Are you sure that the fish room is 4' deep?...it doesn't look it.
1000 Gallon Build- Here we go- Lots of Pictures
- Thread starter Socaltoaz
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Are you sure that the fish room is 4' deep?...it doesn't look it.
DavidinGA
Active member
Yes- still planing on the same dimensions.
Ill get the exact dimensions. You are right- it might be a few inches shy of 4 feet.
Thanks for tagging along.
Thank you Shells. Appreciate the kind words.
Hi Dmorty- if you go back a few pages, you will see that we put a couple of exhaust fans to take away any excess humidity. In addition the drywall that is there is moisture resistant drywall. So no- not worried about the humidity at all. The fans will take care of everything.
Yes- the dimensions are the same- except that the height of the tank will probably shrink by about 6 inches. Reason being, when they built the hood that you see, it ended up being a bit lower than I wanted. This means that the access to the top of the tank through he cabinetry was getting a bit tight. So Im going to shorten the tank and give myself a bit more room for access. Other than that, dimensions are the same.
So I went back and measured today- you sir have a good eye- It is 3 feet. I made a mistake in that originally we had it partly at 3 feet and had it extended to 4 feet because of a window that is adjacent to the wall. But i ended up making the wall even for visual appeal. So yes- 3 feet deep. My mistake. Still gives me plenty of room for my equipment because with the 3 doors wide open, I can have the equipment butt up right to the front doors for access. good pick up.
Ok gang- I need to start finalizing some of the filtration and the tank plumbing and would like to bend the ear of the community. Here is what I have so far planned with regards to the tank layout:
As you can see there is a center overflow that will house the open system. The open system will go to a sump, skimmer, and other filters (media reactor, calcium etc) and then be pumped back. I still cant decide if I want to do a closed system and have that run directly under the tank.
While all the filtration will be in the fish room in the garage about 70 feet away, I was thinking that the new pumps seem to be very quiet and I could run a closed system directly under the tank and it would only consist of 2 drains and 2 returns as you see outlined above that are being circulated back to the tank. No other filtration or noise or mess under the tank. Im thinking the advantage is that I can use a very small pump and be very efficient in its use as its right below the tank and not 70 feet away.
Disadvantage is that it takes away from the cleanliness of the look and adds a bit of clutter to the family room area (albeit minimal). I want my fish room to be as aesthetically pleasing as the rest of the home and not just a jumbled mess of wires and pipes.
The other option is to get rid of the closed system completely and surround the center overflow with strategically placed powerbeads and wave makers to augment the flow and put a big a$$ pump in the fish room to generate a ton of movement from the tank to the sump.
Ive gotten multiple opinions on this and frankly not sure which way to go. Your collective help is greatly appreciated. I spoke to my builder and we plan on having the tank in place by middle of june (end of june at the latest) so I cant dawdle on this anymore and need to finalize my tank plans and filtration and flow.
Thanks all.
As you can see there is a center overflow that will house the open system. The open system will go to a sump, skimmer, and other filters (media reactor, calcium etc) and then be pumped back. I still cant decide if I want to do a closed system and have that run directly under the tank.
While all the filtration will be in the fish room in the garage about 70 feet away, I was thinking that the new pumps seem to be very quiet and I could run a closed system directly under the tank and it would only consist of 2 drains and 2 returns as you see outlined above that are being circulated back to the tank. No other filtration or noise or mess under the tank. Im thinking the advantage is that I can use a very small pump and be very efficient in its use as its right below the tank and not 70 feet away.
Disadvantage is that it takes away from the cleanliness of the look and adds a bit of clutter to the family room area (albeit minimal). I want my fish room to be as aesthetically pleasing as the rest of the home and not just a jumbled mess of wires and pipes.
The other option is to get rid of the closed system completely and surround the center overflow with strategically placed powerbeads and wave makers to augment the flow and put a big a$$ pump in the fish room to generate a ton of movement from the tank to the sump.
Ive gotten multiple opinions on this and frankly not sure which way to go. Your collective help is greatly appreciated. I spoke to my builder and we plan on having the tank in place by middle of june (end of june at the latest) so I cant dawdle on this anymore and need to finalize my tank plans and filtration and flow.
Thanks all.
Dmorty217
Saltwater Addict
After asking that and looking at the pictures some more I saw where the fans are going.:spin2:
Oh, thank God, I was worried that you were going to make the builder knock down the house and start over!
Congrats...everything looking good!
Oh, thank God, I was worried that you were going to make the builder knock down the house and start over!
Congrats...everything looking good!
Well- no option to move the wall to the front as it will take away space for parking. And no option to move the back wall as its all structural and supporting the second floor. So 36 inch deep is what we have to deal with and it should be plenty as I can get the sump custom ordered to fit exactly in the space that I have.
I vote for this. I've read a lot of people being frustrated with their closed loop after a while as they require being broken down and cleaned due to a substantial reduction in flow. I don't have any personal experience with closed loops, but the fact that you can pull powerheads (gyre's might be a good option too for a center overflow) one at a time and clean them in a few minutes and not shut down the whole reef so to speak I think is advantageous.
ok - so how big of a pipe should I run to the filtration room? Ive got 6 2 inch pipes plumbed. Whats the flow in a 2 inch pipe? How many should be for drainage and how much for the return?
Im imagining if I get rid of the closed loop, I still need a lot of turnover in the tank.
Here is a thought- The reason for not doing a closed loop is the following-
-Avoid maintenance issues and potential leaks that cant be fixed unless you drain the whole thing
The reason to do a closed loop is better water flow and cleaner look.
The better water flow, I think you can accomplish without the closed loop by using wave makers, power heads etc.
With regards to the esthetics, what if I did this- extend the hood lower than normal by a few inches below the water line and have the powerbeads sit high up so that when you are looking, you don't see the powerbeads.
They are still submerged in the water but because the hood is so low, the visual distraction of wires and powerheads is not there.
Thoughts??
This doesnt solve the issue of how to keep the sand bed clean but I think that can be accomplished with additional powerheads down low hidden amongst the rocks.
-Avoid maintenance issues and potential leaks that cant be fixed unless you drain the whole thing
The reason to do a closed loop is better water flow and cleaner look.
The better water flow, I think you can accomplish without the closed loop by using wave makers, power heads etc.
With regards to the esthetics, what if I did this- extend the hood lower than normal by a few inches below the water line and have the powerbeads sit high up so that when you are looking, you don't see the powerbeads.
They are still submerged in the water but because the hood is so low, the visual distraction of wires and powerheads is not there.
Thoughts??
This doesnt solve the issue of how to keep the sand bed clean but I think that can be accomplished with additional powerheads down low hidden amongst the rocks.
So, I think you first need to calculate what the drain can handle. We can determine this by using beans calculator on his website.
http://www.beananimal.com/articles/hydraulics-for-the-aquarist.aspx
Pretty simple. How many feet/inches of pipe to the sump and the orifice of the pipe. Once we know that number we can start looking at what you need out of the equipment to move water to and from the fish room.
As far as the hood goes I like this idea. With a 48" tank you're not losing a whole lot visually and like you said you can hide the returns and wave makers. However, I think Sea Swirls in each corner of the tank would be an excellent choice and you may even be able to eliminate any powerheads up top. Perhaps have a set of clear pvc elbows for the sea swirls so they're not very visible. Keep a spare set so you can rotate them to keep a clean look. Just throw the dirty set in some vinegar and water and repeat.
Being creative with the aquascape and using the overflow box would allow for flow deeper in the tank. You could even make some Tunze wave boxes within the overflow that would completely hide a powerhead yet still provide excellent flow. Something like this.
http://www.beananimal.com/articles/hydraulics-for-the-aquarist.aspx
Pretty simple. How many feet/inches of pipe to the sump and the orifice of the pipe. Once we know that number we can start looking at what you need out of the equipment to move water to and from the fish room.
As far as the hood goes I like this idea. With a 48" tank you're not losing a whole lot visually and like you said you can hide the returns and wave makers. However, I think Sea Swirls in each corner of the tank would be an excellent choice and you may even be able to eliminate any powerheads up top. Perhaps have a set of clear pvc elbows for the sea swirls so they're not very visible. Keep a spare set so you can rotate them to keep a clean look. Just throw the dirty set in some vinegar and water and repeat.
Being creative with the aquascape and using the overflow box would allow for flow deeper in the tank. You could even make some Tunze wave boxes within the overflow that would completely hide a powerhead yet still provide excellent flow. Something like this.
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Last one and here is the link. http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showpost.php?p=22134687&postcount=107
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Great link to the calculator! Thank you! I have a 2 inch pipe that drops water 36 inches from the tank to the sump, that equals to about 8000 gallons/hour. The tank will be roughly 800 gallons with the sump another couple hundred gallons or so. is 8000 gallons enough? I can get 2 drains in there which will give me 16000 gallons/hour of flow to the sump. I will need a big pump to pump it all back. Im assuming 8000 is enough for turnover.
