Wildcat's Dual Tank Build

Wildcat

Wildcat

Cyano
#1
#1
Well, I figured now was the time to start a build thread. I was told that even pictures of empty tanks was exciting. Just dismantled my 56 gallon FOWLR. Only livestock I'm keeping is a beautiful yellow watchman goby named Gobes that was just too cool to give up, so she's hunkered down in quarantine right now. We just bought a house, and the sitting area has this perfect wall for a larger tank. So we decided to upgrade to a 150 gallon that is going to start out as FOWLR and then eventually house very easy corals that won't require tons of my time. Since I enjoy having an aquarium in the living room to enjoy while we eat dinner or watch a movie, I'm also planning a 33 gallon cube aquarium with macro algae for a pair of tank bred seahorses. So, here's what I've got so far:

150 gallon FOWLR, eventually reef:
Coralife Super Skimmer 220
4 Koralia 1400s
Ocean Pulse Wavemaker Quatro
Small sump with HOB overflow (will need upgraded to large sump once bioload becomes heavier)
T-5 lighting (going to need new bulbs once I decide to populate with some easy corals)
~100 pounds of sand (black aragonite reef sand)
200 pounds of dry rock from Reef Rocks
~50 to 75 pounds of formerly live rock from my 56 gallon
Algae scrubber
Heater

33 gallon cube:
tank and stand
sump with HOB overflow
that's it :)

I have a small RO/DI unit on the way. No more major equipment purchases planned for the 150. As for the 33 - still gonna need a chiller, HOB protein skimmer, macro algae galore, and some plastic hitching posts along with a good amphipod population. Not too worried about lighting on 33 since I only need enough to grow the algae.

I'll start posting pics later this week. Currently cleaning up the 33 gallon and waiting on one last shipment of rocks from Reef Rocks for aquascaping along with RO/DI so that I can get water in the 150. Once I have the 150 gallon cycling, the 33 gallon is gonna get up and going so that once it's done cycling I can get some macro algae in there.
 
cdrewferd

cdrewferd

Reef Shark
M.A.S.C Club Member
#2
#2
Glad you started a thread. Also glad you went ahead and grabbed an RO/DI. Can't wait for pics.


Drew

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Wildcat

Wildcat

Cyano
#3
#3
A few boring pictures...

[attachment=62533:name] My cutest little helper.
 
Wildcat

Wildcat

Cyano
#4
#4


Playing with photobucket.
 
Wildcat

Wildcat

Cyano
#5
#5


The aquarium sitting empty with my cute little puppy, Rayna, standing guard.



Possible scape that I'm working on. Still waiting on some more rocks to come in.



My algea scrubber. Can't wait to see if it works as well as everyone says it does!



The 33 gallon cube for the seahorses sitting empty.



Sump for the seahorse tank.
 
Smiley

Smiley

Nurse Shark
M.A.S.C Club Member
#8
#8
Are you sure you want to do a HOB overflow? Just seems like too much work to keep clean and the possibilities of failure are overwhelming. Personally I would do a glass-holes overflow on the back wall before i would do a HOB. Every person Ive ever talked to about HOB overflows have had horror stories of breaking siphon and flooding of the house. I had one on my 55g for years and never had a flood until one day the power went out and it lost siphon. The power came back on and my pump dumped about 5g of water onto my new hardwood floor. My pump burned out and my floors warped....... just something to think about.
 
Wildcat

Wildcat

Cyano
#9
#9
Thanks for the caution Smiley. The tank is already in it's spot and is WAY to heavy to think about moving to drill at this point. So I'm gonna stick with the HOB and pray that it doesn't have any issues.

Haven't done a lot so far for the 150. Placed a second order from Reef Rocks over two weeks ago and still don't have them in. This is the second order that I have placed with them that has been delayed due to inadequate covering of the rocks, them getting wet and needing to dry out prior to shipping or some of my poundage for rocks would be taken up due to water weight. I spoke with the owner and he says that he is going to make sure that my rocks get shipped this week. I did, however, get a decent backing on the tank. I went to Lowes and bought some of that glass film covering for windows in black and applied it to the back of the tank. In my opinion, it looks great. And way easier than painting a super heavy tank.

For the 33, got the sand in and am playing with some rocks for it. Got the RO/DI unit hooked up today and getting ready to put some water in it so that it can start the cycling process. Here's my question - I know I'm gonna need a chiller since I want seahorses in that tank, and they need to be around 72 F. The sump currently takes up the entire space in the stand, so no room for a chiller. I'm thinking about switching to a HOB filter, HOB skimmer and having the chiller in the stand. What do you guys think?
 
Wildcat

Wildcat

Cyano
#10
#10
Well, the seahorse tank is up and cycling. It'll look better once I can find some tonga branch rock to add and then the macroalgae down the line. I opted for the HOB filter instead of the sump. We'll see if I regret that, but it opened up so much space, and so far I like it.

My rocks game in and water is going in the 150 finally. Taking forever to fill, but I'm fairly happy with my rock work and was able to leave enough space on all 4 sides so that I can hopefully keep the sides clean. I'll try and post some pictures of both tanks this weekend.
 
Wildcat

Wildcat

Cyano
#11
#11
 
Wildcat

Wildcat

Cyano
#12
#12
Finally getting around to posting pictures. Gonna order some macro algae in the next couple days for the seahorse tank. It's almost fully cycled, and I feel like I'm getting close to being able to get the seahorses in. I'd like to add some ammonia to the tank to see how the bioload can handle it. Any suggestions? I still have a piece of shrimp sitting in it, and ammonia is 0, Nitrite is 0, Nitrate is 0, and pH is 8.2.

Pic!!



The 150 has water in it, but I've been too lazy to get the sump going, so it's sitting there with water, rocks, sand, and my powerheads turned on. I need to stop being lazy so that I can start to get it properly cycled.

Pretty bad picture with only one light turned on. There will eventually be 2 more, though they're T-5s and I'm thinking about trying to upgrade if I can find the capital. Actually, I'm starting my wedding registry. Maybe should just put lights on there? :)

 
kmellon

kmellon

Butterfly Fish
M.A.S.C Club Member
#13
#13
Hi Amy,

Did you build the turf scrubber yourself or did you buy it from someone? Do you have a like to a design thread?
Thanks.
 
Wildcat

Wildcat

Cyano
#14
#14
static reef

static reef

SCMAS Board Members
S.C.M.A.S BOD
#15
#15
hey there wild cat,
love the idea of a dual tank with sea horses. Going to give a little advice. If you don't like it then OK. maybe you should rearrange your rock work so that it can be better suited for your future reef. Typically you want to have as much flow in and throughout the rockwork as you possibly can. The way you have it will work for sure and the small caves that you created are great. Sometimes less is more, as your corals will grow and move towards the flow and or the light they will begin to create the structure of your rock. there are many ways to create awesome structures. Dual islands with a connecting bridge is always a great one. try to stack your rock with a larger layout from the front to back of your tank and progressively move back. This will give you more light on more of your rock, thus giving you more of an area to place the corals that do not want to be on the top of your tank.The other thing that you want to make sure of is that you want the flow of the water to be able to go between the glass and the rock. This will help take away the threat of algae and other harmful particles in your water.If you know this already than sorry. If you didn't than sweet. At least the others that see this and are new to the hobby can avoid some of the items that we have all paid dearly for. good luck keep sending the pics.
 
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