JJ's basement 220

[jahnje]

I've been building this setup since November 2017. With lots of starts and stops. Since I'm moving this build thread from another forum it might be a little weird at first until I catch up with the current status. Currently I have 6 active fresh water tanks in the house. The 220 Marine Land was bought for this project, and is currently housing a few Koi who at some point will be destined for a pond. The current plan is to do a mixed reef, and the livestock is undecided. So I don't lose track of it, here's an original location shot, and a current shot. And I'll post the build changes from one to the other.

The will have a 44 gallon sump underneath it, and two smaller tanks off to the right. A 20 and a 29. The bottom will be open.

 

[jahnje]

I stole the plans for the stand from Chris8232. The bottom is 3-1/2" off the ground as opposed to 2". 3-1/2 is just big enough for my hand to fit under sideways with a closed fist.

I had it custom welded around Jan 4th of last year.

I painted the whole thing in during a January warm spell with undercoat and truck bed coating, two coats. The truck bed coating was used on the area where the tank comes in contact with the stand while undercoat was used everywhere else. The idea being that the truck bed coat has some rubber in it that when built up a little bit would reduce any point pressure on the bottom of the tank. The undercoating is used to protect steel from salt on roads. So it should be pretty effective here.

 

[jahnje]

So got my giant 6x2 foot wire rack in for the suspended cover for this. Used a couple 6' lengths of galvanized cable to suspend it from the ceiling, and the cut wire hangers to attach the lights to the rack itself. I think it gives it a fairly nice industrial look all for about 50 dollars. And gives me more flexibility than the super expensive systems. Used some standard shelving supports to attach the cable to the ceiling. This won't hold a lot of weight, but it'll hold a power strip, and all of the lights, and a towle w/o issue. I'll probably sink a few more screws into the ceiling before all is said and done just to be safe. Still cycling BTW.

 

[jahnje]

I'm not dead yet!!! Finally moved the Koi out, and starting up this thread again.
First order of business was to build decent platform for the bottom. So Used 3 coats of marine epoxy on 3/4" plywood with a 1" lip. Should be solidly waterproof, as well as hold about 20 - 30 gallons of water spill. Really wanted the lip to not only hold the water, but to make sure that leak detection sensors would get wet no matter where the water was dripping from.

Next up is the plumbing. This is a bit of a mess at the moment, and a little frustrating. The biggest issue being the future proofing. I don't have my UV in yet, but plan to attach it to the bottom of the tank on the steel cross beams. I think I'm going with the Aqua Ultraviolet 80 Watt. As it should tuck up there nicely. I need to come up with some kind of skimmer stand, since the outflow needs to be higher than the sump edge. I'm also playing with the idea of using the sump's skimmer compartment for the second/backup/accessory return pump. Not sure about micro bubbles and all of that though, if the skimmer is exiting into it as well.

 

[jahnje]

So now the question of the day is do I aquascape with just the boulders I have, or do I take advantage of black friday sales to pick up some shapes and shelfs so that I can have some negative space. I picked up all of these CaribSea boulders a few years ago at a going out of business sale for about $100, so I don't feel like I need to use them all. I've got 28" of height to work with and none of these piles are quite 16" high. The length and width are correct as far as the area goes. So the 3 black panels you see edged by the boxes are what I have to work with.

 

[JumboShrimp]

Wow-- that's a lot of tanks. I bet this one will be the best one yet!

 

[jahnje]

Another weekend, another progress update. Got the majority of the plumbing roughed in. Just used some pipe from lowes for the moment so I could stress less over the sizing. Got one of those precision PVC cutters. Holy Hell did that make a difference over trying to make small adjustments on my saw. Really struggled with the manifold and connecting the UV, but I think things will be okay like this. Should hopefully be easy to work on and clean etc.

Got some time to do a little aquascaping. I kind of like the idea of bombies like there are in the ocean, but will probably need to connect some of them via arches. I It really doesn't look like it has enough hidey holes for fishes. But might be easy to get in given the cross bracing.

 

[ReefTankENG]

I'm a little confused on the white box with the skimmer outside of your sump... what is that?

 

[jahnje]

I'm a little confused on the white box with the skimmer outside of your sump... what is that?

Just a random box to set the skimmer on for the moment. The outflow of the skimmer is too low to go over the edge of the sump w/o raising the skimmer up about 6 inches. I'm in the process of making something more permanent. But the only plumbing considerations for it, are that it exit over the edge of the sump, and that a hose from the manifold reach it. Not sure if plumbing the skimmer of the manifold is a great idea, but there's enough flow control with the pumps, and flow monitoring, that I'm going to give it a try.

 

[jahnje]

Got enough BRS black friday superglue in today to glue all of my broken arches back together. I've been listening to enough aquascaping podcasts to still have no idea what I want to do, but at least I've got some glue and some arches and shelves now. But I've really got to find some examples that to look at that inspire me. I plan on a fairly heavy fish load, one clam in the foreground, and most of the top filled out with SPS. I don't really have a goo sense of how big caves need to be for sea critters.

Here's what the ChatGPT says:
Use a mix of 3 hole sizes: PEANUT → GOLFBALL → ORANGE**

These three sizes cover 95% of common reef fish needs.

Peanut-size openings (½–¾ inch / 1–2 cm)​

For:

• Cleaner shrimp
• Peppermint shrimp
• Tiny gobies (neon goby, trimma, eviota)
• Small juvenile blennies
• Copepod refuges (excellent for pod survival)

These holes should be:

• Deep
• Numerous
• Randomly scattered
• Not big enough for larger fish to shove into

These help maintain a healthy microfauna population.

Golfball-size openings (1.5–2 inches / ~4–5 cm)​

This is the most important size for most reef fish.
Used by:

• Clownfish (for hosting caves)
• Wrasses (initial dart-hide)
• Chromis
• Small tangs when startled
• Blennies
• Hawkfish
• Royal grammas
• Dottybacks
• Firefish

You want several of these:

✔ Open at both ends (tunnels)
✔ Some that dead-end (hideouts)
✔ Some vertical slits (wrasse darts)

These are the backbone of a stable, peaceful reefscape.

Orange-size openings (3–4 inches / 7–10 cm)​

For:

• Larger tangs (kole, tomini, yellow, etc.)
• Larger wrasses (fairies, flashers, melanurus)
• Angelfish
• Rabbitfish
• Foxfaces
• Dwarf lionfish
• Larger blennies
• Large anthias groups

These should be:

• Wide enough for a tang to turn
• Deep enough to feel like a “cave”
• Ideally with a “back exit”

These help prevent:

• Tang aggression
• Overcrowding
• Nighttime stress
• “Bolting” injuries

What about softball-size holes (5–6 inches)?​

These are optional and useful only if you keep:

• Large tangs (Naso, Sohal, Achilles)
• Large Angels (Regal, Emperor, Majestic)
• Predator fish (Lionfish, eels)
• Big wrasses (Harlequin, Dragon)

Otherwise, they tend to be dead space that smaller fish avoid.
A few big overhangs or caverns are fine — just don’t make your entire scape full of giant holes.