Hey SCR,
So after moving to a new house last summer and months and months of settling in (i.e., painting the interior myself, letting my wife buy new furniture, planning and installing some landscaping myself, and basically living by the mantra happy wife, happy life), I finally got the go ahead to start up a new reef tank. But this reef is something special for me because (1) its my birthday present to myself, and (2) its my first big reef build.
My last reef was a 40 breeder that was up less than a year. As luck would have it, the 40 breeder started looking good at about the month I had to break it down for the move. After moving to a bigger place and initially thinking I wanted to downgrade, I got my head straight and told myself, screw it, lets go big. :a21::a21::a21:Luckily I have a pretty significant birthday coming up, so it was difficult for my wife to say no to this birthday present.
I just ordered the new tank last week from Aaron at SPS Coral Store. Its 150 gallons, 5x2x2!!! The tank itself is nothing fancy. I didnt opt for a rimless because I wanted a canopy on it to avoid/decrease the light spill into the room since the tank is going in the room where we spend most of our family time watching tv and hanging out.
Im going to use this thread as a journal for myself to keep track of this builds progress, as well as to ask questions and seek advice from you guys who have a lot more experience than I do with large reef builds.
Heres the drawings of the tank I got from Aaron:
Tank specs: 150 gallon, Visio 5x2x2, with perimeter bracing, and corner overflow, drilled for 1 Sch 80 bulkheads.
Though it may not seem like much to some of the large tanks I've seen here and on RC, it's a huge step for me. Before this, the biggest successful reef I had was a 60 gallon. For my 150, I opted for the perimeter bracing for ease of maintenance and lighting. Also, although the overflow will be plumbed with Spears sch 80 bulkheads, the drains and other plumbing will be sch 40. I wanted to minimize the risk of leaks through the bulkheads and so I decided on using these big sch 80 bulkheads Aaron showed me. Ill be running a Herbie overflow to try and keep things quiet.
The tank is supposed to take 2-4 weeks to be built. I'm hoping to get it in the garage by the end of the month. In the meantime, I need to finalize the rest of the plans for the build. I'll be posting my plans for the build over the next few days. I'd appreciate any advice and opinions you guys can offer. I want to get this build right the first time around.
Although I'd love for this tank to be fully operational ASAP, I know this isn't going to happen. I have a budget keeping me in check as my wife and I are still getting used to life with a mortgage. Also, my soon-to-be 2 year daughter takes up most of my free time, which I'm definitely not complaining about (especially since her love for my other tank is part of the reason why I got the go ahead for this big bad boy:lol::lol::lol.
That being said, this build is going to be slow (but hey, slow and steady wins the race in this hobby). All and all, I'm excited as hell about this build, but scared sh!tless at the same time since this is my first big build. Thanks for putting up with my rambling (again I'm excited). I'll do my best to keep the thread updated as things progress.
Do you guys and gals have any upfront advice you can offer before I get in too deep with the build? Is there anything you'd do different with your builds that I should consider with mine?
Thanks for any and all input,
Jay
So after moving to a new house last summer and months and months of settling in (i.e., painting the interior myself, letting my wife buy new furniture, planning and installing some landscaping myself, and basically living by the mantra happy wife, happy life), I finally got the go ahead to start up a new reef tank. But this reef is something special for me because (1) its my birthday present to myself, and (2) its my first big reef build.
My last reef was a 40 breeder that was up less than a year. As luck would have it, the 40 breeder started looking good at about the month I had to break it down for the move. After moving to a bigger place and initially thinking I wanted to downgrade, I got my head straight and told myself, screw it, lets go big. :a21::a21::a21:Luckily I have a pretty significant birthday coming up, so it was difficult for my wife to say no to this birthday present.
I just ordered the new tank last week from Aaron at SPS Coral Store. Its 150 gallons, 5x2x2!!! The tank itself is nothing fancy. I didnt opt for a rimless because I wanted a canopy on it to avoid/decrease the light spill into the room since the tank is going in the room where we spend most of our family time watching tv and hanging out.
Im going to use this thread as a journal for myself to keep track of this builds progress, as well as to ask questions and seek advice from you guys who have a lot more experience than I do with large reef builds.
Heres the drawings of the tank I got from Aaron:
Tank specs: 150 gallon, Visio 5x2x2, with perimeter bracing, and corner overflow, drilled for 1 Sch 80 bulkheads.
Though it may not seem like much to some of the large tanks I've seen here and on RC, it's a huge step for me. Before this, the biggest successful reef I had was a 60 gallon. For my 150, I opted for the perimeter bracing for ease of maintenance and lighting. Also, although the overflow will be plumbed with Spears sch 80 bulkheads, the drains and other plumbing will be sch 40. I wanted to minimize the risk of leaks through the bulkheads and so I decided on using these big sch 80 bulkheads Aaron showed me. Ill be running a Herbie overflow to try and keep things quiet.
The tank is supposed to take 2-4 weeks to be built. I'm hoping to get it in the garage by the end of the month. In the meantime, I need to finalize the rest of the plans for the build. I'll be posting my plans for the build over the next few days. I'd appreciate any advice and opinions you guys can offer. I want to get this build right the first time around.
Although I'd love for this tank to be fully operational ASAP, I know this isn't going to happen. I have a budget keeping me in check as my wife and I are still getting used to life with a mortgage. Also, my soon-to-be 2 year daughter takes up most of my free time, which I'm definitely not complaining about (especially since her love for my other tank is part of the reason why I got the go ahead for this big bad boy:lol::lol::lol.
That being said, this build is going to be slow (but hey, slow and steady wins the race in this hobby). All and all, I'm excited as hell about this build, but scared sh!tless at the same time since this is my first big build. Thanks for putting up with my rambling (again I'm excited). I'll do my best to keep the thread updated as things progress.
Do you guys and gals have any upfront advice you can offer before I get in too deep with the build? Is there anything you'd do different with your builds that I should consider with mine?
Thanks for any and all input,
Jay