330 Gallon (Acrylic Tank Mfg. 72"l x36"w x30"hx1"thick) SPS Three Years in the M

[markmcc]

330 Gallon (Acrylic Tank Mfg. 72"l x36"w x30"hx1"thick) SPS Three Years in the M

I had planned a large SPS Reef tank when I ended college, however after buying a house, engagement and wedding rings and a honeymoon there was no money left over for my reef...Until Now!

I ordered my tank from Acrylic Tank Manufacturing two weeks ago and am looking at a mid January delivery to my freight forwarder in Miami who will ship it on to Jamaica (my home) for me.

My equipment (skimmer, Calcium Reactor and Kalk Reactor) are all DIY. I will add pictures here as they are completed.

The tank will be an SPS dominated reef. I still haven't decided on bare bottom or sand.

I had a room added on to the side of my house as the filter room. It has two 150 gal rubbermaid agro tubs and a 120 gallon All-Glass (my old tank) refugium. Total system volume will be 750 gallons. One of the Rubbermaid tubs will be dumped and filled every two months for water changes. I have a titanium coil in tube chiller that will cool the system as it can get pretty hot here in the summers.

Gotta run but I will keep you updated on the progress, and pictures coming soon.

 

[invincible569]

Cant wait for pics. Why did you end up living in Jamaica?

 

[adddo]

I'd love to have a reef inside my door AND outside my door...

Will be checking this thread out!

 

[boozeman]

I look foward to seeing this project delelop...I have an idea for you...install glass block on the roof over the tank to supplement with natural light, easy to do when you live in the tropics

 

[markmcc]

boozman: The outdoor filter room has a concrete slab roof so no chance of natural light getting through that, but thanks for the idea.

adddo: Its really just a filter room outside. The main reef will be completely indoors.

invincible569: I've always lived in Jamaica, I actually caught the Reef bug while at College in Miami (UofM).

 

[markmcc]

The DIY Skimmer

The DIY Skimmer

A pic of the DIY Skimmer

 

[markmcc]

The DIY Calcium Reactor.

I am new to posting pics so please have patience with me.

 

[markmcc]

The Skimmer with one Injector pulled apart.

 

[markmcc]

Pics of the Pump Room to come tonight!

 

[markmcc]

Can anybody point me to a good thread on a DIY stand for a large tank like this one (72Lx36Wx30H) 330gallon.

I'd like to use wood but I am not averse to doing a stainless steel hollow section stand if I can find good plans.

I'll try to get some pictures of the Kalk Reactor and the coil in tube chiller up tonight as well.

I haven't gotten a compressor & evaporator yet for the Chiller Coil in tube. Can anybody point me in the right direction for the size in BTUs that I would need to bring this 750gal system down from about 86F to about 80F, about 6 degrees.

THanks in Advance.

 

[jfbhd4]

Can you go out to the reef and catch fish / coral / L R to put em in your tank, or is that illegal??

 

[markmcc]

Once you're not in a park its ok for fish. LR and coral I'm not so sure of. But I will be looking in to it as I would not want to have to fly in 300+ pounds of LR when there are tonnes of it here.

 

[markmcc]

Can I get away with two 400 watt 20K Hilides and VHO supplimental Actinic on this 6 ft long tank. I plan to place my rocks and SPS on two "islands" under the access holes in the top of the acrylic.

What is the best reflector for such a setup?

THanks,
Mark

 

[thor32766]

I think you would be fine.

 

[mflamb]

I'm going to use Lumenarc reflectors. Check them out:
http://www.reefexotics.com/lumenarc.htm

 

[boozeman]

when I visited P.R. I noticed that most houses there use slab concrete roofs. people cut square holes into them and insert glass block to assist in lighting their homes during the day.

 

[boozeman]

awesome DIY skills!
the luminarc reflectors work very well

 

[markmcc]

just bought two lumenarc IIIs. ill let you know how they work out.

thanks for the complement on the diy skimmer and calcium reactor.

 

[markmcc]

The Pump/Sump Room

The Pump/Sump Room

This is the Sump/Pump Room. The 120 gallon 48"x24"x24" will become a refugium in a few weeks.
The two Rubbermaids are both 150 Gallons. I intend to plumb it so that during a water change I can dump the top Rubbermaid and fill it back up without disturbing the rest of the system.
The White PVC tube is the chiller barrel. It has a titanium coil in it. It has been plumbed for water but not for refrigerant yet. We are still working out the details on the rest of the cooling system.
THe RO/DI has two parts the bottom prefilter has a sediment and carbon filter which the water passes through first then it goes into the top RO/DI system. The bottom prefilter is necessary because the water in Kingston has an enormous amount of sediment in it. If you look closely you will notice how brown the bottom two filters are. This is after only about 300 gallons of product water. I mounted the RO/DI on the door to save space and for easy access.

 

[markmcc]

One more of the Sump&Pump Room