I could call this thread "The Silver Lining". Valerie's Dad passed away last December. We wound up with a decent sized life policy. Valerie called me at work and told me to order THE TANK. You know, the Deep Sea 185. 60x30x24.
Not a bad monument to a Marine.
So, being that K.I.S.S. has no meaning at my house, I began to plan. And plan. Here's what I came up with;
185 gal display with custom end overflow in the kitchen (seperate eat-in section)
200 gal prop tank in the garage
90 gal refugium in the garage
60 gal sump in the garage


Overflow houses 2-1" return bulkheads which will feed a manifold around the perimeter of the top. Idea is to eliminate any pumps in the display.
Drains are 3-1.5" bulkheads. Drain #1 will go to the 200 prop tank, as well as a T off the return pump. Drain #2 will drop directly into the sump for something of a closed loop. Drain #3 will feed the skimmer & refugium. Both the 200 & the fuge will drain back to the sump.


Return pump is a Reeflo Hammerhead. Might be overkill, but I'd rather have 5600 gph available than wish I had more.


Skimmer is an AquaMedic Turboflotor Shorty II.


I'm in the process of building a tank room in the garage, roughly 9'x9'. This picture shows a rough layout of the tank room;

Long stand is the 200, pump will go between it and the wall. The sump will be in the corner (also replacing the POS back door). 90 fuge will be against the wall (where the PVC is).

Quite a few projects for this in the works. Obviously building the walls & stands is consuming. Within the next week I'll move the 200 & 90 into place. The 60 gal sump is being built, should have it Monday. I'll get the bulkheads this week and begin plumbing when everything is in place. I've drawn & redrawn the plumbing diagram a dozen times.

Once the walls are done I'll con Jeff into coming over to help wire. Planning 2 20A circuits dedicated to the tank, one of which is for the lighting.

I've got enough in the current budget to get things wet. Lighting & finished cabinetry will come later. As much as that hurts to wait, it helps my goal of letting the tank run with just rock & sand for a few months. I'm going with CaribSea Ocean Direct sand and Walt Smith show rock.

I'll keep updating as time permits.

Really nice Greg cant wait to see it at the meeting. I really can't wait ti see it stocked and grown in. :D

You obviously have not been married very long. Your link should not be titled "My insane wife". Perhaps "My Gorgeous Wife," or "My Gorgeously Insane Wife" or "Did she really mean it?"

Can't wait to see the build-out !

George

How about a trade? I'll give you my dad for a day to wire some stuff, you give me some corals? Sounds like a fair trade to me :lol:

Looks good so far, keep us updated!

Thanks all. Richard, we can work something out...