or nitrate to be zero (measures zero and no throughput) for days or weeks leads to bad stuff such as a bad case of dinos that won't go away or being overrun with GHA. Dinos and algae are the most efficient organisms so they will outlast everything else when nutrients are very low (usually what dies is what we've added and want to keep such as corals).
 
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The biggest frustration with this build... WHY DOESN'T ANYTHING COME WITH INSTRUCTIONS!

Seriously, almost all the equipment I've bought doesn't come with any instructions or manual on how to put it together or the different features it has. Thank god for YouTube. Without it, I would be so lost. I'm honestly terrified to tackle these lights, I've been avoiding it all week, and I plan to continue.

frustrated.gif
 
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Oh, these lights are the bane of my existence.

For starters, I got a stand/hood combo. I was excited about the hood, and I thought it would help with the light spillage. However, I have found it more challenging to maneuver, and I'm not sure how people with hoods do stuff in their tanks. Then when you hang the lights inside, it is near impossible to do anything. I've also read multiple places that the lights should not be housed in a hood. My tank guy said it was okay... but it still seems worrisome. I'm debating removing the hood and hanging them from the ceiling. This will give me more access to the tank and help with the heat and airflow recommendations.

However, my biggest struggle with these lights is how programable they are. I genuinely believe that too many choices create more problems. I am struggling with what colors to have, at what percentage, when to ramp up and down, and how long they should stay on. The more research I do on the matter, the more contradictory information I am getting. I found a BRS video, and I'm unsure if it is right, wrong, or indifferent, but it's a path to move forward.




The struggles of reefing are real.
 

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My stand and hood were made by a friend and former boss of mine. My design and his mechanical/structural engineering.

The entire front panel of my hood is attached to the top. When opened, it is easy to access the tank. Lights are mounted to the top and are not hanging from wires.

I have some pics on my phone from when he was making the hood.
 

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