Awesome build thread. I'm hooked. So glad you put the effort in to fix the slope, it would have driven you crazy.

Thanks! I'm over in Port Moody so not too far away.

Time to start thinking about the fish room, I have been putting it off for a while. Here is the basic layout I have so far:
https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...a950c819_b.jpg

So the idea is the Frag tank and Refugium will overflow into the main sump. If I have enough flow I will tee off the return line otherwise it will be a separate pump. Sadly I'm dealing with 16' of head pressure back to the display.

I will run the RODI unit into the top of the Salt container and the RO Tank, each having there own solenoids and float valves. I may even plumb a drain at the top of each tank too in case they fail.

The RO Tank will be used for top off to the sump and quarantine tanks.

I liked the idea of having lots of quarantine tanks, but I haven't decided yet how I'm going to plumb them. Part of me wants to add drain holes to the sewer on each and a filling pipe from the sump so I can easily empty the quarantine and refill it with tank water.

I have all the tanks except the four 20G quarantines. Here is the beast for salt water:
https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...ab874776_b.jpg

Any ideas are welcome as I haven't fully committed to this yet.

Oh and this just arrived:
https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...f9cc87aa_b.jpg

A heat exchange unit?

Yup! The plan is to run a re-circulation pump from my gas hot-water heater through it and use it to heat the sump. I did some rough math and it should save me about 40% on my heating.

Wow, interesting idea on the pump. Would that be in the water out would it just be Pex lines coiled inside?

Very interested to see this in practice. Please provide details and pics of the installation and final product. I'm guessing your home has an instant hot water boiler and is already plumbed with a re-circ system?

Is the heat exchanger made from 316 stainless?
That"s one of the best corrosion resistance ss. However, it will corrode as well in saltwater, albeit very slowly.

I was originally just going to coil some Pex into the sump but I read that having all that water in the coil sitting at 25 degrees isn't ideal (legionnaires) especially since it's returning back into the water supply. That's why I went the heat exchanger route.

The fish room is an unfinished bathroom in the basement so it has the hot and cold lines already there. The plan is to use those as the loop back to the hot water tank using one of these:
Watts Recirculating Pump

So here is the design I'm thinking:
https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...cb68de0f_b.jpg


Since I'm going to put saltwater through it I had to go with Titanium for exactly those reasons.

Next up on my immediate list is figuring on my aquascape. Since my tank is so tall I'm going to need some very high structures but I want to keep them very long and narrow. Something like below but having it raised up about 12 inches.

https://i.pinimg.com/originals/28/98...11f44566e2.jpg
Or
https://i.pinimg.com/564x/f8/55/98/f...5cbaaae4af.jpg

Anyone have any experience making something like this? I'm thinking of smashing up some dry rock, using PVC or Acrylic rods then using Marco mortar to stick it all together?