1400gallon system with 1060gallon L-shaped DT

[dirk_brijs]

During a sleepless night caused by my current tank I was browsing through this forum looking at a thread named best tanks in the world and came across a real nice design so I wanted to incorporate it in my already maybe large enough tank??
So I ended up adding another 445gallon to it hahaha I am really getting crazy I think.
Anyway here the new drawings with the new idea included. Wonder if it even can be built??

 

[khaosinc]

Just about anything "can" be built. I've seen the 'drop offs' in a couple of builds now and I think its a really neat idea. I'm not as familiar with glass construction but I think you would almost want to build the tank to the stand rather than the other way around due to silicone seams being somewhat less forgiving than acrylic. Though I suppose in most cases tanks this size are built on sight anyway.

 

[dirk_brijs]

yes the idea would be to built the stand and frame and bring in the glass and add it sheet by sheet. Almost every seem will be covered by a steel liner.
Also on the top of the tank a steel frame will be built.

 

[auem]

idea is very good,but go bit slowly and do research about the structural stability....looking forward for this built....:thumbsup:

 

[dirk_brijs]

idea is very good,but go bit slowly and do research about the structural stability....looking forward for this built....:thumbsup:

auem thanks and yes going slowly would be the idea for sure.
Brought my plan to 3 different tank builders already for them to come up with comments so I can make sure no one is bullsh... me.

 

[dirk_brijs]

first attempt on a closed loop for the new tank
These are only the closed loops more powerheads and waveboxes will be added later.
There will be 3 closed loop systems run by 3 Iwaki IK1145 pumps each good for 4500Lph (1200Gph)
red, white and blue.
Water will be pulled out through 1" pipes and brought back in the tank through 3/4" pipes.
Comments and improvements please.

 

[bullitr]

Maybe you should look into a reeflo dart 3600 gph,barracuda or black fin.

 

[dirk_brijs]

Maybe you should look into a reeflo dart 3600 gph,barracuda or black fin.

What would be the main reason to pick the reeflos over the Iwakis?
Noise, consumption, price, power??

 

[Juggler]

Noise, consumption, price, power??

Yes

 

[dirk_brijs]

Yes

Yes on all??
Looked though that the reeflos are more expensive then the Iwakis?
Or am I looking at the wrong places?
So what more do I get for the extra buck?

 

[bullitr]

Yes to all

 

[dirk_brijs]

well in that case I guess I will have to look into them no?

 

[leslie hempel]

perhaps the version of the iwaki is not the same here in SA but reeflo definatley offers more water for the wattage compared to iwaki... other than the head pressure of the iwaki it would almost be more practical to go with an OR6500 or simular

awsome project

 

[dirk_brijs]

perhaps the version of the iwaki is not the same here in SA but reeflo definatley offers more water for the wattage compared to iwaki... other than the head pressure of the iwaki it would almost be more practical to go with an OR6500 or simular

awsome project

Thank you.
Though I guess after having looked into the OR6500 I doubt this pump can be put in the same brackets as the 2 other pumps mentioned before.
The OR6500 has a maximum capacity of 6500Lph (1700Gph) with a Max head of 3.8m
while the Reeflo Blackfin (on which I think is my first choice now) has a max cap of 17000Lph (4500Gph) with a maxHead of 14m.
So not sure how the OR6500 got in this?

 

[dirk_brijs]

added the wavemaking devices.
Will be adding 3 Tunze Turbelle 6305 controlled by a Tunze multicontroller 7095
2 Tunze Waveboxes 6215
Placed as in the design drawing.
For now the long side of the L might not have enough flow in it but this will be solved with the placement of the return in next design stage.
Any suggestions or improvements on placement are highly appreciated.

 

[dirk_brijs]

for now for the closed loops the 3 Iwaki IK1145 pumps will be replaced by 3 Reeflo "Blackfin" pumps.
Or any other suggestions?

 

[dirk_brijs]

am still undecided or in the dark which overflow system to use?
Need help with this one as I need to start drawing my return lines.
Option 1 the so called Ultra Quiet setup with built in overflow box.
Option 2 the Master ChingChai style overflow 2" overflow holes in the tank. Which I would prefer for better look reasons and as they used by the Master himself.
But are there other options?

 

[Mangodude]

Hi, first off, amazing build thread! I like how you started this early rather than late.

The drop-off idea has always amazed me, how will you get flow from the bottom of the drop-off to the top? Would you put a pump of some sort in the sand bed?

Also, would you be using an artificial light for the drop-off? I am not sure how far down the natural light would go. Perhaps a 600w LED panel would work..

I noticed you were going to use a refugium, what would you be putting in there? (mangroves, cheato, gracillaria, caulerpa, etc.)

 

[dirk_brijs]

Hi, first off, amazing build thread! I like how you started this early rather than late.

The drop-off idea has always amazed me, how will you get flow from the bottom of the drop-off to the top? Would you put a pump of some sort in the sand bed?

Also, would you be using an artificial light for the drop-off? I am not sure how far down the natural light would go. Perhaps a 600w LED panel would work..

I noticed you were going to use a refugium, what would you be putting in there? (mangroves, cheato, gracillaria, caulerpa, etc.)

Mangodude.
Thanks for the kind words.
As for your questions.
One of the closed loops is situated in the drop off with the out nozzles aiming upwards. Also one Tunze powerhead will be situated on the far end of the drop equal level to the beginning of the drop to push all detrius pushed up by the closed loop straight out of the drop of.
The lighting I will not add any additional lighting on top of the drop to create a dark and deep zone in the reef. Will be looking into corals from deeper waters needing much less lighting.
for the refugium I am actually drawing this set up right now. It will be a Sump/Fuge/ATS (algae scrubber) wall. Stay tuned and I will most likely be done designing it by tomorrow and post it here.

 

[Mangodude]

Mangodude.
Thanks for the kind words.
As for your questions.
One of the closed loops is situated in the drop off with the out nozzles aiming upwards. Also one Tunze powerhead will be situated on the far end of the drop equal level to the beginning of the drop to push all detrius pushed up by the closed loop straight out of the drop of.
The lighting I will not add any additional lighting on top of the drop to create a dark and deep zone in the reef. Will be looking into corals from deeper waters needing much less lighting.
for the refugium I am actually drawing this set up right now. It will be a Sump/Fuge/ATS (algae scrubber) wall. Stay tuned and I will most likely be done designing it by tomorrow and post it here.

Thank you for the response,

A "dark-zone" with NPS corals would be really interesting! Will you be putting sand at the bottom of the drop-off or will you leave it bare? Leaving it bare might be better for getting the detrius up but I have no experience with bare-bottom tanks so I know nothing.

Looking forward to the refugium design!