Shawn Waldon
Community Member
Well after 10 years in the freshwater side I have come over to the dark side. I have dabbled in saltwater a few times over the years but have always had to break them down for various reasons. I have a fluval 13.5 reef going. It is going strong at the 6th month mark.
Christmas came and my wife finally gave me the ok to build my dream system. I am sure she didn't realize what she did lol. And we are off.
First thing was converting the shop into a fish room. Started with putting electrical in the room only got one pic. I put in a light and four outlets.
Next was insulation and vapor barrier.
Was debating on putting in drywall but decided against it. Next was the water station. I bought two 55 gallon water containers. I love working with my hands building things so this was the fun part.
I sold the smaller tank and decided to do something different with the top shelf. So now it was time for the worst part, plumbing. Took for ever but I got it done. I had to fix the same leak twice ughhh. I hate plumbing lol.
Finally got the aquarium in and put together. Had a big hiccup getting the aquarium. They forgot a box of panels for the stand so I had to wait two more weeks. They were very apologetic for the mistake and took good care of me.
Man that thing weighed a ton. Being a trucker I am only home one day a week. I couldn't get help to put the tank on the stand so I thought about how to get it done. After a few days it came to me, an equipment dolly.
Best $50 I spent. Made it a one person job. Now it's time to get the tank set up.
Now it's time to get the equipment all set up. I have the heaters, return pump, power heads, controller, and ATO. Set everything up in the fish room to keep the electrical away from the tank. Luckily it's just on the other side of the wall. I did what I could with the wires and may clean it up more later.
Now the RO system. Luckily my hot water heater is in the fish room so I tapped into the cold water supply line. It's a 4 stage with the upgrade kit. I am thinking about getting the 3 chamber upgrade to separate the di reson.
Now the last part, aquascape. Got about 80 lbs in the tank and a bio block. This is where the system is at today. I put in some microbacter 7 and now just waiting for the cycle to finish so I can get my tang out of the nano and get some fish in this thing. I will put a breakdown of the equipment later. It's going to take some time to get this system ready for coral so be patient. It will happen I just don't want to rush it. That is the reason my last attempt failed.
Christmas came and my wife finally gave me the ok to build my dream system. I am sure she didn't realize what she did lol. And we are off.
First thing was converting the shop into a fish room. Started with putting electrical in the room only got one pic. I put in a light and four outlets.
Next was insulation and vapor barrier.
Was debating on putting in drywall but decided against it. Next was the water station. I bought two 55 gallon water containers. I love working with my hands building things so this was the fun part.
I sold the smaller tank and decided to do something different with the top shelf. So now it was time for the worst part, plumbing. Took for ever but I got it done. I had to fix the same leak twice ughhh. I hate plumbing lol.
Finally got the aquarium in and put together. Had a big hiccup getting the aquarium. They forgot a box of panels for the stand so I had to wait two more weeks. They were very apologetic for the mistake and took good care of me.
Man that thing weighed a ton. Being a trucker I am only home one day a week. I couldn't get help to put the tank on the stand so I thought about how to get it done. After a few days it came to me, an equipment dolly.
Best $50 I spent. Made it a one person job. Now it's time to get the tank set up.
Now it's time to get the equipment all set up. I have the heaters, return pump, power heads, controller, and ATO. Set everything up in the fish room to keep the electrical away from the tank. Luckily it's just on the other side of the wall. I did what I could with the wires and may clean it up more later.
Now the RO system. Luckily my hot water heater is in the fish room so I tapped into the cold water supply line. It's a 4 stage with the upgrade kit. I am thinking about getting the 3 chamber upgrade to separate the di reson.
Now the last part, aquascape. Got about 80 lbs in the tank and a bio block. This is where the system is at today. I put in some microbacter 7 and now just waiting for the cycle to finish so I can get my tang out of the nano and get some fish in this thing. I will put a breakdown of the equipment later. It's going to take some time to get this system ready for coral so be patient. It will happen I just don't want to rush it. That is the reason my last attempt failed.
