shakeandbake
Community Member
- Joined
- Jun 10, 2020
- Messages
- 65
- Reaction score
- 41
Recently I have been utilizing the forums pretty heavily for research purposes. I have been incredibly impressed with the volume of detailed information available and the willingness of the community to share. With that, I decided that I would create an account and document my experience on the off chance that I might be able to share information, plans, reviews, or something potentially helpful to future users.
Around 15 years ago I picked up a 29-gallon eclipse saltwater, all-in-one, set up at a big box store, really, as almost an impulse buy. That began as a FOWLR and it was all downhill from there. A few years later I updated lighting to a Tek 4 bulb T5 fixture, added a Remora HOB skimmer, and transitioned to a soft coral/LPS tank. That ultimately crashed in an aiptaisia/algae bomb, so I broke it down and packed everything away maybe 3 years ago.
Back in April I came to the realization that I needed to quit drinking. So. I found myself with some free time and a lot of nervous energy.
One of the projects that I took on was a basement/mancave remodel with my son. Previously, my wife and I had budgeted to have that done professionally, so when we took over the work, there were some sizeable savings. I convinced my wife that I could take advantage of that and reinvest into a new tank. Down low forum translation: Any savings realized will be spent. Then we will likely spend more. She knows better but she played along. I think she prefers keeping me busy.
Anyway, I started by roughing in some guidelines:
I will research procedures and QT everything. My previous experience had just the display tank in our living room and I did not quarantine. So, we ended up with a limited number of hardy species that did well and a fair number of losses over the years as we would periodically try to add new fish to the tank. Another rookie mistake was adding a few live rocks that were purchased from a display tank at an unknown local LFS. I suspect that they had some copper since inverts were a challenge to maintain. In the end, a zoa addition from another LFS brought in pests and blew the tank up. Anyway, this time, nothing will go in the display unless it is new out of the box, had dips, treatment, and/or a lengthy QT.
I will set up a mixing station. Last time around it was all 5-gallon buckets and manual top offs. That led to a lax water change schedule, an occasional mess, and a challenge to maintain parameters and stability.
I will bite the bullet and allocate some of the budget on automation and monitoring. In researching recent build threads, perhaps the biggest difference I am noticing from “back in the day”, is the use of controllers. My expectation was that the big-ticket items would still be skimmers and lighting. Instead, perhaps the largest build expense that I am seeing is an entirely new system. Allocating those kind of dollars, so I can monitor and control systems remotely, at first seemed incredibly unnecessary. Marketing bells and whistles, adding complexity, and selling consumers on the cutting edge. Depending on a 24/7 WiFi connection seems like a recipe for frustration. But I will buy into this advance. I will seek to automate, add redundancy, and enhance monitoring. Who doesn’t like to scroll through their phone.
I will go a little larger. The layout of the mancave and budget permit it. The tank is planned for a wall adjacent to a work room. That will house the mixing station, QT, and maybe the sump, or just the manifold.
I will go slow and be patient. Pretty sure that is worth a smile. Seriously though. My desire to progress has led to problems in the past. So I will make an effort to take my time.
Still in the prep stages, working on layout, electric, and plumbing. I will follow up with some remodel pics, tentative equipment decisions, my build phases/timeline, and some rough schematics.
Around 15 years ago I picked up a 29-gallon eclipse saltwater, all-in-one, set up at a big box store, really, as almost an impulse buy. That began as a FOWLR and it was all downhill from there. A few years later I updated lighting to a Tek 4 bulb T5 fixture, added a Remora HOB skimmer, and transitioned to a soft coral/LPS tank. That ultimately crashed in an aiptaisia/algae bomb, so I broke it down and packed everything away maybe 3 years ago.
Back in April I came to the realization that I needed to quit drinking. So. I found myself with some free time and a lot of nervous energy.
One of the projects that I took on was a basement/mancave remodel with my son. Previously, my wife and I had budgeted to have that done professionally, so when we took over the work, there were some sizeable savings. I convinced my wife that I could take advantage of that and reinvest into a new tank. Down low forum translation: Any savings realized will be spent. Then we will likely spend more. She knows better but she played along. I think she prefers keeping me busy.
Anyway, I started by roughing in some guidelines:
I will research procedures and QT everything. My previous experience had just the display tank in our living room and I did not quarantine. So, we ended up with a limited number of hardy species that did well and a fair number of losses over the years as we would periodically try to add new fish to the tank. Another rookie mistake was adding a few live rocks that were purchased from a display tank at an unknown local LFS. I suspect that they had some copper since inverts were a challenge to maintain. In the end, a zoa addition from another LFS brought in pests and blew the tank up. Anyway, this time, nothing will go in the display unless it is new out of the box, had dips, treatment, and/or a lengthy QT.
I will set up a mixing station. Last time around it was all 5-gallon buckets and manual top offs. That led to a lax water change schedule, an occasional mess, and a challenge to maintain parameters and stability.
I will bite the bullet and allocate some of the budget on automation and monitoring. In researching recent build threads, perhaps the biggest difference I am noticing from “back in the day”, is the use of controllers. My expectation was that the big-ticket items would still be skimmers and lighting. Instead, perhaps the largest build expense that I am seeing is an entirely new system. Allocating those kind of dollars, so I can monitor and control systems remotely, at first seemed incredibly unnecessary. Marketing bells and whistles, adding complexity, and selling consumers on the cutting edge. Depending on a 24/7 WiFi connection seems like a recipe for frustration. But I will buy into this advance. I will seek to automate, add redundancy, and enhance monitoring. Who doesn’t like to scroll through their phone.
I will go a little larger. The layout of the mancave and budget permit it. The tank is planned for a wall adjacent to a work room. That will house the mixing station, QT, and maybe the sump, or just the manifold.
I will go slow and be patient. Pretty sure that is worth a smile. Seriously though. My desire to progress has led to problems in the past. So I will make an effort to take my time.
Still in the prep stages, working on layout, electric, and plumbing. I will follow up with some remodel pics, tentative equipment decisions, my build phases/timeline, and some rough schematics.
