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d2mini · 03/11/2012, 09:11 AM

Just moved in to our new house, so time for the new build!

Tank has just been ordered through T&T Fish and Reef in Houston, TX.
It's a custom Deep Sea Aquatics build... 84" x 24" x 24".
Coast to Coast internal overflow with Bean Animal plumbing.

Here's the general plan. The small pics were from the model home, and one pic of my inspiration for cabinetry around the tank, giving it a built-in look, but bumped out a bit.

And the real dining room, currently empty.

The plumbing will be fed through the wall into the garage where ALL equipment will be. Tank will be lit by FOUR Ecotech Radion XR30w LED units and most of the flow will come from a couple MP60's. I've still got rock and some coral and fish from my old setup and will be definitely be using Tampa Bay Saltwater again for more rock, all new sand, etc.

Here's what I'm thinking for the garage setup.

1. Sump container for skimmer and fuge (live rock and cheato). What kind of container and where to buy? Feed store?
2. Second sump container for return/top off
2. Skimmer. External for this size tank??? Or stick with internal skimmer?
3. Frag grow out tank
4. CHILLER!
5. Suggestions for main return pump to run it all?

First crack at laying out plumbing design...

My main concern right now is having the equipment in the garage. I would really rather NOT put up sheetrock walls. I don't want to make major modifications to the house if I don't have to and I don't want to confine myself to a specific space out there. I'd like to try making it work as-is for now and see what happens, so I could use some suggestions. A chiller is obviously needed in houston where garage temps can get pretty insane. Hopefully, the fact that 200g of water will be INSIDE the house where temps are consistently pretty cool, will help keep overall water temps down. But my other concern with having the equipment space open to the rest of the garage is humidty/salty air, being that we keep cars and motorcycles in there as well as tools and other things. Anyone have any thoughts on this? Is there a way to maybe use exhaust fans or something? I even thought of maybe hanging some kind of heavy plastic sheeting from the ceiling to create a faux wall without being permanent. I'm open to different ideas on how to deal with this.

Here's a pic of the garage. It's a 3-car tandem and the equipment area is in that space to the left. You can match it up with the diagram posted above.
The area i marked off is a good 7.5' x 5' space and without walls it leaves me plenty of room to maneuver around that space.

I've got a good 6 weeks or so before the tank shows up so any help in figuring this stuff out between now and then, or helping me pick equipment is appreciated.

Oh, and I'll also be setting up my auto water change system again.

Thanks!

03/11/2012, 09:11 AM	#1
d2mini Registered Member Join Date: Nov 2008 Location: Houston, TX Posts: 10,344	*d2mini's new 200g Reeftastic Build* Just moved in to our new house, so time for the new build! Tank has just been ordered through T&T Fish and Reef in Houston, TX. It's a custom Deep Sea Aquatics build... 84" x 24" x 24". Coast to Coast internal overflow with Bean Animal plumbing. Here's the general plan. The small pics were from the model home, and one pic of my inspiration for cabinetry around the tank, giving it a built-in look, but bumped out a bit. And the real dining room, currently empty. The plumbing will be fed through the wall into the garage where ALL equipment will be. Tank will be lit by FOUR Ecotech Radion XR30w LED units and most of the flow will come from a couple MP60's. I've still got rock and some coral and fish from my old setup and will be definitely be using Tampa Bay Saltwater again for more rock, all new sand, etc. Here's what I'm thinking for the garage setup. 1. Sump container for skimmer and fuge (live rock and cheato). What kind of container and where to buy? Feed store? 2. Second sump container for return/top off 2. Skimmer. External for this size tank??? Or stick with internal skimmer? 3. Frag grow out tank 4. CHILLER! 5. Suggestions for main return pump to run it all? First crack at laying out plumbing design... My main concern right now is having the equipment in the garage. I would really rather NOT put up sheetrock walls. I don't want to make major modifications to the house if I don't have to and I don't want to confine myself to a specific space out there. I'd like to try making it work as-is for now and see what happens, so I could use some suggestions. A chiller is obviously needed in houston where garage temps can get pretty insane. Hopefully, the fact that 200g of water will be INSIDE the house where temps are consistently pretty cool, will help keep overall water temps down. But my other concern with having the equipment space open to the rest of the garage is humidty/salty air, being that we keep cars and motorcycles in there as well as tools and other things. Anyone have any thoughts on this? Is there a way to maybe use exhaust fans or something? I even thought of maybe hanging some kind of heavy plastic sheeting from the ceiling to create a faux wall without being permanent. I'm open to different ideas on how to deal with this. Here's a pic of the garage. It's a 3-car tandem and the equipment area is in that space to the left. You can match it up with the diagram posted above. The area i marked off is a good 7.5' x 5' space and without walls it leaves me plenty of room to maneuver around that space. I've got a good 6 weeks or so before the tank shows up so any help in figuring this stuff out between now and then, or helping me pick equipment is appreciated. Oh, and I'll also be setting up my auto water change system again. Thanks! __________________ -dennis Elos Diamond 120xl \| Elos Stand \| Radion G4 Pros \| GHL Profilux Controller \| LifeReef Skimmer \| LifeReef Sump Photos taken with a Nikon D750 or Leica M. Last edited by d2mini; 03/11/2012 at 09:19 AM.