Jays 116g SPS Build

Jay VIP · Mar 11, 2015

Hey all! My name is Jay. I've been loving aquariums since 1995 which began with freshwater cichlids. Moved onto AAA grade flowerhorns, then onto fly river turtles, and eventually into arowanas. In 2010 I dove into my first salt water fish tank and three months later quickly moved onto my first reef!

A FTS pic of my first reef

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Then I graduated and bought my first house in 2011 and built this.

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Eventually, no mater how much I loved the tank and the several months I put into the build, I just didn't like all the space it took in the room. I had a void in my wall and I started toying with the idea of building a tank into it. I guess all the stars aligned because a friend's tank came available and it was a perfect fit for the void in my family room. And so it began.....

Jay VIP · Mar 11, 2015

I moved the furniture around and began my work in the void. Sorry, didn't take many breaks to photograph much.

To the right of this wall is my garage and I really loved the idea of having the sump in the garage. Since the space in the void was a perfect 48", I could put a 48" tank in there without having enough room for powerheads and such. The custom tank ended up being 40" which was perfect. Only problem was that I couldn't fit a 36" sump underneath it and still have enough room to work. I convinced my wife to let me hack the wall out, put some plumbing in there, and exit into the garage where I could have all the space I need!

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Connections leading to the garage.

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Water change station and the rack where the sump will eventually sit

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Jay VIP · Mar 11, 2015

And the finished product!

Jay VIP · Mar 11, 2015

Equipment List:
116g Custom Plexi (40L x 24D x 28T)
55G Sump with frag section
30G Refugium
15G ATO gravity fed
Lumentek Pro 240w
Jebao DC12000 Return Pump on a custom manifold controlling:
BRS Dual Reactor
Return to Refugium
1/3hp Prime Chiller
6500k Par 38 on the refugium
15k Par 38 on the Frag Tank

First SPS Inhabitants