AlaskaReefGuy
Community Member
- Joined
- Jan 14, 2020
- Messages
- 42
- Reaction score
- 63
Hey all,
A few months ago, I started up my current 100G mixed reef. Made a few Youtube videos on the build, but tbh, got so busy doing all the other things that I do that I forgot to make more videos. Anyway, this is a current shot of my 100G. Not my best picture, but not bad for an iPhone. (no, I don't have cyano on the sand... it's just a strange effect from the photo, it was also just after feeding)
Anyhoo, I set this tank up after being out of the hobby for about 5 years. It currently sits in our dining room, which is great... but it's away from the area we sit most of the time.
When I first set this up, my wife was "understanding" of my hobby, but didn't fully understand it... well... now she's more addicted than I am. While we were sitting on the couch about 2 months ago, she said "How do you feel about building a house around a tank?" I kinda stopped dead in my tracks and said.... "...... A reef tank?" she said yes. So for about a month, we searched pretty hard for what that would look like. Full disclosure, we're both in real estate, so we knew what we were looking for. That said, we also really love the area that we currently love. The house is fine, but the location is about as good as it gets. After a month of figuring out where we would need to be, we threw out the idea of moving and building.. which I thought killed the idea of another, larger tank. Until last week.
Last week she said "How would you feel about a room divider tank?" I kinda chuckled because there was nowhere to do a room divider. And that is when she handed me this:
It took me a minute to figure out what she was saying... but essentially, she wants a peninsula reef that will be built into a pony wall over our entry way. After doing some measuring, I have up to 96" in length, and I have a max of 24" in width.
There are some immediate downsides to this.
First, it's on the second floor. Now, I know the joists are running perpendicular to the tank and it will be against a load bearing exterior wall. The pony wall that it backs to runs straight down to the first floor concrete slab. I also can put in another header under the tank in the room below. It's just a closet for the bedroom down there, very easy to add structural support. Regardless, it's on the second floor.
Second, I live in Alaska. Getting that large of a tank here is ridiculous when it comes to shipping..... and.... we have 3-4 earthquakes A DAY here.
I think I've mitigated both of my downsides. I am fairly certain that I'll be going with acrylic. I've reached out to advanced acrylics in California (I've had several of their tanks before) and they can ship to me. Which is awesome. Really thought I would be driving up the tank from the lower 48 this summer.
I'm going to be going with another mixed reef. The idea is to have 3 sides viewable, so the wall that is against the house will be the side with the overflow box. I'm going to attempt to keep all of my flow going without the use of any in tank pump. This means that I'll be using closed loop flow. I absolutely despise pumps in tanks... and I have 3 in my current setup, which I'm not thrilled about.
I am going to attempt to keep everything under my stand. Yes, in theory I can use the closet downstairs as a fish room.. but if we need that room for "family growth" I don't want to have to move things later.
I need to have a chiller. I have one on my 100g, and it helps me keep my temps between 78.5 - 78.7 at all times. It never fluctuates outside that range. And yes, we need chillers here in Alaska as there is no A/C up here and we have a ton of windows. The chiller even runs in the dead of winter. Somehow, this is going to have to be hidden under the stand.
I'm wanting to order the tank within the next 2-3 weeks, so I've got some planning to do... but this is where you all come in.
Here are my options.
I can do an 84x24x24 tank and a 96x24 stand. This would give me 6" behind the "overflow" side of the tank to run all my plumbing. I can build that into the stand so it looks right. It would give me an additional 6" on the peninsula side of the stand to have... elbow room?
With 96" of space in the cabinet, I can build in a "chiller bay" that would be totally sealed off from the rest of the stand, and allow me to run ventilation in and out with large, low speed computer fans.
However, at the same time, I can also do a 72x24x24 and have an 84" stand. Sure it would be a smaller tank... but it would also... fit better into the space. The downside of course it that I would have less room for "stuff" under the tank. This would force me to use a smaller sump to be able to do the same chiller bay.
Finally, to throw a wrench in everything... I can do a 30" tall tank on either option.
So, RTR... what the ********* should I do here.
A few months ago, I started up my current 100G mixed reef. Made a few Youtube videos on the build, but tbh, got so busy doing all the other things that I do that I forgot to make more videos. Anyway, this is a current shot of my 100G. Not my best picture, but not bad for an iPhone. (no, I don't have cyano on the sand... it's just a strange effect from the photo, it was also just after feeding)
Anyhoo, I set this tank up after being out of the hobby for about 5 years. It currently sits in our dining room, which is great... but it's away from the area we sit most of the time.
When I first set this up, my wife was "understanding" of my hobby, but didn't fully understand it... well... now she's more addicted than I am. While we were sitting on the couch about 2 months ago, she said "How do you feel about building a house around a tank?" I kinda stopped dead in my tracks and said.... "...... A reef tank?" she said yes. So for about a month, we searched pretty hard for what that would look like. Full disclosure, we're both in real estate, so we knew what we were looking for. That said, we also really love the area that we currently love. The house is fine, but the location is about as good as it gets. After a month of figuring out where we would need to be, we threw out the idea of moving and building.. which I thought killed the idea of another, larger tank. Until last week.
Last week she said "How would you feel about a room divider tank?" I kinda chuckled because there was nowhere to do a room divider. And that is when she handed me this:
It took me a minute to figure out what she was saying... but essentially, she wants a peninsula reef that will be built into a pony wall over our entry way. After doing some measuring, I have up to 96" in length, and I have a max of 24" in width.
There are some immediate downsides to this.
First, it's on the second floor. Now, I know the joists are running perpendicular to the tank and it will be against a load bearing exterior wall. The pony wall that it backs to runs straight down to the first floor concrete slab. I also can put in another header under the tank in the room below. It's just a closet for the bedroom down there, very easy to add structural support. Regardless, it's on the second floor.
Second, I live in Alaska. Getting that large of a tank here is ridiculous when it comes to shipping..... and.... we have 3-4 earthquakes A DAY here.
I think I've mitigated both of my downsides. I am fairly certain that I'll be going with acrylic. I've reached out to advanced acrylics in California (I've had several of their tanks before) and they can ship to me. Which is awesome. Really thought I would be driving up the tank from the lower 48 this summer.
I'm going to be going with another mixed reef. The idea is to have 3 sides viewable, so the wall that is against the house will be the side with the overflow box. I'm going to attempt to keep all of my flow going without the use of any in tank pump. This means that I'll be using closed loop flow. I absolutely despise pumps in tanks... and I have 3 in my current setup, which I'm not thrilled about.
I am going to attempt to keep everything under my stand. Yes, in theory I can use the closet downstairs as a fish room.. but if we need that room for "family growth" I don't want to have to move things later.
I need to have a chiller. I have one on my 100g, and it helps me keep my temps between 78.5 - 78.7 at all times. It never fluctuates outside that range. And yes, we need chillers here in Alaska as there is no A/C up here and we have a ton of windows. The chiller even runs in the dead of winter. Somehow, this is going to have to be hidden under the stand.
I'm wanting to order the tank within the next 2-3 weeks, so I've got some planning to do... but this is where you all come in.
Here are my options.
I can do an 84x24x24 tank and a 96x24 stand. This would give me 6" behind the "overflow" side of the tank to run all my plumbing. I can build that into the stand so it looks right. It would give me an additional 6" on the peninsula side of the stand to have... elbow room?
With 96" of space in the cabinet, I can build in a "chiller bay" that would be totally sealed off from the rest of the stand, and allow me to run ventilation in and out with large, low speed computer fans.
However, at the same time, I can also do a 72x24x24 and have an 84" stand. Sure it would be a smaller tank... but it would also... fit better into the space. The downside of course it that I would have less room for "stuff" under the tank. This would force me to use a smaller sump to be able to do the same chiller bay.
Finally, to throw a wrench in everything... I can do a 30" tall tank on either option.
So, RTR... what the ********* should I do here.
).
