eslatts' Fish Tank Room Build + Display Tank

[eslatts11]

Started on my fish tank room build this past weekend! Sort of went with the its easier to ask for forgiveness than permission theory, think shes coming around Will hopefully support a 180g+ display tank somewhere down the road.

Planning on doing an epoxy floor at the moment. Was thinking about doing a tile floor but the epoxy may be easier and more cost effective. I am also going to install a new 20 amp breaker just for the room to power all of my pumps, lights, heaters, reactors, etc. Had a hell of a time trying to run the 12-2 this past Saturday. In my tri-level home, its almost impossible to get to the far end bedroom in the basement with a run (panel is located on the other side of the house in the garage). Both 14-2 wires I chased up to the attic above my second story ended up only stopping on the second story and not dropping down all the way to the basement. Still never found how or where the dang basement 15 amp breaker is ran down from. I ended up finding a gap in my living room wall that will allow me to drop it into my hot water heater room then I am going to run it between the basement ceiling and 2nd story floor along the central air ducting. I found a nice RJ11 phone wire going to my soon to be fish tank room that I can use as a fish wire. Only thing I'm waiting on now to do the run, is a dang 54" auger drill bit to drill through this pesky horizontal 2" x 4" they put in between the stud. I was able to tie into my basements bathroom faucet drain line and hot/cold tonight.
 

[CoralBeauties]

That size of fish room is going to be a dream.  My one suggestion is to find a place to put a control panel for a future apex or controller.  I have my apex and all modules mounted to a piece of wood I mounted on the wall behind the tank.  Makes it easy to access and looks impressive:)
Jeff

[eslatts11]

That size of fish room is going to be a dream.  My one suggestion is to find a place to put a control panel for a future apex or controller.  I have my apex and all modules mounted to a piece of wood I mounted on the wall behind the tank.  Makes it easy to access and looks impressive:)
Jeff

Yep definitely going to do this. I was thinking right on the wall above the sump. Right now I am trying to decide how many gang's of outlets ill need to put there for the module mount board and how many to put on the wall behind the fish tank. I know i'll be plugging in mostly a combination of a few Neptune Apex EB8's and EB4's - so I can't think ill need that many outlets at the wall? Probably will follow suite for an outlet height of 48" on the module mount wall which the exterior basement walls already have them at. I will remove the current 1 gang outlet at 1' foot up, that is just asking for trouble being right next to the sump.

Can anyone recommend how many gang's of outlets and at what height for behind a 180g (72x24x24) on 36" tall stand. Once the tank is in place I will certainly need the ability to access the outlets, so between 36" and 60" is kind of a dead zone.


Got the 12-2 line ran today for the dedicated 20amp breaker, holy crap was that a PITA. I've ran wiring before where there was no drywall in yet in a remodeled home, that was easy but this... this was difficult. Had to buy a specialized 54" auger bit to reach down inside of a wall and drill through a horizontal 2" x 4" going from the first story attic straight to the water heater / sump room in the basement. Also, purchased a WIFI boroscope snake camera that aided in the fishing of wire through the auger holes. Got it done though!!

[eslatts11]

20 amp GFCI breaker and all outlets installed along with the center ceiling light! Now onto drywalling and mudding/sanding!

[eslatts11]

Drywalled yesterday:


Mudded first layer with tape today:


Used a 6" x 9" access panel to run my piping through the wall. I found that I can actually do a full pipe straight through, so my plan is to just use a 45 degree fitting at both ends and will allow for less flow interference (no need for 90s)!

[CoralBeauties]

Gonna be nice when you are done.
Jeff

[lazylivin]

That is coming along great! Did you decide what you are going to do with the floor yet?

[eslatts11]

Gonna be nice when you are done.
Jeff

That is coming along great! Did you decide what you are going to do with the floor yet?

Thanks! Believe I am going to go with your1dayfloor.com for sure. They were great to talk to at the Dayton Mall Home Expo and for my little room, seemed like they are the most fair with their minimum pricing compared to others!

[lazylivin]

Excellent choice! Looking forward to pics

[eslatts11]

Finished up the mudding/sanding and paint is finished. All new 20amp outlets have been installed and old outlets replaced. Norwesco 75gal storage tanks came in for my mixing station and just started the flooring! I ended up going with waterproof vinyl plank flooring instead of finishing with an epoxy floor.

[lazylivin]

Looks like it is coming along nicely. 

[Agame43]

Looks really nice so far - Your finished Salt room should look great!

[eslatts11]

Looks like it is coming along nicely. 

Looks really nice so far - Your finished Salt room should look great!

Thanks guys!

Finished up the flooring yesterday and baseboard tonight! Just need to fill some corners and nail holes with some white wood filler then should be all set.

Next on the agenda:

• Install slop sink
• Mount RODI
• Mixing station stand + plumbing
• Create workbench

[Steve]

Very nice. Would love to have a dedicated salt room like that.

[eslatts11]

Got the workbench and slop sink installed last week and just finished up the shelving and mixing station today/tonight!

[Agame43]

  Your fish room looks really nice, great work. This will be one to see in person once you are finished and have it up and running!

 Thanks for sharing

[CoralBeauties]

very nice work,  good thing you are a handy man.  You would be out a ton with all the work you have done.
Jeff

[guynamedfleck]

very nice! I love your attention to detail. It really is the little things like the waste line install on your sink that show how much you have thought this through. keep up the great work!

[eslatts11]

Thanks guys! Little by little im getting there.

Just received my quarter inch glass baffles from Kettering Glass Inc today. The pieces look real nice, polished well and right to spec. I have a 75 gallon Aqueon tank from Petco that I got for $71 dollars during the dollar per gallon sale 2 years ago that I still have been waiting to use. They let me combine my $10 dollar off coupon with the dollar per gallon sale.. what a steal, I don't even think they include the 75g's in the sale anymore. Picked up some GE 100% silicon #1 from home depot that I will be installing the baffles with.

For sump design here is what I came up with on Fusion 360 (flow left to right) - first two baffles on the left will house an egg crate shelf for filter floss (not pictured), the second and third baffles are just bubble traps. Anyone know the pros/cons to the two different styles of bubble traps? Outer baffles low and center baffle high vs. the two outer baffles being high and the center low.

[dbjonesjr]

I must ask... do they offer the glass black like that (like a smoked or colored option)? Everything is looking great so far.

[eslatts11]

I must ask... do they offer the glass black like that (like a smoked or colored option)? Everything is looking great so far.

Thanks dbjonesjr. I actually never thought of getting different colored baffles so I just ordered the regular plate glass that has a slight greenish tint to it. I called back to Kettering Glass Inc to see what they could do in those terms and they said they have a few options: Light gray (mostly see through), dark gray (barely see through), and a frosted glass which is kind of like where they just rough it up so you cannot see through kind of like how they do for business front glass panes.

[dbjonesjr]

Thanks dbjonesjr. I actually never thought of getting different colored baffles so I just ordered the regular plate glass that has a slight greenish tint to it. I called back to Kettering Glass Inc to see what they could do in those terms and they said they have a few options: Light gray (mostly see through), dark gray (barely see through), and a frosted glass which is kind of like where they just rough it up so you cannot see through kind of like how they do for business front glass panes.

Neat. Would be neat to build a tank with say a smoked glass back (for no painting of the glass). Anyways, looks like it will be a nice sump.


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[eslatts11]

Sorry for the delayed updates! Finished the 75g sump baffles up a couple weeks ago! Custom ordered a eurobraced low-iron 225g with Synergy Reef 16" shadow overflow, 72"x30"x24" (LxWxH), from Crystal Dynamics Aquariums and should be expecting it sometime in July!! I am planing to go with an extruded aluminum stand from Framing Tech as well.

Here's some pics of the sump build:

[eslatts11]

The beast arrived this week. 225g from Crystal Dynamics:

[lazylivin]

That looks great!

[SweetReefOH]

NICE!

[eslatts11]

Long overdue for an update!!

Extruded aluminum stand from framing tech came in and put together - top & bottom boards mounted.

Orphek Atlantiks hung using retractable grow light hanger and RMS ecotech rails with custom fabricated angle iron piece.

Created a replica tank back and roughed in the plumbing!

[ghurlag]

That’s some nice looking plumbing and I’m digging the stand.

[JSellars]

Looking really good! I’m excited to see it all together and it’s not even my tank lol.... after seeing your stand, I started scavenging 80/20 for a stand for my new tank lol. I just need a couple 4ft pieces.


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[lazylivin]

Very nice

[eslatts11]

Thanks guys! Yeah, 80/20 seems to be pretty affordable for a nice sturdy stand.

With the help of friends and family, finally got the tank moved into place Sunday morning! We first wheeled it on dollies across the yard on 4'x8' sheets of OSB to the back basement window. I made a 2'x4' piece of wood wrapped with carpet and placed it on the window sill so we could slide the tank on it. To fit it through the window we had to rotate it onto its back. We first tried to carry the tank through the window but then quickly realized the transition of weight once we pull it off the window sill would have been to much all at once. So we pulled the stand over to the window and placed dollies on the stand top. Once the tank was more than halfway through the window we set it onto the dolly and rolled it to the end of the stand. Then we lifted the tank straight up, pulled the dollies and rotated it right side up. With the tank on the stand, we lifted the stand and tank together ever so slightly and moved it about 6 inches at a time until it was in place. Lastly, we lifted up the tank and pulled the blanket out.

[JSellars]

Holy cow! It barely fit through the window! Looks good though!


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[ghurlag]

Wow!  It *just* fit!  This is going to look great! 

[JSellars]

Are the vertical pieces of the 80/20 stand the 1” square?


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[eslatts11]

Are the vertical pieces of the 80/20 stand the 1” square?


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They are 1.75" square.

[eslatts11]

Got the sand rinsed yesterday, did a mix of Topic Eden meso flakes and mini flakes. My three big pieces of reef saver large foundation rock came in along with my E-Marco 400 mortar so I was able to get the aquascaping done tonight and sand in the tank! Have a full 75gal norwesco tank of saltwater mixing and my rodi tank almost full again, will be getting it wet tomorrow!

[ghurlag]

Nice rock work, nice sand!  Congrats on getting to the wet portion of the build!

[eslatts11]

Nice rock work, nice sand!  Congrats on getting to the wet portion of the build!

Thank you 


Feeling pretty deflated. My McCoskers fairy wrasses' brought velvet into my QT and wiped out my whole school of lyretail anthias, starry blenny and the McCosker's themselves. I just started dosing copper power but it was already too late for them. Now all my other fish, fish that ive even had for 3 years +, are all showing signs of velvet, ugh.. So demoralizing.

[ghurlag]

That sucks!  Sorry to hear!

[dbowman]

so sorry to hear that you and your pets experienced this. one of my concerns is that i will have a similar outbreak of something beyond my control. take deep breaths to mitigate the deflation. assess, be calm and reef on. 

[eslatts11]

That sucks!  Sorry to hear!

so sorry to hear that you and your pets experienced this. one of my concerns is that i will have a similar outbreak of something beyond my control. take deep breaths to mitigate the deflation. assess, be calm and reef on.

Thanks guys, appreciate it


I am sad to report that I've lost my coral beauty that I've had for almost two years now. However, I finally have my copper power up to 1.75ppm and my other fish are all doing well and eating. Currently have in there my Lightning Maroon Clown and Flame Hawk, both of which ive had for 3 years +, and for the new additions a pair of yellow coris wrasses, cleaner wrasse, and orange spotted file fish. Hoping they all stay healthy.

If I've learned anything its a observation tank is a MUST along with a QT. My mistake was throwing everything into the QT (with no meds) from the get go, so if there was an issue it was already spread to them all and I couldn't ramp up the meds quick enough! From here on out, ill only purchase one type of fish at a time and first give them a couple weeks in a separate observation tank.

[CoralBeauties]

Sorry about the loss.  We have all experienced it and kicked our self for it.  Im a big fan of running hypo salinity in my qt tank.  Very gentle on fish, promotes better fish appetites, and wipes out ich.  You could possibly use hypo in your observation tank.  Only draw back is the need to go slow with bringing them out of hypo.
Jeff

[eslatts11]

Sorry about the loss.  We have all experienced it and kicked our self for it.  Im a big fan of running hypo salinity in my qt tank.  Very gentle on fish, promotes better fish appetites, and wipes out ich.  You could possibly use hypo in your observation tank.  Only draw back is the need to go slow with bringing them out of hypo.
Jeff

Thanks, Jeff.

Unfortunately, also lost the cleaner wrasse and orange spotted a couple days after my last post. The clown, flame hawk, and pair of yellow coris wrasse are all doing great and eating aggressively with copper power at 2.0ppm. Visible signs of velvet have all disappeared from them and any free floating tomonts should be getting killed from the copper level.

I've decided to switch out my Synergy Reef Overflow with a 32" custom made one (drilled to replacement fit synergy) from Exotic Marine Systems. Thankfully I have not glued anything yet other than the unions on to the shadow overflow itself. I am also working on a new stand for my three new 20g highs I bought as observation tanks. I was able to pick them up at a good deal for dollar per gallon at the Kettering town and country pet supplies plus.

[ghurlag]

I hate to hear about the losses, but in the end that’s why we observe and qt, I guess...  Here’s hoping you’re over the hump and will be on the upswing soon.

[eslatts11]

Been awhile since I've been on here. Going to update my build thread with quite a few update posts I did not post here yet!

[Jul 10, 2020]
Ok starting to get caught up to real time now!! Here is my complete fish tank control board cabinet I made out of pvc board a couple weeks back:

[eslatts11]

[Jul 10, 2020]
On my third round of quarantine currently, but this is pic was my setup between my first and second round. The 40g breeder on the left proved to be just too big for a quarantine. I found it was hard to maintain with copper just because of the sheer water volume:


Current pic of tank with about 11 fish so far and more to come!

[eslatts11]

[Oct 29, 2020]
Completed the light shroud, paneling on the extruded aluminum stand and did some cable management along the back wall:


12 fish so far everyone very healthy!


Added a 57 watt UV sterilizer in-line with my return plumbing along with the neptune apex 1" flow sensor to dial it in. Replaced the loud mag drive for my lifereef skimmer with the same pump as my return, the Maxspect 12k. I think its actually producing even better skimmate now:


Just readied the quarantine tanks tonight. The tang gang is on its way!

[eslatts11]

[Dec 8, 2020]
Big update! I decided the sand bed had to go. I could already see that regularly cleaning the sand bed was going to be a major pain and I couldn't quite get the flow high as I would have liked without blowing sand every where.. Pulled all of the water out of the tank into several 32gal garbage cans, pulled the LR and placed it into the various garbage cans and took my vacuum and sucked the bottom clean! Also was able to do a little bit of a re-work on the aquascape.

After all that quarantine, ich still managed to somehow get into the tank. Taking the sand bed out at this same time actually worked out well because it was super easy to catch the fish once the water level got really low. Started the 76 day fallow period a couple weeks ago. All fish being treated again in copper.

On a brighter note, have filled my tank with corals and have the ph, calc and alk steady now. Currently have alk around 8dkh and calcium hovering around 410. Trying out All-For-Reef, but a dose of 50mls per day currently means their largest bottle will only last me 20 days. If this stuff continues to work well I just may continue to use it until they come to market with the powdered version.

With the increased photo period and intensity, I am having a little bit of a GHA breakout on some of my rocks. I have not fed the tank much at all since going fallow. I am thinking its a combination of two things, 1. those specific rocks are leeching phosphates and two potential die off from some of my CUC. Phosphates are reading 0.03, a few days ago and now 0.04 today. Running the last of my regular GFO currently, in a few days once I get my high capacity GFO in, ill run a full canister of that in hopes to lower even more, or at least suck up as much of the leeching phosphates as I can. Nitrates are hovering around 4ppm based on my Red Sea Pro Nitrate test kit. I am having a hard time telling if my readings are accurate though. I run the normal 0 - 4 range test and my color looks to be on the 4ppm or maybe higher. So because of this I run the diluted test (4 - 64 range), and the color looks just like the lowest color level in that range of 4ppm. So either I am doing something wrong or my Nitrates are really at 4ppm. Not sure if anyone has experience with this test kit?

Here are some update pics:

[dbowman]

is diluting the sample with 50% rodi water an option for the standard test. to get the color in range?

[eslatts11]

is diluting the sample with 50% rodi water an option for the standard test. to get the color in range?

Yeah so in the directions it says to use 16ml of tank water for doing a test in the 0-4ppm range, and then to do the test for the 4-64ppm range you take 1ml of tank water and mix that with 15ml of rodi water to dilute. But all 4 times ive taken the test (both low and high range) I always end up with a color that is around 4ppm so its really confusing and hard to tell if its getting a good reading. I may just bite the bullet and get the Hanna Nitrate checker, but I have heard some conflicting opinions on how are the Hanna test is to perform.

[CoralBeauties]

I wouldnt lower your phos any lower.  Corals need phos to flourish.  I have mine at .1 right now and am happy with that.  Sweetohioreef is experiencing major coral damage right now from several days of 0 phosphates with corals in strong lighting. So be careful lowering it too much. Even with the tank fallow you will need to add food or something for the bacteria to feed off of or your bacteria bed will be harmed.  Once your able to add tangs to the tank you will be able to control the gha a lot better.  Love the moorish in your tank.  Looks like you might have bought Justins fish.  When your ready to buy fish send me a pm, I can save you a lot of money.
Jeff

[eslatts11]

I wouldnt lower your phos any lower.  Corals need phos to flourish.  I have mine at .1 right now and am happy with that.  Sweetohioreef is experiencing major coral damage right now from several days of 0 phosphates with corals in strong lighting. So be careful lowering it too much. Even with the tank fallow you will need to add food or something for the bacteria to feed off of or your bacteria bed will be harmed.  Once your able to add tangs to the tank you will be able to control the gha a lot better.  Love the moorish in your tank.  Looks like you might have bought Justins fish.  When your ready to buy fish send me a pm, I can save you a lot of money.
Jeff

Very good point Jeff. I read it all over the place that people are so focused on keeping nutrients low these days that they actually strip them entirely, which is way worse! I did receive my high capacity GFO in last week but still have changed out the media with my old yet. I brought online an algae turf scrubber I had laying around from my old 75g and it seems to be working well (pic below is of first harvest). For right now I have managed to curb the gha outbreak. Its still there a little bit but not really growing anymore, whereas before it was growing rapidly. So if I can naturally bring the levels down to a safe spot I think I may just do that. I was also able to find a Skimz MBR127 macroalgae reactor for $92 bucks on BRS! Pump and leds included! It was an open box return + they are liquidating all their Skimz products for 60% off. I figured why not give it a shot, its only rated for around 100 gallons but it will fit in the sump just fine and if I use it with my current ATS there's no need for the bigger one. I have been doing weekly feedings of my corals now that I am fishless and to keep the inverts happy. I feed the trachys, anemone, and elegance each a nice chuck of the rods reef frenzy and they gobble it right up. I also target feed everything else with reef roids.

I may have have to take you up on the fish offer here in a few months 

[Steve]

Love the rock work.

[eslatts11]

Love the rock work.

Thank you!

I actually ended up re-doing it quite a bit after I took my sand out. Kept the big shelf structure that used to be on the left, and placed it on the right side this time and tilted it forward. Then I broke up the old three arch structure that used to be on the right and made it flow into the existing shelf structure. I'm real happy with it how the revamp turned out!

[eslatts11]

Long overdue for a progress update. Snapped some picks tonight after cleaning all 4 walls. Coraline is starting to come in, especially on the bottom of the tank. Elegance coral has not been looking too good lately so I moved it to the bottom right corner for less flow and less light. I also put a cage around it because I think my butterfly might be picking at it!

[ohioreef]

That is beautiful! What are you using for pics? I can not get a decent pic of my tank to save my life. I know it’s the blue lighting.

[CoralBeauties]

Why the eggcrate cage in the corner?

[dbowman]

"Elegance coral has not been looking too good lately so I moved it to the bottom right corner for less flow and less light. I also put a cage around it because I think my butterfly might be picking at it!"


this could be it.

[eslatts11]

That is beautiful! What are you using for pics? I can not get a decent pic of my tank to save my life. I know it’s the blue lighting.

I use the Flipper Flip-Kick Phone Filter - https://flipperaquariumproducts.com/flip-kick/. Really like it, comes with a 33m Yellow and 33m Orange filter that you can use back-to-back together and it magnetizes right to the back of your phone. My phone is the google pixel 4.

[eslatts11]

Lightning maroon clownfish have laid eggs!

[SweetReefOH]

That is a beautiful clown! Are they aggressive?

[eslatts11]

That is a beautiful clown! Are they aggressive?

They honestly are not bad at all. They can chase just a little bit if anyone gets like within 6" inches or so of their anemone but other than that super peaceful, even at feeding time. I do have fish that are quite bigger than them too not sure if that keeps them more in line than normal. I also have them in a 6' foot 215g too, so lots of room. I could see them being more aggressive in a smaller tank, and maybe with smaller tank mates.

Fry's are getting big, almost time to add in sponge filter! The pair have laid an even bigger clutch of eggs again 5 days ago.

[CoralBeauties]

I had a maroon early on in my hobby.  I decided to add another for a tank mate and within minutes of adding the new maroon it was viciously killed by the first one.  I watched a video just recently that said how mean they can be. 
Jeff

[SweetReefOH]

Ya, that?s what I?ve always heard. That they were incredibly aggressive. Sounds like it?s hit or miss like it is with most fish.

[eslatts11]

My brother made a couple videos of my reef tank! One is just a general video with no lenses, the second with lenses and mostly macro shots and then a FTS at the end. Enjoy.