My new 400 gal peninsula tank

[seashark]

looks nice so far taging along

[Lightsluvr]

It looks great!

I have to tag along on any tank install which includes cats.

LL

[Jens Kallmeyer]

HI

I will post more pictures, including some where you can see the Stream holders after my return from the Barents Sea in early December. Please be patient

Jens

[Ian]

Originally Posted by Jens Kallmeyer

I could start a tap-dancing studio for elephants on that floor.

Now that is funny

Great build so far, I look forward to seeing it take shape

[Mark]

Originally Posted by Jens Kallmeyer

HI

I will post more pictures, including some where you can see the Stream holders after my return from the Barents Sea in early December. Please be patient

Jens

Thanks Jens! Stay warm!

[gabe3eb]

Originally Posted by Jens Kallmeyer

Hi Mark,
I spend about 8000 € for the reinforcement of the floor. I could start a tap-dancing studio for elephants on that floor.

Absolutely amazing build and hilarious to boot

Tagging along

[kevinpo]

Hi Jens,
I wish more companies would build tanks on site here in the US. Looks like a nice fun project. The picture of you in the tank really shows the size as the pictures previously made it appear to be much smaller.

Cheers,
Kevin

[murfman]

Hi Jens any updates?

[PerezAF01]

This should be a really nice setup. Cant wait!

[Jens Kallmeyer]

Hi there,

not much to report, right not I am extremely busy at work and can't spend much time on the tank. Also, the doors for the cabinet and the light cover still haven't arrived. They promised me to deliver this week......heard that one before.
By the end of the week I'll get the material for the filter tank (keep the fingers crossed), this will keep me busy next weekend. As soon as I have something worth reporting I'll do so.

Jens

[Jens Kallmeyer]

HI

Finally I managed to get some work done on the tank. The bottom is now completely covered with concrete, the only things that were sticking out were the bulkheads for the closed loop system. My intention is to have a system without visible technical equipment. So the bulkheads had to go into hiding…..

I did not want to cover them with concrete directly, as this would have prevented me from access to the seal. Also the 45° elbows had to be fixed in a way that I can still turn them to adjust the direction of the flow. In the end I decided on a two-piece construction, with a removable donut-shaped cover for the bulkhead and concrete covered 45° elbow.
I covered the bulkhead with Clingfilm and put a rather stiff concrete mix around it. Small pieces of Ceramic were stuck into the sides. After the concrete was hardened I could remove the whole Donut and peel off the Clingfilm. The donut sits tighly around the bulkhead and can be removed if necessary.
The concrete does not stick to the PVC directly, therefore I glued small pieces of ceramic on the elbow first. After the glue had hardened the whole thing was covered in concrete.

Everything mounted together looks like this. I will try to grow some Xenias or Polyps around the whole unit.

Finally I could also do the final work on the overflow boxes. On the side of the filter Overflow, the ceramic back plate ends right below the screen, on the side of the closed look overflow the back plate is bent forward a bit. On this ledge I built a very open framework of smaller rocks, leaving lots of small channels for the water to go through but not allowing a direct sight of the 6” high overflow screen.
The pictures don’t show how open the structure is, but getting 5000 gal/h through it won’t be much of a problem.

Looking at closed loop overflow from the sofa it looks like this

When looking into the tank through the front panel, the large overflow screen can be seen through a few holes, but I can live with that. I may put some SPS corals there in the future.

The Parapan Panels for the cabinet have finally arrived, over Christmas I will try to get them fixed.
Merry Christmas to all of you

Jens

[Jens Kallmeyer]

Originally Posted by Mark

Thanks Jens, I will look for that product online. Do you have any pics depicting how the tunzes are hidden in the ceramic?

Hi Mark,

just to follow up on your question about the Stream holders; on the last picture that I just posted, you can see the pockets for the Streams. I still have the old square ones, not the new balls. Fixing them is dead easy, you just take a strip of blue foam and stick them in. The foam will dampen any vibration very nicely. The downside of this technique is that you can't really adjust the direction of the flow. But as I usually run the Streams without the top cover, just open props, the flow is so wide that you really can't adjust the flow anyways.


Jens

[murfman]

Thanks for the update, Jens. How much do you think the cement and ceramic weigh on the glass?

Merry Christmas to you as well.

[reefman66]

Tagging along. Can't wait to see the completed tank. Looks good so far.

[Jens Kallmeyer]

Originally Posted by murfman

Thanks for the update, Jens. How much do you think the cement and ceramic weigh on the glass?

Merry Christmas to you as well.

The weight of the stuff is something that you can safely ignore.
In total I used about 20 lbs of cement. The raw material contains some highly porous and light grains, almost like cat litter, so you get a lot of volume for rather little weight and even some porosity. Also, the layer at the bottom is less than 1/2" thick. The ceramic is pretty lightweight too, the center reef may be around 40 to 50 lbs, the back plates are in the same range. The material is really porous. Even the center reef I could easily lift on my own.

Jens

[Jens Kallmeyer]

Now the cabinet is finished.....at least for the time being. I still need to do some adjustments to get the panels absolutely parallel, but this I will do after Christmas. The panels are made from a rather new material called Parapan. It is 3/4" thick fully colored solid acrylic with a high-gloss surface. The edges were rounded and polished as well. Except for the horizontal strip along the bottom of the tank all panels are held in place with strong magnets and can be removed if necessary. The filter sump will be in the next room so I could make the cabinet really low. The only thing in there will be the CL pumps, everything else will be next door in a height that is much healthier for my back.
The hood will also be made from Parapan, but I haven't had the time yet
I'll keep you posted




Jens

[stunreefer]

Looks fantastic Jens

I was a big, big fan of your last cube tank and look forward to watching your build.

[seashark]

it's coming out beatyfull ,cant wait to see this bad boy up and runing

[coraltastic]

man that looks awsome i am wanting to do something like that to my 180 when i start setting it up.

[prop-frags]

+1

I really like the looks of the concrete/ceramic - very natural, and should provide great anchors for mounting your corals. The low stand is great too - looks like it fits into the room perfectly! (love that oak floor btw - very nice!)

[gtaylor67]

Great looking tank, can't wait to see it running with fish moving around... Great planning on this set up.... Thanks

[rharr21]

WOW! I like what you're doing. It's inspirational!

[icdeadpieces]

I dream of 1 day owning a peninsula tank. I love the 3 sided viewing/room divider. Following along

[Jens Kallmeyer]

Originally Posted by prop-frags

+1

I really like the looks of the concrete/ceramic - very natural, and should provide great anchors for mounting your corals. The low stand is great too - looks like it fits into the room perfectly! (love that oak floor btw - very nice!)

The low stand was a logical solution, on the one side of the tank there is the sofa, on the other side the dining table. Both my partner and I wanted to be able to look into the tank from both sides without getting a stiff neck. The only solution was a low stand and a high tank. Initially I wanted a 1 m (40") high tank, but that would have made handling really difficult. Eventually I opted for 90 cm (36"), which is still is pretty high but with 40 " depth anything less high would have looked out of proportion and would have prevented a good look into the tank from one of the sides, depending on the height of the stand.
When I designed the tank, I found it really helpful to measure the eyelevel of my partner and myself while (a) standing, (b) sitting on a normal chair, and (c) sitting on the sofa. The lowest measurement (me on the sofa) should be at least 8" above the bottom of the tank, when we sit on a chair, our eyelevel should be around 2/3 the height of the tank and the highest measurement (my partner standing) should be not more than 6" above the water level.
We want to live with that tank for many years, so it has to fit. Because tank and stand are custom, everything can be made as we want it to be, so why settle for something else? During the setup of all my last tanks there was some time pressure due to some animals having to move in etc. This time I start from scratch, there is no pressure at all, so I take all the time it takes to get it done the way I want. I don't care if I have to look into a an empty tank for a few months longer, it's the final result that counts.

Best wishes

Jens

[trstange]

Looks great, I'll be following your progress