Keith's Frag Tank / Coral Propagation Tank Build

[Keithhjs]

Thanks guys. Those along with Dolphin Amp Master were the three I was looking at. Not sure yet which way I'm leaning.

[Dary421]

Wow... Congrats on your " brick and mortar " store !!!!! Must be a really exciting time for you guys,...will Veronica be involved in the day to day operation or is this solely your baby ?

[Keithhjs]

Originally Posted by Dary421

Wow... Congrats on your " brick and mortar " store !!!!! Must be a really exciting time for you guys,...will Veronica be involved in the day to day operation or is this solely your baby ?

Thanks Dary. It will be afternoons for me & weekends for us both at first. After we get everything in place we will start the hiring process. Right bow its an empty space (there is still some furniture to remove) so I am starting everything from scratch and will be doing as much myself as possible. It's quite a lot to process right now lol

[Gregcoyote]

Good luck to you and your family! We owned pets stores which all had freshwater fish from my 300 tank hatchery. It was a long time ago and I still remember all the work it took. But it was fun.

I used iwaki pumps even then. The secret on any big pump is to use a hot tube strainer on their intakes. It allows the impellers to last for years and years.

I assume you will have coral? How will you set that up if I'm not being nosy?

[Keithhjs]

Originally Posted by Gregcoyote

Good luck to you and your family! We owned pets stores which all had freshwater fish from my 300 tank hatchery. It was a long time ago and I still remember all the work it took. But it was fun.

I used iwaki pumps even then. The secret on any big pump is to use a hot tube strainer on their intakes. It allows the impellers to last for years and years.

I assume you will have coral? How will you set that up if I'm not being nosy?

Not bein nosy at all! I welcome questions and advice from anyone such as yourself who has done it & furthermore has an incredible understanding, knowledge, and owns such a fantastic reef.

This is going to be a work in progress lol. I right now will set up an exact replica frag tank as the 6'x 3' one I have now running here. Once cycled I will transfer all the coral & then move the tank. I am currently getting estimates on a few tanks for the store such as a 180 gal, another frag tank, a 8' cubicle for fish, and a couple more 4' tanks. I also have a couple 40 gal and another frag tank probably shipping next week. Starting small now and will increase slowly. I'm planning on a main filltration system and plumbing connecting most of the fish tanks together and having the coral flats all filtered independently with led lighing. Right now everything is being designed & I'm trying to stay fluid and be open to design changes.

[Gregcoyote]

That sounds excellent!

[Keithhjs]

Got eight acrylic tanks on order. These will be shipped second week of September. So to start that gives me:

2 - 6' x 3' x 10" Frag tanks
2 - 3' x 2' x 14" Frag tanks
4 - 3' x 16" x 16" Tanks with center divider
1 - 30" x 18" x 18" Tank
1 - 6' x 2' x 2' Tank
1 4' x 13" x 20"

It's a start. My 300 gpd RODI arrives today. Now to stratt planning the pumps, filtration, and lights. Ughh.

[Sniperhank]

So far so good Keith.

[Billbug68]

Keith, where in California are you opening the store? If you're close, I'll have to go check it out.

[Keithhjs]

Originally Posted by Billbug68

Keith, where in California are you opening the store? If you're close, I'll have to go check it out.

I will be in right outside of downtown San Jose.

[Gregcoyote]

I've got family there. Will stop by when you're open.

[Billbug68]

Originally Posted by Keithhjs

I will be in right outside of downtown San Jose.

Ahh... I'm in so cal... I suppose if for some reason I'm up that way, I'll come check it out. Best to you and your new endeavor, I'll be following along from here on out.

[bigfuzzymonster777]

What's if called? If I ever make my way to so cal, I wanna check it out

[Billbug68]

Originally Posted by bigfuzzymonster777

What's if called? If I ever make my way to so cal, I wanna check it out

San Jose is up north near San Francisco. I was saying, I'm in so cal, so he's fairly far from me. Probably a 6 hour drive...

[bigfuzzymonster777]

I never knew so cal referred to a specific area of California, LOL

[Billbug68]

Originally Posted by bigfuzzymonster777

I never knew so cal referred to a specific area of California, LOL

So = southern...

It's a very tall state... Hahaha

[Keithhjs]

Thanks for all the comments & interest. Yes I'm going to be in Northern California. The name isn't catchy but simple: Keith's Coral Reefs. The work will start this week as I can probably start building racks, walls, plumbing a sink, and other building TI work.

[Keithhjs]

For anyone that may still be following I thought I'd update the progress.

I spent all weekend painting the inside. Now this weekend starts the build of the racks & stands for nine of the eleven tanks I have now or arriving next week. I have the lighting decided for the four coral tanks & one show tank. The show tank will have the new AI Hydras, two frag tanks will have the AI Sol Blues, and the other two will have the Kessil A360W on them. Ordered an MRC 5' tall four Beckett skimmer rated for 3750 gallons and one Reef Octopus Diablo 8" skimmer for the show tank. Already have two other skimmers for the frag tanks (a Red Sea Skimm 1800 & an Eshopps Cone Skimmer). Also my two 300 gallon vertical storage tanks arrived last week (minus the 2" drains they were supposed to have, so that's getting done by me later after the parts arrive from them) that will hold RO/DI in one & per mixed saltwater in the other. Also already received my 300 gpd RO/DI unit, I just need to install it after I get a chance to clean up the paint mess and finish all the carpentry. Lots to do lol.

[Rpbustillo]

Congrats bro sounds like it's really starting to come together!

[Gregcoyote]

Sounds like a plumbers dream! Also sounds like fun.