iReefers 700 Gallon Peninsula

[iReefer12]

Oh yeah, LPS is definitely on the menu for the butterfly’s, and no clams ever (sad), and they will likely nip at SPS polyps (goodbye PE)… but… I’m more in the hobby for my love of fish… so I’ve made peace with all of the downsides.

Most of the LPS I still keep, have withstood tanks with butterflys before.. so fingers crossed they do fine. SPS usually continues to grow just fine and can withstand a few nips here and there.

The big Torch I have, I’ve had since 2012, and for whatever reason, none of the angels or butterfly’s have ever touched it.. I’m ready to move it to the Frag tank if the new additions go for it though.

 

[iReefer12]

The new additions transferred in with minimal fuss, I’m actually surprised that their wasn’t too much chasing… the only chasing came from a little yellow damsel.. (why did I add 3 yellow damsels 5 years ago!!!????).

But all in all, they did fine.

The torch I mentioned earlier.

 

[iReefer12]

Couple of SPS frags in the Frag tank.

New favorite: Marvin the Martian! Never seen PE in an SPS like this, it’s a massively underrated piece.

@sfg sent me a pack of fire! Go check out his listings, some amazing corals!

Couple of corals growing well in the display.

 

[McPuff]

Wow, I really like that Conspic!

 

[iReefer12]

I need to get a better pic of them. The Kingi is gorgeous too, and so fun to see him grow, already added a bit of size, he was so little to begin with.

 

[McPuff]

Well, this has been in the planning envisioning stages for about 10 years now, but it should soon be a reality… I hope

I started with a Biocube 29 in 2011, then moved up to a 180 gallon in 2013, moved to Colorado in 2017 and did a slight bump to a 220 gallon tank.

Recent 220G FTS:

I’m mostly focused on SPS and also like to take risks with non traditional reef safe fish, angels, butterflies, puffers.

Anyway, this new build will be a 120”x45”x29” Peninsula build.

Here’s a rough 3D rendering I made up to give an idea of what I’m shooting for.



The first major obstacle I’ve had to overcome is that this is going to be placed in a finished basement, and there was absolutely no way to fit a 10’ tank, and a 10’ stand down the basement stairs .



It will be positioned so it sticks out lengthways from the backwall into the room like below (before the basement was finished).


For the stand, it made sense to go with extruded aluminum, it would be easy to move into the basement and assemble on site. I used Controlled Dynamics to build my stand. Russ over there was amazing to work with and highly recommend him and the company/product if you are looking for a top quality stand.



The next problem was how to get the tank down into the basement. I got quotes to build on site and it was about 3X the cost… so I wanted to avoid this. So.. I had an idea. Replace the window and window well in the basement with a French casement window and a terraced window well… managed to sell this idea to the wife, and we actually love the new look.. and it also now allows a 10’ fish tank to slide through the basement window (mathematically speaking).

Finished look.


I did some math, and figured out what the levels of the window well needed to be.


I had a company come in and rip the old concrete window well out.


In went the Timbers


New Double French Casing window…


And the finished product


Will provide more updates soon.

The change on the egress window is terrific. Did you have to get that permitted? Seems more useable this way and would allow me to get a bigger tank too! :0)

 

[iReefer12]

The change on the egress window is terrific. Did you have to get that permitted? Seems more useable this way and would allow me to get a bigger tank too! :0)

I didn’t get a permit

There’s companies that do just this type of conversion, there quotes were about 40% more than just hiring the landscape company that did my back yard. Showed them what I wanted and they made it happen. The timber is very expensive btw, surprisingly so!

But yeah, I love the window well, regardless of allowing the bigger tank. It allows way more light in the basement and the wife approves too!

 

[marcus aurelius]

Well done. Gives me inspiration only my future build. Not close to 700. But 300.

 

[iReefer12]

Thanks. It’s fun to look back at all the stages of the build. I really spent a lot of time last summer, but it’s helped make it easier to maintain now it’s all up and running.

 

[ShoreReefer]

Wow super impressive and love the detail! Looking forward to seeing this beast grow out

 

[NautiTang]

Wow nice build!

Where did you snag the kingi and the conspic from?

 

[iReefer12]

Wow super impressive and love the detail! Looking forward to seeing this beast grow out

Thanks @JSmith!! Excited to see the frags grow in.

Wow nice build!

Where did you snag the kingi and the conspic from?

Thanks @NautiTang, I really love those 2, the Kingi is growing by the day it seems. I got them from a local vendor who sourced them directly from Poma Labs.

 

[McPuff]

There’s companies that do just this type of conversion, there quotes were about 40% more than just hiring the landscape company that did my back yard. Showed them what I wanted and they made it happen. The timber is very expensive btw, surprisingly so!

We're talking used car expensive or race horse expensive? :0)

 

[iReefer12]

We're talking used car expensive or race horse expensive? :0)

I’ve blanked it from my memory tbh.. but it ended up being at least half of the overall cost. Probably $1500 in timber IIRC.

 

[McPuff]

I’ve blanked it from my memory tbh.. but it ended up being at least half of the overall cost. Probably $1500 in timber IIRC.

A neighbor is helping me figure out if it's feasible for my house. Glad I saw yours. Thanks for posting.

 

[iReefer12]

Tanks just running on autopilot mostly. Been tackling my high No3 and high Po4…

Using the Tropic Marin Elimiphos rapid dosed into the Smimmer neck to bring down Po4, that’s come down from 1.2ppm to 0.2ppm stable.

The No3 was around 130ppm, the Sulfur Denitrator has brought it down to below 50ppm…

What’s amazing is that SPS and all the livestock were doing totally fine at the high levels of No3 & Po4… I brought Po4 down first, still all was good. Then when No3 starting coming down with the install of the Sulfur Denitrator, I’ve had several SPS RTN.

Not ideal, but I had to do something to control No3, and I want to feed heavy and keep more large fish, so I think in the long run this will work out as a good solution.

Speaking of big fish. Thank you to @jda, he was shutting down a tank and needed to rehome his absolutely stunning Queen Angel.. I’m very happy to take her in. check her out, she is the most impressive fish I’ve ever kept, just a beautiful and such a powerful fish.

That’s about it for the update, added a couple of pics of the mechanical room at the end.

 

[iReefer12]

Photo dump focusing on some of the angelfish.

FTS

 

[FishTruck]

Nice setup. I really like your rockwork and fish collection! Can't wait to see the coral grow out.

 

[iReefer12]

Nice setup. I really like your rockwork and fish collection! Can't wait to see the coral grow out.

Thank you!

Same, trying to get nutrient export in check and then add to the coral collection once I’m happy that it’s all stable.

With SPS it’s a slow process though haha