Ross B Reef'n 170 Gallon & Fishroom Megabuild

OP
OP
Ross B Reef'n

Ross B Reef'n

Well-Known Member
View Badges
Joined
Apr 17, 2019
Messages
585
Reaction score
991
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
Proud parent!!!!

20190824_131825.jpg
20190824_131821.jpg
20190824_131819.jpg
20190824_132030.jpg
20190824_131808.jpg
20190824_131806.jpg
20190824_131803.jpg
20190824_131758.jpg
20190824_131746.jpg
20190824_131736.jpg
 

User

2500 Club Member
View Badges
Joined
Aug 15, 2017
Messages
4,523
Reaction score
7,476
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
i just caught a couple of your posts as i followed a rabbit hole from my thread to yours via a mutual 'watcher'

i have a bunch of stuff on my plate today, but im posting this so i can come back and see the rest

good work, keep it up- and good stuff with the on the spot thinking regarding the siphon buster. this hobby is full of stuff like that

take a look at my build, if you like. hate to pimp out my own work, but i like to know if any of my stuff helps other people

cheers
 

User

2500 Club Member
View Badges
Joined
Aug 15, 2017
Messages
4,523
Reaction score
7,476
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
It's been a busy weekend! A lot was accomplished, and I'm happy how far this project has come.

Saturday morning was planning. So I fired up the AutoCAD and drew the schematics for the water station stand and QT stand.

water tank.JPG


QT stand.JPG


Saturday afternoon, I headed to Lowe's, picked up supplies, then came home and cut all the 2x4's.
20190629_150902.jpg


By the evening, I had 1/2 of the water tank stand complete.

20190629_193812.jpg


Side note for the design, I noticed the barrels I had purchased had little indentions that made a perfect way to secure the barrels in place.

20190629_193827.jpg


A little unhappy that I didn't get further, I had to retire for the night. My legs were getting tired!

Bright and early Sunday morning, I was back at it again. A little tip for anyone doing woodworking with their project: jigs make the woodworking world go around!

20190630_092647.jpg


The jig in the picture allowed me to install all the vertical members quickly, and at the same spacing.

A little proof of concept that bolts and indents actually hold the barrels in place.

20190630_122143.jpg


With a little more work, the water stand was finished!

20190630_124750.jpg


It was time to move the water tanks into place.

20190630_130757.jpg


20190630_130759.jpg


Awesome. Great. I'm motivated, so I started building the QT tank stand and it came out nicely.

20190630_153010.jpg


Moved it into place.
20190630_180132.jpg



By this time I'm feeling like a production machine! So I go ahead and build out the stands for the sump and the skimmer

20190630_180143.jpg


Hold on tight because its plumbing time!!!

20190630_130759.jpg
I'll be following HotRocks QT protocol
(https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/my-current-qt-process.483371/)
I've never done QT before, let alone an advanced one like this. Wish me luck! I also splurged and got the Hanna HR copper checker for peace of mind.

I’m liking this build very much. Very cool man!

One thought at this point- you might want to be aware that ich and velvet parasites can become airborne in water droplets and travel as far as 10 ft. aerosolisation due to hob filters and airstones are super effective in throwing this stuff into the air. Proximity of your QT to the sump makes me a little nervous. I had similar plans early in and ended up moving my QTs out of the fishroom and in a different part of the basement.

Hot rocks thread and the Hanna copper checker will keep you on a good path. Look into Humblefishes new modified tank transfer plus h2O2 protocol. Seems like it’s going to be a great wide- spectrum protocol

Going to keep reading- looking forward to more updates
 
OP
OP
Ross B Reef'n

Ross B Reef'n

Well-Known Member
View Badges
Joined
Apr 17, 2019
Messages
585
Reaction score
991
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
I’m liking this build very much. Very cool man!

One thought at this point- you might want to be aware that ich and velvet parasites can become airborne in water droplets and travel as far as 10 ft. aerosolisation due to hob filters and airstones are super effective in throwing this stuff into the air. Proximity of your QT to the sump makes me a little nervous. I had similar plans early in and ended up moving my QTs out of the fishroom and in a different part of the basement.
Thank you! :)

I did read the 10ft warning before, but didn't pay much attention to it. Now this is the second time it's coming up, so I think I better heed the warning. There's little chance my wife is going to let me start putting aquariums all over the house just yet, so I'm going to have to improvise.

My plan is to build an acrylic enclosure with a HEPA filter lid. One of those HEPA filters for your HVAC just happened to catch my eyes at the hardware store the other day.

Thankfully our new clowns were captive bread and seem super healthy. Seem is the operative word however. Hopefully I dogged a bullet this time around until I can build the enclosure.
 

User

2500 Club Member
View Badges
Joined
Aug 15, 2017
Messages
4,523
Reaction score
7,476
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
Thank you! :)

I did read the 10ft warning before, but didn't pay much attention to it. Now this is the second time it's coming up, so I think I better heed the warning. There's little chance my wife is going to let me start putting aquariums all over the house just yet, so I'm going to have to improvise.

My plan is to build an acrylic enclosure with a HEPA filter lid. One of those HEPA filters for your HVAC just happened to catch my eyes at the hardware store the other day.

Thankfully our new clowns were captive bread and seem super healthy. Seem is the operative word however. Hopefully I dogged a bullet this time around until I can build the enclosure.
You wouldn’t even need a full enclosure, just something to direct the air flow from the top into the filter. You can build a thin, 3” or so tray with 3 12v computer fans (per 20g long) pulling air through the heap filter. Kinda like one of those pop up range extractor hoods but horizontal . I used a very similar design in my lab to do microbial inoculation work on the bench top. With the 3D printer it should be relatively easy to custom make the required clips and guides etc.

Consider this though- 20g long tanks aren’t that deep, front to back. Like 12”? You could make a slim tank stand and put it against the wall outside the fishroom. Would be easier maybe to set up something like that. Would have to figure out exhaust issues from the car - I have no experience or reading history on that issue.

Sorry to throw a spanner in your design, but the aerosolisation issue is legit and needs to be addressed in some way.
 
OP
OP
Ross B Reef'n

Ross B Reef'n

Well-Known Member
View Badges
Joined
Apr 17, 2019
Messages
585
Reaction score
991
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
You wouldn’t even need a full enclosure, just something to direct the air flow from the top into the filter. You can build a thin, 3” or so tray with 3 12v computer fans (per 20g long) pulling air through the heap filter. Kinda like one of those pop up range extractor hoods but horizontal . I used a very similar design in my lab to do microbial inoculation work on the bench top. With the 3D printer it should be relatively easy to custom make the required clips and guides etc.

Consider this though- 20g long tanks aren’t that deep, front to back. Like 12”? You could make a slim tank stand and put it against the wall outside the fishroom. Would be easier maybe to set up something like that. Would have to figure out exhaust issues from the car - I have no experience or reading history on that issue.

Sorry to throw a spanner in your design, but the aerosolisation issue is legit and needs to be addressed in some way.

My garage is a woodshop, so exhaust wouldn't be an issue, but climate would. It's been 90+ here in Nashville and I don't have any extra chillers laying around. I'm going to have to figure something out that works where it is. Maybe a full blown quarantine/isolation chamber.
 

User

2500 Club Member
View Badges
Joined
Aug 15, 2017
Messages
4,523
Reaction score
7,476
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
My garage is a woodshop, so exhaust wouldn't be an issue, but climate would. It's been 90+ here in Nashville and I don't have any extra chillers laying around. I'm going to have to figure something out that works where it is. Maybe a full blown quarantine/isolation chamber.
You’re in Nashville!!

I was up in the parmley cove estate north of briley parkway until 18 months ago. We bought the first plot and our house was the first completed. Nice area but 45 minute commute for 8 miles sucked. Worked at Vanderbilt for 5 years until my contract got dropped.

Where you at?
 
OP
OP
Ross B Reef'n

Ross B Reef'n

Well-Known Member
View Badges
Joined
Apr 17, 2019
Messages
585
Reaction score
991
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
You’re in Nashville!!

I was up in the parmley cove estate north of briley parkway until 18 months ago. We bought the first plot and our house was the first completed. Nice area but 45 minute commute for 8 miles sucked. Worked at Vanderbilt for 5 years until my contract got dropped.

Where you at?
Nice, what a coincidence! We built our house down in spring hill. About a 25 minute commute to Nissan HQ.

We're going through something similar regarding the construction. Have houses on both sides of ours going up simultaneously.

Sorry to hear about your contract. Are you still in the Nashville area?
 

User

2500 Club Member
View Badges
Joined
Aug 15, 2017
Messages
4,523
Reaction score
7,476
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
Nah, I’m down in Atlanta area now- closer to wife’s family. I’m from Scotland, immigrated to California 12 years ago, where I met my now wife, moved to Nashville 7 years ago, so when my contract dropped we decided to just come down a bit further. Wife travels for work so being next to atl airport is great for her.

Now, I’m a stay at home dad to 2 girls under 3.5. I miss the lab sometimes, but the tank and the build keep my brain working. I essentially specialized myself out of the workforce, ran my own lab for 3 of the 5 years at Vandy but the department ‘restructured’ and I lost my space. A lab scientist without a lab to work in just doesn’t quite work.
 
OP
OP
Ross B Reef'n

Ross B Reef'n

Well-Known Member
View Badges
Joined
Apr 17, 2019
Messages
585
Reaction score
991
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
Nah, I’m down in Atlanta area now- closer to wife’s family. I’m from Scotland, immigrated to California 12 years ago, where I met my now wife, moved to Nashville 7 years ago, so when my contract dropped we decided to just come down a bit further. Wife travels for work so being next to atl airport is great for her.

Now, I’m a stay at home dad to 2 girls under 3.5. I miss the lab sometimes, but the tank and the build keep my brain working. I essentially specialized myself out of the workforce, ran my own lab for 3 of the 5 years at Vandy but the department ‘restructured’ and I lost my space. A lab scientist without a lab to work in just doesn’t quite work.
I'm sorry to hear that, but you still have the very important job of raising your girls. I have a girl on the way due February. First one for us. Very nervous!
 
OP
OP
Ross B Reef'n

Ross B Reef'n

Well-Known Member
View Badges
Joined
Apr 17, 2019
Messages
585
Reaction score
991
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
Been waiting for an update for a while now, almost pinged you last week!

The clowns made it through QT 1 with no issues. Moved them to QT 2 on sunday. Our Naso, blue eye, and yellow tang arrived this morning from Blue Zoo. All have already nibbled at some food (yay!!).

The DT was on a very low light schedule, but started to show some spots of brown. Now it's lights off until we order the refugium pack from Algae barn next week.

All is going well, just taking it slow!
 
OP
OP
Ross B Reef'n

Ross B Reef'n

Well-Known Member
View Badges
Joined
Apr 17, 2019
Messages
585
Reaction score
991
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
Glad that all the livestock is coming in well and the cycle is moving along. Always better to stay patient. Any corals on the docket?
Thank you Blutspitze. No corals just yet. Possibly one more round of fish and then transition to coral. Most likely a small group of blue chromis. I want to make sure the tank bio filter is established and stable to suit the livestock before I even think about adding coral.

Coral additions will also be very slow and selective, as I know what throwing a ton of green in a tank ends up looking like.
 

Blutspitze

Valuable Member
View Badges
Joined
Jun 4, 2019
Messages
1,164
Reaction score
4,691
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
Thank you Blutspitze. No corals just yet. Possibly one more round of fish and then transition to coral. Most likely a small group of blue chromis. I want to make sure the tank bio filter is established and stable to suit the livestock before I even think about adding coral.

Coral additions will also be very slow and selective, as I know what throwing a ton of green in a tank ends up looking like.
Definitely the best plan, IMO, as well. Getting the fuge settled in will help with the nutrient control for the corals later on, as well.
 

Aquatic acrobat in your aquarium: Have you ever kept an eel?

  • I currently keep an eel in my tank.

    Votes: 29 14.9%
  • I have kept an eel in my tank in the past.

    Votes: 32 16.4%
  • I have not kept an eel in my tank, but I hope to in the future.

    Votes: 35 17.9%
  • I have no plans to keep an eel.

    Votes: 96 49.2%
  • Other.

    Votes: 3 1.5%
Back
Top