kolakao155
Member
Tagging along 
Triple-S Fish Ranch - 1700gal 164†x 48†x 56†SPS peninsula build
- Thread starter pmrogers
- Start date
girlygears13
Member
Incredible house and tank! My kids immediately asked if it was big enough for them to snorkel in lol...
Tagging along
Thanks for joining, kolakao155 and girlygears13!
Yes, natural gas or can be adapted to propane.
Thanks as always, Epicreefer, I can't say how great it is to hear from someone with hands on experience deploying the Ecoxotics in larger systems. Thanks for the tip about aiming the lights at an angle. The lights currently angle in a few degrees toward each other, but nothing like the amount you describe as I was worried about PAR at the bottom after 30" of air plus 54" of water. If shadowing or light aesthetics are an issue I'm thinking I'll add 100W cannons on the perimeter in the corners and on the support walls between the access doors.
Good to know on the heater sizing. I may not even do an inline heater at all. Will start with just 3 old 800W submersible heaters thrown directly in the display (for initial setup only), plus setting the HVACs for the canopy and fish room on 85'. Will be interested to see how quickly the water temperature moves in this setup.
October: Aquascape
October: Aquascape
October was mostly taken up with media room build out, but made some good progress on the aquascape thanks to Timfish. Seeing him go to work with a hammer drill, chisel, carbide hole bits and PVC, I can tell it would have taken me about 5 times as long, a lot of broken rock, and probably a fair bit of bloodshed to make this much progress on my own.
Building the main pillar
The main pillar is 44" tall, to allow about 9" of water column above the top for coral growth. 3/4" and 1/2" PVC skeletal structure.
Pillar Close-up
Exposed PVC will be hidden with aragacrete before water goes in the tank
First 2 Pillars in the Tank
Timfish posing by his handiwork. I drilled a few of the holes but otherwise was only dubiously useful as 'artistic director'. No more rock work will go in the tank until after I complete all of the in- and above-tank plumbing since it will be much easier to install if I can walk around in the tank.
4' Arch Assembly
Canopy Electrical and Carpentry Completed
All exposed birch will get 3 coats of marine epoxy
Back side of Peninsula
15" deep cabinet at end of tank will hold tongs, hose, scrapers, collapsible rolling scaffold, stepladder, assorted other tools and dry food that I need near the display tank.
October: Aquascape
October was mostly taken up with media room build out, but made some good progress on the aquascape thanks to Timfish. Seeing him go to work with a hammer drill, chisel, carbide hole bits and PVC, I can tell it would have taken me about 5 times as long, a lot of broken rock, and probably a fair bit of bloodshed to make this much progress on my own.
Building the main pillar
The main pillar is 44" tall, to allow about 9" of water column above the top for coral growth. 3/4" and 1/2" PVC skeletal structure.
Pillar Close-up
Exposed PVC will be hidden with aragacrete before water goes in the tank
First 2 Pillars in the Tank
Timfish posing by his handiwork. I drilled a few of the holes but otherwise was only dubiously useful as 'artistic director'. No more rock work will go in the tank until after I complete all of the in- and above-tank plumbing since it will be much easier to install if I can walk around in the tank.
4' Arch Assembly
Canopy Electrical and Carpentry Completed
All exposed birch will get 3 coats of marine epoxy
Back side of Peninsula
15" deep cabinet at end of tank will hold tongs, hose, scrapers, collapsible rolling scaffold, stepladder, assorted other tools and dry food that I need near the display tank.
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October Update: Fish Room
October Update: Fish Room
In the fish room, finished the flooring, paint, HVAC, plumbing, electrical, and the large cabinetry wall. Still to go: lab desk cabinetry, wood stands for reactors and 2-part reservoirs, euro size washer for filter socks. Steel stands for the coral and fish quarantine tanks are due in this week.
Fish Room
Flooring and paint completed. Foreground portion of room is for QT and supplies. Far section is for sump and filtration and dosing. Equipment in the filtration room is in rough position. Coral QT temporarily on floor where the rack of four 75gal fish quarantine tanks will go.
Filtration Room
Sump and skimmer on north wall. East wall has the reservoirs and mixing tanks for RO/DI and Salt water. Between the skimmer and black RO/DI reservoir are the two 30gal tanks for alkalinity and calcium dosing, not visible in this pic.
Cabinetry Wall
12' x 9' x 30" deep wall of cabinetry. Not yet fully organized but it does indeed successfully hold all of the assorted junk that in our previous house took over cabinetry in 4 different rooms, the garage, and an outside storage shed. Hooray!
Center Cabinet
Center cabinet has three full-extension drawers rated for 500 pounds each. Perfect for accommodating up to 15 buckets of salt, bulk media and supplements.
Large Drawers
36" x 30" drawers can hold a decent amount of kit. Lesson learned in the layout, though: drawers should have gone on the left side of the cabinetry so that the room entry door could be opened without risk of damage (cabinet door would just close when hit by the entry door).
Left and Right Cabinets Open
Fish Room and Garage Flooring
In hindsight, would have used same flooring in fish room as in garage. Chose Marmoleum for the fish room because I wanted a material that wouldn't chip or break like tile and would be immune to moisture and chemicals. Only later, when we started getting into the details of the garage redo did I learn about commercial grade porcelain tile: 30% harder than granite, un-stainable, tough enough to be used in the Ferrari & Maserati factories, and no more expensive than Marmoleum. Another downside to the Marmoleum is that the sheets are too thick to bend with a multi slope floor, forcing us to position the floor drains on one side of the room rather than in the middle.
View from Media Room Bar Area
Can begin to really see how the tank will look in the room. Canopy and base cabinet doors due in 2 weeks
View from Room Entrance
Probably another 4 or 5 months from having fish in the room anywhere other than on the TV.
October Update: Fish Room
In the fish room, finished the flooring, paint, HVAC, plumbing, electrical, and the large cabinetry wall. Still to go: lab desk cabinetry, wood stands for reactors and 2-part reservoirs, euro size washer for filter socks. Steel stands for the coral and fish quarantine tanks are due in this week.
Fish Room
Flooring and paint completed. Foreground portion of room is for QT and supplies. Far section is for sump and filtration and dosing. Equipment in the filtration room is in rough position. Coral QT temporarily on floor where the rack of four 75gal fish quarantine tanks will go.
Filtration Room
Sump and skimmer on north wall. East wall has the reservoirs and mixing tanks for RO/DI and Salt water. Between the skimmer and black RO/DI reservoir are the two 30gal tanks for alkalinity and calcium dosing, not visible in this pic.
Cabinetry Wall
12' x 9' x 30" deep wall of cabinetry. Not yet fully organized but it does indeed successfully hold all of the assorted junk that in our previous house took over cabinetry in 4 different rooms, the garage, and an outside storage shed. Hooray!
Center Cabinet
Center cabinet has three full-extension drawers rated for 500 pounds each. Perfect for accommodating up to 15 buckets of salt, bulk media and supplements.
Large Drawers
36" x 30" drawers can hold a decent amount of kit. Lesson learned in the layout, though: drawers should have gone on the left side of the cabinetry so that the room entry door could be opened without risk of damage (cabinet door would just close when hit by the entry door).
Left and Right Cabinets Open
Fish Room and Garage Flooring
In hindsight, would have used same flooring in fish room as in garage. Chose Marmoleum for the fish room because I wanted a material that wouldn't chip or break like tile and would be immune to moisture and chemicals. Only later, when we started getting into the details of the garage redo did I learn about commercial grade porcelain tile: 30% harder than granite, un-stainable, tough enough to be used in the Ferrari & Maserati factories, and no more expensive than Marmoleum. Another downside to the Marmoleum is that the sheets are too thick to bend with a multi slope floor, forcing us to position the floor drains on one side of the room rather than in the middle.
View from Media Room Bar Area
Can begin to really see how the tank will look in the room. Canopy and base cabinet doors due in 2 weeks
View from Room Entrance
Probably another 4 or 5 months from having fish in the room anywhere other than on the TV.
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shaginwagon13
Chartered Accountant
Post some pictures of the rest of this house.... the millwork in the media room looks fantastic.
LiL.HoEsAy
New member
nice
Tradewinds
Well-known member
The cabinetry appears to be symmetrical, is it modular enough to switch the drawers to the left side without too much rework? (Nicely done by the way.)
shaginwagon13
Chartered Accountant
owenspackman
New member
phenomenal. just amazing.
owenspackman
New member
what a compliment! doesn't come much higher than chingchai!!
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