Large frag setup with rehugium

[florida reef]

I am currently in the process of setting up a frag system that will consist of a 150g rehugium(my friend Trey has coined the term "rehugium" bc it's a huge freaking refugium), large rubbermaid container probably around 100 gallons and a 40 gallon breeder for the frags.
The rehugium will contain various macro algae and live rock, the rubbermaid will be filled with dry rock that will cycle into live rock and further help with filtration, and the breeder will contain frags for grow out. I will not be using any mechanical filtration...100% biological filtration via macro algae and LR.
I know I could do this a lot easier with a skimmer and other various media, but this setup will add another dimension to this hobby for me and allow specific livestock to be kept in the rehugium.
It will be located in my garage. Good thing is we are entering the winter months so heat will not be an issue. I guess I'll have to wait and see how well the system handles the summer months before I decide on a method for cooling. Any advice/criticism is welcomed!
Now, on to the good part:
REHUGIUM!

Cell phone pic of the rehugium's stand:

I'm not much of a carpenter but it seems those 4 years of carpentry in high school finally paid off:

More pics are on the way. I plan on having the stand finished by the end of the week.

 

[Reef UP]

Can't wait it'll be super beneficial for sure

 

[revsgirl]

Whoa! That's a big one!!

 

[bbandu]

Will be tagging along. Keep the pics coming

 

[cabi]

Wow good luck

 

[Wy Renegade]

tagging in on this one to follow along.

 

[florida reef]

Thanks for all the comments! I am super excited about this. I think I'm going to use t5's to light the frag tank but not sure what to light the rehugium with? I have an old 48" pc fixture I could use or just a bunch of 6500k CFLs? What are your suggestions?

 

[ronnie]

The only problem I see is the 40B. Nowhere near big enough - trust me!

 

[florida reef]

The only problem I see is the 40B. Nowhere near big enough - trust me!

That may be a problem! haha. I may try my hand at some DIY acrylic and make a monster frag tank eventually.

 

[florida reef]

Bump for any advice on the macro algae lighting?

 

[cabi]

You might wanna check this out http://www.melevsreef.com/fuge_bulb.html

 

[florida reef]

Yea, I'll probably do something like what melev did at the bottom of that page. I plan on finishing the hand tomorrow.

 

[1tyme]

Love It When u Go Big

Yep I borrowed Mels Idea also , My friend Mike also. Check out My build under 180+ tanks. 1tymes build. Looking great. Bug than bit u. Now your budget will be your limit. Happy reefing. God Bless.:bigsmile:

 

[florida reef]

Stand is finished. Due to uneven concrete I have to shimmy the right side. I estimate there is a 1/8-1/4" slant toward the right side of the stand.

 

[florida reef]

Filled and waiting for the rubbermaid trough:

I'm so pumped about this. I decided to have two 40g breeders; one specifically for sps and one for lps/softies. I'm thinking of using MH/T5 combo for the sps and only T5 for the lps/softy tank. Also, I'm thinking of creative ideas for the plumbing...maybe the sps tank first in line after the filtration then the lps/softy. I'm not sure how much of a difference that would make but it's still fun!
I'll post pics as soon as there are updates.

 

[florida reef]

So this has taken longer than I expected, but I'm slowly making progress. Here it is:

I put the dry rock in their day before yesterday and have adjusted the temp to an acceptable level. You can see the small amount of chaeto in there...the idea is to pack this thing full of macro and eventually move the rock over to a large rubber made stock tank.