Pretty new reefer with a pretty big tank

[FishSkedee]

Well, first off thanks for visiting, this is my first build thread and it’s exciting to share my journey! I encourage anyone to share past experiences, questions, and any tips that will help these critters have a long and happy life.
Growing up the family always had large ponds and I’ve kept many fish outside, but 4 years ago my wife gifted me a 3 gal tank with 1 black Moor goldfish. I’m sure it’s no surprise that didn’t go very well. It did spark something inside me though, the small tank was shutdown and I moved to a fluval 15g. From there I began really learning about keeping fish and slowing started embarking on my new found addiction. For the first 2 years it was all fresh water, which I mostly still have and enjoy the ease of maintenance and art like vibe when walking past a room. I guess I can share a few of those fish, because hey everyone loves picts and fish right!?

 

[FishSkedee]

Alright, alright enough about freshwater, let’s fast forward 2 more years to the salty stuff. This where it got pretty intimidating but I figured if I keep it slow and I mean very slow I shouldn’t get myself in too much trouble. The first reef tank was a 40g ADA that I drilled and set on a piece of furniture.. FIRST mistake, that one lasted about 5 months and on Mother’s Day we came home to a living room rug soaked in saltwater :/ from that I learned 2 valuable lessons, always use a real aquarium stand, and always put rimless tanks on some sort of mat!

 

[FishSkedee]

AHHHHH lots of shop vacuuming, salt water making, and apologizing later I managed to save most of what was in that tank.. I ordered an external overflow, picked up a new to me FIJI sump and drilled my 75g marineland.

 

[FishSkedee]

Which leads us too why we are here. The new 400g display, 120g sump, and 40nem tank! One day during a lunch break I was scrolling Facebook market reef classifieds; I had seen everything local so now it was onto the whole US. There was a big thread of people bashing a guy in FL for wanted an outrageous price for a 200g used tank. Just for fun I decided to jump into the comments and see what was happening. Then 1/2 way through I first laid eyes on my new beauty of a tank!! A guy posted a picture of this giant tank and said HECK, my tank is twice the size of this one and I would sell it for a 1/4 what this guy is asking! I clicked the profile and noticed that he was only 45 minutes south of me. I immediately messaged him and told him if he’s serious then it’s sold! Well guess what, he was! So, 4 friends and a moving company later the tank is in my garage..

 

[FishSkedee]

After a lot of thinking I decided the garage was going to be my best home for this beast. Being 3’ wide and 3’ tall I really wanted 360 degree access for ease of maintenance.. So with a resting place in mind it was time to start the journey, the only problem was well my garage was full of crap and nothing about it was inviting for a beautiful reef tank hahaha.. k we can fix that I’ll post some pictures to tell the story!

First, I needed to regulate the temperature, so I drilled a 3” hole in the brick, mounted and got everything in place for a 24kBTU Mitsubishi mini split. Once my HVAC guy terminated it, we were off to the races. I rented an insulation blower from Home Depot and filled the crawl space and walls with a good barrier. Next came the garage doors, they got a radiant barrier, insulation panels, thresh hold, an outer trim, and lots of insulation tape to fill any cracks and seal everything up.

For aesthetics I started by painting ceiling, then the walls, then came the floor. After a good sanding and acid etch I laid down 3 coats of floor epoxy & got the space looking 1/2 way decent.

Here you can see how the tank/stand was moved while doing one piece of the floor at a time.. lots of shimming and slow pushing, I screwed braces onto the stand to keep it from rocking.

 

[Dennis Cartier]

Welcome to R2R!

 

[FishSkedee]

Welcome to R2R!

Appreciate it, I've spent enough hours lurking the site, time to finally get involved!

 

[dstockwell]

Welcome to the Reef

 

[FishSkedee]

Welcome to the Reef

Thanks, glad to be here!

 

[Sean Clark]

Exciting times ahead.

 

[FishSkedee]

So let’s jump back in.. floor is finished, designated electrical panel is mounted, and the backup generator + switch have been installed/tested. I went with a Firman 8000w hybrid series and set 4 propane tanks aside in case of emergency. Next comes water! Let’s not get too excited we are still on fresh water but nonetheless an important step.

I went a little crazy with my spigot so I’ll have to explain.. flow to the right I’m getting water in the garage, flow down I’m watering the grass/garden hose, flow to the left and we are draining the tank straight down into the sewer line, this will be followed by a fresh water rinse.

 

[FishSkedee]

Exciting times ahead.

 

[FishSkedee]

Indeed, I'm into a fair amount of hobbies but nothing has been as exciting as this! Thanks!

 

[FishSkedee]

Alright moving right along next up is a stand for QT tank/feeder fish, and place to store saltwater..

 

[FishSkedee]

So on the topic of water, RODI +booster pump is all hooked up & tucked away in a cabinet.. around the same time I also was up north for work and got a blue hippo tang tattoo and a flew home with a dwarf lionfish

 

[squidarcher]

Haha I saw your post on the aquascape on Reddit, love your plans and again good luck!

 

[FishSkedee]

Haha I saw your post on the aquascape on Reddit, love your plans and again good luck!

Nice! I can’t wait to get to that part, never know what kind of reaction that scape will get lol

 

[JC1977]

 

[FishSkedee]

Thanks! Love those chomps

 

[dlsorensen]