Getting back into the hobby and looking for some build advice...

[eschaton]

Hey all,

I'm a former reefer who successfully kept reef tanks when I was younger, but got out of the hobby for awhile after the second kid, with nothing except for a planted tank at my work.

I've finally got my wife to agree to let me set up a new reef tank at home. I really wanted to have one of the new all-in-one Red Sea MAX systems - largely because quite honestly I'm not really interested in - or good at - the whole "gear" side of the hobby. I mean, I did all of that with my earlier tank - doing all of my own plumbing, building my own sump, even working on an algae turf scrubber. I got absolutely no joy out of any of it however, and it looked messy as heck. What can I say, I'm not handy. I'd rather just spend the money on a plug and play system and concentrate on the biological side of things, which interests me a lot more.

Here's the catch - my wife is kinda a control freak, and she basically told me the only place I was allowed to set up the tank is one corner of the dining room. The available space is 33 inches of length, and 29 inches of depth. This means that the MAX-S Series is right out, and the biggest system I could get is the E-170. The gear looks cool, but frankly the total water volume is less than my old reef tank (which was a standard 55 with a 20 gallon sump) and I can fit a much bigger tank than the 24 inch width here.

I've been considering getting this 80 gallon system by SC Aquariums instead. The system doesn't have quite as many bells and whistles, and I'd need to buy separate lighting, but the width almost perfectly fits what I have available. I was wondering though if this is as plug and play as it is suggesting.

Also, I have no experience with ordering these aquarium kits online, and I was wondering about delivery. I live in an urban area - I don't have a driveway or garage, and there are two small flights of stairs to my house. Will the delivery people - if I tip heavily - bring the tank at least as far up as my front porch, or will I have to somehow finagle a bunch of strangers to help me get the tank indoors?

 

[Reeferz412]

Have you considered Waterbox? They basically got the Red Sea design and made it better. From the glass, design, cabinetry, even the sump is better. See if they have a tank that would accommodate what youre looking for and the wife. I would consider hiring an aquarium service company to bring in the tank in my personal opinion. I own an aquarium maintainenance/service company and I can tell you that most movers are not very careful and also charge more $$ for aquariums and have a size limit as well depending what moving company you look into.

 

[eschaton]

Have you considered Waterbox? They basically got the Red Sea design and made it better. From the glass, design, cabinetry, even the sump is better. See if they have a tank that would accommodate what you're looking for and the wife. I would consider hiring an aquarium service company to bring in the tank in my personal opinion. I own an aquarium maintenance/service company and I can tell you that most movers are not very careful and also charge more $$ for aquariums and have a size limit as well depending what moving company you look into.

Hrrm...looking at their site, it seems their tanks, similar to Red Sea, only come in widths of 24 and 36 inches. Unfortunately I cannot do a tank 36 inches wide because it would start to stick out into the Victorian seating bench/bay window off of our dining room.

That said, the total system volume of 69.1 gallons for the 70.2 is a lot more than the system volume for the E-170, which is only 56 gallons even with the internal sump. And I don't believe that Red Sea's E series provides an ATO reservoir. Still not as big as the SC Aquariums system (which is 80 gallons discounting the sump volume) but it's something to consider.

 

[five.five-six]

LOL, wives LOL....

Mine told me that the only place I could put a tank was in the foyer.

Now I have a 225 peninsula right where she said to put it.

Now she asks: “Why is a giant fish tank the first thing when you come in our home?”

Wives, you can’t live with them and you can’t have kids without them LOL

The Red Sea Max and water box are both excellent options of turnkey offerings.

 

[eschaton]

LOL, wives LOL....

Mine told me that the only place I could put a tank was in the foyer.

Now I have a 225 peninsula right where she said to put it.

Now she asks: "œWhy is a giant fish tank the first thing when you come in our home?"

Wives, you can't live with them and you can't have kids without them LOL

The Red Sea Max and water box are both excellent options of turnkey offerings.

I mean, she's given me other options, but not ideal ones. These include:

1. Setting up the display tank in the basement (which has an uneven floor, and isn't ideal because frankly I don't go down there every day and I'd ignore it.

2. Setting up the display tank on the second floor in a small room we use as a closet. Again, there's no point hiding it in an area I don't go, and I know if it's not in plain sight my maintenance routine won't be as rigorous. Plus I have to get it up a second flight of stairs, and worry more about structural issues with the house because it will be higher up.

3. Setting it up in the attic. This means yet another flight of stairs - with more tight turns. Our third floor also isn't on our central air/heat system, meaning we rely on window units in the summer and space heaters in the winter, which would expose a tank to horrible swings in temperature.

Considering all of that - particularly worries involving the structural integrity of my home, not injuring myself trying to schlepp it, and the welfare of the livestock - I think a smaller tank on the first floor is the way to go.

It's just funny, because in our old house we lived in until 2014 and was only about 1,300 square feet, I had tons of tanks, including a reef tank in the living room, a planted tank in the office, several nano tanks, a frag tank in the basement, breeder tanks, etc. Now we live in a house which is over twice as big, with six bedrooms, and there's no room for anything of mine.

 

[five.five-six]

It's just funny, because in our old house we lived in until 2014 and was only about 1,300 square feet, I had tons of tanks, including a reef tank in the living room, a planted tank in the office, several nano tanks, a frag tank in the basement, breeder tanks, etc. Now we live in a house which is over twice as big, with six bedrooms, and there's no room for anything of mine.

Might be why she is terrified of you getting another tank...


Sounds like you are doing alright these days... how about adding on a fish room outside the house, cut a hole in the wall and set the tank in the hole.

 

[eschaton]

Might be why she is terrified of you getting another tank...


Sounds like you are doing alright these days... how about adding on a fish room outside the house, cut a hole in the wall and set the tank in the hole.

Considering our house is made of brick, cutting a hole in the wall would require effort. :lol2:

 

[Uncle99]

Your tank will be a piece of art, put it where it gets most attention.
Negotiate with her, mine cost me a day at the spa, it was worth it.

 

[Oldreeferman]

Might be why she is terrified of you getting another tank...


Might be why? :lmao:

 

[eschaton]

Thanks everyone for your opinions so far.

Last night my wife showed more willingness to consider a 36-inch tank in the corner location - even though it would overshoot into the bay window by a few inches. I need to show her with a tape measure what that means to be certain she doesn't freak out.

I'm pretty much "locked in" to that location though. We just had electrical work done, which included putting that outlet on a new breaker which is dedicated for the tank.

Her big trepidation regarding me setting up a tank again is leaks. As I said, I am not particularly mechanically inclined, and while I did manage to set up a tank at our old house with proper plumbing, it had issues. The screens on the returns would occasionally clog with algae, and once when I took them off to clean a snail crawled into one and got stuck. The way the plumbing was set up the maximum which could leak out was a few gallons in the sump (plus the ATO) but that's plenty enough to make a mess. I've convinced her if I spring for a professional system it's going to be much, much less likely to happen.

If she agrees to the 36 inch thing, I'll go with the Waterbox - no question about it. If I'm reading through though, it looks like it's not a complete system correct? I'd have to buy the pump, skimmer, ATO, and heater separately right?

 

[Rafty]

Your tank will be a piece of art, put it where it gets most attention.

Negotiate with her, mine cost me a day at the spa, it was worth it.

+1


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[five.five-six]

Might be why she is terrified of you getting another tank...

Might be why? :lmao:

IKR?

Womenz be krazy lik dat n stuff

 

[five.five-six]

Thanks everyone for your opinions so far.

Last night my wife showed more willingness to consider a 36-inch tank in the corner location - even though it would overshoot into the bay window by a few inches. I need to show her with a tape measure what that means to be certain she doesn't freak out.

I'm pretty much "locked in" to that location though. We just had electrical work done, which included putting that outlet on a new breaker which is dedicated for the tank.

Her big trepidation regarding me setting up a tank again is leaks. As I said, I am not particularly mechanically inclined, and while I did manage to set up a tank at our old house with proper plumbing, it had issues. The screens on the returns would occasionally clog with algae, and once when I took them off to clean a snail crawled into one and got stuck. The way the plumbing was set up the maximum which could leak out was a few gallons in the sump (plus the ATO) but that's plenty enough to make a mess. I've convinced her if I spring for a professional system it's going to be much, much less likely to happen.

If she agrees to the 36 inch thing, I'll go with the Waterbox - no question about it. If I'm reading through though, it looks like it's not a complete system correct? I'd have to buy the pump, skimmer, ATO, and heater separately right?

Leaks or spills?

My wife has the same concerns, water all over the floor and tanks all over the house. I have committed to only 1 tank so that solves the tanks all over the house thing

For leaks, acrylic tanks almost never leak but you have to deal with acrylic.

Most "leaks" glass or acrylic happen under the tank. I sealed up the bottom of my stand and with the lip it will hold several gallons before anything gets to the floor.. I have no electronics under the potential water line and I have a leak detector connected to my Apex which sets or a siren and pages all our iPads and phones and email alerts any time there is a leak. My wife really likes that.

Most spills are caused by me being either an idiot or in a rush or both.

 

[eschaton]

Leaks or spills?

My wife has the same concerns, water all over the floor and tanks all over the house. I have committed to only 1 tank so that solves the tanks all over the house thing

For leaks, acrylic tanks almost never leak but you have to deal with acrylic.

Most "leaks" glass or acrylic happen under the tank. I sealed up the bottom of my stand and with the lip it will hold several gallons before anything gets to the floor.. I have no electronics under the potential water line and I have a leak detector connected to my Apex which sets or a siren and pages all our iPads and phones and email alerts any time there is a leak. My wife really likes that.

Most spills are caused by me being either an idiot or in a rush or both.

As I said, most of my leaks were caused by issues with my overflows. I was doing my own work (aside from having the tank drilled for the overflows by my LFS) and I went cheapo and just put on elbow pipe returns with bulkhead screens on top. The screens would get clogged by algae or detritus, and work less well, slowly raising the water level of the tank. A few times I took them off to clean, and once a turbo just crawled into the return and got stuck. There was a limit to how bad these leaks could get however, because in the worst-case scenario, the 10 gallons or so of water in the sump up to the pump level would end up on the floor.

Also, I made the decision to have the main drain pipes and return pipes be flexible plastic tubing rather than hard plumbed. I did this with the rationale that the lack of any sudden turns meant that the water would flow more smoothly, but honestly a lot of it was just because it's much easier to just cut the hose to the needed width and attach it with metal clips versus hard plumb everything so it has to align perfectly. It worked okay most of the time, but hoses can get pinched, and when that happens to your drain pipes it's a big issue.

Any spills I had were relatively minor. I had an ATO system set up in the cabinet, and I usually did my water changes in-cabinet as well.

One mistake we made was putting a rug underneath the cabinet. I made the mistake of trusting my wife on this, who is honestly handier than me (she routinely does stuff like build shelves) and has a background as an engineer. But my instincts proved right, with the rug basically making it impossible to properly dry the area below the tank, whereas if we let it drip straight down it would mostly just pass between the cracks in the floorboards and drip into the basement.

 

[Oldreeferman]

Im a Plumber by trade so i totally understand why you thought what you did while Plumbing the aquarium sys. using flexible tubing but it has its problems like kinking etc.. A rigid long sweep elbow does flow easier & consistent... for sewage anyway. Yea, the rug was an accident waiting to happen eventually one way or another then stay damp & get nasty. Don't let wife hear this tho. LOL........
This hobby sure does require careful consideration on everything ive had my issues too in the past learning what not to do on just about every aspect of it so don't feel alone.

 

[five.five-six]

One mistake we made was putting a rug underneath the cabinet. I made the mistake of trusting my wife on this, who is honestly handier than me (she routinely does stuff like build shelves) and has a background as an engineer. But my instincts proved right, with the rug basically making it impossible to properly dry the area below the tank, whereas if we let it drip straight down it would mostly just pass between the cracks in the floorboards and drip into the basement.

My current setup is on feet and raised about 1/2" off the floor so I can vacuum and or blow water out from under the stand.

 

[eschaton]

My current setup is on feet and raised about 1/2" off the floor so I can vacuum and or blow water out from under the stand.

Do you have a concrete floor with no basement or something? I'd have to think that point-source loading like that would be pretty bad in our 100+ year old house with hardwood floors.

 

[five.five-six]

Do you have a concrete floor with no basement or something? I'd have to think that point-source loading like that would be pretty bad in our 100+ year old house with hardwood floors.

It’s a 20+ year old home on slab.