jbfloor
New member
I have had my 155g tank (build thread here) for over three years now and although there are a lot of things I like about the tank, there are other things that I don't.
Here's the tank in question:
I have been semi-successful with this tank. All fish are doing great, but having trouble keeping corals healthy and parameters stable. There are too many things that have started to annoy me about the setup. Therefore I have decided to start designing a new tank build. With the gained experience over the last three years I have decided that:
Beware that this is a very long-term project (2yrs) because of a major renovation that is being planned for the house that needs to be completed first. This will give me plenty of time to do proper research, get recommendations and do a complete design and have all my ducks in a row before I even start buying new equipment.
The new tank
Questions about the tank size:
Is it more expensive to order a non-standard size tank such as 72Lx32Wx27H than a 'standard' 70x30x30. Or does it really not matter anymore once you go over 250g or so?
I'd rather go wide than high. My current tank is only 21" high and is great to work on. Does anybody have a 30" high tank that, on second thought, would rather have gone with a 27" or vice-versa? I am fairly tall (6'2"), so my arms are fairly long, but I don't think I'd be able to reach the bottom on a 30" without having to push my shoulder under water. How hard is it not to be able to easily reach the bottom?
I have seen the Reef Savvy Ghost overflow. What is its benefit over a full external overflow?
What would your recommendation be for the height of the stand? I have it set for 32" right now and the sump will be in this stand.
On to the fish room:
I got permission from the wife to confiscate part of the garage and turn it into a fish room, on the condition that she gets to use the rest of the garage as prop storage for her movie production hobby. We never park our cars inside anyway (not necessary in California), so we may as well use it for our hobbies. Also, it is a concrete slab, which is perfect for a heavy tank.
For my first draft I have carved out a 10'x10' feet room, which leaves enough space for the garage door to open properly. I could probably stretch this to 10'x12' if I needed. I will install semi-temporary walls which can be removed if we ever decide to sell the house. The tank will sit in the fish room with a cut-out through the wall to my home office.
The room is planned roughly like this:
Which will look somewhat like this when done:
Other side:
The brown colored door is a door that opens to the side of the house. This door will remain, but will be shut and locked because of pipes that need to run across it from the frag tank to the sump. The entry to the fish room is across from the tank.
The view of the tank from the office will be:
Questions about the room:
The concrete slab is already there. The city does not allow to drain reef water down the storm drain (for good reason), so the only option I have is to drain down the sewer drain. Adding a floor drain to the fish room means cutting a large channel into the concrete slab. Is it worth it? Another option would be to lift the entire floor in the fish room and put a drain in the raised floor.
Anything else you regard as an absolute 'must have' in a fish room?
Here's the tank in question:
I have been semi-successful with this tank. All fish are doing great, but having trouble keeping corals healthy and parameters stable. There are too many things that have started to annoy me about the setup. Therefore I have decided to start designing a new tank build. With the gained experience over the last three years I have decided that:
- The new tank will be placed outside of the living room. It is simply too hard to keep the tank clean in that environment. From the scented candles incident, to too much CO2 in the air, to dust, to cooking with alcohol, I have been battling outside influences from day one. Current living room tank will be converted to fresh water tank.
- I will need side and rear access to the tank. The limited space around and under the tank I have now makes every bit of maintenance ten times harder than it should be.
- I need better access to water. Running a 50foot hose through the house and lugging buckets makes water changes a very unpleasant business.
- I need a better QT setup. I want a 40 gallon QT setup that can be filled from the display tank by opening a single valve.
- Frag tank / Prison. Want to be able to catch a fish and imprison it in a connected frag tank if it acts like a d**k in the display tank.
- Automation. I am thinking about designing a fully automated water change system. I am an (embedded) software engineer by trade, so I might as well put my skills to use. With the current limited space it is very hard (if not impossible) to add more equipment under the tank.
- Bigger tank! 155g is great, but 270g is greater!
- I.....want.....a.....fish......room!
Beware that this is a very long-term project (2yrs) because of a major renovation that is being planned for the house that needs to be completed first. This will give me plenty of time to do proper research, get recommendations and do a complete design and have all my ducks in a row before I even start buying new equipment.
The new tank
- 72" long (hard limit), ~32" wide (max 36"), ~30" high (max 30")
- Starphire front
- External overflow in back
- Pre-drilled through bottom for close loop
- Trigger Systems Tide36 Sump (perhaps upgrade to Tide48)
- DIY LED (~250W)
Questions about the tank size:
Is it more expensive to order a non-standard size tank such as 72Lx32Wx27H than a 'standard' 70x30x30. Or does it really not matter anymore once you go over 250g or so?
I'd rather go wide than high. My current tank is only 21" high and is great to work on. Does anybody have a 30" high tank that, on second thought, would rather have gone with a 27" or vice-versa? I am fairly tall (6'2"), so my arms are fairly long, but I don't think I'd be able to reach the bottom on a 30" without having to push my shoulder under water. How hard is it not to be able to easily reach the bottom?
I have seen the Reef Savvy Ghost overflow. What is its benefit over a full external overflow?
What would your recommendation be for the height of the stand? I have it set for 32" right now and the sump will be in this stand.
On to the fish room:
I got permission from the wife to confiscate part of the garage and turn it into a fish room, on the condition that she gets to use the rest of the garage as prop storage for her movie production hobby. We never park our cars inside anyway (not necessary in California), so we may as well use it for our hobbies. Also, it is a concrete slab, which is perfect for a heavy tank.
For my first draft I have carved out a 10'x10' feet room, which leaves enough space for the garage door to open properly. I could probably stretch this to 10'x12' if I needed. I will install semi-temporary walls which can be removed if we ever decide to sell the house. The tank will sit in the fish room with a cut-out through the wall to my home office.
The room is planned roughly like this:
Which will look somewhat like this when done:
Other side:
The brown colored door is a door that opens to the side of the house. This door will remain, but will be shut and locked because of pipes that need to run across it from the frag tank to the sump. The entry to the fish room is across from the tank.
The view of the tank from the office will be:
Questions about the room:
The concrete slab is already there. The city does not allow to drain reef water down the storm drain (for good reason), so the only option I have is to drain down the sewer drain. Adding a floor drain to the fish room means cutting a large channel into the concrete slab. Is it worth it? Another option would be to lift the entire floor in the fish room and put a drain in the raised floor.
Anything else you regard as an absolute 'must have' in a fish room?
