modder man
Member
Back in middle school I had a 75 gallon FOWLR, I loved that tank but at the time there was no way I could fit it into the budget and had to sell it. Fast forward 9 years and I decided it was time to get back into the hobby. I figured I would start small to keep the cost down. I bought a Mr aqua 11.4 gallon rimless to get started. I had fun and learned a lot, when I had this tank setup I was reading different forums all the time. Somehow I always ended up in the large reef sections just marveling at all of the amazing setups you guys have.
It was then I knew I wanted to make a change I wanted to go bigger. A whole 3 months after just dipping my feet into the water I wanted to build something bigger. I decided to build a chambered fish rack with a 100 gallon Rubbermaid underneath. The story is the same here that I learned a lot but this setup had some big downfalls that I was not a fan of. Because the rack was chambered I could not really keep any big fish. My total volume was 250 gallons but no chamber was over 40 gallons, no places for tangs or big angels. This setup badly needed more automation, for a period of 3 months this summer I was working over 70 hours a week. This took a huge toll on all of my corals, I did not dedicate any time to keep things in check and things slowly got away from me. Corals were bleaching out and dying and I didn't know what was going on. Tested "everything" and everything seemed to be in check. One day I randomly checked the salinity, 1.040!!! :headwallblue: Lesson learned the hard way, sometimes the simplest of things can get us. I hadn't really worried about it because top off was the one thing I was somewhat keepinh up with top off. Well...my math was off. The last big problem with this whole system was that there was no good way to service much of the equipment. The way I designed it there wasn't really and service access to the skimmer at all. Time for a new build out with that rack in with a new system :bounce2:
Since i had to move the whole rack out to get a new 150 to even fit into the room i picked up this 75 gallon to hold all my livestock in the interim.
With a new setup I wanted to gain floor space but keep the total volume very similar. I also needed the main display to be no longer than 5ft. I settled on a 150 I found locally needing a reseal for $200. The displays in this setup will consist of that 150 and 2 45 cubes that I have left over from my old rack. The total system volume should be ~300 gallons. The sketch below is a very rough drawing of how the system may be laid out.
It was then I knew I wanted to make a change I wanted to go bigger. A whole 3 months after just dipping my feet into the water I wanted to build something bigger. I decided to build a chambered fish rack with a 100 gallon Rubbermaid underneath. The story is the same here that I learned a lot but this setup had some big downfalls that I was not a fan of. Because the rack was chambered I could not really keep any big fish. My total volume was 250 gallons but no chamber was over 40 gallons, no places for tangs or big angels. This setup badly needed more automation, for a period of 3 months this summer I was working over 70 hours a week. This took a huge toll on all of my corals, I did not dedicate any time to keep things in check and things slowly got away from me. Corals were bleaching out and dying and I didn't know what was going on. Tested "everything" and everything seemed to be in check. One day I randomly checked the salinity, 1.040!!! :headwallblue: Lesson learned the hard way, sometimes the simplest of things can get us. I hadn't really worried about it because top off was the one thing I was somewhat keepinh up with top off. Well...my math was off. The last big problem with this whole system was that there was no good way to service much of the equipment. The way I designed it there wasn't really and service access to the skimmer at all. Time for a new build out with that rack in with a new system :bounce2:
Since i had to move the whole rack out to get a new 150 to even fit into the room i picked up this 75 gallon to hold all my livestock in the interim.
With a new setup I wanted to gain floor space but keep the total volume very similar. I also needed the main display to be no longer than 5ft. I settled on a 150 I found locally needing a reseal for $200. The displays in this setup will consist of that 150 and 2 45 cubes that I have left over from my old rack. The total system volume should be ~300 gallons. The sketch below is a very rough drawing of how the system may be laid out.
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