Postal's 40 Breeder / 25 Cube / 40 Breeder setup

[Postal]

Ok, so I have been kicking around R2R for about 4 years but have rarely (and I mean RARELY) ever posted. So I thought it was time to post a little about my primary tanks.

After having a 75g for a couple of years, I wanted to upgrade to something bigger. I had a 9 foot long wall that was empty and begging for a big tank. Unfortunately, I just couldn't justify the expense of the 8' 240g tank that I wanted to do. So somewhere along the way, I came up with the idea you will see below.

I decided to run 3 tanks as one system. This would allow me to keep different species that might not be compatible with each other in different systems, yet still give me the benefit of a larger water volume as well as filling the entire wall.

Keep in mind that I am not the most handy guy in the world, and this was my first attempt at building anything since Lego sets in the 70's. Now on to the pics...

 

[Postal]

My first bit of fun was learning about a Kreg jig and figuring I might as well give it a shot.





Unfortunately, I didn't take as many pics as I should have. I framed each of the stand for the 3 tanks individually and then attached them together before skinning the entire thing.

 

[Postal]

I skinned the stand in 1/4" white oak plywood and ordered some pre-made oak doors.



After the stand was skinned I stained it with Minwax Dark Walnut and followed that up with several coats of Waterlox to protect it.



Eventually, I brought the stand home (it was built in my parents' garage to due space issues in mine) and started setting it up and plumbing it while I still worked finishing the canopies and doors.



I used a 40 long for a sump and have an i-Tech 200 as the skimmer.

 

[Postal]

After a long, slow build, it finally all came together to look like this...



There a plenty of little flaws that drive me nuts, but for a first attempt at carpentry of any kind, I think it turned out pretty well!!

 

[Sun357]

Wow! That is pretty sweet!

 

[CRW Reefer]

Ya wow that system is awesome!!! Great job

 

[Postal]

Thank you.
I was definitely happy (and surprised) with how it turned out.

 

[bairdimusprime]

wow!!! that's phenomenal!!!!

 

[revhtree Verified Admin]

Very cool and thanks for sharing!

 

[joe2011]

wow that"s really set up you have there

 

[FishLipz]

I had considered doing something similar with Marineland 45 cubes to house multiple clownfish/anemone pairings. Your setup looks great.

 

[skinz78]

Very nice indeed, keep the updates coming!

 

[Postal]

I thought I would add some pics of a few of the inhabitants of the tanks.

 

[Postal]

 

[Postal]

And this is what the tank on the left looked like when first set up as a macro tank. Unfortunately, the red macro on the right became a nuisance and overtook everything in the tank and had to be removed.




Did you see the original tank inhabitant in the pic above?

 

[Flameback Pair]

That second pic in the 14th post, is that a rock anemone smoking? heh

 

[Lilmatty5dimes]

awesome set up. looks really good.

 

[Postal]

That second pic in the 14th post, is that a rock anemone smoking? heh

It was spawning, but it might have had a smoke afterward. :bigsmile:

 

[spspirate]

Very nice!

 

[650-IS350]

Nice, you can do species specific and still enjoy them all.