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Jgraz's march to 200DD

Well with a few other's making the upgrade step I did not want to be left out.

My wife recently said she wants to re-do the floors in the room that my current DT is in so I figured now is as good a time as any to move forward with the change. I warn you though this is going to be a long process involving the set up of a basement sump, frag tank, refugiums, ........................................ Needless to say its going to culminate with the 200DD as the final piece to be put in place. To start with I will be putting in a utility sink in the basement near where the sump will be. This area also doubles as the laundry room/storage room/utilitys room. I get a little corner on the far end with which to work.
Here is my spot.
67D4E93A-C31B-4FDC-9447-5E908C142A85_zpsdyxv3hwc.jpg


And Here is where the first piece will be placed. This is the other side of the wall where the sump will be.
24C216FB-CECB-4591-BB5C-2AFA7B9EE009_zps0ekubcex.jpg


I am picking up a Deep Blue 80gal Frag tank tomorrow. This will be the new home for everything that I plan on keeping in my current 90Gal. Originally I was planning on just using my current 40B sump for now, but I may go ahead and get the bigger sump in place now too. Not sure which way I want to go with that though. I'm and leaning towards a 75Gal stock tank which will house the skimmer and pump since I do intend to run a completely separate refugium. I also like the fact that its easy to add a external pump later without drilling since they come with the hole in place, right? Though I like the traditional old tank as a sump deal. If I do a regular tank I'll probably go with a 90Gal and drill the hole for the pump, and just cap it off till I need it. Any input on that would be great.

As for the refugium I intend to go with a 40B that will also serve as a easy place to do my WC's. I would like to incorporate a separate circulation tank into the system that I could easily shutdown and drain to do my WC's but I'm not sure if I'll have the room. Therefore I will go bigger with the refugium and just shut that down for WC's instead.

I guess that's it for now. Get ready for a marathon
 
Congratulations! Not to tempt you but there is a 200DD up for sale on RC and it is right in NE Philly. :)

Sent from my Nexus 10 using Tapatalk 4
 
Congratulations! Not to tempt you but there is a 200DD up for sale on RC and it is right in NE Philly. :)

Sent from my Nexus 10 using Tapatalk 4

There is 2 of them out there. 1 in Philly and 1 in Blackwood. I need to be strong though. LOL

I'm a strong believer in new is better. This is one of those places where I would rather spend a few hundred more to be sure I'm not getting someone else's problem. That and my wife already said that I can't get it used.
 
I was was keeping my eyes open for a used 300DD for a while before I bought spotter's tank. For the most part the used deals out there weren't much cheaper than what you could get them for new a few times a year when marineland seems to run specials on them. Tropaquarium of course is always a good place to start. When the time comes, let me know if you need help moving it. I have a pickup.

Sent from my Nexus 10 using Tapatalk 4
 
Thanks for all the offers guys, and the kind words.

Been doing some thinking. My original plan was to sell the 90 when I emptied and cleaned it. Now I think I'm gonna keep it and move it to the filtration room. My plan is to use it as a combo DSB/refugium. The tank is 24"h so I figure a DSB at about 6"-7" then the rest for cheato. This tank will also be able to be taken off the system so I can also use it for WC's without disturbing the DT. I could easily drain down 30gal or so without disturbing the DSP or exposing the macro to air. Doing this will also increase my water volume to around 400gal.

By keeping this tank and stand I will also use the space below for a 40b to be used as a top off tank. And the area next to this stand will be the stock tank for a sump.

Thoughts?
 

kschweer

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Congrats on the upgrade john, can't wait to see everything come together. As others have said, let me know if you need help moving that beast.
 
Do you have space allocated to store fresh salwater? At 400 gallons your water changes are going to be sizeable. Im using a brute can to store my fresh saltwater.
 
Do you have space allocated to store fresh salwater? At 400 gallons your water changes are going to be sizeable. Im using a brute can to store my fresh saltwater.

Exactly what I had in mind mike. Brute's on wheels. I figure the 2 brute containers I have should work nicely. Gives me plenty of extra fresh water and a nice moveable salt mixing container.
 

mnat

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Considering your build will be very very similiar to ours, I figured I would weigh in on a few things (also feel free to swing by if you want to check out Ethan's handy work in person for some ideas).

The slop sink is awesome to have and we would not really be able to function without it so good call. How are you going to connect it for plumbing?
Go with stacked tanks if you are worried about space, having the recirc tank is awesome. My saltwater mixing tank is over my rodi tank, my frag tank is over my ATO top off and reactors, and my skimmer and recirc are over our sump. This gives us more room and also can be a bit easier to work on because a lot of stuff is at eye level.
We have two external pumps, one is a dedicated return, while the other powers the manifold. Having a manifold with all the tanks and reactors is really awesome.
Love the DB 80 frag tank so great choice there.
 
Considering your build will be very very similiar to ours, I figured I would weigh in on a few things (also feel free to swing by if you want to check out Ethan's handy work in person for some ideas).

The slop sink is awesome to have and we would not really be able to function without it so good call. How are you going to connect it for plumbing?
Go with stacked tanks if you are worried about space, having the recirc tank is awesome. My saltwater mixing tank is over my rodi tank, my frag tank is over my ATO top off and reactors, and my skimmer and recirc are over our sump. This gives us more room and also can be a bit easier to work on because a lot of stuff is at eye level.
We have two external pumps, one is a dedicated return, while the other powers the manifold. Having a manifold with all the tanks and reactors is really awesome.
Love the DB 80 frag tank so great choice there.

Mike, I have been trying to keep your fish room in mind while I was planning. I was lucky enough to have some pictures that my son apparently took at one of the meetings. So that helped. But I might take you up on the offer to pass by.

The utility sink is actually gonna be about 6ft away from my area. I'm just gonna tie that into my existing waste lines. I do however need a pump under the sink to lift the water. I expect this to be a huge help since I can just dump the water close by. No more carrying buckets of water across the house, YAY.

What pump are you running for the main DT. That's where I'm hung up at the moment. I'm leaning towards a blue line 70, but was thinking of moving to the 100 and running everything on one pump. I do like the idea of two pumps though. Also what size is the sump your running?
 

ecam

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Can i ask what role the recirc tank plays in your system Mike. Just trying to picture everything...
 
As I see it and for my purposes it will be to add volume and to allow for a place where WC's can be done without disturbing any other portion of the system. Basically just a tank with water. Shut it down, drain it, fill it, open back up.
 
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