236g bar tank

[MarkusII]

Hello,

I will present here the "making of" a 236g (net) tank (entire system will have 264g) integrated in a bar in a hotel in Austria.

The house was totally renovated and enlarged after this summer and the owner (with allready a lot of freshwater tanks and a small salt water tank) wanted to have a large saltwatertank as well.
He wanted an even bigger one as the one now in the works but the "family council" decided that the best place would be ín the restaurant behind the bar...
So he ended up with net 236g, dimensions 63x31,5x27,5 inches (roughly), entire system incl. sump has 264g

The limit of the size is the bar furniture surrounding the tank on the back side of the bar.

All technical equipment is downstairs.
Flow is 2 closed loop circles, each one "powered" by a 14500L (3830g) pump
A third same pump also does the return flow.

There are two chambers in the back of the tank: one with four drillings (two for the owerflow feeding the sump, one as emergency overflow and one for the return) and one with two drillings (for the closed loop intakes).
For the entire plumbing I use 40mm (1,57 inches) pipes.
For the closed loop I only use "arc" or "Y"-tubes not "T´s" and no 90 degrees tubes, they cause to much flow resistance!!!

Here you can find some pictures:

The tank with the chambers in the middle of the back (the higher one on the left for the sump and right the closed loop intake an the drillings for the CL outlets in the bottom.

tank with chamber and CL drillings just undergoing the lamination of the side and backwalls

some of the plumbing material:

preparations for bringing the tank into postion (has to be lifted over the bar)

bridging from the bar to the tanks position[/URL]

Some strong guys moving the tank

strong helping hands (watch the female boss of the hotel - on the right side of the picture)[/URL]

...and finally moved in its postion[/URL]

Here you can see a wrong stocking of the tank - me in the tank installing the outlets.

installing the CL outlets

doing the plumbing:

Here you can see the tank in the room behind the bar (not completed yet)

Bar room with tank

Here the plumbing is completed and water is in the tank (you can see the front outlets of the CL) - sorry for the "quality" of the picture:

tank filled

Yesterday I did the rock work but have not yet pictures downloaded.

regards

Markus

 

[MarkusII]

Hello,

As I stated allready the fish room is downstairs.
It will also allow an easy water change in the fish room in the room below the tank.
You just have to stop the circulation pump; then you can open a valve below the sump allowing to drain a 55g chamber of the sump. Then you close again the valve. Now you can pump from another 55g tank fresh saltwater (the tank has a water pipe to fill and a small pump for circulation till the salt has dissolved) to the sump. Then just start the return pump again - water change done within minutes.
It is not yet ready completely (therefore no picture available)
but here is a picture of the sump with some drawings how it will be set up.
(red is the 55g sump part which can be drained via a valve), yellow the position of the tank for preparing the fresh saltwater, blue the return plumbing
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(on the right side of the sump will be the tank for fresh water to compensate evaporation)

will keep you updated on the progress

regards

Markus

 

[nyvp]

nice set up. I like the stand but dont know how strong it is.

 

[MarkusII]

Hello,

thanks

about one third of the tank and the stand sits on the backward wall, then it is fixed to the wall as well as with a frame on the floor. and there is also a closet which is built in under the tank (not visible on the pictures as removed for the work) which will additionally support the tank.

regards

Markus

 

[gtaylor67]

Great looking set up glad you had a chance to upgrade.. Its bound to happen.. LOL

 

[Deputy1234]

do you have the pictures loaded yet?

 

[MarkusII]

Hello,

gtaylor67 - it is not my upgrade...:wavehand:

deputy1234 - no (christmas days... you know)

regards

Markus

 

[MarkusII]

Hello,

some progress:
was there on the 4th and took some pictures
View of the room, bar and the tank (making a picture was not so easy (reflections) - so apologize for the quality) with the bar furniture completed:

A more closer look:

the chamber in the middle will be covered by a "reef-wall":

(I will build it "in" today)

And a few more rocks will most probably be added.

regards

Markus

 

[mranthonymb]

nice tank setup looks great

 

[Mini_GBR]

how did you make your 'wall'? looks good!

 

[FloformAustria]

Hallo Markus!

Na dass schaut ja wirklich gut aus!
Bin schon gespannt wie sichs entwickelt.

Lieben Gruß aus Wien

Flo

and now for everyone without german skills!

Hello Markus!
looks really good!
Can´t wait to see it develop

Greetings from Vienna

Flo

 

[MarkusII]

Hello,

Mini_GBR: I used egg crate as a basis, and strapped bigger pieces with black cable clips to it; smaller pieces where glued with hot glue and Reef bond.

I will post pictures of the making.

Florian: danke...

Pictures to follow

regards

Markus

 

[MarkusII]

Hello,

ok as I allready wrote I finished yesterday the principal rockwork by mounting the "reef wall" to hide the chamber with the plumbing going to the downstairs fishroom.

The owner stated in the beginning of the work with the tank that it makes more or less no difference in the amount of plumbing material needed and the size of the overflow chambers - regardless for his size of a tank or one as twice the size or even bigger - and yes of course thats true.

So the hiding of the overflow chamber looks very massiv and takes up a lot of room in the tank.
But I tried to make it very structured (with a lot of opportunities to place corals and lateron with corals on it it will most probably look like a steep reef or large pillar.
Eventually I will remove again the connecting flat stone (the white one) between the left pillar and the chamber covering.

regards

Markus

 

[MarkusII]

Hello,

and here some pictures of the "making of" the reef wall to hide the overflow chamber

allready a few pieces of the left side fixed

working on the front side

One of my two sons assisted me and had a lot of fun helping me (and of course he was proud of the work)

almost completed

regards

Markus

 

[FloformAustria]

Hey Markus!!

Looking great!

Love the way u make the overflow reefwall!

Keep pictures coming!

Flo

 

[MarkusII]

Hello Florian,

I do all my wallwork and pillars with egg crate and this way. It is rather easy, has a good stability and stil is an open structure to allow flow go trough.

But in general I do not like (massiv) walls in tanks - but to hide the overflow it is perfect. I prefer open space and good structures giving the tank more optical depth than a coverage of the complete backwall.

regards

Markus

 

[FloformAustria]

Hello Florian,

I do all my wallwork and pillars with egg crate and this way. It is rather easy, has a good stability and stil is an open structure to allow flow go trough.

But in general I do not like (massiv) walls in tanks - but to hide the overflow it is perfect. I prefer open space and good structures giving the tank more optical depth than a coverage of the complete backwall.

regards

Markus

Hi Markus!

Couldn´t have said it better!
And i think i could bring that into my tank!?

Do u know Christian Hepperger?
He´s a LFS from Innsbruck!?

Flo

 

[pco1988]

Great idea! Wish I thought that up when I restarted my 210 last week, oh well now I have a plan of action for the next setup! Looking great so far! Can't wait to see this tank when it is mature!

Keep it going! Great thread!

Philip

 

[MarkusII]

Hello,

Philip - thanks

Florian - you ahve a PM...

regards

Markus

 

[MarkusII]

Hello,

so next step for owner and guests: sitting in front of the tank with a beer or drink (and that is an easy task in this environement:beer::wavehand:) and wait for the cycling phase to terminate until the first hermit crabs, snails and urchins as well as corals can be put in...

So lets have a beer and wait

regards

Markus