Atif

I decided to upgrade my nano to one step up. I had a few requirements:

1. Not too big. 42 x 24 X 20
2. Had to blend into existing house and furniture. Where possible use existing items vs buy new and have it accepted by wife
3. Have the system set up to be as low maintenance and automated as possible! Wife will not deal with tank related issues when I'm out of town on business!

So this is my story of the tank build up in San Francisco, Bay Area!



Step 1 - Research.

I turned to John in LA to build the tank. - GREAT workman ship
Jeff at LifeReef to build the sump etc. - GREAT custom build AND customer service
Home dept. - no service its help your self
BRS - love the videos!
Aquacave - for the cheapest check valve on internet in stock!
eBay - too many items to list
uTube & Mr. Saltwater guy!

I started off with an old Armoir. Yes remember the days we had tube TV's which we hid in these huge armoirs !!



The top had to come off so that I could use the base for the tank.



So while I was busy making a mess in the garden, the post man arrived with a few boxes



I had a lot of prep in front of me BUT I could not help peek into the boxes ...



OK. Enough staring at boxes. Flew down to L.A and drove the tank back up in a rental. 500 miles, 2 x tank full of gas and some beef jerky and I got it home!

Phew it fits!!



Inside of cabinet was dark wood and hard to see. So i painted it white with gloss paint.



Drilled a few holes!! The extra holes in the back of the cabinet are for heat extractor fans



Time to see if all the Sump, Refugium and plumbing will fit (fingers crossed that I measured correctly)



Plumbing parts arrived ...



My kids wanted to help with plumbing so we went to local hands on museum to practice plumbing



My first weld to add the check valve on the return lines. UV arrived today along with many new goodies!



Time to wire the heat extractor fans. These are 4" computer fans running 12V and will be attached to a 4x controller so that each fan can be variably controlled. Thats the neon blue thing! Sorry for poor picture.



Adding bulkheads now.



I spent 1 day getting much of the plumbing in now that my bulkheads were in place. Next is the image at the end of day 1 plumbing.



Here are the close ups. Things to look for (pretty much everything is custom)

1. Space was limited so I had to use every inch of the cabinet.
2. Look at top left back (UV)
3. Neptune Apex is in using Netgear Wireless gear. I Have one Energy Bar 8 and need another!
4. I have a Mag 9 running the skimmer.
5. I have a Mag 7 running the filter media tubes.
6. I have a Mag 12 running the Main return manifold. This feeds one exit via UV to main tank. 2nd feed is to JBJ Chiller which is not hooked up yet. 3rd is to run the Refugium.
7. Note that I placed everything onto a foam padded base to suppress noise from pumps and wooden cabinet.
8. Tank exit is 1 inch. 3/4 Returns. If you remember I had a 4th bulk head. This is for electrical to run circulation pumps.
9. I also have a 3 canister dosing tank for essential elements. (front left in the last picture)
10. Not shown will be a Kalk dosing tank.





That's about all I have achieved up to Thanks giving. Still to do:

1. Get new Energy Bar.
2. Plumb the chiller. The exit and return will be from back of cabinet. With the leftover wood I may have to build a new matching chiller cabinet!
3. Add shelf/hang on for Marine Magic 3x dosing pump.
4. Add wiring for 2 x circulation pumps via 1/2 bulkhead
5. Add float switch for ATO connected to Neptune via I/O kit
6. Add Temp, PH, ORP probes into sump holder.
8. Hang the LED lights (Cree 60W dim-able X 2)
9. Buy filter media lol
10. Complete return line plumbing.
11. Add 2 x BRS 50ml dosing pumps to automate water changes.
12. Add moonlights.

With that ahead of me, I will leave you with one last picture of our fish Nemo & Marlin watching their new house being built!



Thanks I hope you enjoyed this so far!