2300G Cylinder - Preview
- Thread starter Diablo
- Start date
clairendave
New member
I need a new income........ and a building plot. One awesome build in progress
FloformAustria
New member
this is really awesome! 
i´m really loking forward to any of u´re updates!
i´m really loking forward to any of u´re updates!
Hi Diablo
I saw that you were planning on using a surge tank with a pneumatic butterfly valve . I used a 6 inch valve on mine that goes to six 3 inch valves randomly controlled by a Plc to get a nice flow . If you need any info on how to set it up let me know , there are a few tricks to doing it and building the controller . My surge tank is 300 gallons and dumps in about 6 seconds . It sits about 8 feet over the water level in the main tank . How big of a surge are you planning . I have a video of mine going but don't know how to post it . What are you going to use to seal the concert in your sumps ? Nice job so far .
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I saw that you were planning on using a surge tank with a pneumatic butterfly valve . I used a 6 inch valve on mine that goes to six 3 inch valves randomly controlled by a Plc to get a nice flow . If you need any info on how to set it up let me know , there are a few tricks to doing it and building the controller . My surge tank is 300 gallons and dumps in about 6 seconds . It sits about 8 feet over the water level in the main tank . How big of a surge are you planning . I have a video of mine going but don't know how to post it . What are you going to use to seal the concert in your sumps ? Nice job so far .
<a href="http://img526.imageshack.us/i/picture008io.jpg/" target="_blank"><img src="http://img526.imageshack.us/img526/9296/picture008io.th.jpg" border="0"/></a>
<a href="http://img442.imageshack.us/i/picture005gw.jpg/" target="_blank"><img src="http://img442.imageshack.us/img442/1702/picture005gw.th.jpg" border="0"/></a>
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paulmartin
Member
This is going to be some build! Will be tagging along!
ashish
New member
Your aquarium is HUGH. The great thing about a large reef aquarium is that not everyone with disposable income could do what you are doing. A lot of people would think its all money but It takes time, patients!!, dedicating, patients, (did i mention patients?), than money before you could even consider doing what you are (let alone succeed). Your Protein skimmer will be your Greatest asset. cant wait to see how everything turns out and many will learn from your experience (since only very few people own 2000 plus gallon aquariums). One person you could learn form is David Saxby (if you have'nt already); his aquarium speaks for itself. Be caution with mixing fishs unless they are compatible (esp w corals) bc you'll probably never be able to remove them. I have learned my lesson and don't mix fish unless there 100% reef safe (with caution to me means NOT Reef safe). Thanks for the posts and congrats
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Thanks K.Sweeny... the time this is taking is frustrating to me too... I look back to the first post on this thread and realise that its a long time ago now. I am getting old on this project :eek1:
All the dust storms were at least 600 miles north of where I live... We had one just like it in 1983. Very eery... it feels quite apocalyptic to be part of, especially if you happen to see the front roll in! I have a friend in Sydney who has taken some quite impressive shots.
dantimdad, by all means. Its about an hours drive or public transport from Melbourne, but I commute every day, so the burden is not too great.
I need increased life insurance... popper231 & FloformAustria, thanks.
Thats good to know Beaun. I've never owned one, but they do look really interesting. Looking back at the fish list, I'm sure I will have to cut it down... I don't want the aquarium to look like a can of fishes! But the possum wrasse is small enough to stay. I probably need to make choices between Emperor versus Majestic angel; Achilles versus Powder Blue tang, and drop maybe 1/2 the other tangs.
GreensaM, thanks so much for posting. Very interested in seeing your video if you can manage to post. I think you will need to load it onto youtube and then link it in? Your approach is very interesting. My plan was to have 2 independent surge tanks of about 100 Gallon each with 4" valves. I can see that the way you have done it will provide more diverse flow patterns. Is there any reason why you have 2 "œlayers" of control valve, or more specifically, could you have gotten away without using the 6" valve and only use the 6 x 3" valves?
I am interested in any insights you have RE: building the controller. I intend to build mine using Atmel AVR32, which will be used to control the whole show. Still having an internal debate about embedded linux versus FreeRTOS.
When I set it up the 3 inch valve were kind just flow diverter valves , they had nothing to do with the fill and dump of the surge tank . The six inch valve runs the surge . Now with using the new controllers I could have done away with the six inch valve but its just too neat to look at and works so well . The controller i have right now is a very simple one . made up of latching relays . Its a very simple system . There is a float switch in the bottom of the surge tank and one towards the top and one at the very to which turns the pump off . originally I had only one float switch at the top when the water level rose to this it opened the valve and trigger a delay on make relay which held the valve ope for X amount of seconds . This was pain to adjust so I added a second float switch at the bottom . when the water level hits this it unlatches the relay and it starts filling again . I have decided to use opto 22 as my plc controller with a touch screen human interface , this should run things alot better then what I had , an iks aquastar .
<embed width="600" height="361" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowFullscreen="true" allowNetworking="all" wmode="transparent" src="http://static.photobucket.com/player.swf?file=http://vid42.photobucket.com/albums/e325/wannbill/12-19-08_0052.flv">
This took me awile to figure out how to post , Hope it works . This was taken a year ago . that is the flow from one 3 inch pipe half way down a 8 foot deep tank .
This took me awile to figure out how to post , Hope it works . This was taken a year ago . that is the flow from one 3 inch pipe half way down a 8 foot deep tank .
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dwd5813
New member
Congratulations on the start of your build! I came across this thread a while back when the layout was first posted but it's great to find it again and see the progress.
The concrete cylinder a page or two back is the base for the tank, yes? It's quite impressive to see the structure actually in the ground vs. on paper. I admire the thought you've put into your home, and am sure to enjoy seeing the pictures of the completed project. Not much else I can say... I'm floored. Keep up the good work.
The concrete cylinder a page or two back is the base for the tank, yes? It's quite impressive to see the structure actually in the ground vs. on paper. I admire the thought you've put into your home, and am sure to enjoy seeing the pictures of the completed project. Not much else I can say... I'm floored. Keep up the good work.
Hey ashish, thanks. I must confess to a degree of guilt about such a large aquarium. I know its boring to say on a build thread, but there you have it.
Notwithstanding the guilt, here I am building my beautiful white elephant...:crazy1:
Yes. Once things get above 500G, the engineering challenges are less easy to meet using off the shelf, store bought equipment. I especially appreciate the input on this forum of those who have worked on larger systems (e.g. H2OEng). The MRC skimmer appears to be a beauty! I can't wait to meet it in person. I had originally planned on a Volcano skimmer by Spazz, but when he had to shut down his business, MRC were willing to have a go, at a very decent price.
I have researched David's tank... very impressive. I especially like his mix of invertebrates... I love SPS, but I also like a bit of fluidity of movement... anemones, gorgonians, etc.
Thanks for the advice... the only fish of any real concern are the large Angels and moorish idol. I have to the extent possible stuck to herbivors and planktonivors
GreensaM, thanks for the detail regarding your surge device, and the video.
Humidity handling is done in a couple of ways...
Firsty, the space that the aquarium is in will be lined with HDPE (plastic) sheets, making it as close to a "sealed container" with respect to the house airspace as possible. There will also be a Venmar heat recovery ventilator (HRV) in the internal equipment room to ensure fresh air in and humid air out. The heat generated by the lighting and lighting control gear above the aquarium should be sufficient to warm my home via the HRV during winter. In summer, I will need to vent directly and not recover the heat.
Temperature control is via a 3 ton geo-exchange reverse cycle heat pump (capable of heating and chilling - Google "earthlinked"). I know geo-exchange is over the top, but last summer we had a 117 deg. F day here and normal air exchange chillers become ineffective. I am commisioning Aqua Logic to build me a 5 ton titanium heat exchanger coil that will sit in the sump. The compressor has a second heating line that I will use with the lap pool in winter.
I will use fans to chill in the first instance, and only bring on the chiller once required. I will also get my microcontroller to get the weather forecast and conservatively manage tank temperature on any day where the temperature forecast exceeds the aquarium set point (i.e. start fans a little earlier) to provide a bit more buffer.
Humidity handling is done in a couple of ways...
Firsty, the space that the aquarium is in will be lined with HDPE (plastic) sheets, making it as close to a "sealed container" with respect to the house airspace as possible. There will also be a Venmar heat recovery ventilator (HRV) in the internal equipment room to ensure fresh air in and humid air out. The heat generated by the lighting and lighting control gear above the aquarium should be sufficient to warm my home via the HRV during winter. In summer, I will need to vent directly and not recover the heat.
Temperature control is via a 3 ton geo-exchange reverse cycle heat pump (capable of heating and chilling - Google "earthlinked"). I know geo-exchange is over the top, but last summer we had a 117 deg. F day here and normal air exchange chillers become ineffective. I am commisioning Aqua Logic to build me a 5 ton titanium heat exchanger coil that will sit in the sump. The compressor has a second heating line that I will use with the lap pool in winter.
I will use fans to chill in the first instance, and only bring on the chiller once required. I will also get my microcontroller to get the weather forecast and conservatively manage tank temperature on any day where the temperature forecast exceeds the aquarium set point (i.e. start fans a little earlier) to provide a bit more buffer.
twd5813, thanks! No, unfortunately the concrete work you saw was for our 15,000 gallon rainwater tank (we intend to have a vegie garden and seem to be in permanent drought and with it water restrictions that ban the watering of gardens). I must admit, an 18' diameter aquarium would be way-cool! I actually wanted 13' diameter, rather than 10', but that would increase the surface area and volume by 70%, and it would have killed the budget (both build and ongoing runnng expenses)
The concrete stand for the tank will be mid December.
House slab pour starts next Wednesday. I will need to go around after work with a torch to make sure that the garage to house plumbing is right.
