Micah's Whole House System Build

The plan:

To connect all the tanks in my house to one filtration system in the basement.

The Breakdown:

Filtration/frag tank system- A combination of 4 tanks will constitute this system in a tiered pattern. The first tank will be a 10 gallon and hold both the poly bag and protein skimmer and be highest tank in the filtration system. The tank will have two holes drilled in the top corners, which pour into a lower, 40 gallon breeder which will be a frag tank. The 40 breeder will also have two holes drilled in the top corners and pour out into another 40 breeder which will be a refugium. I plan on having two parts to the refugium. The larger will be where Macro algae and all light loving stuff will live. The other, smaller half will be sectioned off with dark acrylic and hold live rock for sponges and other, dark loving critters. Half of the water coming from the frag tank will go to light loving part of the refugium and the other half of the water will go to the darkened part. The refugium will also have two holes drilled in the top corners that will pour into the last and lowest tank (that I haven't figured out the size of yet). This will hold the heaters, auto top-off and connect to a GenX 55HP pump for my return (I already have one, thats why I'm picking it, and I think it will do the job nicely). The water will, until I get the 120 display, cycle into it's self. I'm also thinking about putting a safety overflow drain on the top of the last tank just incase (I don't like a flooded basement).

29 BioCube- This will be a simple but nice display with only one major modification. It will have an auto top off that continuously pours in salt water from the basement filtration system and flow back into it again. I'm going to keep real basic corals in here and not go too extravagant. Just lots of different and beautiful zoanthids and maybe some ricordias. 

120 Display- First off I would like to get your feed back on this one, so feel free to pipe in and let me know what you think. The tank (if I end up purchasing one new) will be a Aqueon with dual center overflows. As for the stand, I'm still deciding between a steal stand with black removable MDF boards and a hanging fixture, or a traditional style wood stand, using either bamboo or cherry. Both options I would build myself. I was a steal fabricator for most of my life (my dad owned a fab shop that I worked in from age 12 to 21) and I think I can muddle through carpentry if I decide to go with that option too. I've also yet decided on lighting. I'm thinking between a freakn' ton of 55w 48" T5 bulbs or use a fixture I already own which is a older Aqua Medic SpaceLight (2 250w MH's and 2 36w CP's). I can't decide because I love how you can mix and match the T5 bulbs till you get perfect lighting, but I also like the Spacelight because, well I already have it. As for coral and aqua-scaping, I want lots and lots of SPS and lots and lots of LPS's like Trachs, Favias, brains, cynarina, duncans and so one. Also some zoanthids for the darker areas and whatever every else that peaks my fancy.

What is Done- So far I've got my 29 BioCube rockn' with some fish and Macro and over this weekend I built the benches that the filtration system will set on. The room that they are in (which has the furnace and water heater in it) is as big as a bed room. I'm, in addition, building a work bench for tinkering and fragging, a bandsaw, some shelves, and a sink in that room.

And now some photos-

This is a top view of the Filtration/Frag tank system-

And the side view-

A view with the Display-

These are the stands I built today. I stole and modified the design from a how to build a work bench youtube video I found. It turned out very very stout, so perfect for for a bunch of tanks. If your interested in building some yourself, here is the link- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uFpeNVO80kY

And my Nano-

Well here I go, wish me luck and please give me feed back, this is the first time I'm actually setting up my own large system.

Micah

Thanks!

Micah

Micah

I'll make sure and do a good photo set of the stand build.

Micah

As for the system overflowing, I think I'll be ok. The last take where the ATO, heaters, and return pump will be is about 40 gallons. I'm thinking I'll put the ATO at about 20-30% high and leave the rest for back flow. That will be around 20-30 gallons and if that is a problem, I'll put in a check valve and stop any water trying to come back through the return line. I'll do a FW test with it all when it's up and running to see if it over flows. It is a concern of mine as well.

Micah

At this point though I'm not sure how many bins I should use. If I wanted to go all out, I could fit 5 of these 27 gallon bins and my 40 breeder in the space that I have (2 of the bins would be on the floor). If I did that, my sump would be approximately 148 gallons (no I didn't do my math wrong, I plan on having the last two that would be on floor-level at the most half full). All that water would be cool but I'm leaning to running 4 bins. The first and highest would be the poly-bag/skimmer, the second the refugium, then to the 40 gallon frag tank, and the last two bins would be on the floor-level connected to the return. 

What do you think?

Also, last weekend I took some time and built a work bench. I followed the same design plan as the first benches for the sump but just made it higher and attached a piece of melamine covered board on the top. Cool huh? The next couple things to do will be hooking up a large laundry sink in that room and doing the wiring. I'm thinking about giving the system it's own double 20 amp breaker. I'm pretty sure there would be no way I pop that baby.

Anyways, heres some pics of my new work bench and the bin I'll be using-

Bench

Bin next to my new 40 breeder

Bin

Well thats my update. If you have any advice, questions, or comments please let me know. Your feedback has already been very valuable, keep it coming!

Micah