460 the Sequel. Let the planning begin............

[jpilewski]

Well I now have a year under my belt with the 150 gallon tank I cannot believe how much I am enjoying this hobby and have decided to begin the planning for the sequel. I will be adding an additional tank. Although I feel I have learned a lot about the hobby over the past year, in reality, I haven’t even skimmed the surface. So I would ask for any and all suggestions and or feedback as this is in the planning stages and I'm looking to get as much feedback as possible with the intent to do it correctly the first time. I'm not married to anything. Tank size, concept, etc with the exception that the length and depth of the proposed tank as they are probably the maximum I could make them due to spatial constraints. I have not begun to build anything yet nor have I purchased anything for the new tank. The plan is to begin construction in the middle to the end of the summer with the ultimate goal of having the new tank ready to be filled with water by the spring of next year. I have read many builds on this site and plan to document the process and post its progress throughout. My object is to create one tank that would have non reef friendly fish and the other to be a reef tank. My initial thought is to convert the current 150 gallon tank into a predatory tank as my son would like to have a tank with some aggressive fish and / or the type of fish that just don’t coexist happily with the corals. The added tank would be a +/- 450 gal reef tank (96” x 37.5” x 30.5”). Currently I have a small fish room carved out of the garage which is on the backside of the current tank and houses the sump, refugium, DI/RO water filters, and all of the supporting supplies. The back side of the tank is fully open to this area. Essentially I’m looking to convert the remainder of the attached garage into two spaces; the front third of the garage will become a back of house fish room to serve both tanks and the rear half of the garage as a small TV / tank viewing room. I’ve uploaded a preliminary plan for you to put this into perspective as well as pictures of the current tank in the living room into my gallery. Please note that I had to throw the 150 gal tank together very quickly so the craftsmanship of the back area is quite poor. It will be totally reconstructed as part of this endeavor. I want to build the back room big enough to support the two tanks incorporate a sink and counter for water testing etc, large containers for storage of salt and RO/DI water holding as well as a rack capable of having multiple small tanks stacked vertically which could house quarantine tanks and even some frag tanks in the future. I plan to build the fish room like a wet room. Tile floor over an insulated concrete slab, a floor drain, tiled walls, and either an epoxy ceiling or and frp ceiling. I was planning on installing an air exchanger that would be controlled by a humidistat in the room to help with humidity and allow for regular air changes. Cooling would be provided either via an A/C unit thru the wall or a separate zone of central air in the room and heat would be provided from baseboard that would be on its own zone so it could be controlled independently from the rest of the house.
I’m planning to have the two tanks run independently with their own sumps, skimmers, etc. Automated top offs on each system. Please give me your thoughts everything and anything. From the equipment (as I’m not terribly savvy on all the different manufacturers and I realize that there are a tremendous amount of options out there), to the concept as well as what I am overlooking that I should be planning for within the fish room. Much appreciated and thanxs for taking the time to review and respond.