Tank - Sump Build 500 gal +

[+Dogfish]

Decided to start on the tank. 2 years of putting the house and yard together is enough. Plus it's hot outside. First step is to get the room ready. Here are a few pictures of the room and platform the tank will sit on. The platform was engineered to hold 18,000 lbs. I was not sure if the tank would be glass or acrylic. I had to do a little leveling of the platform. The framers that built the house were close, but i dont want to be off a 1/16th with all that water. The fish will have a great view.

[FarmerTy]

Wow! Stating the obvious here but this build is going to be epic!

[+Dogfish]

Epic yes . ⬆or ⬇ Lets see if the salt water gods have blessed me or cursed me.

[jolt]

Yes, agreed, epic!

[+Dogfish]

A little about the room. It's 8 x 11. We have polished concrete floors and I had them drop the aquarium room floor 4" with a floor drain. An exhaust fan is mounted in the 10 foot ceiling. The room has A/C. I have 3ea 20 amp circuits going to 4 sets of 4 gang plugs. Three of which are higher than the tank will be. They are wired to a separate 100 amp service box with connections to a generator for back up power. I'm out on a gravel road, across a low water crossing and if a tree takes out a power line during a storm, I dont know how fast they can come fix it. I plan on epoxying the floor and putting 4 coats of high gloss water proof paint on the walls and ceiling.

[Jimbo662]

Holy Moly!!!

[FarmerTy]

Any particular direction you are wanting to go with the livestock in the tank? Both fish and corals?

[+Dogfish]

I will do a mixed reef. I'm kinda partial to the softies as they have more movement. Pulsating Xenias, Hammers, Mushrooms and the Pipe Organs. The hope is to have a few different pairs of Clownfish and their matching host Anemones. Maybe even a Carpet Anemone. I also like Gobies and Firefish. On the bigger fish and LPS corals, I  will have to decide later how many and what kind.  I always thought clams were cool too. Im already beginning to think the tank might too small for all those goodies :))).  I have 3ea MP60's and 3ea 1-1/2" Sea Swirls powered by a Reef Flo Hammerhead/ Barracuda pump. Should be enough flow for most corals.

[+BobcatReefer]

Following for sure!  Good luck!

[Gig 'em @ NDstructible]

Wow, looks like it's going to me an amazing tank build! What kind of tanks have you had in the past? I know of some species of anemones that will really fill up that tank nicely

[+Dogfish]

 About 40 years ago I had a large fresh water tank and some smaller breeder tanks. I would breed fish and sell or trade them to the LFS's around town. I lived in San Francisco so they were lots of stores.  (did I just date myself?) I guess that was before all this fancy eeelectronic stuff … Life goes on and i gave that up. Many years later………. I decided that it was time to settle down and think about a retirement home. Wimberley seemed like a nice place and who could forget that Twilight Zone episode "A Stop at Willoughby". I always want to try a salt water tank and I thought it might look good in my new home. While the house was being built I decided some research was in order. I found a 125 gal acrylic tank cheap. It was a mess. The kid had drilled holes in the bottom,  siliconed in 2 over flow boxes and had very short drain pipes. Well he managed to flood his bedroom and half the house. His parents were pissed. With lot of plugging of holes and polishing out scratches, I had a good tank to play with. Built a external overflow to try the bean animal thing. Did a closed loop for fun. The tank did come with an extra 55 gal glass tank I used to build a 3 chamber sump. Got to try cheato, deep sand beds and all that fun stuff. Found out what worked and what did not. Cheap LED lights will not grow corals, expensive ones will. Cheap pumps break, expensive ones last longer. Live rock and free corals come with a lot of unwanted things that are hard to get rid of. I even ended up with a spiny urchin that came with some live rock. I knew my tang was not that diligent at keeping the rock clean. I break out in stinging welts if I handle those cabbage leathers with my bare hands. After about 3 years the house was done. Gave the tank and livestock away to the needy. So like the Douglases on Green Acres, we packed up and moved from the big city to the country. Now its the chores not the stores.  : )))

[+Dogfish]

Got the walls painted a shiny white. Made a board for the tank to sit on. It sits on a piece of shower pan rubber to take out any small imperfections in the plywood platform. Also trying to position the media reactors for the cleanest look that's easy to manage. I ran a  GEO's calcium reactor in my 125 and liked it. I had him make the smaller ones with an inlet at the bottom instead of the top to eliminate the tube down the center like on the Two Little FIshes reactors. One less thing to clean. I will prob put the CO2 tank on the floor. The cardboard you see on the floor is the location of the sump. Wanted to be sure it would fit around that support before i built it.

[Isaac]

you dont need a tank, just make the skimmer the central show piece.

[Reeflogic]

Awesome build! I'm with Isaac, that monster skimmer sitting up there looked pretty sexy haha!  

[+olaggie01]

Perhaps I missed it but what size tank is this?  Looks like a great build

You could always mount the reactors on shelfs or the CO2 container on it's side above the tank?  I like the walk around and access.  Should be great for maintenance.

[+Dogfish]

 For parties we fill the skimmer with champagne , makes ton o bubbles :)))))

The opening in the wall is 5-1/2 x 5-1/2 x3 ft tall. The tank will be 60x60x34. I wanted to leave enough room on the outside to allow for a modern frame around it. The plan is to build some sort of folding stairs to get up around the back of the tank. The reactors take up 12" and I have 36" on that 1 side. 

[Gig 'em @ NDstructible]

10 hours ago, Dogfish said:

 About 40 years ago I had a large fresh water tank and some smaller breeder tanks. I would breed fish and sell or trade them to the LFS's around town. I lived in San Francisco so they were lots of stores.  (did I just date myself?) I guess that was before all this fancy eeelectronic stuff … Life goes on and i gave that up. Many years later………. I decided that it was time to settle down and think about a retirement home. Wimberley seemed like a nice place and who could forget that Twilight Zone episode "A Stop at Willoughby". I always want to try a salt water tank and I thought it might look good in my new home. While the house was being built I decided some research was in order. I found a 125 gal acrylic tank cheap. It was a mess. The kid had drilled holes in the bottom,  siliconed in 2 over flow boxes and had very short drain pipes. Well he managed to flood his bedroom and half the house. His parents were pissed. With lot of plugging of holes and polishing out scratches, I had a good tank to play with. Built a external overflow to try the bean animal thing. Did a closed loop for fun. The tank did come with an extra 55 gal glass tank I used to build a 3 chamber sump. Got to try cheato, deep sand beds and all that fun stuff. Found out what worked and what did not. Cheap LED lights will not grow corals, expensive ones will. Cheap pumps break, expensive ones last longer. Live rock and free corals come with a lot of unwanted things that are hard to get rid of. I even ended up with a spiny urchin that came with some live rock. I knew my tang was not that diligent at keeping the rock clean. I break out in stinging welts if I handle those cabbage leathers with my bare hands. After about 3 years the house was done. Gave the tank and livestock away to the needy. So like the Douglases on Green Acres, we packed up and moved from the big city to the country. Now its the chores not the stores.  : )))

Well it sounds like you've already learned a lot of good lessons in the reef hobby and common pitfalls to avoid. More lessons to be learned I'm sure, but ARC is a great pool of resources and experience with good people who are happy to help in any way they can. Looks like you're setting yourself up for a great retirement activity with this tank, I'm pretty jealous!

[Gig 'em @ NDstructible]

1 hour ago, olaggie01 said:

Perhaps I missed it but what size tank is this?  Looks like a great build

You could always mount the reactors on shelfs or the CO2 container on it's side above the tank?  I like the walk around and access.  Should be great for maintenance.

Actually it's very bad to lay a compressed gas cylinder on its side. Compresed gas cylinders should always be stored upright and properly secured to a solid object to prevent it from getting knocked over and damaging the valve or creating a cylinder missile. I've had to teach the compressed gas cylinder safety training at work, so I can recommend this with confidence

[+Dogfish]

Put up some FRP on the walls most likely to get a bath. Mounted the UV unit and some controllers. Not sure of the controllers final placement. Just wanted to unpack a few things I had. Decided the reactors final placement and will put the torpedo on the floor per Gig 'em's advice. Boxes of fittings and flex tubing arrived from Flex PVC today. There went another $500.00. Wonder if i forgot a fitting or 2.

[FarmerTy]

Hey, nice! You got the same UV sterilizer I do! Great setup!

[jolt]

I ALWAYS forgot a fitting or two every time I ordered 

[+Dogfish]

Ty you had no problems with it? I was concerned that it didnt have a sight glass, but with 2 bulbs, odds are both would not go out at once. If one bulb did go out do you know if the current drops off enough to show up on an Apex controller?

[Isaac]

i wouldnt leave the EB8 there.. i'd consider that a wet area based on how you plan on putting things there and the drain under... maybe on the wall next to it?

[FarmerTy]

Ty you had no problems with it? I was concerned that it didnt have a sight glass, but with 2 bulbs, odds are both would not go out at once. If one bulb did go out do you know if the current drops off enough to show up on an Apex controller?

The ends light up so you can easily tell at nighttime if its running... Probably a little harder during the day to see but you can tell. I'm not sure about the Apex but that would make sense.

FWIW, I wasn't sure if they recommend running it vertical like you have it mounted. I don't really know but I would double check just in case. I feel like if it was able to go vertical, I think I would have done that myself so that's why I'm thinking that wasn't an option for me at that time.

[JamesL]

Can't wait to see this progress!  Looking great so far!