1500 gal. Reef from Start to Finish...

[crisc]

Introduction

After a few years of following along with these large aquarium builds, I have learned a ton of information. I am starting this build thread in hopes to add to the vast information that can be found here on ReefCentral.

I own an aquarium service and installation company in Colorado. After being a hobbyist for numerous years (TOTM Feb ’04), I started this company a couple of years ago. My team, Brandon (bmwardo), Mark (Tkeracer619) and I had a unique opportunity to build two large aquariums in a new office building. One of which will be featured in this thread. The other aquarium is a 900-gallon “fish only” with Living Colorâ"žÂ¢ artificial reef inserts.

The owner of the company contacted us to build these systems into a commercial office setting. There is no such thing as an unlimited budget, but we were pleased with the financial commitment to make these systems functional and successful over the long term. We arrived on the scene after the next to final architectural drawings had been completed. Through a few minor adjustments, we were able to work through the needs for the aquariums, including the aqua room, floor drains, electrical needs, ceiling height and ventilation. These first photos are documenting the building site during construction.

2/7/2008

Standing inside the fish room:

The ceiling and the light rack:

 

[crisc]

The Aquarium:

Aquatic Design Habitats Inc. manufactured the aquariums here in Colorado, which allowed us to see the process a few times during fabrication and oversee the transportation across town. The larger of the aquariums measures 10’l x 5’h x 4’w (~1500g). The other is 10’l x 4’h x 3’w (~900g). The acrylic is 2” on the sides and 1 ½” on the top and bottom. The stands are 2” x 3” x ¼” thick powder coated tubular steel at a height of 34”. This part of the process is always the hardest on my heart and my fingernails!

The Stand 2/9/2008

Building the Aquarium 2/14/2008

Moving day 2/22/2008:

3/9/2008

 

[crisc]

Rock and sand:

We used a combination of mostly Tonga fusion, branch and shelf live rock. This rock was cured for 4 weeks in our holding bins before being placed into the aquarium. The five-foot height of the aquarium posed some unique problems when building the structure. We decided to use some large rocks as the base. We had a 130 pound and a 100 pound rock to start our structure. We used ¾” and ½” masonry bits to bore holes into these rocks and others and placed acrylic rods into the rock. We then drilled the next rocks and pegged them together. We had acrylic rods on hand and would have used fiberglass rods if we ran into problems with the structure. We were able to find rocks that fit together well, removing most of the pressure from the rods, but they were there for stability. We then tagged the rocks with color-coded ribbon, disassembled the structure, and returned to the holding bins for further curing. We also used 300#s of Caribsea Aragamax Select and 250# of Seafloor Special Grade Reef Sand as our substrate.

Rock inside the tank 3/21/2008

3/30/2008

 

[jumpfreak26]

Looks like a neat build, cant wait for more pics

 

[crisc]

Equipment List:

• Aquatic Design Habitats Inc. custom 300 gallon sump.
• Dual My Reef Creations MR-C4848 quad beckett protein skimmers w/ Reefloâ"žÂ¢ Hammerhead gold pumps.
• Reefloâ"žÂ¢ Hammerhead return pump.
• Dual Tunze® Turbelle Stream 6301.
• My Reef Creations CCR-824 Dual Calcium Reactor.
• Aquamedic KWS 5000 Kalkwasser Stirrer.
• Aquamedic 1000w titanium heater.
• Current Prime 1hp chiller.
• Emperor Aquatics® 300w HO ML uv sterilizer.
• Spectrapure® maxcap 180gpd ro/di.
• Aquatec 6800 RO Booster Pump
• (2)Current 4x54w T-5 Nova Extreme fixtures with Giesemann Pure Actinic and Actinic+ bulbs.
• (3)Sunlight Supply® Reef Optix® 4 reflectors driven by Galaxyâ"žÂ¢ electronic ballasts.
• Reefluxâ"žÂ¢ 12000k 1000w bulbs.
• Neptune Systems AquaController III w/direct connects, Aquasurf, Lunar LED system, Socket expansions, PX1000, and Aquanotes.
• Water Bug 200 and (5) water sensors.
• Den Hartog 600-gallon holding tank.
• Reefloâ"žÂ¢ Hamerhead for the water tank.
• Direct link to building central air conditioning and exit vent.

The UV and return pump:

MRC Calcium reactor:

Skimmer, Kalkwasser Stirrer, CO2:

Fish Room photos:

Lighting:

 

[crisc]

How do we clean a 5’ tall reef aquarium?

Since we were limited on space in the fish room, and the sump wasn’t going underneath the display we had to make some decisions on organization, simplicity and functionality. In order to have access to the top of the display we had a friend build us this removable steel platform, which stands on two legs on one side while attaching to mounts bolted into the Aquarium’s stand on the other side so that it straddles over the sump, which has some prime real estate in this fish room.

With 1000 watt bulbs over a reef, that we try to keep in exhibition status daily, we needed the simplest way to tackle the diatoms. Thanks to tips from fellow hobbyists we were lucky enough to try out the Dobie ® pads, which are safe on acrylic. We cut out the yellow sponge and use only the outer liner/s by rubber banding them to our large magnet with acrylic safe Wypal 40’s in between.

The Dobie ® Pad works wonders for us; we are able to stay ~2” above the sand bed, and pickup every diatom with a few passes from the MagFloat 1000. For the stuff just above the sand bed we get on a ladder and use a plastic Kent Pro Scraper with a Kent extender.
For moving items in and out of the aquarium we have an assortment of grabbers. We went through several brands and lengths and have found that these versions of the Pik Stik can hold the weight and sizes we needed. We have two sets for the upper and lower halves of the aquarium.

Water Changes

In order to setup and maintain this reef aquarium as well as the 900 gallon Fish Only we decided on this Den Hartog 600 gallon container which we placed in the fish room. The lid on top is large enough to easily pour buckets of salt in while standing on a ladder.

You can see the cluster of ball valves directing the flow from the Hammerhead. One simply circulates the flow, and the others have attachments that can send water to either the 900 gallon or straight into the sump of the 1500 gallon. The 900 gallon aquarium is about 200 feet away which makes the power of the Hammerhead a necessity.

The water tower is fed by SpectraPure® Maxcap 180gpd ro/di unit which is pushed along by a Aquatec RO booster pump due to low water pressure in the building.

The easiest and most accurate way for us to pull out the right amount of water is to calculate roughly how many inches down from the overflows in the display the water level needs to be. We figure it is about 22 gallons per inch. So, for a ~350 gallon water change we aim for about 16” below the overflows. We siphon out the water with a long 1.25” Diameter hose straight into our fish room sink.

 

[crisc]

Controls:

At the time of planning and setting up the systems we found the website http://aquariumcontrollers.com/ to be very useful in helping us decide which controller was right for our needs. We settled on the Aqua Controller III from Neptune Systems, here it is mounted in one of the acrylic casings you can purchase from ebay.

This cluster of control equipment handles all of the lights, the lunar simulators, the Aqua Surf (controls the Tunzes), and a fan that blows over the water surface and the Sunlight Supply® reflectors.

Other areas of the Neptune system control the Kalkwasser stirrer, Chiller, heater, water sensors, and monitor the Temperature, pH, and ORP. At any given time with internet access we can get online and check water parameters, status of the equipment, and with the cameras we can see it live.
I don’t think we could have successfully setup and programmed the Neptune system if it wasn’t for the excellent support from experienced employees, and fellow hobbyists over at the Neptune forum right here on RC, thanks guys!

Video Cameras:

Above I mentioned the two video cameras observing the reef system; one is mounted on the ceiling in our client’s office in a fixed position to view the aquarium only. The other camera is mounted on the light rack in the fish room. The fish room camera can spin 360 degrees, aim up and down, and zoom in and out. So we are able to do everything from checking to make sure lights are on (or off), the skimmers are performing, or zooming all the way down to see if we spy any glare from water on the floor. Thankfully, our fish room can only be accessed by keycards so the camera’s duties generally extend to just monitoring the status of the system.

Here is the camera viewing the display:

Here is the fish room camera:

 

[crisc]

Livestock:

Now for the fun part: livestock. We wanted to have a nice mixture of colors and compatibilities for the livestock. Functionality was also a consideration with our decision. We submitted a long list of compatible creatures to the owner for his approval. After a quarantine period of a few weeks, they were ready to go. The corals were added over week by week according to water quality and cycle time. It is difficult to find large corals to fill a large aquarium, we had to tap some local resources and keep our eyes peeled for new sell threads. Time will allow the rest of the corals to fill in and grow, making the reef look more established. We added a few sps corals after about 2 months, they have responded very well for a new aquarium. We have many more sps corals to add in the future, just trying to keep our additions consistent. Our initial cleanup crew additions of ~1300 various members have held up well and done an incredible job.

Here is what the aquarium looked like on 4/27/2008

We created an “anemone island” which consists of a grouping of large Tonga branch rock 12” away from the rest of the reef structure to help contain the anemones. This is where we have our rose bubble tipped anemones and we even have the orange and green variety found locally from a few culturists. With the addition of 4 orange and 4 black Ocellaris clownfish and two anemone crabs, a natural ecosystem was created.

Anemone Island:

From the top:

Feeding:

In order to meet the nutritional needs of all of the inhabitants, we feed a variety of foods. We are exploring the benefits of creating our own blended gel based food and are sourcing quality fresh sea foods in Colorado for this purpose. A lot of the foods here are frozen and injected with phosphates. Fresh sea foods are expensive and possibly cost prohibitive. For the time being, we use these foods on a daily basis:
-Formula I & II
-Frozen Plankton
-Frozen Mysis Shrimp (Hikari, PE)
-Purple and Green Nori sheets
-New Life Spectrum Pellets and flake
-Silversides for the anemones every other week.
-Selcon, Vitachem, and garlic vitamin supplements.

The fish hear one of us step up onto the platform behind the display and immediately group towards the surface expecting their banquet.

Finally!

 

[crisc]

More photos of what it looks like today:

As of 7/1/2008

Summary:

One thing that I have learned after starting this business is the difference between a commercial account and a home hobbyist aquarium. There are several aspects of designing a commercial account that need to be considered, the most important being the frequency of our visits. A hobbyist’s aquarium is seen at least daily, checked for problems and evaluated for overall health. In commercial account design we consider all aspects of safety, possible problems, leak potential, etc. that might not be detected between our visits. One of the biggest decisions is the owner’s opinion regarding aesthetics. After all, they will be the one enjoying it!

We look forward to seeing this reef grow over the next few months, years and beyond. Of course we will try to keep updating the pictures here on RC as things are added. At least one of us will try to answer any questions that you may have, and thank you for letting us share what has been such a large part of our lives over the past 7-8 months.

 

[bmwardo]

It was wonderful to be a part of this build, thank you Cris!

 

[jumpfreak26]

very cool. what made you go with the taller tank rather than the shallower ones"?

 

[tremendo]

really cool i love the tall tank

 

[savethereef]

All i can Say is WOW

 

[streetjudge79]

Im just floored. That is totally amazing.

 

[bmwardo]

Jumpfreak- The dimensions were a combination of our input as well as the client's wants, the 5 foot height was important for him. It also offers a different dynamic that we don't often see with fish swimming in open space above the corals and rockwork. In addition, for the long term growth of the SPS, it will be several years before we start worrying about being limited by the water level For example if you take a look at Cris' TOTM thread, his corals have been limited to the top ever since I have known him.

 

[nitr8]

awesome tank. i love all the tangs.

 

[MyReefCreations]

Awesome job as usual Chris...


Tim

 

[Jflip2002]

Thats an awesome job. I think I actually will try to mock that, or at least be inspired by that design, when I reaquascape my tank. Thats just awesome, I can only imagine when it starts to fill in.

 

[new2sw776784]

Could you put together a fish list for that tank.

i count at least 8 yellow tangs and 8or9 bules.

i was just curious as to how many and what all was in there

thanks brett

 

[crisc]

Thanks all! We really had a lot of fun with this one. We are curing a few more pieces of rock to help build some more texture. There are a few spots that are too vertical to attach corals (left side). At least the size corals that would actually be seen in such a big tank. I have a 12" half moon shaped A. Efflo that will need to be attached to a rock and placed. A few others are on their way as well.
Thanks Brett, I will put a fish list together soon.

Cris