YHSublime

Nailed it. That wall the TV is on is not structural. Like most basements in the DMV, it was just a toilet sitting there, and the PO's of the house put a frame around it with a door and drywall (outside only though!) The inside is a toilet, a sink, and a designated spot for a tub that has been drilled with a DRAIN! This is currently the location of my water mixing buckets It's probably a 10' run from the current nano, and I've entertained adding a pump for RO and NSW for changes and top offs upstairs. I'm currently hauling buckets, which keeps me young. The way they framed it out, there are some water pipes/heavy plumbing above what would be the shower area. That means putting a shower in there makes it pretty unusable if you're over 5'11, which I am at 6'2. We had a contractor sell my SO on the idea of moving the bathroom down (closer to where I am from taking the photo) but I don't know how that works with the drain not being directly under it anymore, or if it even matters? The basement is great, it's got my 8 tap kegerator down there, all my brewing equipment, a lounge room area, our washer and dryer, a deep freezer, and the equivalent of a small delis worth of restaurant equipment. Instead of finishing it, we threw down carpets and turned it into an immediately usable living space. We focused our home improvement funds on the outside during Covid, but outside of the HVAC installation, have not started focusing on the inside again. My big worry is the basement will turn into that project sooner than later.

You're probably right. The dog is actually still sleeping there, and has been joined by the other one, so I'm going to wait on this experiment. Just walking on the floors you can hear other things bumping and creaking on the other side of the room, this house was built in 1930. The space I'm talking about for the 120 or 80 is almost exactly by the side wall of the house. The steel beams that run down the center of the house is closest to the nano. And even though that nano would be spread over the perpendicular joists, it's still a lot of weight to be added on the two parallel joists. Did I do that right, @howaboutme? The plywood idea would absolutely be doable, although, I might have to cut out a spot for an HVAC vent A plaster and lathe wall at that. I also have the option to plumb both of them down into a shared basement sump, something I've been pulling for since we moved in. It doesn't help that we're unsure what we're going to do with the space, but I try to long game any builds these days. Yeah, Jack already reminded me of why that didn't work out. I'd sooner scratch any build than go basement display again. I don't know why I got this itch again, but I'm inclined to keep scratching it. Word, nice to hear some DB80 advocates! Turns out when you ask a bunch of reefers what size tank they think you should build out, the usual answer is always "as big as you can go!"

He'll get out of the way!

Wise beyond your years, Jack. Elos was in the basement, it's not really a space we spend a lot of time in right now. My office is the perfect place for a tank, I'm with it all day, my SO can take it or leave it. She likes to come in and visit and watch, but probably wouldn't notice if it wasn't there for a few days. I couldn't quote you above, as I posted pictures from Tapatalk, what a janky app, I'm over it. I'll edit the information above the photos to make more sense.

There are a couple of ideas floating around. The original plan was to replace the nano with the 80 gallon. The second photo illustrates the way the nano runs in the basement. The second idea I'm batting around that I like, is setting up the 80, or the 120 regularly, so running the way of the arrows in this first photo, removing the couch. The tank is probably running a little further to the right in this photo (above the pipes) Based on the first photo, the horizontal lines would be the nano, and the vertical lines would be the 80 or 120.

I know some very smart people in my life, yourself included, who are worried about the weight. Now I am concerned about weight. Currently, the joist run horizontal to the nano, and it's spread out over 3, maybe 4 joists. What I am considering is running the 80 or the 120 perpendicular with the (2 most likely) joists underneath it. That's what I was saying I'd entertain upgrading the electrical in the office, as well as have a structural engineer take a look. It's not even width and depth that are different, they are both 4'x2', the miracles is just 8" higher. I have most of the equipment I need to service either tank (including another light,) as well as keep the nano running, but if I didn't, the light would be fine. I'm tempted to setup in the basement again, but I know as soon as the tank hits its stride is when we will decide to renovate down there, which is a thing on the list. Originally I was planning on using either tank (80 or 120) as a peninsula. However, running them like your question above is something I'm considering now. It's all work, I love the 3 sides and the challenges that come with aquascaping, considering all angles.

Yeah, personally I don’t buy into the whole 4’ vs 6’ rule of thumb. That being said, I also don’t believe in overstocking fish. I’m coming around to the idea of the 120 though the more I think on it. small tanks are easy, you can fill them up quickly!

If you haven’t QT’d everything else in your tank, then I’d say it’s possible.

Now there's a thought! Find me a crocodile!

No ideas why, but I’ve never had coraline grow so fast!

This has been the big consensus. There's a big part of me that is excited about maybe considering the plug and play option of setting up the 120 as is without modifying the overflow for turning it peninsula, and keeping the 22 set it beside it. The only issue is the amount of electric that would be running out of that particular portion of the house. I'd probably have to swing something with an electrician. The load that's already in my office is huge, it's a Christmas Miracle everything is still working. That and the weight, I'd probably have to have a structural engineer take a look. I've already been running 12" of depth for 5 years for scraping, so I've got some great systems in place already! I'm wanting to mimic what I have running now, just with a bigger tank, so for things like the top down view, I have that, and fairly heavy top water skimming and flow. There's something about the clean box with so many views that I think is why I have fallen in love with the small tank. While I'm not much of a fish guy, I guess I can start wrapping my head around adding more fish and being excited about that like I am with coral. Weight wise a couple of things. It's a little more than 50% heavier, but my SO and I can handle the 80, me and a bud struggled a bit with the 120. Glad to hear about PSF, I'm entertaining the option of keeping the nano setup and running the 120 beside it as is, which is now a whole new scenario.

I don't know how I missed your fish saga, what a story! Glad everything worked out. What is that last coral in your photos? I'm digging it.

Word. I've had this debate for the past week, so finally taking it out to the people! So you're a form follows function kind of guy, alright!

Well, I have, as usual, worked myself into quite the conundrum. Over the weekend I picked up the this nice little tank/stand/sump combo. Some of you might remember I had almost the identical tank setup as a DCA 105 many years ago. Both the Rimless 80 and the SCA 120 have the same footprint. My original intention was to part out the DCA later, and use the stand and sump, but looking at this beauty of a 120, I'm wondering... do I go bigger? I need to find out if the sides are tempered, but my peninsula plan would exist the same, remove the back overflow, cover the holes in the bottom, turn it sideways and drill the side pane to make it a peninsula. The only real concern that everybody except for me seems to have, is the weight of the 120. Here are the differences between both that I'm struggling with: - Larger tank, means larger selection of fish, easier to manage levels with more water volume, more room for inhabitants. - One is rimless, one is eurobraced. - An internal/external overflow box could tuck right up into the eurobrace, giving me great water height. - The 80 is 16" high (shallow) the DCA is 8" higher at 24". The footprint is still the same, 4'x2'. - The 80 has a big scratch across the longer (current 'front' pane) the 120 is starphire and no scratches. - The 80 would be rimless with no lid, there would be a lid on the 120. - The 80 would be lighter, the 120 is much heavier. So what does everybody think. I'm leaning towards the 80.

love to see and hear it

I don't have any controllers or testing at the moment, but I am manually testing my alk every day, and in the same boat as the OP here. Also looking. @Reef Dwellercheck out Wesley's Reef, this post is timely: https://www.instagram.com/p/Cbc_r8IsvKW/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link

I know Tom was waiting on a family +1, hope everything is going well, update when you get a free moment in 18 years.

Love to see it bubbled! Mine is still sticking to the bubble life. its ready to cut again. I could split the one that went through the powerhead at this stage, it’s back to the same size.

Awesome!

Is that a goni down in the center of the last photo? I think I bought a frag of that, as well as several other goni frags. Guess I still can't keep them, because none of them made it.

Hey Milton! Thanks for the kind words! I had two colonies, and recently sold the other one. It was keeping the Jedi Mind Trick monti in check that sprouted from a atom sized piece that must have gotten left behind when I thought I completely chipped it away and off many years ago.

Thanks man!

Please enjoy my vertical video of my reef tour:

I saw that, congratulations!

Thanks, I'm already enjoying just imagining!