Spdstr280Z
Community Member
- Joined
- Jan 23, 2018
- Messages
- 43
- Reaction score
- 40
- What state or country do you live in
- Georgia
I've been working on this for a few months, yes months, so I guess it's time to do a build thread.
A little background, I have been in the hobby for over 10 years, long enough to make a few memories. My first born used to love lying in her swing, watching the fish swim back and forth in my first reef tank, a 46 bowfront.
I've also been in the hobby long enough to know I'm not really good at it. Typical story, things are going great, tank looks good, life gets in the way, I get distracted, oh look, a box full of algae. I'm pretty sure I had some other frags, where did they go, man...
Truth is, I have too many hobbies, none of them necessarily cheap, and I don't concerntrate so I'm not great at any of them.
I've almost gotten out of the hobby a few times, and logically I should, but I just can't seem to walk away. I lost a lot of that first tank one spring when our AC went out. We were having beautiful 70'ish degree days, so I took my time quoting replacement units and not letting the situation take advantage of me. That was great until we had our first temp spike in to the 90's over the weekend before the A/C unit was replaced and I wasn't prepared.
What I had left lived in a rubbermaid tub in the dining room for a few months while I decided what I was doing, either going bigger or getting out. It actually did pretty well in there to tell the truth. While that tank was up I had decided that I really did not like the distortion of a bowfront, so I didn't really want to move back in to it anyway.
I eventually picked up a Marineland 60 cube that I moved in to. Usual (for me) algae problems getting started, but that settled down and was looking pretty good until a few months later when I took the opportunity to move a couple states away and stopped working at the tank until after the move.
Once I moved I set the tank back up, but between work (pretty constant and sometimes hectic for a couple of years), two young children, and the other hobbies how much attention I paid to it varied and to be honest it was just kind of existing.
Since moving I had also had a Biocube on my desk at work with just a few zoa and softie frags in it. It was the older version that I bought used from a buddy. I tried an LED conversion that looked good, but really wouldn't grow much. When I saw the IM Nuvo 10 I decided I had to have one, and maybe I would just have a nano tank and not worry with anything larger.
Then another wave of interest hit, and I decided it was time to go bigger. I had noticed first thing when we bought our current house that a living room wall was shared with the laundry room, and started plotting. I had never even brought it up, figuring it would test the wife's patience. Then one day I mentioned something about it. I'm not exactly sure of the conversation now, but it ended with her encouraging me to knock a big hole in the wall.
The plan was an in wall 90 or 120, the laundry room would become a laundry / fish room. I was measuring, plotting, planning. I was going big, and I was going to automate the heck out of it. And then.... I chickened out.
OK, maybe chickened out is too strong. Came to my senses might be more appropriate. Being realistic, I decided I didn't really feel good about putting a big hole in the wall, and honestly our house (or laundry room) isn't really big enough to support a larger tank. Those things always seem smaller in the stores.
So, the ideas evolved. As I realized the laundry room wouldn't support the larger tank, I started thinking about having it partially through the wall, with the front in a built in. The wife actually liked this idea too, so that part stuck. I just decided to downsize a bit. After all, I really like that little 10 gallon on my desk...
I ended up doing a 40 breeder in a built in with plumbing through the wall, in to a sump in the laundry room. Little simpler and more realistic plan, at least for me. I'm still going to incorporate all the lessons learned from previous tanks, and to do lot more automation than I have in the past.
Equipment List -
AGA / Aqueon / Petco 40 Breeder (new)
AGA / Aqueon / Petco 20 Tall Sump (new)
1 or 2 Kessil A360W-E (1 on current tank, 1 new)
Aquatic Life 24" T5 Hybrid (new)
Reef Octopus VarioS 2 (new)
2 Vortech MP10Ws (current tank)
Glass-Holes.com 700 GPH Overflow with Emergency Drain
EShopps PSK-100 (current tank)
2 Cobalt Neotherm 100 (new)
Tunze Osmolator 3155 ATO (new)
BRS 5" Mini Reactor for carbon
WaterGeneral RD-102 Upgraded to BRS 5 Stage (current)
Refugium Light (to be determined)
Controller (undecided)
Lessons Learned -
No weeds ! I don't have room for things that are going to overgrow the tank. My wife talked me in to a colt coral in the first tank because she liked the movement... Never again. Didn't get rid of all that thing until that tank crashed. Some of the rocks I am moving from the old tank will need to be scrubbed of GSP, and I'll have plenty of sinularia frags as I move.
You need to be able to touch the bottom. There is no way I can easily reach the bottom of the 60 cube. Getting to it at all requires a stool. No fun.
It's not fun working under a stand either. This build will have a waist high sump beside a utility sink.
Real sumps have partitions (or, skimmers need a constant water level). My first two tanks have had small sumps (as will this one) so I just thought of the sump as a place to put the skimmer and heaters. I didn't need partitions... Except that it's hard to maintain a skimmer tune with a constantly changing water level. Plus I had never previously purchased an ATO.
Parameters matter (at least stability does), so dosing and top off is important. Dosing will be automated with at least BRS dosing pumps and the Osmolator is waiting to be installed.
So, with all that, lets start building something !
Jason
A little background, I have been in the hobby for over 10 years, long enough to make a few memories. My first born used to love lying in her swing, watching the fish swim back and forth in my first reef tank, a 46 bowfront.
I've also been in the hobby long enough to know I'm not really good at it. Typical story, things are going great, tank looks good, life gets in the way, I get distracted, oh look, a box full of algae. I'm pretty sure I had some other frags, where did they go, man...
Truth is, I have too many hobbies, none of them necessarily cheap, and I don't concerntrate so I'm not great at any of them.
I've almost gotten out of the hobby a few times, and logically I should, but I just can't seem to walk away. I lost a lot of that first tank one spring when our AC went out. We were having beautiful 70'ish degree days, so I took my time quoting replacement units and not letting the situation take advantage of me. That was great until we had our first temp spike in to the 90's over the weekend before the A/C unit was replaced and I wasn't prepared.
What I had left lived in a rubbermaid tub in the dining room for a few months while I decided what I was doing, either going bigger or getting out. It actually did pretty well in there to tell the truth. While that tank was up I had decided that I really did not like the distortion of a bowfront, so I didn't really want to move back in to it anyway.
I eventually picked up a Marineland 60 cube that I moved in to. Usual (for me) algae problems getting started, but that settled down and was looking pretty good until a few months later when I took the opportunity to move a couple states away and stopped working at the tank until after the move.
Once I moved I set the tank back up, but between work (pretty constant and sometimes hectic for a couple of years), two young children, and the other hobbies how much attention I paid to it varied and to be honest it was just kind of existing.
Since moving I had also had a Biocube on my desk at work with just a few zoa and softie frags in it. It was the older version that I bought used from a buddy. I tried an LED conversion that looked good, but really wouldn't grow much. When I saw the IM Nuvo 10 I decided I had to have one, and maybe I would just have a nano tank and not worry with anything larger.
Then another wave of interest hit, and I decided it was time to go bigger. I had noticed first thing when we bought our current house that a living room wall was shared with the laundry room, and started plotting. I had never even brought it up, figuring it would test the wife's patience. Then one day I mentioned something about it. I'm not exactly sure of the conversation now, but it ended with her encouraging me to knock a big hole in the wall.
The plan was an in wall 90 or 120, the laundry room would become a laundry / fish room. I was measuring, plotting, planning. I was going big, and I was going to automate the heck out of it. And then.... I chickened out.
OK, maybe chickened out is too strong. Came to my senses might be more appropriate. Being realistic, I decided I didn't really feel good about putting a big hole in the wall, and honestly our house (or laundry room) isn't really big enough to support a larger tank. Those things always seem smaller in the stores.
So, the ideas evolved. As I realized the laundry room wouldn't support the larger tank, I started thinking about having it partially through the wall, with the front in a built in. The wife actually liked this idea too, so that part stuck. I just decided to downsize a bit. After all, I really like that little 10 gallon on my desk...
I ended up doing a 40 breeder in a built in with plumbing through the wall, in to a sump in the laundry room. Little simpler and more realistic plan, at least for me. I'm still going to incorporate all the lessons learned from previous tanks, and to do lot more automation than I have in the past.
Equipment List -
AGA / Aqueon / Petco 40 Breeder (new)
AGA / Aqueon / Petco 20 Tall Sump (new)
1 or 2 Kessil A360W-E (1 on current tank, 1 new)
Aquatic Life 24" T5 Hybrid (new)
Reef Octopus VarioS 2 (new)
2 Vortech MP10Ws (current tank)
Glass-Holes.com 700 GPH Overflow with Emergency Drain
EShopps PSK-100 (current tank)
2 Cobalt Neotherm 100 (new)
Tunze Osmolator 3155 ATO (new)
BRS 5" Mini Reactor for carbon
WaterGeneral RD-102 Upgraded to BRS 5 Stage (current)
Refugium Light (to be determined)
Controller (undecided)
Lessons Learned -
No weeds ! I don't have room for things that are going to overgrow the tank. My wife talked me in to a colt coral in the first tank because she liked the movement... Never again. Didn't get rid of all that thing until that tank crashed. Some of the rocks I am moving from the old tank will need to be scrubbed of GSP, and I'll have plenty of sinularia frags as I move.
You need to be able to touch the bottom. There is no way I can easily reach the bottom of the 60 cube. Getting to it at all requires a stool. No fun.
It's not fun working under a stand either. This build will have a waist high sump beside a utility sink.
Real sumps have partitions (or, skimmers need a constant water level). My first two tanks have had small sumps (as will this one) so I just thought of the sump as a place to put the skimmer and heaters. I didn't need partitions... Except that it's hard to maintain a skimmer tune with a constantly changing water level. Plus I had never previously purchased an ATO.
Parameters matter (at least stability does), so dosing and top off is important. Dosing will be automated with at least BRS dosing pumps and the Osmolator is waiting to be installed.
So, with all that, lets start building something !
Jason
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