2300G Cylinder - Preview

À votre bon coeur!

My intention for lighting is to use 6 x 1000W 14,000K lamps, as well as natural light.

I hope that in the summer, natural light will meet >80% of the needs, and in winter, maybe 50%. I should be able to save 40% - 50% on lighting.

I intend to use a PAR meter hooked up to a controller to monitor the lighting incident on the tank over the day, and to schedule enough MH lighting to meet the needs all year round.

As for the round shape, like H2OENG says, the size should minimise the distortion, although I am a little worried about this.

G'day Diablo....

When you start work?
What do you want to keep in your tank?
 
If you don't mind me asking, who built the cylinder for you?

I don't mind at all... it was Acrylic Aquarium Co. .

I haven't mentioned it so far because I can't vouch for the quality. I can say that their price was good and service excellent.

When you start work?
Just this week we have had provisional approval from the bank for the project capital.

Expect to demolish & site cleanup in November, and foundations laid down by Christmas. Hopefully the whole job will be done by next July.
 
I'm clearing my tank through customs at the moment. Here it is in the container:
aquarium_container.jpg


Also working through the house fine details including finishes. Expect to start site preparation in about 8 weeks.

If anyone has any HVAC expertise, I would like some comments on the air flow diagram below. Two key principles are at play: 1) recover heat for use during winter. 2) keep humid, water exposed air flows separate from dry, lamp cooling air flows.
airflow.jpg


The top of the diagram is the outdoor equipment room. The lighting in the outdoor room will be run on a reverse-daylight cycle, so will act as a source of heat during the night. In summer this heat will be ducted outside. In winter, the heat will be ducted to the house, to be used either as house heating or heating for the winter garden / solarium.

The lower section of the diagram has 2 parts. One deals with lamp cooling. The air will be drawn from outdoors and directed to the house, the winter garden or outside depending on temp and time of year. The other deals with indoor equipment room air which will use a heat-recovery-ventilator for air exchange.
 
The Equipment List

The Equipment List

Just finished my draft equipment / inventory list... Feel free to comment.

Main Tank

Tank cylinder 1

Live Rock (kg) 960
Sand - Caribsea Aragamax (Bags) 80
Substrate structural support

**Flow**
Main Pumps - Finish Thompson DB7 2
Propeller Pumps (DIY) 2
Surge Tanks (DIY) 2
Surge Tank - 4" Actuated Butterfly Valves e.g. Colonial 311ND 2
Pilot Valves (Burkert 6012) 2
2 Way manifold (e.g. Burkert 005 355) 1
Compressor (Model not yet selected) 1
Pneumatic Tubing 1
Surge tank pumps - Finish Thompson DB15 2

**Lighting**
1000W, 14,000K BLV Lamps 6
Lumenbright Reflectors 6
1000W HID Ballasts 6
Lighting Hanging equipment 1

Air Flow
4" Duct Fan 2
6" Duct fan 1
Backdraft damper 3
4" zone damper 2
6" zone damper 3

Control
Microcontroller (DIY) 1
Solid state power relays 20
pH Transmitters (Omega PHTX-212) 2
pH Electrode (HI 1001) 1
ORP transmitters (Hanna Instruments HI 8615L) 1
ORP Electrode (HI 2001) 1
Conductivity Transmitter (Hanna Instruments HI 8936A ) 1
4 ring conductivity electrode (HI 3001) 1
Compressor Pressure Transducer (Sensor Technics PTU4300G4)1
CO2 Pressure Transducer (Sensor Technics KTU61K0SQ4) 1
Water Pressure Transducer (Sensor Technics KTU3015GQ4) 4
Thermal Transmitter (DIY) 8
Ultrasonic level sensors 3
Switch level sensors 2

Internal Room
Observation and acclimatization tanks 2
Welded Stand for acclimatization tanks 1
UV unit â€"œ Aqua Ultraviolet SL100 1

**Observation tank lighting**
39W T5HO Lamps 4
39W T5HO Double Ballasts 2
T5HO Endcap Pairs 4
T5HO Standoffs 8
Reflector for 36” 4
Lumenbrite Mini DE 2
BLV 14,000K, 250W DE 2
250W magnetic ballast 2

**Observation tank flow**
Tunze 6000 2

External Room
Concrete Sump Partitions 1
Plastic Sump Lining

Skimmer (Custom Recirculating Needle Wheel - 120 Gal. chamber) 1
Heat exchanger (custom titanium drop-in by aqualogic) 1

Frag Tanks 2
Welded Stand 2

**Frag Tank Lighting**
80W ATI Aqua-Blue Special 16
80W ATI Blue-Plus 4
80W ATI Pro Color 4
Icecap 430 Ballast 6
Endcap pairs (Icecap) 24
Standoff Pairs (Icecap) 24
6-“ Reflectors (Sunlight Supply Tek II) 24

**Frag Tank Flow**
Frag Tank Tunze Wave Boxes 2
Frag Tank Circulation - Tunze TS48 1

Manifold 1
DB7 pumps 2

**Calcium & Phosphate**
Calcium Reactor - My Reef Creations 1
Calcium Media - CaribseaARM
CO2 Regulator 1
CO2 Solenoid 1
CO2 Check valve 1
CO2 Needle valve 1
Phosphate remover (Rowaphos Reactor) 1
Rowaphos (5L) mdia 1
Kalk stirrer 1

**Water Change and Topup**
Reverse Osmosis - Spectrapure Maxcap UHE100 1
RO storage tank 1
Water change Pumps Hydor Seltz L40 4
Water change tank 1

**Refugium Lighting**
Coralview MiniBright reflectors 3
XM 10,000K, 250W lamps 3
Icecap 250W MH ballasts 3

Dosing Pump 1
Food / Algae Fridge 1

External
Earthlinkedâ"žÂ¢ Geothermal Heat Pump, 3.5ton (installed) 1
25kVA gas-backup generator 1
10,000 liter storage tank 1

General
Plumbing 1
Electrical 1
 
Great list!
I am glad you are going with the 4" butterflies. You will NOT be sorry:D How large are the surge tanks?

I made the timing of each valve slightly different so that eventually they would catch up to each other and both fire at once. You may wish to interlock these controls so that they cant fire together. It all depends on your overflows. Dont forget to route your exhaust air to outside or at least use a good muffler.

The sump will need to be large enough that both surge tanks can be full without the return pump running dry (I see you have several level sensors on your controls list.)

I usually have minimum:
1 level sensor in the tank to prevent overflow- stops pump for predetermined time.
1 level sensor for the sump low level to prevent the pump from running dry.
1 level sensor for the sump for the topoff actuation (timed so it cannot overfill if stuck).


Sounds like a fun project!!
Cant wait to see more,
Chris
 
Diablo,
I'm sorry I did not get notification of your previous posts (RC hardly ever tells me when my subscribed threads are active:( )

Looks like you've got it figured out just fine:)

Poly tubing is fine, just make sure its rated for compressed air and at or above the pressure you need.

I would recommend a filter on your supply air as well, commonly a filter/ regulator in one unit. An oilless compressor would be better for the equipment.

I did notice one thing on your hydraulic flow diagram: From the return manifold, there is a line going back to the sump. Don't worry about bleeding flow from the manifold, you will save energy and it wont hurt the pump.
 
Thanks for your advice H2OENG, it is really valuable.

Surge tanks are ~100Gallon each. I would like to have them bigger and higher (better surge), but I don't have the space.

I will make them slightly different sizes so they cycle their timings relative to each other. My plan was to trigger the surge based on water level, not timing.

Now that you've prompted my thought, maybe I will trigger the opening based on level but the closing based on time. This would allow me to replace an expensive continuous ultrasonic level sensor, with a much cheaper optical level switch.

I had not intended to put a level sensor on the main tank, but it is a good idea.
 
Glad you know what you are going Mark!!!

list looks great, it will take you a while to get that ammount of rock.

got the tank through customs yet?

Damien
 
Thats how I always trigger them- level to start, timed to close.

You could also use 2 floats with a relay. The top float latches the relay, opening the valve. The lower float unlatches the relay, closing the valve. Run the floats on a pipe so you can adjust them.

The timer is just easier, the floats and relay cheaper.

You could just use a cycle timer I suppose. Just let the surge tank overflow the overflow pipe til the timer triggers the valve. I like the level start though, as you can adjust the fill time with just the valve.
 
I know it maybe too late to change but I would suggest a 360 degree viewable centerpiece. i.e all equipment under the tank. surely you have the space under that tank for almost everything.

I have a small 40 X 40 cylinder and have a medium size sump, largish skimmer, rowa filter. UV, Chiller with space for more.
 
I know it maybe too late to change but I would suggest a 360 degree viewable centerpiece. i.e all equipment under the tank. surely you have the space under that tank for almost everything.

I have a small 40 X 40 cylinder and have a medium size sump, largish skimmer, rowa filter. UV, Chiller with space for more.
 
I know it maybe too late to change but I would suggest a 360 degree viewable centerpiece. i.e all equipment under the tank. surely you have the space under that tank for almost everything.

I have a small 40 X 40 cylinder and have a medium size sump, largish skimmer, rowa filter. UV, Chiller with space for more.
 
Damer... If I give the impression I know what I am doing, it is only because I don't know enough to know what I'm getting in to! I do have a strong sense of what I want to achieve, but this is the first and last time I expect to do something like this... everything is just a little bit new & scary.

bertcmg, I would love to see some pictures of your setup. Do you have a link? (Your website redhouse goes nowhere).

Beacause of the nature of the stand, I won't be able to use space under the aquarium, but I could have designed the aquarium to be 360 degree walk around if I had no other architectural priorities... as it is, there are 3 or 4 competing factors that the current design resolves satifactorily (e.g. air control for passive solar design; the need to partition guest and non-guest areas of the house [my wife and I are domestically challenged]).

I also aesthetically wanted to avoid a large anulus (donut) caused by services in and out of the middle of the aquarium. I wanted a large expanse that can be viewed all the way across.

Diverdick, tangreefer... thanks for your comments. My biggest fear is that I will have a great setup with dud waterquality and coral colors. We shall see.
 
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