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d2mini's Reeftastic Reef - PART DEUX!!!!
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What's the
???
So i've been hinting at some upcoming changes and I think they are going to be substantial enough that this thread needs a division of sorts.
This is going to be not unlike a completely new build, except the tank size will be exactly the same, in the exact same spot, surrounded by the exact same cabinetry.
Yet everything else will be change!!! :eek1:
The explanation:
Two things. First, I've come to the conclusion that it's finally time to wall off my little area of the garage that I use for the "fish room". Using a chiller to keep temps down in a garage in Houston was doable when I was running LEDs. But adding MH and T5 to a closed canopy, with all that water volume in the hot garage, has caused the chiller to run more than I would like. I've also had to deal with humidity issues in the garage. Without the dehumidifier I ended up buying, tools would rust if left out in the open. I always have to be wary of the open tanks when working on other projects in the garage. Have to try not to run the cars for fear of what the exhaust might do. Etc.
Second, I got some pretty nasty scratches on the front glass early on. Over the last couple years that have gotten more pronounced and probably multiplied. I don't know what brand low iron glass Deep Sea Aquatics used, but it's soft as POO! I've never had this problem with Starphire in the past. So I've known that someday the time would come that I would have to replace the tank or at least the front panel which means a tear down. Since I had that little mini crash of sorts recently, I figured this is the time to do it. I already had put the fish room changes into motion so why not just do it all at the same time?
Moving Forward:
Tomorrow I will be starting the transfer into that big white tub i posted a pic of.
I've been cycling it for the last few weeks.
All my rock, coral, fish, and a good portion of my water will move directly into that tub. I have also been cycling an 8x8x4 Marine Pure block in my sump that will go into this tub as well. This should be like a straight tank transfer. Fingers crossed.
The chiller and pump have to be hooked up outside the tub, and I'll just place the skimmer inside the tub on a support.
Once everything is transferred over, tear down of the current fish room can begin. Everything emptied out, everything removed, down to bare walls. Then I will begin to layout the two new walls.
Plans for the Tank and Fish Room:
There will be some small changes to the tank.
For one, we will use actual Starphire glass and the tank is being built by Planet Aquariums out of Dallas, through Urban Aquatics here in Houston. Just to maximize tank space in the existing cabinetry, it will be euro braced rather than having the black plastic trim, and no black cross braces. The tank will have a low profile "ghost" style toothless overflow built by the amazing BAO (Building An Obsession) here in Houston. It will be almost coast to coast with a little room left on the ends. I'm not sure if I'll have my returns in those back corners, or if I will wrap around to the front of the tank and point them backwards? Probably the former but we'll see.
I also plan to try to be a little bit more minimal in the aquascaping than I am right now. I'm working with live rock which is tough to do, so we'll see what happens.
The fish room will be COMPLETELY redesigned. Putting up walls limits my space a little bit so I need to maximize my use of space. Therefor I am going back to a traditional sump. A Berlin sump in fact, designed and built by Jeff at LifeReef. I've been on Jeff's wait list for the past 4 months! There will be built in filter canisters for carbon, gfo, etc, problem holders, connections for my CaRx, holders for my level sensors, connections for tubing for my auto water changes and ato... the whole nine.
The refugium is also being built by LifeReef and integrates seamlessly with the sump.
Above that, I will have a nice sized frag tank, along with a tank just for Mangroves. BAO might be helping me out with that.
I may be going external with my skimmer. This will allow for unlimited height and I won't have to reach into the sump.
And finally I will have a quarantine tank! Never had the space for one before, now I do. This will be the last thing I figure out, which is fine since it's not connected to the rest of the system. I'm basically just leaving room for it right now.
Below you will see the general layout of the new fish room.
Actual pics of the progress to come this weekend so stay tuned!
Thanks to everyone who has followed along over the past 2+ years and hopefully you stick around for
PART DEAUX!!! 
