reenact12321
New member
Hello,
I've been a reef tank owner for about 5 years. I started with a 40 Breeder and live rock and had a very classic reef tank going for about 4 of those years. Ocellarus clowns, a blenny, a hawkfish, and some softies, brains and zoas, even a few SPS that had started to see success.
I moved in 2017 and the tank never really recovered from this. I had some die off, then I had an incident where a contractor started sanding a cabinet in an adjoining room while i was out of town and the debris in the air (and screen topped water) killed my fish. (I was compensated and we're square).
I felt sort of crushed and let the tank sit. It was just very hard to get my mojo back. Plus the tank was very DIY, 2x4 stand, a puppet theater type curtain to cover my sump, large and inelegant plumbing, its a bit of an eyesore.
The tank has been running all this time, but i did little other than top off RODI and occasionally pull algae, My corals were fine until my conch dying crashed the system while I was out of town.
I did water changes and pulled as much gunk as I could recently and some coral is bouncing back and other CUC seem to be hanging in there, but otherwise I'm starting with a box full of live rock, algae and aiptasia.
About 2 years ago, right before "the incident" I bought a 92 gallon corner from someone that was upgrading to a turn-key 200 gallon setup. It came with the black stand and an Eshoppes RS-200 sump box that had been drilled and glued and then essentially returned to stock by putting in some patch plates over the holes.
I'm finally ready to take the plunge and build a new dream tank and tear down the eyesore DIY starter tank so my living room is not dominated by it anymore.
I have a few problems to solve and would love to get advice from the community.
1. Configuration and build (to basement or not to basement)
The 92 corner is in my living room on the main floor of the house. It's final location is on top of a floor patch (old house, hardwood, a cold air return was removed. I have sistered all the joists in the area, and it's against an external wall so much of its weight is actually right down on the foundation.
I have considered building a basement sump/fish area. I have an unfinished basement, (block walls, derby concrete floor) with a lot of open space. I would just need to level the area with a concrete pad poured level on top of the sloped/bumpy floor. I bought a 75 gallon stock tank as an option for a basement sump or part of the system, though I'm open to integrating the old RS-200 as part of the setup.
This solves several problems, no more hauling DI up the stairs and having a bucket sit in my living room for the Auto-top-off, and water changes can be facilitated more easily. Plus it puts all the noisy, ugly equipment down stairs and turns the stand into storage/pipe chase.
I know moisture is a big concern with a fish room/basement sump, I have dehumidifiers already and there's a spot I could run an exhaust fan in a pinch.
This brings me to a discussion about equipment. If I'm lifting water about 15 ft (10 ft from sump to ceiling, and 5 ft to the top of the tank) I would need something with a pretty robust head pressure rating. I was looking at the [pan world 200S](https://www.marinedepot.com/pan-world-200ps-magnetic-water-pump) but would love to hear other suggestions.
I currently have a 100 SSS Reef Octopus skimmer but would probably need to upgrade? It's been a good skimmer but it's also been through a lot, suggestions for a ~130 gallon water mass (92 plus sump)?
Alternatively, I could set it up the way the seller had it, just run the RS-200 in the stand and have a top off in the pie-slice behind. Are there any major pro-cons in my situation where this is the way to go?
2. A top. I need to design and build a top that conceals my lights.
I have 2 Arctic T247s that have been pretty reliable so far. If anything they have been a bit intense for the 40 and I've had to run them at very low power. I built a shelf overhanging my tank and suspended them from that like a diving board. This means my room has a very high level of booming blue light a large part of the day, not just glow from the tank but a lot of reflection and wide light overflow. I want to build a top that encloses them and directs all the light down into the tank.
The tank came with a glass top and a triangle of black plastic that covers the corner overflow. I'm just trying to figure out the logistics of a top that can house the lights, allow for airflow and not have more than a small amount of escaping light.
3. Aquascaping. I can expand on this more later, but when I started my 40B I didn't really consider aquascaping, I bought round and funny shaped live rock and stuck them in a heap and they've been like stacking bowling balls ever since. I want to build something structured out of dry rock in the 92 tank and then integrate some/all of the live rock I have to start the tank, but this way I have a solid foundation for mounting SPS and bigger corals that I know won't fall over when the coral gets too heavy.
4. Care for my 40 until I get going. I am not going to restock this tank, I don't see a good reason to, but I would like to have a healthy environment in here to jumpstart things, I am thinking continue water changes and algae control (I am replacing my RO/DI filters they're starting to show on the TDS meter) and to get some peppermint shrimp in to get the aiptasia problem under control But if there's any reason I should start totally clean or exclude certain elements of my old setup when moving over I'd love to hear that as well.
Thanks,
I've been a reef tank owner for about 5 years. I started with a 40 Breeder and live rock and had a very classic reef tank going for about 4 of those years. Ocellarus clowns, a blenny, a hawkfish, and some softies, brains and zoas, even a few SPS that had started to see success.
I moved in 2017 and the tank never really recovered from this. I had some die off, then I had an incident where a contractor started sanding a cabinet in an adjoining room while i was out of town and the debris in the air (and screen topped water) killed my fish. (I was compensated and we're square).
I felt sort of crushed and let the tank sit. It was just very hard to get my mojo back. Plus the tank was very DIY, 2x4 stand, a puppet theater type curtain to cover my sump, large and inelegant plumbing, its a bit of an eyesore.
The tank has been running all this time, but i did little other than top off RODI and occasionally pull algae, My corals were fine until my conch dying crashed the system while I was out of town.
I did water changes and pulled as much gunk as I could recently and some coral is bouncing back and other CUC seem to be hanging in there, but otherwise I'm starting with a box full of live rock, algae and aiptasia.
About 2 years ago, right before "the incident" I bought a 92 gallon corner from someone that was upgrading to a turn-key 200 gallon setup. It came with the black stand and an Eshoppes RS-200 sump box that had been drilled and glued and then essentially returned to stock by putting in some patch plates over the holes.
I'm finally ready to take the plunge and build a new dream tank and tear down the eyesore DIY starter tank so my living room is not dominated by it anymore.
I have a few problems to solve and would love to get advice from the community.
1. Configuration and build (to basement or not to basement)
The 92 corner is in my living room on the main floor of the house. It's final location is on top of a floor patch (old house, hardwood, a cold air return was removed. I have sistered all the joists in the area, and it's against an external wall so much of its weight is actually right down on the foundation.
I have considered building a basement sump/fish area. I have an unfinished basement, (block walls, derby concrete floor) with a lot of open space. I would just need to level the area with a concrete pad poured level on top of the sloped/bumpy floor. I bought a 75 gallon stock tank as an option for a basement sump or part of the system, though I'm open to integrating the old RS-200 as part of the setup.
This solves several problems, no more hauling DI up the stairs and having a bucket sit in my living room for the Auto-top-off, and water changes can be facilitated more easily. Plus it puts all the noisy, ugly equipment down stairs and turns the stand into storage/pipe chase.
I know moisture is a big concern with a fish room/basement sump, I have dehumidifiers already and there's a spot I could run an exhaust fan in a pinch.
This brings me to a discussion about equipment. If I'm lifting water about 15 ft (10 ft from sump to ceiling, and 5 ft to the top of the tank) I would need something with a pretty robust head pressure rating. I was looking at the [pan world 200S](https://www.marinedepot.com/pan-world-200ps-magnetic-water-pump) but would love to hear other suggestions.
I currently have a 100 SSS Reef Octopus skimmer but would probably need to upgrade? It's been a good skimmer but it's also been through a lot, suggestions for a ~130 gallon water mass (92 plus sump)?
Alternatively, I could set it up the way the seller had it, just run the RS-200 in the stand and have a top off in the pie-slice behind. Are there any major pro-cons in my situation where this is the way to go?
2. A top. I need to design and build a top that conceals my lights.
I have 2 Arctic T247s that have been pretty reliable so far. If anything they have been a bit intense for the 40 and I've had to run them at very low power. I built a shelf overhanging my tank and suspended them from that like a diving board. This means my room has a very high level of booming blue light a large part of the day, not just glow from the tank but a lot of reflection and wide light overflow. I want to build a top that encloses them and directs all the light down into the tank.
The tank came with a glass top and a triangle of black plastic that covers the corner overflow. I'm just trying to figure out the logistics of a top that can house the lights, allow for airflow and not have more than a small amount of escaping light.
3. Aquascaping. I can expand on this more later, but when I started my 40B I didn't really consider aquascaping, I bought round and funny shaped live rock and stuck them in a heap and they've been like stacking bowling balls ever since. I want to build something structured out of dry rock in the 92 tank and then integrate some/all of the live rock I have to start the tank, but this way I have a solid foundation for mounting SPS and bigger corals that I know won't fall over when the coral gets too heavy.
4. Care for my 40 until I get going. I am not going to restock this tank, I don't see a good reason to, but I would like to have a healthy environment in here to jumpstart things, I am thinking continue water changes and algae control (I am replacing my RO/DI filters they're starting to show on the TDS meter) and to get some peppermint shrimp in to get the aiptasia problem under control But if there's any reason I should start totally clean or exclude certain elements of my old setup when moving over I'd love to hear that as well.
Thanks,
