Steve G

Lol. I am tired of scrolling through frag sales on my way to equipment I need to set up a tank. The WTB/FS forum is different than most because every thread needs photos, so they are hard to scroll through. In fact a forum is a bad format for selling and trading compared to something where you can sort and filter, but I can see why we do it.

Hi all, I noticed that the Want-to-but/for-sale forum mixes live goods with dry goods and as someone looking for one and not the other, it's less than ideal. Would it be hard to split the forum like ReefCentral does? (My peeve with RC is they need to split local pickup items from shippable ones. I hate wasting my time reading something that tends in "pickup in Houston only" or whatever!)

Like 10 or more years ago my wife, who is very hands off in this whole reef hobby, told me to stockpile Home Depot Southdown sand, like buy 30 bags of it and keep it in the basement. I did not listen to her. There is a lesson in this.

Live rock a-cookin’ Laundry sink and RODI ready for installation Sump still needs work to convert from reef ready tank with leaky overflows and a missing bulkhead nut to functional sump tank.

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Thanks for sharing your perspective. I have to say I’m not convinced that this is a problem. I have read a lot of sand debates and kept DSB tanks myself for years. There are so many areas of reefkeeping where I admittedly have much to learn (lighting technology, controller technology, plumbing) but ironically this is one where I am pretty confident.

Lol. We spent 3 years looking for a house and our agent thought I was a little weird about my aquarium related preferences. I had to educate her on what a fish room is. (She totally came through!) Glad I’m not the only one.

I kept a 75 gallon in a DC row house for many years. The two issues are storage space for all the reef-related stuff (especially water mixing) and flood control. To address floods, which always happen, we installed a floor drain with pvc paneling all around the tank/sump. It worked pretty well, but I did get a lot of salt water on our wood floors and eventually had to have them refinished. Also, be careful what the drain is attached to. We had a plumber try to fix our clog in the downstairs toilet and asked me why the H-E-double hockey sticks the plumbing had so much sand. The storage space was a bigger problem. I ended up mixing water in my son's bathroom and he had to use ours and it was really a problem. My stuff was everywhere and it caused problems with my wife. After living in the house for 18 years (not all with the reef tank or the kids) we moved to a more suburban style house where I can set up a fish room. Finally, check your homeowner's insurance and condo board rules before you set up a large tank in a condo. Good luck.

Lol. I feel the same way. Your patience will be rewarded some day. Glad to see WAMAS members in the Silver Spring/Takoma area. I was wondering who else is in the area. I always felt like everyone in the club was out in Manassas or places like that.

Love all the advice! Here is my latest update (sorry this is a lot of words and no pictures). I feel like planning this thing is a full time job and it could be months before anything is swimming around. Have some equipment on hand Laundry sink arrived, not installed RODI, 5-stage 100 gpd from Air Water Ice arrived, not installed Found my old Aqua-C EV 180 skimmer, maybe underpowered for what I need, but I'm hoping to use deep sandbed in display and LR in sump for main filtration Two buckets of salt ordered Have some pumps and powerheads and thermometers lying around, probably not enough though Have a bunch of tubing of various sizes lying around, definitely not enough. (Much of it is airline + JG fittings for my acclimation drips) Found my old turkey baster and refractometer in the garage -- moment of nostalgia 100 lbs of aragonite sand bought off craigslist at a great price, just need ~400 lbs more (1mm grain size needed for DSB in display) Sump -- 100 gallon acrylic tank bought from epleeds. I am somewhat regretting the purchase as there is a missing bulkhead nut and both overflow boxes leak like crazy, so I may have to cut them out with a dremel. That sounds like an awful project. Or I have to learn how to use solvent cement and seal 8 seams. That also sounds awful too. Other equipment planning to get soon Custom tank (72x30x25 with starphire on front and right side, overflow on left side). I have 3 bids from tank manufacturers and am hoping to get a fourth. This is going to cost me a lot of money! Water mixing station: after much waffling, and thinking hard about 100 gallon ace roto mold containers, I think I might go for two 55 gallon trash cans with lids to save some money. Rubbermaid Brute is the go-to brand, but I found a knockoff called Carlisle that is much cheaper and should do the trick. Sand and rock -- looking for desperate people doing tank breakdowns to save some $$ I have an architect helping me with drawings of the tank space and fishroom. He's going to design: Where exactly the hole in the wall will go The stand, making sure it will support the weight of the tank (consulting with a structural engineer) The height. As an in-wall tank, it will essentially be the backsplash for a bar. He wants it high for aesthetics, but I am not very tall, so we may need a movable catwalk for access to the display from the fish room. We may be able to cover up the bottom few inches of the tank, since i want a deep sand bed and nobody needs to see that gunk on the display side. Layout of the fishroom to accommodate water mixing, acclimation and quarantine stations, maybe a phyto- or brine shrimp-breeding station, general work area. (What else?) Running of electrical (north side of room) and water lines (south side of room), including new circuits Placement of a floor drain (drilled into the slab) with pump, also PVC molding to make sure floods don't damage the walls Removal of current door to fish room and creation of a new opening by demolishing the wall between the fish room closet and the living room. This will create a mini-foyer and I will just use the current closet door as the new entrance to the fish room Once I have water, stand, tank, and sump sorted, next things will be: Dehumidifier for the fish room -- critical, since the electrical panel is in there. I have a floor unit air conditioner which was very powerful. It's sitting in my garage, but it seems to only work sporadically. My project is to test it again and figure out what the problem was. Return and circulation pumps and plumbing the mixing station Tank automation and test kits/probes -- have to study what's changed in the hobby. Looks like everyone uses those Apex systems. They look expensive. I am a bit paralyzed in that I don't want to buy probes and test kits or really any single-piece controllers as I don't want to duplicate something that I would want to have be part of the Apex system. In my last tank I rigged my own auto-topoff and did all my dosing by hand. I used an aquacontroller for lights and fans. Lighting (and filtration) -- also have to re-educate myself, since when I was in the hobby I ran metal halides with power compacts. I still have a dual ballast 175 watt single-ended MH fixture. Not sure how to light a 72" x 30" x 25" tank. I do know that I want a deep sand bed, like 5" to 6", which means that the effective height of the tank will be closer to 19" or 20" Livestock. I am so overwhelmed with everything else I've barely thought about livestock. I had big plans to do an accurate biotope, but could not decide on a region and my wife wants certain pretty fish so that may never happen. I know you're supposed to decide on what you want to keep first and then design the tank accordingly, but I did not do that. I want to design the tank to leave my options open: strong circulation, lots of water volume and swimming room, open aquascaping, strong LED lighting, but I am committed to a deep sand bed. I want lots of live rock, but that's going in the sump. I don't want the tank stuffed with rock and corals. I want the tank's beauty to come from open spaces, swimthroughs, and other negative space features that fish and inverts can play in. Corals are background. The other major update is that we cut into the wall and it looks like the wall is not load-bearing, so that is wonderful news.

Good points here. I have a decent sized window in case I need to get things in or out of the room, and it's slightly below grade, so stuff would load into/out of my side lawn. So I'm not worried about the small doorway. To be safe, I'll get my storage water tanks and the fish tank and stand set up before I close up any walls. Yeesh, I don't think I'll run six circuits. I already have 1 or 2 and was going to add two more. I do have to think about humidity control. Maybe run a dehumidifier. I have a floor unit I can set up, but now we're drawing more electricity...

Thanks for tip. Can you say more about this? The electrical panel is already located in my proposed fish room. Is there a checklist I can use to plan electrical requirements? Here’s what I can think of. What am I missing? Do I just add up the wattage? Is there a formula for calculating amperage needed? Lights Return pump Skimmer Powerheads Heaters Dosing pumps Saltwater mixing pump Sump lighting Reactor pumps Controller Fridge (may keep in different room) Chiller (I want to avoid needing one)

This what I plan to use for a sump. It’s a used 100 gallon reef ready acrylic tank. I’ll cap the bulkheads and clean up the coralline (which my 8 year old daughter calls coral vomit). Question is whether I can/should trim the euro bracing to get better access.

Thanks @davelin315 and @epleeds. Since I'm going with a 240 gallon display and probably 40 gallons of water in a 100 gallon sump, I'll probably need a 100g saltwater mixing tank after all. Looks like it will cost me around $150. A couple of followup questions: 1. Will i need two of these, since I need a freshwater reservoir for topoffs and feeding the SW mixing tank, right? 2. How does the plumbing go? Do I plumb an inlet for the RO/DI to the freshwater reservoir with float valve, outlet to an autotopoff feeding the sump, and outlet to the SW mixing tank, with a pump and a ball valve in there somewhere? Is that it?

Here is my latest thinking on aquascaping. This tank will be viewable on two sides. My goal is to have a very mixed fish/corals tank, with corals serving as backdrop, not main feature. I really want interesting inverts and active fish. My current thinking on aquascape is to really use the 30" front to back so there is depth of field, with overlapping bommies sloping down toward the center (as viewed from the front), with the side view being the way to peek into the channels formed by this structure. I may leave more space between the overflow (left) and rock island than is shown. Any feedback?

Cardboard mockup of tank successfully moved through door and down stairs. Planning a 150g in wall project.

I need to update my signature!

Updated plan. Now going with 240 gallon display corner in wall. Moving door to where closet is. Tank will be centered over the bar with entrance to fish room to the left of the bar (while facing the tank). Planning a 150g in wall project.

Floor drain is for spills and floods on the floor. I will install a laundry sink tied into the bathroom drain for routine stuff. I am working with some contractors I trust and they looked at it and said they can move all the wiring from the existing wall as needed. I will probably leave the sump under the tank because I like it there and want to have the rest of the workroom to work on other stuff (water mixing, Quarantine, frags, etc.) Yes, that was an attractive feature of the house. We came to the open house and I was like "That's not a guest room, it's a fish room! Electrical! Right there! And a window!" Scott, great to see you here! You helped me drill my last tank many years ago. That was a nail-biter but it worked great. Good times! Your build, and the fact that you're still married, is an inspiration! I happen to have a perfect portable A/C unit for that room, but there is also an A/C (and heating) vent and a decent sized window, so I have good ventilation options. If there are good ways to estimate electrical needs, like calculators or planners, let me know. I figure lights, A/C, fridge/freezer, chiller, and pumps would draw the most power. Then you have fans, powerheads, smaller pumps for mixing and reactors. What else? What size should I go for for salt and fresh water holding tanks? Others have recommended 100gal each. Sounds like a lot. Next big step for me is selecting a tank builder. I have quotes from Glasscages (cheapest), Miracles, and Coast to Coast. I'm trying to figure out what the real quality differences are, if any, between these vendors.

Nice tank. Where did you get it? How much was it?

I don't plan to use filter socks so not going to do the washing machine. I do have the electrical panel in the same room, so I will add a dedicated circuit. Planning a floor drain and PVC molding for the walls, all for flood protection. The current floor is ceramic tile. May have to rip some of that up to build a floor sump or channel in the slab to build drainage pipe. Wonder what else I'm missing, but if nothing else, next step is to find a tank and start assembling equipment...

Planning a 150g in wall project.

Update: I am now working on convincing my wife to let me open up the wall to the left of the bar, kitty corner actually, so the current closet door in the fishroom becomes the entry door. This was @Jon Lazar's idea and it's really grown on me. If this works, then I can go with a standard tank, centered over the full length of the bar, and use up to 72" wide, which would be awesome. I don't want to go too high (my arms aren't that long, but I do want to go deep (front to back) for aquascaping and because I like the look. So maybe I'm looking for a 72x36x18, if such a tank dimension exists. I know that 72x24x24 is more standard. Also, I'm planning to do a corner in-wall, so two sides visible flush with walls. Very excited to start opening walls! Thanks for the advice, everyone. I will have a lot more questions in other threads. Steve

What’s an ace roto mold? 100 gallons sounds like overkill, especially x2. I definitely don’t want to give up that much real estate in the fish room. What do other people use? Planning a 150g in wall project.

I'm planning to set up a saltwater mixing station to go in a workroom behind the fish tank and wondering what to use and where to get it. I probably also want a reservoir for freshwater, which doesn't have to be as big. I'm thinking of a system of about 120 to 180 gallons display with ~55gal sump and a q-tank. Thanks in advance. -- Steve