Dream Home & Dream Tank Build

[mfraembs]

I wanted to start this thread to allow people to follow along with my build of my dream home with my dream tank “including fish room”. I am a local home builder that has been in the reefing hobby for about 10 years. At this point I am in the design phase of the home and am currently planing on the tank location and location of the fish room.

in our area all homes are slab on grade and this home will be an all pitched roof with attic space above. My ultimate goal is to have the tank located in the center of the great room with no walls around the tank to hide equipment or run plumbing or electrical. It will be crucial to have everything under the slab so I don’t have to bust out concrete. Also thinking of ways to help future proof this tank as the hobby grows.

my current tank is a 180 gal with 36 gal sump, with the equipment list below; the new tank will be a minimum of 6’x3’x24”

1. 2 qty COR20’s
2. 2 qty MP40’s
3. 1 qty MP60 Mobius app (shipping soon)
4. 3 qty Radion g4 xr30 pro’s
5. powered by new Apex
6. trident
7. 4 qty Neptune DOS
8. 1 qty DDR for Calc & Alk
9. Vertex 180i skimmer
10. Kessle fuge light, A series?
11. 2 qty Cobalt NeoTherm 100w

I will be transferring the equipment I can over to the new tank. by no means am I an expert in reefing and would love to lean on this reefing community to help guide my decisions For this build.

Later this week I will have the base design of our home’s floor plan and will upload it along with some photos of my existing tank. Im sure this will be a long thread with lots of information. Hope to see you follow along and help with decisions on this build!

 

[SPR1968]

Sounds a very exciting project and keep the pictures coming.

As it’s a new build etc., would it be better to go ‘very big’ at this stage and build it into the design ?

just might save you a future upgrade when you fill it! Lol

 

[mfraembs]

Haha haha, don’t tempt me?! I have to leave room in the home budget so my wife gets what she wants too

 

[fishguy242]

this is going to be good...following along second the go BIG

 

[fishguy242]

Haha haha, don’t tempt me?! I have to leave room in the home budget so my wife gets what she wants too

Build her a "she shed" lol ..jk

 

[mfraembs]

Build her a "she shed" lol ..jk

We have already gone there...... is there a way to disable Pinterest from her phone??? She also wants a koi pond which I am totally on board with! Lol

 

[vetteguy53081]

Ahhh, dreams - where we lead to reality of that dream. This should be a fun time!
Care to share the winning lottery numbers with us ? (Jk) .......... hope all goes well !

 

[najer]

Sounds very nice, following.

 

[Firedawg1983]

I’ll be looking forward to the build! Quick question though, 2 100 watt heaters is that correct? I figured with a larger tank like you are planning on, you would go with 2 300 watt heaters

 

[mfraembs]

I’ll be looking forward to the build! Quick question though, 2 100 watt heaters is that correct? I figured with a larger tank like you are planning on, you would go with 2 300 watt heaters

Those heaters are in my existing tank and the main reason for only 2, 100w heaters is because I live in New Mexico, it doesn’t get very cold over here. I will have to add to the heating in the new tank.

thanks for following!

 

[Firedawg1983]

Those heaters are in my existing tank and the main reason for only 2, 100w heaters is because I live in New Mexico, it doesn’t get very cold over here. I will have to add to the heating in the new tank.

thanks for following!

After I sent that I said to myself you could be in a warm climate area.

 

[Gablami]

I’m curious to see how you’re going to connect the fish room to the DT under the slab. A large diameter conduit? Can you build some sort of channel in the slab and have an area of a removal floor/subfloor to access the conduit? I’m sure you’ve thought about this a bunch. Looking forward to seeing what you’ve come up with.

 

[Sisterlimonpot]

Those heaters are in my existing tank and the main reason for only 2, 100w heaters is because I live in New Mexico, it doesn’t get very cold over here. I will have to add to the heating in the new tank.

thanks for following!

Same here in az. I looked at my heater log and it comes on for 10 minutes every 4-5 days on average this time of year.

 

[mfraembs]

I’m curious to see how you’re going to connect the fish room to the DT under the slab. A large diameter conduit? Can you build some sort of channel in the slab and have an area of a removal floor/subfloor to access the conduit? I’m sure you’ve thought about this a bunch. Looking forward to seeing what you’ve come up with.

That is the main thing I am racking my brain on at the moment. I am going to have my plumber run the drain and return line to the tank location, same goes for my power with the electrician. I ultimately think I am going to run both; several conduits under the slab and try to figure a way to have a small section of removable tile floor. I know I would need this as a just in case. I need to find a way so it doesn’t look like an eye sore since it’s in the main focal point of the home.

 

[mfraembs]

Same here in az. I looked at my heater log and it comes on for 10 minutes every 4-5 days on average this time of year.

I went to college at ASU and am very familiar with AZ. That place is flipping hot!!!! I do miss Phoenix however!!!

 

[Gablami]

One question just leads to another. I was thinking if it’s a bean animal style overflow, will need three 1-1.5” PVC pipes in that conduit plus return flow. And then I was thinking, what sort of overflow would you have? If it’s in the center of the room, then it’s gotta be all 4 sides viewable (gotta do it right) so are you thinking center overflow?!?

 

[mfraembs]

One question just leads to another. I was thinking if it’s a bean animal style overflow, will need three 1-1.5” PVC pipes in that conduit plus return flow. And then I was thinking, what sort of overflow would you have? If it’s in the center of the room, then it’s gotta be all 4 sides viewable (gotta do it right) so are you thinking center overflow?!?

I was originally thinking a center overflow but hate how it takes up aquascape real estate and have a large dead space in the center of the display...... As of right now I am thinking of an external overflow and mounting it on one of the short sides of the tank. I would have the custom aquarium stand cover this side with the plumbing. It would be similar to a peninsula tank on the less viewable side.

Planning on the Bean Animal overflow; the return and drain would be hard plumbed under the slab similar to the rest of the plumbing lines in the home. These would all be hard piped and would not be inside the conduits that are planned. I would love to see what ideas you all have? For a brief second I was thinking of just having these drains at the bottom center of the tank. HAHAHAHAH! what a disaster that would be having 300 gallons in the fish room and a petrified reef tank! Talk about the worst nightmare you could imagine!

 

[Sisterlimonpot]

One question just leads to another. I was thinking if it’s a bean animal style overflow, will need three 1-1.5” PVC pipes in that conduit plus return flow. And then I was thinking, what sort of overflow would you have? If it’s in the center of the room, then it’s gotta be all 4 sides viewable (gotta do it right) so are you thinking center overflow?!?

I'm going to tag @KenO he built his house around his tanks as well here in Phoenix. Ran conduit in the concrete large enough so he can pull plumbing through it all. His sump was also built in the concrete below surface to make the gravity return work. He has some "should've dones" that might be priceless for you.

 

[mfraembs]

I'm going to tag @KenO he built his house around his tanks as well here in Phoenix. Ran conduit in the concrete large enough so he can pull plumbing through it all. His sump was also built in the concrete below surface to make the gravity return work. He has some "should've dones" that might be priceless for you.

That would be perfect! I would love to hear what he did and what some of the items are that he would have done differently. Thanks!

 

[ycnibrc]

I was originally thinking a center overflow but hate how it takes up aquascape real estate and have a large dead space in the center of the display...... As of right now I am thinking of an external overflow and mounting it on one of the short sides of the tank. I would have the custom aquarium stand cover this side with the plumbing. It would be similar to a peninsula tank on the less viewable side.

Planning on the Bean Animal overflow; the return and drain would be hard plumbed under the slab similar to the rest of the plumbing lines in the home. These would all be hard piped and would not be inside the conduits that are planned. I would love to see what ideas you all have? For a brief second I was thinking of just having these drains at the bottom center of the tank. HAHAHAHAH! what a disaster that would be having 300 gallons in the fish room and a petrified reef tank! Talk about the worst nightmare you could imagine!

Do a ghost overflow only the teeth part is show inside the tank no room will be lost.