Ian M
Active Member
I know it took me a long time to get this started, so here is my set-up from Jan 2017.
I've always wanted to get into salt water but being in the military, there is a constant threat of being moved anywhere in the world together with deployments. Lucky for me I sustained a back injury which ended that constraint (have to look at the positives) , now that I've been retired the hobby started.
With my physical limitations, I started to design my system to be not only easy to maintain but flexible enough to enlarge all on a budget.
The current configuration consists of two stands that measure:
96"L x 30"W x 44"H (I have two 75 G's but built to hold hold a 380G)
76"L x 30"W x 44"H (holding two 40 GB, built to hold 280G)
The 96" stand straight ahead will hold the 55 G refug & 40 G sump and the 76" stand to the right (L shape config in basement), this will hold supplies and a mini fridge. The larger stand was made from 2x6's with 4x4 posts with added supports from 2x6 slats, the other stand was made with 2x4's in the same way. Before the sump was installed and operating, the inside of the stand was fully lined with 45 mil thickness reinforced pond liner just in case. This will hold 57 gallons before flowing onto the basement concrete, hopefully it will give me time to detect and stop any leak before it gets expensive. Once an Apex with leak detection is added it should give me some peace of mind.
Here you can see the 76" holding two 40 G that will be used for QT and breeding, at the time I was using them for curing some rock. To save on money I went the DIY LED lighting inside a rain gutter lined with reflective tape, as you can see they throw out a lot of light. In total I built two of them for less then $50 which was great until I decided on what light I was going to purchase for the reef. Wire management was not considered yet and I was still building, all will be squared away when everything is finished.
This picture shows one 75G plumbed in with the fuge and sump running, the other 75G was waiting for me to drill it. So my plan currently is to have two 75 gallons that will separate different types of fish that do not get along with each others species, maybe a reef friendly tank and a FOWLR. Figured spending $75 per tank and learning what I really want instead of going crazy with a 300G+ not knowing which way I wanted to go. Got to love the $1 a Gal sale. Each tank is plumbed so that it can be isolated or ran all together giving a total system volume of 315 gallons.
As for equipment:
BRS 6 stage RO-DI
2x 55 G barrels (mixing station)
BRS Deluxe reactor w/MJ1200 pump (GFO & Carbon)
SICCE Syncra Pro return pump (1900 GPH)
Vertex Omega 180i protein skimmer
3 x Kessil A360W on Kessil controller (until I get the Apex)
2 x DIY 76" RGB & Blue LED strip ()
4 x Hydor Koralia Evolution 600 powerheads (600 GPH)
Plumbing:
1" PVC sch 40 return lines feeding 3/4" Loc-Line into tanks
1.5" PVC sch 40 durso drains feeding into 2" PVC main drain
Cepex ball valves everywhere
Georg Fischer Wye check valve connected to return pump via flex hose
Fish/inverts in 75G and fug:
One-spot Foxface
Yellow Tang
Juvenile Angelfish
2x Fancy Clownfish
Yellow Watchmen Goby w/white Pistol Shrimp
Mandarin Goby (added 6 months after tank setup)
5 Emerald Craps
2 Peppermint Shrimp
20 Nerite snails (numbers increasing)
Cerith snails (started with 20 but counted 80+ after 6 months)
I will continue the thread after the second 75 G tank is fully installed with better pic's of the plumbing etc.
I've always wanted to get into salt water but being in the military, there is a constant threat of being moved anywhere in the world together with deployments. Lucky for me I sustained a back injury which ended that constraint (have to look at the positives) , now that I've been retired the hobby started.
With my physical limitations, I started to design my system to be not only easy to maintain but flexible enough to enlarge all on a budget.
The current configuration consists of two stands that measure:
96"L x 30"W x 44"H (I have two 75 G's but built to hold hold a 380G)
76"L x 30"W x 44"H (holding two 40 GB, built to hold 280G)
The 96" stand straight ahead will hold the 55 G refug & 40 G sump and the 76" stand to the right (L shape config in basement), this will hold supplies and a mini fridge. The larger stand was made from 2x6's with 4x4 posts with added supports from 2x6 slats, the other stand was made with 2x4's in the same way. Before the sump was installed and operating, the inside of the stand was fully lined with 45 mil thickness reinforced pond liner just in case. This will hold 57 gallons before flowing onto the basement concrete, hopefully it will give me time to detect and stop any leak before it gets expensive. Once an Apex with leak detection is added it should give me some peace of mind.
Here you can see the 76" holding two 40 G that will be used for QT and breeding, at the time I was using them for curing some rock. To save on money I went the DIY LED lighting inside a rain gutter lined with reflective tape, as you can see they throw out a lot of light. In total I built two of them for less then $50 which was great until I decided on what light I was going to purchase for the reef. Wire management was not considered yet and I was still building, all will be squared away when everything is finished.
This picture shows one 75G plumbed in with the fuge and sump running, the other 75G was waiting for me to drill it. So my plan currently is to have two 75 gallons that will separate different types of fish that do not get along with each others species, maybe a reef friendly tank and a FOWLR. Figured spending $75 per tank and learning what I really want instead of going crazy with a 300G+ not knowing which way I wanted to go. Got to love the $1 a Gal sale. Each tank is plumbed so that it can be isolated or ran all together giving a total system volume of 315 gallons.
As for equipment:
BRS 6 stage RO-DI
2x 55 G barrels (mixing station)
BRS Deluxe reactor w/MJ1200 pump (GFO & Carbon)
SICCE Syncra Pro return pump (1900 GPH)
Vertex Omega 180i protein skimmer
3 x Kessil A360W on Kessil controller (until I get the Apex)
2 x DIY 76" RGB & Blue LED strip ()
4 x Hydor Koralia Evolution 600 powerheads (600 GPH)
Plumbing:
1" PVC sch 40 return lines feeding 3/4" Loc-Line into tanks
1.5" PVC sch 40 durso drains feeding into 2" PVC main drain
Cepex ball valves everywhere
Georg Fischer Wye check valve connected to return pump via flex hose
Fish/inverts in 75G and fug:
One-spot Foxface
Yellow Tang
Juvenile Angelfish
2x Fancy Clownfish
Yellow Watchmen Goby w/white Pistol Shrimp
Mandarin Goby (added 6 months after tank setup)
5 Emerald Craps
2 Peppermint Shrimp
20 Nerite snails (numbers increasing)
Cerith snails (started with 20 but counted 80+ after 6 months)
I will continue the thread after the second 75 G tank is fully installed with better pic's of the plumbing etc.
