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View Full Version : Designing the ultimat reef!!!! need input


noobtothereef
07/03/2010, 10:34 PM
Well im geting married in 2 weeks and we are in the process of looking at a couple houses both with unfinished basements and plenty of room for a fishroom and tanks etc. Both houses are foreclosures and going on auction, if we win a bid we re adding a construction loan on to cover costs of this.

heres my ideas

-main display tank behind bar (500-700gallon)
main display will be mainy sps, zoas/palys and a few softies

-smaller cubes roughly 50-100gl each all built in wall on same wall of bar and fisroom, fishroom will be behind the display tank behind bar area, i was considering a peninsula tank but the sheer room it takes up is too much and i like the idea that the tank will be fully accessible from the fishroom

the cubes will be dedicated species tanks
-ricordea tank copying a guys tank off of here
-an anenome tank
-crazy zoa/paly tank
-?????

all tanks will be ran off 1 large sump
thinking of running 2 or 3 50-75 gallon surge devices for the display tank along with closed loop dart barracuda pumps

I considered the cost of running tunze's but with a dt this large it would be littered with powerheads and chords etc which i dont want

I will also have a larger frag/prop tank in the fishroom along with a mangrove swamp and a cryptic zone. All will be automated with an rke

Any thoughts or ideas? Changes?

nmbeg
07/04/2010, 12:43 AM
I'm along for this ride!

BigOldReef
07/04/2010, 03:48 PM
I have a 400g DT with a 26g surge tank that sits on the story above. Mine has no mechanical parts, it's all gravity. It's very quiet, and doesn't burp or gurgle.

The worry about having 3 surges is that if you do it based on physics (not on electronics) you end up with some bubbles. With 3 surge tanks running on a random schedule, you might find that there is not enough time for the bubbles to clear for you to enjoy your tank.

My surge cycles about every 90seconds.

nmbeg
07/04/2010, 04:48 PM
Is there a link to an article on surge tanks? I'm curious on how to set one up.

BigOldReef
07/04/2010, 05:07 PM
I am sure there are. I had seen some at a couple of public aquariums, including Waikiki. I thought they were cool, but they are so loud. Depending on the style some belch and burp at the beginning, some exhaust bubbles during the entire cycle, some clunk heavily at the end of the cycle.

I built a test setup in my backyard and spent a weekend tinkering with it. Mine uses a muffler in the tank to stop the burps, a vent to reduce air bubbles, it has no mechanical parts, so nothing clunks.

As the siphon breaks in the surge tank itself there is splashing noise. But as the surge tank sits outdoors on a 2nd story balcony you can't hear it inside, and it's not too annoying outside.

My surge runs starting at 5pm till 11pm. It cycles every 90seconds and the pump is on for random periods of time during 5-11 to keep water flow patterns as chaotic as possible.

My plumbing is all 2" using sweeps into the tank, and the calculated from from the surge is 26,000+ gph (of course that is in 6 second bursts)

noobtothereef
07/04/2010, 08:56 PM
I have a 400g DT with a 26g surge tank that sits on the story above. Mine has no mechanical parts, it's all gravity. It's very quiet, and doesn't burp or gurgle.

The worry about having 3 surges is that if you do it based on physics (not on electronics) you end up with some bubbles. With 3 surge tanks running on a random schedule, you might find that there is not enough time for the bubbles to clear for you to enjoy your tank.

My surge cycles about every 90seconds.

do you have any pics of the surge tanks and there design?

I was thinking of running an electric gate valve on each surge tank, also would have an electric float switch that would trigger the valve to close before it runs the surge tank dry so it doesnt introduce bubbles

BigOldReef
07/05/2010, 12:55 AM
There is not much to take a picture of. The plumbing inside the surge tank is just an upside down U. The pump has to be strong enough to fill the tank so that the water level rises above the top of the inverted J and starts the siphon.

Then outside the display tank I drilled a vent line (1/2") just above the tanks normal water line. This runs to outside (where my equipment is located and hits a T - The top of the T goes Up to vent the the air, and the bottom of the T goes down to the sump for the water that gets pushed out the vent.

I researched the mechanical options. And my conclusion that the best and most reliable valve for a surge tank was a pneumatic rather than electric. They were a little bit less money. They operated much faster. They had a longer operational use.

However, in the end I opted for a failsafe system. Unless gravity quits on us, my surge tank will work flawlessly without maintenance forever.

The only issue I ever had was a rat that knocked the top off the surge tank, fell in, drowned, and got stuck in the pipe.

noobtothereef
07/05/2010, 06:24 AM
The only issue I ever had was a rat that knocked the top off the surge tank, fell in, drowned, and got stuck in the pipe.

how long did it take to notice that little buger in there? Wonder how many cycles it went through before it drowned lol it was probably like a bad water ride at a theme park......

Frick-n-Frags
07/05/2010, 07:04 AM
IMO, skip the cryptic zone=too much hassle for any benefit...otherwise i'm all for all that stuff,esp several different tanks on one system. awesome flexibility for sure.

BigOldReef
07/06/2010, 01:44 PM
The surge tank had been running flawlessly for a couple of years before the rat. So the pump to fill the surge tank I had buried in the live rock in the display tank. When the rat plugged the pipe, the pump kept filling the surge tank.

I came home around 2 in the morning to find the tank lights on and 4" of water in the tank.

I lost about 15K worth of corals. It was devestating.

The pump now sits in the overflow in the tank, in case another rat ever comes along.

BrokeColoReefer
07/06/2010, 01:48 PM
Make sure the house your looking at has a decent size service panel (200 amps, and not full) and power close to the fish room, i would think you would want at least two 20amp breakers to run your system.

chimmike
07/06/2010, 01:57 PM
Ultimate? I hope that loan is gonna be big!

I'd do a 700g reef. But screw softies! I'd do LPS/SPS. Big tangs, big angels, fancy crabs, good CUC, fiji LR, beautiful wrasses. LED lighting. As for filtration, think a high-dollar skimmer. Zeovit.
For water movement, I'd do closed loop with some vortechs to create wave action.

Probably a trickle filter/algae filter net setup.

A few shallow cubes for frag propagation and display with LED lighting as well. Automated top off system, LED lighting programmed to mimic sunrise/sunset, maybe program pumps to work based on tides. Automated salt mixing/water change system.

500g sump/fuge setup. Hmmm.................... LED accent lighting in the room itself.