2000 gallon reef project

[Arnar]

Hi fellow reefers.

A short introduction is in order. My name is Arnar, live in Iceland and I am planning a build of an ambitious 2000 gallon reef aquarium which will be in an office of a big game developer.

I wanted to "share" the build with you here from the beginning in hope of using the knowledge, experience and advice of other brilliant reefers here on RC since I have not built anything on such a large scale before.

The tank will be 15foot x 5.5 foot x 35.4 inches. | 500cm x 170cm x 0.90cm. I think these are correct but we use the metric system

It will be viewable from every side.

There will be a remote room for all equipment and sumps.

Im also building a webpage for the project which will have info on most aspects of the tank as well as a few live webcams and live monitoring of pH, ORP, temp etc.

I hope you are willing to give me advice on this build since I am sure there will be plenty of questions on pumps,skimmers,sumps and more

The current project status is I need to get an rough idea on what I will need in the beginning so I can plan the budget and then get the GO on the whole thing

Here is a basic drawing of my plan : Plan

And for just for fun, here is current status of the area : Picture

More thoughts and questions later

 

[FishyBiz]

Good luck with the build!

 

[Mr.Furious]

I know everyone has questions on what lighting, protein skimmer, etc... you are using but ill wait till you are able to post more of your thoughts.

 

[Arnar]

Lets start with some basic equipment based questioning first

I would like to add that we already have a 530 gallon running which we will take down and use the equipment on the new tank.

So currently we have :
Deltec AP703 Skimmer - Link
Deltec PF600S Calcium Reactor - Link
3 x 400W MH SE 10.000K on E-ballast with spider reflectors
4 x Tunze stream 6100 + controller

This equipment is obviously not enough so here are a few questions for you

* What type of skimmer should I be considering? I've been looking at some brands but I would like to hear your thoughts. Some of them cost a fortune but Im looking into best performance vs price

* What kind of pump for return?. It's about 22 feet straight line from tank to sump in fish room and the tank edge will be around 78" high. There are many pumps out there and I we could really use your experience/advice on them. Drawing

* I plan on doing a few closed loops and would like some advice on pumps to use on that.

Hope someone can help me on those subjects.


Here are two more before pictures for fun, can't you picture it ? hehe ( There will be a roof on the later picture )

Fishroom
Outside

 

[Pico Keeper]

Sounds like a great project.

If the tank will be viewed from all sides I assume you will be using a center overflow, and you'll be drilling the bottom glass for the closed loop. Is that correct?

Those are awesome tank dimensions! Will it be glass or acrylic?

 

[Arnar]

Thanks Pico

We have not decided on where to put the overflow but it could possibly be on the corners where the tank goes into the wall opening but the wall is about 4 " thick. When I get the equipment matters straight I was going to try to get opinions here on layout,lightning and such

The closed loop will be in the bottom.

We will be using 1 1/2 " acrylic.

 

[Arnar]

Been making a little shopping list for the tank. Suggestions and comments are welcome


Skimming -> DelTec - AP 1004 Rated for ~1600 gallon so with the Deltec AP703 (800gallon) which we already have we would have a total of 2400 gallon capacity. Or should I maybe be looking at something else like MRC ?

Calcium Reactor -> DeltecPF1001 Fluidized Calcium Reactor - Rated for 1300g -. We already have PF600S which is rated for 660g so total is ~2000 gallon.

Kalkwasser stirrer -> Deltec KM 500ST

Lights -> At least 8x 400W CoralVue + Eballast

For monitoring we are probably going to buy the Elos - Biotopus II with all the probes and modules. It has lots of possibilities and is open-source so customization should be easy.

 

[xdusty6920]

a few suggestions. for the skimmer i would get 2 ap 1004's. this is deffinently not the area to fall short in and with a large budget (which you seem to have) its money well spent.
for a calcium reactor id try to have something custom built as apposed to trying to tune 2 together. not only would it be easier to maintain proper levels but it would also be a good bit cheaper.
as for the lights.....thats a huge complicated ball game that you'll hear many opinions on and mine is only one. your combo sounds fine but id use LA3's and run them every 2'-2.5'.
hope that helps some.

 

[alien9168]

this looks like an incredible project!

I cant wait to see it develop.

Why not go with buble king for a skimmer?

 

[alien9168]

It looks like 1 bubble king 650 would take care of this tanks skimming needs -- depending on the bio load.

Sorry about double posting....i had to check the captive oceans website for stats...

 

[Arnar]

Thanks guys!

I will look into getting a bigger skimmer. Maybe the 1006 type and use just one reactor. Any suggestions on custom builders for the reactor?


What do you think about this lighting setup ?

These will be Lumenarc's and are in correct scale on the picture and there is about a 2' between as xdusty6920 suggested.

The T5's will be on dimmable ballasts and controllable trough the Elos - Biotopus II.

 

[alien9168]

I love that ligting setup!

 

[Arnar]

Been doing some sketching in 3d

Here are two small 3D videos :

3D-1

3D-2


In other news im still working out the budget and waiting on some offers from glass and acrylic companies.

 

[reefworldaq]

Hai arnar, amaxing tank. did you calculate the total watt of your tank. I think you must concert about the main pump (10.000 gallon rate), and your skimmer will be giant like barr aquatic, MRC, or something like beckett skimmer. also your closeloop pump must be from all direction.