150 gallon multi-room build

[dumbfireman]

Hello all, not sure if this is the proper place for this but i suppose its as good as any. We moved about two years ago and lost all the livestock in my 75G. It wasnt anything fancy, but i really enjoyed it.
I had mostly softies, no ato, dosed kalk only, and had a less than stellar experience with a aquac-ev180. The fish we kept were a flame angel, two huge engineer gobies, a pair of tomato clowns that i never seen. We had a sandbed of about 2in and a massive amount of liverock. T-5 lighting and cheap powerheads rounded out the tank. It was running for about 8 years, and survived 1 move with a 3 hour drive. It didnt make the last move, i broke the back glass tighting a bulkhead to the return pump. Do to more than a few heartbreaking setbacks after that, we lost all of our aquatic buddies. Its been a fair amount of time since then so i think im ready to get back on the horse, just not the same horse. Being this is Texas USA, why not go bigger and better right? I will do my best to provide pictures of the journey and welcome any and all feedback that i can get.

[CodeBlueMedic]

Firstly, welcome to the forum! Secondly, it's good to see another responder! I'm a paramedic myself and volunteer some time as a firefighter.

As for the build, I wish you the best of luck! I will be embarking on a similar journey in the coming months.

[dumbfireman]

This is the wall before. The previous owner took the time to add on a entire room, but couldnt find it in their schedule to remove a couple windows apparently.

[dumbfireman]

Firstly, welcome to the forum! Secondly, it's good to see another responder! I'm a paramedic myself and volunteer some time as a firefighter.

As for the build, I wish you the best of luck! I will be embarking on a similar journey in the coming months.


Thank brother! I was on the box for more than a few years, wish i knew half as much about these glass, salwater boxes!:beer:

[dumbfireman]

Here is after i gently, and professionally removed the windows...... actually had to saw them out in pieces and beat them with a 10lb sledge but hey you gotta stick with what you know. If brute force doesnt work, apply more force.

[dumbfireman]

This is the stand, pretty simple. I used a kreg jig for the joints, used them in the past and had alot of luck. I had some reservations about joining it to the wall, but i didnt want a gap between the tank and the viewing room. Its overbuild and very solid, but ill get back to you on how much i trust it once it has water tanker sitting on it.

[dumbfireman]

I found out pretty quickly that my background in sheetrock work only included removal.... usually with large tools in a super heated environment. If i was being paid to do it id say it was a horrible job, but since im doing it for myself it was a great success!!! Im going to assume that most people have help when hanging sheetrock because doing alone was ROUGH.

[dumbfireman]

well in the middle of redoing one wall, it turned into repainting the fireplace and re texturing and repainting the entire living room to keep the old lady happy. looks pretty good, thanks pintrest.

[dumbfireman]

she could wait to put the furniture back in, so needless to say the trim still isnt finished..... The tile backer is up in this photo from the other side. Gives a way better picture of how ill be able to move around and view 3 sides from my "mancave/retreat/babyandcatfreezone"

[dumbfireman]

little tile work, no grout yet. Thinking about some almost white colored but cant decide...

[cgonzalez]

Amazing build

[dumbfireman]

Amazing build

Thank you, its good to have a place like this with people that understand. Most of my friends cant understand my want to tear out a wall for an aquarium.

[tanksfishtank]

This looks pretty awesome so far. Can't wait to see the finished product! Good Luck.

[CodeBlueMedic]

Yeah I gotta say, this is gonna be awesome!

[Reefer4evaa]

Nice job!tagging along on this build

[dumbfireman]

Heres some of the equipment that i have acquired so far. I havnt decided to use it all yet as some of it is left over from my 75, and some of us was my love of good deals on craigslist. The aquarium is 40x36 footprint, its got a overflow drilled and return drilled in the bottom. Thick glass, quality product. The skimmer pictured is a aquac-ev180, i had it on my 75 with mixed results. At times it was badass, but it was really iffy. I did notice on removal and breakdown from the 75 that the shaft of the mag9 thta powered it was damaged and the magnet seamed "plump" or "swollen". So ill assume something was wrong with the pump in its last days. Not sure if ill be buying a new pump or just saying screw it and buy a skimmer that uses a different method of making bubbles. I have 3 metal halide pendants and ballasts, they are lumenbrights and are in great shape. All ballasts are electronic and fire just fine. Got them for a great deal so ill be using them at least in the beginning, but i find myself looking longingly at leds. Maybe some of you with experience could chime in on the skimmer and lights?

[dumbfireman]

Put a functioning sink in the "fish room". It has my bulkreefsupply RO/DI on it, ill be swapping cartridges as its due for some and adding a second di stage for overkill. My water test 150-175 going in, 15 after membrane and 1-2 after DI.

[dumbfireman]

http://i46.photobucket.com/albums/f146/dumbfireman/20141004_193316_zps0b698775.jpg (http://s46.photobucket.com/user/dumbfireman/media/20141004_193316_zps0b698775.jpg.html)

Just trying to put better pictures guys, bare with me.

http://i46.photobucket.com/albums/f146/dumbfireman/20141008_162414_zpsdcde4362.jpg (http://s46.photobucket.com/user/dumbfireman/media/20141008_162414_zpsdcde4362.jpg.html)

[dumbfireman]

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So i got the stand painted and tank in today!

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[dumbfireman]

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Here i am finally filling up the tank with ro. Had a hard time deciding wheater or not to use sand or a have a barebottom( i have a hard time typing that without laughing to myself)

i spent alot of time reading the pros and cons and finally decided on re-using my special grade reef flakes from the last tank. I had success with it, but i also had some complications. I plan on systematically removing sections of it throughout the year, cleaning it thoroughly and placing it back.

Oh and ill be only keeping a very thin layer this time. I couldnt talk myself out of the look of sand, and i have enjoyed keeping engineer gobies in the past and would like watching them play in the sand again.

[dumbfireman]

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Heres the sump, one divider two sections. I decided against a refugium at this time, might add a remote one later once things get going but gonna rely on my skimmer and water changes to keep things in check.

[dumbfireman]

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My plumbing job, tried to incorporate more unions this go round and plan to put in another to aid in removal of the Ehiem for cleaning but didnt want to make another trip to the store just yet. Dont mind the blue filter pad, just using it to catch any loose sand from filling it up for the 1st time.

[dumbfireman]

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My new toys from BRS, thanks black friday sale!

[so_tatted]

I think this is awesome! Cannot wait to see it finished! Do you know what you are planning to put in it?

[dumbfireman]

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added a pressure pump and changed all the filters and resin. I can tell the pump makes quite a bit of difference already. I have 156 after the carbon and 0 after the DI now, i am planning on picking up another tds meter to see what the membranes doing just out of curiosity.

[dumbfireman]

I think this is awesome! Cannot wait to see it finished! Do you know what you are planning to put in it?


Im still a long ways away yet. I am gonna take this one super slow ( todler keeps me busy).

So far i know that i want a RBTA really bad, loved watching them at the local store. I also want a Naso tang, they seem like extremely personable animals and beautiful to match!

The rest is still being hotly debated between me and my fiance. We had a massive softie toadstool in the last tank and she loved it ( I was fond of it too) so if i come across the right one ill bite but i was pretty devasted when i lost the last one..... Gonna try some lps, maybe one or two carefully placed sps WAY down the line ( never had luck with them personally).

I chose the kessils with the controller and enough controllable tunze pumps to make small island bordering my house shutter their windows, so i feel like with the proper husbandry i should be able to keep what i like.

I should mention the only survivor from the 75 is still alive and well in a 10 gallon so he will have the kingdom to himself for awhile in a couple months ;) (yellow watchman goby)

[dumbfireman]

Well i suppose its time i got on here and posted some updates. Its been a couple months since i got it full of saltwater and rock. I chose an Ehiem for my return pump and hard plumbed it in, seems to be just right flow wise and is really quiet. my water quality has been as expected, i use IO reef salt mix and RODI water. The numbers after the cycle had settled out to 1.026 SG-Temp 78F- Cal 450- MG 1400- nitrates and nitrites and ammonia undetectable........then the problem child phosphates were .70 I originally wasnt horribly concerned as the tank looked completly sterile and clean. I checked the usual suspects the RODI, and the mix container. Niether showed any signs of phosphates that high, so i assumed it was the dead liverock/reused sand. After a large water change (approx 80gallons) it dropped it to .59 and then settled to .56. I bought some phosphate RX and dosed the prescribed 90 drops over 3 days. Got some nasty stuff out of my skimmer for the 1st time, dropped the phosphates to 0.00 on my hannah meter and lowered the alk to 8.6 from almost 10. I did not see and precipitants like i was warned about and the tank didnt get "milky". My one goby didnt flinch ( i had my concerns ). I still have a pretty ugly bloom of brown algea but with the "problem" being taken care of and the lights turned way down. i think this will improve with the addition of some cleanup crew.

Pictures to follow

[dumbfireman]

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My sink/testing counter/trash collection/rodi filling area

[dumbfireman]

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The sump when i put the pump in.

[dumbfireman]

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Sump in its current form, filter sock, carbon reactor and skimmer.

[dumbfireman]

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The "cave" before i cleaned up, as the tank was cycling.

[Redman88]

i see you put your booster pump before your prefilters, i thought it wasn't needed till the membrane stage

[dumbfireman]

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And as clean as i can manage atm....

[dumbfireman]

i see you put your booster pump before your prefilters, i thought it wasn't needed till the membrane stage

Now that you say that, that makes total sense..... I suppose i really didnt think that through. I wonder if im lowering the life of the pump or the filters? i will have to look into that, Thanks !

[dumbfireman]

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My try at aquascaping, heres where it still looked like everything was on the up and up....

[dumbfireman]

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And heres where i got to worrying about that high phosphate reading that i had previously blew off.......

[ZeeSparrow]

Looks like diatom bloom that's typical of a new setup. Those phosphates might cause algae issues if they're still high.

[dumbfireman]

I had a small diatom bloom about 3 days after my nitrate spiked at its highest when the tank was cycling. Is it common for it to happen again a couple months down the road?