This system has been a long time coming. I bought the tanks when I bought my house three years ago, but the wife told me that I couldn't set them up until the basement was finished. She knew once they were up that I wouldn't be very motivated to finish the rest of the basement. I am a PhD student in Zoology at Michigan State University, with a side business in aquarium design, setup, and maintenance. Needless to say it took me a while to save up the funds for this project, but it is starting to take shape now. The bottom two stock tanks on the left are for holding corals and coral frags for me to sell through the business, as well as housing additional fish and inverts for sale which have gone through quarantine. The tanks themselves are two identical 245 gallon tanks (72 x 30 x 27). At this time they are illuminated by twin bulb T5 shoplights. This is for two reasons. First, I attached a couple of pictures which show the rest of the basement to illustrate how my wife got involved and the budget for the lights was consumed. Secondly though, I figure that keeping a lower light for the first 6 months or so will allow me to get the coraline growth up on the rocks and back walls some, and let the dead rock seed itself much better before the corals start going in. Having the two tanks also allows me to keep species that might not be so coral safe on the right side with corals that are either less likely to be bothered or ones that I don't really mind if they get chewed on some. Also the rock work is not nearly done yet. I am waiting on the mortar from Marco that was left off of the shipment. There are about clowns (4 Wyoming Whites, 4 Spotcintus, 4 Red Sea, 2 Darwin misbars, 4 regular ocellaris) and 4 orchid dottybacks (a pair on each side) direct from Sea and Reef. I added in a few stragglers from my sons recently dismantled reef as well (a male bangai, a blue spot watchman goby, and a cb ocellaris). We had a party for the Spartans opening game and my son's 8th birthday so my wife wanted some fish in the tank. There are some fish in quarantine right now that will go in after they pass. I added about 75 lbs of long term captive rock from my sons tank into the sump as well as two bottles of Dr. Tim's One and Only to cycle it. Thus far not a blip of ammonia or nitrite in a little over two weeks. Pardon the cell phone pics, never got around to getting out the good camera.
The lumber facing the tank and canopy is all reclaimed (bard wood from two barns next to my grandfathers farm and about 40 pallets). Still putting the finishing touches on the whole project. For example the stools in front of the bar are old oak stools we used to have upstairs. I sanded them down and tool the polyurethane off. Treated the middle one with an aging solution made from vinegar, steel wool, and tea. Painted that on and then sealed it once dry. Didn't have the time to do the others before the party, but you get the idea.
I will be updating as I add new equipment, livestock, etc. Right now it is powered by two laguna 4280 pond pumps with Jebao wave makers.
The lumber facing the tank and canopy is all reclaimed (bard wood from two barns next to my grandfathers farm and about 40 pallets). Still putting the finishing touches on the whole project. For example the stools in front of the bar are old oak stools we used to have upstairs. I sanded them down and tool the polyurethane off. Treated the middle one with an aging solution made from vinegar, steel wool, and tea. Painted that on and then sealed it once dry. Didn't have the time to do the others before the party, but you get the idea.
I will be updating as I add new equipment, livestock, etc. Right now it is powered by two laguna 4280 pond pumps with Jebao wave makers.
