Move: check, Build house: check, now...

L

Lambo

Copepod
#1
#1
I moved from NJ about three years ago. I had a 28 gallon nano cube that fell victim to Hurricane Irene and Sandy. We built a new house in CO and the family wanted a big tank. I have structural steel in the floor, and plumbing run in the walls to the basement, and of course a ton of power.

Now I just need to settle on the tank. I have a niche in the house, 72" x 30" x 96", for the tank, I had been looking at a tank 72x30x36 (~340g).

When it was all said and done with the LFS, the project was going to cost $12-14k and $400/month for maintenance, plus another $2,500 or so for finish carpentry to build it all in.

As you can guess, I lost.

The tank itself was going to be a local custom tank (acrylic) but prices are on par with glasscages at around $4,700, plus stand, pumps, lights, rodi, etc.

I have been trolling craigslist and looking for a more economical way to get something up and running.

I see lots of options some in the 180-200g size and smaller that seem much more economical.

My experience is limited to two years of the nano cube, and I'm willing to learn more about the chemistry side to avoid the monthly servicing.

What are your recommendations for the next tank? Are there any guidelines, as in a 100g is easier to maintain chemistry than 30g, but if you go up to a 200g then you have x more dollars invested in livestock, pumps, etc.
 
TheRealChrisBrown

TheRealChrisBrown

Reef Shark
M.A.S.C Club Member
ex-officio
#2
#2
the 300 gallon DD (Deep Dimension) is 72Lx36wx27h doesn't need to be custom fabricated or anything. One example: http://www.petswarehouse.com/marine...6x27-101178/?gclid=CIzVprfGgssCFQ6oaQodruoAWw That's just for the aquarium, no stand or anything....still a savings of ~$3k over the custom acrylic you were looking at.

The larger the setup you have the more you are going to sink into it every month....but I would think you would still come out at less than $400/mo that the maintenance company was going to charge.
 
L

Lambo

Copepod
#3
#3
I looked at that one, its a little wide at 36", I need it to be 30" otherwise it will stick out too far. I was reading 'Walter Whites" Forever and Day 200G build and that is pretty much the exact setup that I was going for.

Except that I don't have a clue about some of that equipment. Which tells me that I have some learning to do, even if I was going to write the check.

As far as tank size goes, I run out of options pretty fast if I am looking for 72x30x36. That's the biggest tank that will fit. But is that too big, I'll certainly be on a ladder for any kind of maintenance, but can I reach the back corner. If It's too big, then there are more tank options.

I floated the idea of starting smaller with a 100g tank, and my wife insists that it will look ghetto unless it's built in,
 
TheRealChrisBrown

TheRealChrisBrown

Reef Shark
M.A.S.C Club Member
ex-officio
#4
#4
So my tank is 30 inches tall, and with the canopy on I can not reach the bottom with my hands (a real pain in the neck when a frag gets knocked over, for example). I am 6'2" and have to use a 3 step ladder to get to the bottom with a pair of salad tongs that I stole from the kitchen! I just found a pretty nifty extendable scraper made by Kent that can get the edges....even on the back corners which are the hardest for me to reach. I prefer to have a couple of feet on the sides clear so I can not only clean back there, but view the tank through the sides as well.

I think a lot of people out there do the tank progression thing. I started with a 14 gallon bio cube, then a 29, then up to a reef ready 90 gallon, and up to my current 150 with the sump filtration in the basement. With each tank I think I became a little bit better at maintenance and checking water parameters and doing water changes. Some of that stuff is easier to do on a smaller scale, like water changes (pulling out 5 gallons is much easier than pulling out, mixing, and replacing 30+ on a weekly or bi-weekly basis. But I don't think any of that maintenance would be prohibitive, there may be a learning curve and adjustment....but in reality you'd be doing the same stuff on 100 gallons vs. 300 gallons (it is more expensive because obviously you'll be using more salt mix, more additives like calcium, Alkalinity, and whatever else you add, more power consumption too).

If there are any questions you have on equipment, ask them on this forum or anything specific to Walter Whites setup I know he'd be more than happy to answer those for you. Better to know the "why and how" rather than just throw money at it because somebody says it's the best thing since sliced bread.
 
L

Lambo

Copepod
#7
#7
Got it, so it's 30 tall and 24 wide and you have trouble reaching the back. So going 36 tall and 30 wide is going to be more problematic. I have included a few photos from the plans of what was originally envisioned. The 36 tall looks nice but may be a better tank for Fish than corals, or I need to get one of those trash picker sticks.
 
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TheRealChrisBrown

TheRealChrisBrown

Reef Shark
M.A.S.C Club Member
ex-officio
#8
#8
I think a lot of people let the coraline grow on the back and sides, or arrange rock work along the back and sides so you don't really need to scrape and clean those. Look on Amazon at the Kent Pro Scraper II, that the one I bought and it expands to 36", so at full extension and getting your forearm wet you'd be able to clean the front glass easily enough. They do sell picker sticks for aquarium use, I suppose I just solved the problem with salad tongs and never looked back. Lots of people have large tanks running, so there must be a way to keep them clean! I have my rocks running down the center of my tank like a ridge back, that's why the back glass is totally exposed, and it's only the bottom corner that I have trouble reaching.

I really like your plans you have drawn up, I think there are more economical ways to get get there. I say don't give up on the dream!
 
L

Lambo

Copepod
#10
#10
That's the one that got me thinking smaller. My other thought would be to maybe use a filler piece on the woodwork so that If I ever did decide to go bigger then it would be minor touch up.
 
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