Here's my build. Been here for a little while and figured I should finally do a build thread. This all starts back in the late 90's, before the age of cell phone cameras. Most of these old pictures were taken with my old Olympus digital camera that I bought from Circuit City.
But actually, the story starts even before then. Back in 1986, when I was about 14, I went on a spring break trip to Florida with my parents to visit my grandparents in Ft. Meyers. I, being the beach fanatic, was fascinated with all of the animals that I found on the beach there. So much so, that I brought them home with me back to Ohio. I had a 10 gallon tank at the time, and my dad entertained my wishes to attempt to keep these animals and took me to the pet store to buy some salt and a hydrometer. I managed to keep the hermits alive for a few months, but one can only imagine the myriad of problems that would arise in a 10 gallon saltwater tank with no idea of how one works. But that didn’t matter. The saltwater bug had bitten.
So about 10 years later, I was still living at home and going to college. I had a decent job, and never lost sight of setting up a saltwater tank. So in 1997 I did some research on AOL (that was the “internet” of the time) and figured out how to set up a reef tank. Berlin method was all the rage. I purchased a used, scratched up, piece of crap 75 and got it running.
About a year later, I moved into my own apartment, and bought a new 75 and move the whole thing to my new 3rd floor apartment. Landlord loved me. But I had a full reef setup with coral, tangs, and even had clams. Here’s top picture of that tank from August of 1999.
Then in 2001, I got married, and bought a house. The whole time I’m house shopping, my main focus with any house was where the tank was going to go. I knew I wanted a 180, so the house had to have room for that, and a basement for my filtration room. No slab houses for me. But I agreed with the wife that the tank would wait until we did a few necessary things to the house. So, the 75 was moved into the basement, leaving enough room for the filtration that would support the new tank when it arrived. Nothing but the best plastic tote for a sump. And that is the 75 set up next to the sump to the right.
Which brings us to February of 2002. I purchased the tank and finally had it set up. I built the stand myself, and have no pictures of its construction. But I did set it in place and started the plumbing through my cold air return to go into my basement. Before the overflows were plumbed in.
I left the area right next to my furnace with space for whatever filtration I would need. And I finally set up the tank in its new home, and started filling. RO was set up in the basement and saltwater was mixed in a trash can then carried upstairs 5 gallons at a time. You can see the dinner plate to prevent gravel from blowing around, and even see part of the 5-gallon water jug that made MANY trips up the stairs.
Then the cycling begins. I purchased that first box of Fiji live rock from Premium Aquatics and had it trans-shipped from Fiji to my door. Hitch hikers and all. I still hadn’t finished the plumbing yet, so the tank cycled with a power head and a heater until I finished the plumbing.
Here’s where the overflow comes out of my cold air return and will dump into the sump. 1.5" rigid PVC. My uncle worked for a distributor that sold automation controllers to manufacturing facilities. So he gave me a “display model” Endress and Hauser level controller that I installed and used as an ATO back in 2002 (its still in use today).
Then sometime in 2003, I got rid of that green plastic tote and purchased a 60 gallon HDPE sump, which remained my sump until 2019. So, that had a good run…
So, it has been a long journey for me. There have been some ups and downs. Like in 2012 I had to tear down the whole tank to deal with a GHA bloom that wiped out 90% of my coral. Muratic acid treatment, bleach and lanthanum chloride fixed that issue. That almost made me get out of the hobby, but after stripping everything, and changing my maintenance routine, I have not had problems with GHA since. In all this has been been my obsession since 1997 but my love for aquariums has been a lifelong obsession for me. I hope the novelty doesn't wear off anytime soon. Here’s to another 20+ years of reefing….
Thanks for looking. And here's the tank now.
But actually, the story starts even before then. Back in 1986, when I was about 14, I went on a spring break trip to Florida with my parents to visit my grandparents in Ft. Meyers. I, being the beach fanatic, was fascinated with all of the animals that I found on the beach there. So much so, that I brought them home with me back to Ohio. I had a 10 gallon tank at the time, and my dad entertained my wishes to attempt to keep these animals and took me to the pet store to buy some salt and a hydrometer. I managed to keep the hermits alive for a few months, but one can only imagine the myriad of problems that would arise in a 10 gallon saltwater tank with no idea of how one works. But that didn’t matter. The saltwater bug had bitten.
So about 10 years later, I was still living at home and going to college. I had a decent job, and never lost sight of setting up a saltwater tank. So in 1997 I did some research on AOL (that was the “internet” of the time) and figured out how to set up a reef tank. Berlin method was all the rage. I purchased a used, scratched up, piece of crap 75 and got it running.
About a year later, I moved into my own apartment, and bought a new 75 and move the whole thing to my new 3rd floor apartment. Landlord loved me. But I had a full reef setup with coral, tangs, and even had clams. Here’s top picture of that tank from August of 1999.
Then in 2001, I got married, and bought a house. The whole time I’m house shopping, my main focus with any house was where the tank was going to go. I knew I wanted a 180, so the house had to have room for that, and a basement for my filtration room. No slab houses for me. But I agreed with the wife that the tank would wait until we did a few necessary things to the house. So, the 75 was moved into the basement, leaving enough room for the filtration that would support the new tank when it arrived. Nothing but the best plastic tote for a sump. And that is the 75 set up next to the sump to the right.
Which brings us to February of 2002. I purchased the tank and finally had it set up. I built the stand myself, and have no pictures of its construction. But I did set it in place and started the plumbing through my cold air return to go into my basement. Before the overflows were plumbed in.
I left the area right next to my furnace with space for whatever filtration I would need. And I finally set up the tank in its new home, and started filling. RO was set up in the basement and saltwater was mixed in a trash can then carried upstairs 5 gallons at a time. You can see the dinner plate to prevent gravel from blowing around, and even see part of the 5-gallon water jug that made MANY trips up the stairs.
Then the cycling begins. I purchased that first box of Fiji live rock from Premium Aquatics and had it trans-shipped from Fiji to my door. Hitch hikers and all. I still hadn’t finished the plumbing yet, so the tank cycled with a power head and a heater until I finished the plumbing.
Here’s where the overflow comes out of my cold air return and will dump into the sump. 1.5" rigid PVC. My uncle worked for a distributor that sold automation controllers to manufacturing facilities. So he gave me a “display model” Endress and Hauser level controller that I installed and used as an ATO back in 2002 (its still in use today).
Then sometime in 2003, I got rid of that green plastic tote and purchased a 60 gallon HDPE sump, which remained my sump until 2019. So, that had a good run…
So, it has been a long journey for me. There have been some ups and downs. Like in 2012 I had to tear down the whole tank to deal with a GHA bloom that wiped out 90% of my coral. Muratic acid treatment, bleach and lanthanum chloride fixed that issue. That almost made me get out of the hobby, but after stripping everything, and changing my maintenance routine, I have not had problems with GHA since. In all this has been been my obsession since 1997 but my love for aquariums has been a lifelong obsession for me. I hope the novelty doesn't wear off anytime soon. Here’s to another 20+ years of reefing….
Thanks for looking. And here's the tank now.
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