- Joined
- Mar 28, 2020
- Messages
- 14
- Reaction score
- 29
Hello, all! Long-time lurker, first-time poster here.
Goal
Over the last decade in the hobby, I spent many hours cruising through build threads—learning new techniques and getting heaps of inspiration. Now, I find myself assembling a potential dream tank and wanted to put this out there for two main reasons:
First and foremost, I’m going to need lots of help. One of the most important things I’ve learned in life is to be keenly aware of how little I know. This tank is going to take me into uncharted territory, and I’m banking on the community’s collective knowledge and experiences to help me chart a course.
But also, I hope my journey will stimulate others to try new things within the hobby. Maybe some will be encouraged by whatever success I may have and learn from the failures that are certainly on my horizon—let’s hope they aren’t too severe.
Background
Prior to this new build, my system was modest. Since about 2006 I’ve had a 55-gallon tank with a canister filter, compact florescent lights, and from time to time a hang-on-the-back protein skimmer. Starting with a FOWLR setup, the aquarium took a few turns as I experimented with different types of fish, went on an anemone adventure, and dabbled in soft corals—mostly torches and mushrooms. Until now, I’ve never had a sump. I haven’t used a tank controller or any type of sophisticated automation. My saltwater was made in large plastic storage containers in my kitchen—I am super pumped to now have an RODI unit and mixing station.
My fiancée and I recently finished building a new home. With the new place came opportunity for a much larger tank and a fish room in the garage. I can finally try incorporating some of the fish I dreamt of owning for quite some time, as well as try to maintain a system with the stability to try lots of different corals.
New Build
I wanted the clean look of a rimless tank and we thought a peninsula style would be great to serve as a room divider between our open concept living room and a future study. The aquarium is 3/4" glass and holds about 270 gallons—custom built by Acrylic and Glass Exhibits—and sits on a custom steel stand (also A.G.E.).
The plumbing to and from the display routes through the foundation to a remote sump and workstation in the garage. The workstation has a decent amount of storage, a sink that’s 24” deep, and a saltwater mixing station.
Equipment List
The following is gear that I either have acquired (or plan to) and was derived from a combination of personal research and recommendations from the tank installer: Fish Gallery out of Spring, TX.
Aquascape
We took inspiration from a BRS video on designing a negative space aquascape and over a few weekends, with lots of glue and a big chisel, we constructed an aquascape primarily consisting of three towers of varying heights. The rocks included 160 lbs. of CaribSea base rock, MarcoRocks foundation rock (3 large, 2 medium, 2 small), and 4 MarcoRocks Reef Saver shelf rock.
Some key things we learned were:
Goal
Over the last decade in the hobby, I spent many hours cruising through build threads—learning new techniques and getting heaps of inspiration. Now, I find myself assembling a potential dream tank and wanted to put this out there for two main reasons:
First and foremost, I’m going to need lots of help. One of the most important things I’ve learned in life is to be keenly aware of how little I know. This tank is going to take me into uncharted territory, and I’m banking on the community’s collective knowledge and experiences to help me chart a course.
But also, I hope my journey will stimulate others to try new things within the hobby. Maybe some will be encouraged by whatever success I may have and learn from the failures that are certainly on my horizon—let’s hope they aren’t too severe.
Background
Prior to this new build, my system was modest. Since about 2006 I’ve had a 55-gallon tank with a canister filter, compact florescent lights, and from time to time a hang-on-the-back protein skimmer. Starting with a FOWLR setup, the aquarium took a few turns as I experimented with different types of fish, went on an anemone adventure, and dabbled in soft corals—mostly torches and mushrooms. Until now, I’ve never had a sump. I haven’t used a tank controller or any type of sophisticated automation. My saltwater was made in large plastic storage containers in my kitchen—I am super pumped to now have an RODI unit and mixing station.
My fiancée and I recently finished building a new home. With the new place came opportunity for a much larger tank and a fish room in the garage. I can finally try incorporating some of the fish I dreamt of owning for quite some time, as well as try to maintain a system with the stability to try lots of different corals.
New Build
I wanted the clean look of a rimless tank and we thought a peninsula style would be great to serve as a room divider between our open concept living room and a future study. The aquarium is 3/4" glass and holds about 270 gallons—custom built by Acrylic and Glass Exhibits—and sits on a custom steel stand (also A.G.E.).
The plumbing to and from the display routes through the foundation to a remote sump and workstation in the garage. The workstation has a decent amount of storage, a sink that’s 24” deep, and a saltwater mixing station.
Equipment List
The following is gear that I either have acquired (or plan to) and was derived from a combination of personal research and recommendations from the tank installer: Fish Gallery out of Spring, TX.
- A.G.E Glass, PVC bottom tank (72x36x24)
- Synergy Reef V2 Shadow 16” overflow
- Synergy Reef CL-50.7 sump
- Nyos Quantum 160 protein skimmer
- 2x BRS 600w titanium heater element
- Ink Bird WiFi heater controller
- 2x EcoTech Vectra M2 return pump (one for the mixing station to have as backup)
- Lifegard Aquatics Pro-MAX 55 UV sterilizer
- Synergy Reef 10-gallon ATO container
- Tunze Osmolator ATO
- 2x EcoTech Vortech MP60
- 3x EcoTech Radion G5 XR30 Pro
- EcoTech Radion G5 XR15 Freshwater
- BRS 6-stage Deluxe Plus RO/DI system
- 2x ProTank 100-gallon vertical storage tank
Aquascape
We took inspiration from a BRS video on designing a negative space aquascape and over a few weekends, with lots of glue and a big chisel, we constructed an aquascape primarily consisting of three towers of varying heights. The rocks included 160 lbs. of CaribSea base rock, MarcoRocks foundation rock (3 large, 2 medium, 2 small), and 4 MarcoRocks Reef Saver shelf rock.
Some key things we learned were:
- While the bigger (e.g. 200g and 20g) tubes of super glue gel are handy because of the amount of glue in the tube, the tiny super glue tubes are much easier to work with and get into the nooks and crannies. We emptied the shelves at our local Dollar Store .
- Basic chemistry and a tip from some model makers had us concocting homemade accelerator using a mixture of baking soda and water (½ teaspoon of soda per ¼ cup of water). It worked quite well, but dried with a cloudy white color.
Last edited: