I don't regularly post in here but I figured with something like this I might as well share. My wife and I have been living in a 1962 Bonneville Singlewide Trailer-Home for the last 7 Years on my families farm property in Pueblo. During that time I somewhat maintained a 13.5 gal nano-reef with some success, mostly met by insurmountable failures. Due mostly to the fact that the trailer itself had a horribly leaky roof, pipes that froze every winter, and no A/C in the summers. But it was cheap rent to my father, and I didn't want to the leave the family farm. Skip forward to this January and after 2 years of fighting with Zoning, the Regional Building Department, and a slew of other Government Bureaucratic entities we finally got permission to tear down our trailer so we could build our forever home.
So, construction began in February on my birthday none the less with me taking a Sawzall to the window frames and then plunging an excavator bucket through the roof which I enjoyed almost too much. Through the spring and summer we chopped down almost 40 trees around the old trailer, pulled up root balls, dug for the foundation, hauled in 600 tons of dirt, poured foundation, ran utilities, did underfloor heat, and finally finished framing in September.
I am my own GC for this project, and I have done probably 80% of the work so far, as I am a construction contractor myself. As we get into the winter months and I am spending more time inside the building roughing in utilities, my urge to make future arrangements for an end all-be all reef tank grows more every day. My wife knew from the start that I wanted a tank in the home, and I said it would be cool to put something in-wall under the stairs, but as the house took shape, I realized that is not nearly big enough. My future plan as of now is to put a tank in the main living area for display and use the under-stair area as a somewhat sump/ mechanical closet to house equipment.
I do not have a predetermined tank in mind, I have no firm fixed plan, but I know I want a tank, I want it to be big, and I want it to look amazing for friends, family, and myself to enjoy. So, I'm starting this build thread with the hope of gathering insight into anything I can install now that will make my life easier in the future and help with planning and making this tank a reality. I suspect this will be a multi-year build and is not going to come together overnight but just like with this house, the only way to eat an elephant s one bite at a time.
Some things I've already started to consider are power and water. I am planning on running a 15 amp dedicated circuit to power the unit, with possibly a conduit run in case of future energy needs, and also running a water line to power my rodi system and other water needs, and an exhaust line that will have to be fed by a sump pump to drain exterior. I am on an OWTS system so flushing directly in to my sewer would not be ideal. I am also considering doing a small shower pan type liner under the stairs to help capture any water leaks as a precaution as well.
I look forward to hearing comments and ideas on this and will try to update with progress photos as the house and "tank" move forward.
Pictures I took the other day of potential tank location. tank location.
So, construction began in February on my birthday none the less with me taking a Sawzall to the window frames and then plunging an excavator bucket through the roof which I enjoyed almost too much. Through the spring and summer we chopped down almost 40 trees around the old trailer, pulled up root balls, dug for the foundation, hauled in 600 tons of dirt, poured foundation, ran utilities, did underfloor heat, and finally finished framing in September.
I am my own GC for this project, and I have done probably 80% of the work so far, as I am a construction contractor myself. As we get into the winter months and I am spending more time inside the building roughing in utilities, my urge to make future arrangements for an end all-be all reef tank grows more every day. My wife knew from the start that I wanted a tank in the home, and I said it would be cool to put something in-wall under the stairs, but as the house took shape, I realized that is not nearly big enough. My future plan as of now is to put a tank in the main living area for display and use the under-stair area as a somewhat sump/ mechanical closet to house equipment.
I do not have a predetermined tank in mind, I have no firm fixed plan, but I know I want a tank, I want it to be big, and I want it to look amazing for friends, family, and myself to enjoy. So, I'm starting this build thread with the hope of gathering insight into anything I can install now that will make my life easier in the future and help with planning and making this tank a reality. I suspect this will be a multi-year build and is not going to come together overnight but just like with this house, the only way to eat an elephant s one bite at a time.
Some things I've already started to consider are power and water. I am planning on running a 15 amp dedicated circuit to power the unit, with possibly a conduit run in case of future energy needs, and also running a water line to power my rodi system and other water needs, and an exhaust line that will have to be fed by a sump pump to drain exterior. I am on an OWTS system so flushing directly in to my sewer would not be ideal. I am also considering doing a small shower pan type liner under the stairs to help capture any water leaks as a precaution as well.
I look forward to hearing comments and ideas on this and will try to update with progress photos as the house and "tank" move forward.
Pictures I took the other day of potential tank location. tank location.
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