I mentioned in GCC awhile back that my house flooded during the infamous Abbotsford rain storm on Friday the 13th last month, and I ended up having to take apart my reef and move it in under an hour. As you can imagine a number of things didn't like that sudden move... I lost my blue gudgeon, my female true perc, and a number of coral frags. I even had to re-cure some of my live rock that had been in the tank for close to 2 years.
The stand that this reef was on was destroyed in the flood; good old particle board soaked it all up! While I was shopping for a new stand (not as easy as it sounds!), I came across an amazing deal. A 72G. Bowfront, reef ready, drilled with complete overflow setup... with stand, canopy, 48" 50/50 300ish watt coralife fixture.... well, you guessed it! I caved in and bought the entire setup for under $1200 (can't remember the exact price at the moment).
New tank & stand:
The restoration company recently completed the job (minus painting the trim), and have given me the ok to move my office and aquarium back in to the basement.
One thing I didn't take into consideration was how much of a pain in the butt a bowfront stand would be to place a sump, external pump and refugium into. If I use a standard 20 gallon tank for a sump, it ends up taking up the majority of the space, because it's not able to sit snug to the left or right of the tank. I think the internal side widths are around 10 inches, while the middle width is closer to 22. I'll double check that and post the difference later.
I work for a marine wholesaler, and have been lucky to have those resources close to home. In the end, my boss suggested I just use some of the scrap plexi and make myself a sump and refugium. I believe the sump turned out to be around 18 gallons, while the refugium is around 8.
Sump:
Refugium:
I started to work on the plumbing yesterday, but was only able to get as far as to create the line that I will plumb into my sink for drainage (water changes). I still have to adjus it and glue it, but you get the point .....
Drain Line:
I've got a lot more to do. Still have to figure out how to place it all in the stand. I've tried laying it out 3 or 4 different ways at this point but nothing has satisifed me. I have one more idea that I'll try tomorrow. Hopefully it works, otherwise I'm starting to get worried that I'll have to pull the stand out from the wall about 10 inches in order to fit it all in.
I'll post more pics tomorrow as I start getting the plumbing set up.
The stand that this reef was on was destroyed in the flood; good old particle board soaked it all up! While I was shopping for a new stand (not as easy as it sounds!), I came across an amazing deal. A 72G. Bowfront, reef ready, drilled with complete overflow setup... with stand, canopy, 48" 50/50 300ish watt coralife fixture.... well, you guessed it! I caved in and bought the entire setup for under $1200 (can't remember the exact price at the moment).
New tank & stand:
The restoration company recently completed the job (minus painting the trim), and have given me the ok to move my office and aquarium back in to the basement.
One thing I didn't take into consideration was how much of a pain in the butt a bowfront stand would be to place a sump, external pump and refugium into. If I use a standard 20 gallon tank for a sump, it ends up taking up the majority of the space, because it's not able to sit snug to the left or right of the tank. I think the internal side widths are around 10 inches, while the middle width is closer to 22. I'll double check that and post the difference later.
I work for a marine wholesaler, and have been lucky to have those resources close to home. In the end, my boss suggested I just use some of the scrap plexi and make myself a sump and refugium. I believe the sump turned out to be around 18 gallons, while the refugium is around 8.
Sump:
Refugium:
I started to work on the plumbing yesterday, but was only able to get as far as to create the line that I will plumb into my sink for drainage (water changes). I still have to adjus it and glue it, but you get the point .....
Drain Line:
I've got a lot more to do. Still have to figure out how to place it all in the stand. I've tried laying it out 3 or 4 different ways at this point but nothing has satisifed me. I have one more idea that I'll try tomorrow. Hopefully it works, otherwise I'm starting to get worried that I'll have to pull the stand out from the wall about 10 inches in order to fit it all in.
I'll post more pics tomorrow as I start getting the plumbing set up.
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