New build in new house- What would you do differently?

[Schreiber]

Hey there! I'd like to pick some brains.

I'm planning on moving at the end of this year & am wanting to make this build 100x better then what I've currently got running in my apartment.

Here's my list of improvements so far, please feel free to add more!

• Setup near a water supply or run water & a drain line to it.
• 40+ gallon reservoir for mixing saltwater.
• Plumb RODI unit directly to ATO reservoir.
• Keep away from window.
• Install waterproof vinyl sheet flooring under tank. I'm thinking enough to accommodate the tank footprint plus 2 feet on each side.
• Run a dedicated circuit (or 2) to the tank area.
• DIY canopy with adjustable mounting heights for a DIY T5/LED hybrid fixture.
• Install ball valves in the pipe going both to & from the tank, as well as check valves.
• Better cord management- labels on everything & neatly bundled.

I've got big plans- help me make them better!

 

[AlexG]

How big of a setup are you planning to build? Lots of good ideas. I would make sure any valves installed are true unions so they can be swapped if needed. Make sure everything has easy access for maintenance.

 

[Schreiber]

How big of a setup are you planning to build? Lots of good ideas. I would make sure any valves installed are true unions so they can be swapped if needed. Make sure everything has easy access for maintenance.

It's going to be a 75, upgrading from my 55. I hadn't really planned on increasing size- I've been really happy with my 55. But I got a great deal on a brand-new one that's in much better condition than my 55 & will allow my to fix some issues I made with my first tank. Things like real bulkheads instead of PVC fittings & rubber gasket sheeting for one!

As far as unions, I don't need to valves themselves to be special "union valves", right? I was planning just having union couplings before & after standard valves.

Definitely planning on easy access. Current plan is to build a little bar & have my tank as the endpiece- so I'll have a solid ~3 feet or so behind the tank.

For accessing the inside of the tank itself, I'll have 2 options. The front half of my canopy is going to be hinged & the back half will be open to air.

 

[R.Weller]

If you can place the DT on the opposite wall of a storage room, you have much more flexibility in sump configuration / changes / upgrades. Use the space in the stand for dry goods &/or offline pod cultivation but not for the sump. I would also suggest gate valves over ball valves on the pipes running from the DT to the sump as you will have improved tunning capability for flow rates.

 

[Schreiber]

If you can place the DT on the opposite wall of a storage room, you have much more flexibility in sump configuration / changes / upgrades. Use the space in the stand for dry goods &/or offline pod cultivation but not for the sump. I would also suggest gate valves over ball valves on the pipes running from the DT to the sump as you will have improved tunning capability for flow rates.

Oh, good call. I'll likely put a gate valve on my overflow.

On your first point, what do you mean by having more flexibility for the sump due to the room placement?

 

[AlexG]

Looks like a good design on the canopy having the hinged front and open back to allow maximum access. I would consider having some screen tops or a removable screen on the open back side of the canopy to prevent fish from jumping out and not being bounced back into the tank. On the unions you can put in stand alone unions or with a true union ball valves it adds unions to the valve so its like a 2 in 1. I would also agree on using a gate valve for the drainline.

 

[svogun]

The pandemic has allowed me to reorganize my fish room wiring. Retrospectively I would have organized the wiring from the beginning with raceways etc. Took me forever to reorganize on an already setup tank.

 

[R.Weller]

what do you mean by having more flexibility for the sump due to the room placement?

When we moved to the large aquarium category, we started with a 210 DT & 75gal DIY sump. The sump had 4 chambers including a ~20 gallon refugium. Later, we decided to expand the refugium & install a DIY algae scrubber using a 50 gal rubbermaid stock tank that is elevated over the original sump. After that, our original DT failed, & we upgraded to 300gal. With the larger volume, we had capacity to tie in a surge device. We're using an 18gal water bucket for that application. It's installed about 7 ft above the original sump. To provide water for the surge device, we had to cut out one of the chambers in the original sump & expand the return chamber to 35 gal.

All of those expansion projects would not have been possible if we would have used the space under the DT in the stand. If you check our Build Thread, you can see the DT on one side of the wall, & the other goodness installed in the stairwell through the wall. This was done on the recommendation by the LFS where we bought our first larger tank. I'm very glad we followed that guidance.

 

[mike550]

Hey there! I'd like to pick some brains.

I'm planning on moving at the end of this year & am wanting to make this build 100x better then what I've currently got running in my apartment.

Here's my list of improvements so far, please feel free to add more!

• Setup near a water supply or run water & a drain line to it.
• 40+ gallon reservoir for mixing saltwater.
• Plumb RODI unit directly to ATO reservoir.
• Keep away from window.
• Install waterproof vinyl sheet flooring under tank. I'm thinking enough to accommodate the tank footprint plus 2 feet on each side.
• Run a dedicated circuit (or 2) to the tank area.
• DIY canopy with adjustable mounting heights for a DIY T5/LED hybrid fixture.
• Install ball valves in the pipe going both to & from the tank, as well as check valves.
• Better cord management- labels on everything & neatly bundled.

I've got big plans- help me make them better!

If you can swing it an auto water change would be cool where the “old“ water could simply drain and the “new” water could come from your mixing station. If it’s a 75G then you wouldn’t need much flow since a daily or constant change would probably be on a few gallons per day.

 

[Schreiber]

Looks like a good design on the canopy having the hinged front and open back to allow maximum access. I would consider having some screen tops or a removable screen on the open back side of the canopy to prevent fish from jumping out and not being bounced back into the tank. On the unions you can put in stand alone unions or with a true union ball valves it adds unions to the valve so its like a 2 in 1. I would also agree on using a gate valve for the drainline.

Oh, the screen is a good call. I actually have my current tank completely open-top because I hate the look of screens. I haven't had any issues so far, but since it would be hidden by the canopy anyway, a screen would only help!

I actually just looked up true union ball valves & they're not as expensive as I was expecting! I'll definitely just go with that. For the gate valves though, I'm not having much luck finding ones with unions.

 

[Schreiber]

The pandemic has allowed me to reorganize my fish room wiring. Retrospectively I would have organized the wiring from the beginning with raceways etc. Took me forever to reorganize on an already setup tank.

That's the plan! Since I've got a solid 7 months until this stand will have a tank on it, I've got plenty of time to add raceways, shelving, mounting points, etc. I'm super excited about it.

When we moved to the large aquarium category, we started with a 210 DT & 75gal DIY sump. The sump had 4 chambers including a ~20 gallon refugium. Later, we decided to expand the refugium & install a DIY algae scrubber using a 50 gal rubbermaid stock tank that is elevated over the original sump. After that, our original DT failed, & we upgraded to 300gal. With the larger volume, we had capacity to tie in a surge device. We're using an 18gal water bucket for that application. It's installed about 7 ft above the original sump. To provide water for the surge device, we had to cut out one of the chambers in the original sump & expand the return chamber to 35 gal.

All of those expansion projects would not have been possible if we would have used the space under the DT in the stand. If you check our Build Thread, you can see the DT on one side of the wall, & the other goodness installed in the stairwell through the wall. This was done on the recommendation by the LFS where we bought our first larger tank. I'm very glad we followed that guidance.

Just checked your build thread & I love that setup! If I'm able to replicate something similar, I absolutely will. Completely depends on the layout of the house we wind up getting. I may wind up just putting a bookshelf or something to the side of my tank & putting all that sort of stuff behind it, if I can't have a little hidden room like you've got.

 

[Schreiber]

If you can swing it an auto water change would be cool where the “old“ water could simply drain and the “new” water could come from your mixing station. If it’s a 75G then you wouldn’t need much flow since a daily or constant change would probably be on a few gallons per day.

Absolutely in the plan. I've already got a Reef-Pi build running my tank & the pumps/sensors necessary for auto water changes.

Unfortunately, my tank is about as far from a drainline as it could possibly be in my apartment & there's no good spot to keep pre-mixed saltwater.

I've still got to do some more research on continuous water changes like this. They sound like they'd keep everything incredibly stable, but I'm a bit worried about waste export.