2300G Cylinder - Preview

I will post on RTAW once I am close to filling with water. During the build I have barely had time to maintain one thread, let alone two, and on reef central I have access to a broader range of large tank experience.

Cool there are a couple of big tanks like stripestheels one and blags....
 
inspiration

inspiration

I have been planing a 2000gal plus system for some years now and your build is an inspiration to work harder on my plans, and get the ball rolling. The reason my planing has stopped is because I want more viewing angles than the one side the in-wall set up would give me. Now I see your near 360 viewing and I am in awh!!!:eek2: (just found this thread and was glued start to finish)

1 What was the main reason you chose the round tank?
2 Clearly you had some freedom to design to your hart's content. How did you decide on a size?

Good luck, god speed
 
This is one amazing build! I'd be willing to fly over just to see this tank! I spent 6 months in Australia and loved every minute of it. Best of luck to you.
 
Hey hpfunk,

Glad you've gotten something out of it so far...

1 What was the main reason you chose the round tank?

I'd love to say it was inspired genius, but in the end, a cylinder gave me more volume per dollar than rectangular. I originally wanted a tank viewable from 2 sides that was 10' x 7' x 7', but the cost to build in all acrylic at a panel thickness that would not unduly bow was out of my budget. The tank manufacturer suggested a cylinder.

The question then became "Do I believe I can make a cylinder work?" and "Will it give me the depth perception I am looking for?"

Having visited public aquaria with donut shaped tanks, I was clear to me that I did not want a center overflow, because it shatters the depth field of view... it just looks like a long, thin tank bent in a circle. I finally settled on the current concept and thought I could make it work.

The final piece that gave me the confidence to go round was this tank by Pieter van Suijlekom.

CylinderReef.jpg


I believe it was his aquarium before his most current one:
Large.jpg


2 Clearly you had some freedom to design to your hart's content. How did you decide on a size?

Ongoing operational budget. I wanted to go 13' cylinder, but it would have required another 4 x 1000W lights which I can't afford to run.
 
Hows the house and shed coming? any progress out there? (the house is just as much a part of this thread as everything else...)

also, i remember you saying you had server issues, do you still have those original pictures of the tank being built and shipped? they arnt on the first page anymore.....

thanks!!
 
Ongoing operational budget. I wanted to go 13' cylinder, but it would have required another 4 x 1000W lights which I can't afford to run.

ha ha - those 1000W lights will do it! But it does add up though -
4 x 1000W lights for 6 hours/day = $1500/year @ $0.20/kWh

Did you consider using skylights/solartubes for lighting with supplementary artificial lighting for evenings?

Great build btw - looking forward to seeing it filled and stocked!
 
This is one amazing build! I'd be willing to fly over just to see this tank! I spent 6 months in Australia and loved every minute of it. Best of luck to you.
Thanks... if ever you're this way again look me up!

Hows the house and shed coming? any progress out there? (the house is just as much a part of this thread as everything else...)
Will post another full update next weekend... should be almost ready to move in!

also, i remember you saying you had server issues, do you still have those original pictures of the tank being built and shipped? they arnt on the first page anymore.....

Here you go:
ourtank_filled.jpg


Aquarium From Dining.jpg


Site_Plan.jpg


Total Floorplan_large.jpg


hydraulic_plan.jpg


Outdoor proessing room 2_a.jpg


Outdoor proessing room 2_b.jpg


aquarium_container.jpg
 
Diablo ,
I dont know if someone ask you this but Have you consider having solar system and maybe run LEDs too.
They have few LEDs in the market right now that can easily penetrate 48" tall tank.
 
Diablo ,
I dont know if someone ask you this but Have you consider having solar system and maybe run LEDs too.
They have few LEDs in the market right now that can easily penetrate 48" tall tank.

4 x 21" solar tubes go in this week hopefully.

RE: LEDs, when I first started planning the tank, they were not even an option. Now they are technically viable, but still a bit expensive up front.

I will be running one frag system off LEDs to experiment and gain confidence and maybe in two years when costs have come down further will transition one light at a time.
 
I would consider a few LED's as supplementals so that you can reduce the 1kW MH's to as little time as possible. I'm going to do some testing of some 3W Crees in the next couple of days to see how far apart I can place them and still get pretty good coverage, I'll let you know how it goes. I bet you could get good growth off of only running the MH's for 4 hrs/day.
 
4 x 21" solar tubes go in this week hopefully.

RE: LEDs, when I first started planning the tank, they were not even an option. Now they are technically viable, but still a bit expensive up front.

I will be running one frag system off LEDs to experiment and gain confidence and maybe in two years when costs have come down further will transition one light at a time.

what i meant was solar panel system to offset your electric bill.
our system was just installed less than a month ago and it generate electricity even its raining or hailing.

as far as leds their is a lot of china made thats reasonable and can be use as supplement ince solar tubes will be yellow.
 
the quarantine tanks in your hydraulic plan

the quarantine tanks in your hydraulic plan

Thanks for sharing those pics and schematics

I noticed your quarantine tanks and how they drain back into the sump via a filter. I entertained the same concept a while ago and even threw in an UV filter to further reduce any biological contaminants that new or sick fish in your quarantie tanks could 'produce'. I posted the idea on another forum. The feedback was that it might not protect a 100% against any biological contaminants ending up in the main display tank. The main concerns were related to medicines used in the quarantine tanks to end up all over.

Your thoughts on that?

regards, Henk
 
I'm going to do some testing of some 3W Crees in the next couple of days to see how far apart I can place them and still get pretty good coverage, I'll let you know how it goes.
Thanks. Looking forward to hearing your assessment.

I bet you could get good growth off of only running the MH's for 4 hrs/day.
I hope so... I'm sort of banking on it!

what i meant was solar panel system to offset your electric bill.
our system was just installed less than a month ago and it generate electricity even its raining or hailing.
I have a 5kW system installed on the garage roof! I have put over 300kWh back into the grid already!

The main concerns were related to medicines used in the quarantine tanks to end up all over.
Your thoughts on that?

I will have a separate quarantine tank for administration of medicines, but I hope not to use it too frequently. This will not be plumbed into the main system. The other two tanks will be used for acclimatisation and observation.
 
Here's how I plan on mounting the Hydro Wizards to allow removal for cleaning. This structure will be glued on to the side of my overflow.
P1.JPG


An acrylic sled is screwed on to the pump using titanium screws.
P2.JPG


The sled then slides into the structure mounted to the overflow (minus my dog's head)... ta da!
P3.JPG
 
Excellent. That should work nicely.

On the Hydro Wizards, are the screws in the pump titanium too? Also, I guess I could look this up, but what's the motor/propeller coupling in the pump? Is it magnetic or mechanical seal?
 
you show the hydro wizard and it looks like a large pump. then you made the acrylic slider, and i was like "wow, thats kind of tall compared to the banister on the stairs.... cool"
then, the last picture was like someone pointing a TANK CANNON at your face when you go to a gun fight........ (I SURRENDER!!!) lol.
that thing looks bigger and bigger ever time i see it!
 
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