After dreaming for years about a huge tank of my own I finally have the chance to go ahead and do it. Bought a house a few months ago, with a basement and have the space to go big. In all honesty I should be working on house repairs but I figure get this up and enjoy it for as long as possible. The painting will still need to be done in a couple months.
My plan is for a build with outside dims about 156x54x30. So with inside being a bit less than that I suspect I'll be just under 1000 gallons for tank volume, but by the time the sump is in I should be well over again. Doesn't really count I guess but I'm going with it lol.
I am not very far along and didn't plan to post this yet, however I got excited. Also hoping people waiting to see results will keep me motivated to keep going on it. So off we go!
This is the wall I have the tank planned for
Some crap to move, but thankfully not too much. I'm still trying to decide if I want to pull down the wood paneling and put up drywall now or just not worry about it. I'm leaning towards not doing anything with it at the moment.
To the left of where the tank will be is a very badly built bar by the previous owner
Much over it will be blocked by the tank, however I am thinking I will be doing a 75 gal quarantine/acclimation tank in this spot, be able to see into the tank from the front and the back. The hope is to have the quarantine tank with it's own filters as well as connected to the main tank. With new arrivals I can close off the pipes to the main system for a few weeks. But once they are ready, or if the future rays have some pups I can move them to that tank and open it up so they are in the same water. That is the hope at least, it will take some planning once I get a bit further along. Should be pretty simple to do, I think.
This is the back side of the bar and a storage area
At this point I'm thinking I will be ripping most of the bar out and likely the wall between the left area and the bar. Open it up a bit for filters as well as some storage. There is a lot of space currently being taken up by crappy cabinets that need to come out.
So onto the fun stuff, picking up lumber. My Lowe's doesn't have any of the larger rental trucks anymore, just F150 sized pickups, so I went to Home Depot, rented a truck, then went to Lowe's for lumber. I've just always liked Lowe's lumber better, plus I had 10% off so I went with it. Fingers crossed I don't need more, though we will see I guess.
And finally all stacked in my garage.
At this point I have all of the 2x6s and 2x8s down to the basement for the stand. 2x4s and plywood are in the garage for now. If I have some time I might start making some cuts tonight, otherwise real construction will start Thursday evening. If all goes well it should be a fun ride!
My plan is for a build with outside dims about 156x54x30. So with inside being a bit less than that I suspect I'll be just under 1000 gallons for tank volume, but by the time the sump is in I should be well over again. Doesn't really count I guess but I'm going with it lol.
I am not very far along and didn't plan to post this yet, however I got excited. Also hoping people waiting to see results will keep me motivated to keep going on it. So off we go!
This is the wall I have the tank planned for
Some crap to move, but thankfully not too much. I'm still trying to decide if I want to pull down the wood paneling and put up drywall now or just not worry about it. I'm leaning towards not doing anything with it at the moment.
To the left of where the tank will be is a very badly built bar by the previous owner
Much over it will be blocked by the tank, however I am thinking I will be doing a 75 gal quarantine/acclimation tank in this spot, be able to see into the tank from the front and the back. The hope is to have the quarantine tank with it's own filters as well as connected to the main tank. With new arrivals I can close off the pipes to the main system for a few weeks. But once they are ready, or if the future rays have some pups I can move them to that tank and open it up so they are in the same water. That is the hope at least, it will take some planning once I get a bit further along. Should be pretty simple to do, I think.
This is the back side of the bar and a storage area
At this point I'm thinking I will be ripping most of the bar out and likely the wall between the left area and the bar. Open it up a bit for filters as well as some storage. There is a lot of space currently being taken up by crappy cabinets that need to come out.
So onto the fun stuff, picking up lumber. My Lowe's doesn't have any of the larger rental trucks anymore, just F150 sized pickups, so I went to Home Depot, rented a truck, then went to Lowe's for lumber. I've just always liked Lowe's lumber better, plus I had 10% off so I went with it. Fingers crossed I don't need more, though we will see I guess.
And finally all stacked in my garage.
At this point I have all of the 2x6s and 2x8s down to the basement for the stand. 2x4s and plywood are in the garage for now. If I have some time I might start making some cuts tonight, otherwise real construction will start Thursday evening. If all goes well it should be a fun ride!
