48" Deep Reef Tank With Biological Filtration

[osi]

Hi All

I have been reading on your forum for some time now, and I have to tell you this is very educational. There have been so very many threads that I have read that have been inspiring.

I'm building a 3000 litre system in one of my friends Coffee Bar and I thought I should start a build thread about it.

This tank will be kind of like an experiment for me because I'm going to do this tank with minimum equipments. Filtration going to be mainly depend on live rocks, macro algae and DSB.

And planing to use Prodibio, Bio pellets and vodka dosing as well.

Since any of the reef tank equipment are not available in Sri Lanka and when I import any of it I have to pay 40% custom tax + 10% insurance fee, less equipment systems sounds very appropriate.

I hope I could pull this off with you guys helping me to do it.

So here's the basic diagram for what I'm planning to do.

 

[osi]

We manage to finish building the tank few weeks back. It has 6" thick concrete walls and 19mm tempered glass front.

Few pictures of fixing the glass.

It wasn't an easy to handle the glass in that limited space but all these guys but one are professionals and they knew exactly what they doing.

Guy who ware check shirt is my friend who runs a biggest pet shop in south cost Sri Lanka and he's there only because he wants to learn how to fix a glass to a concrete tank.

 

[Vanpire]

What are you going to do for lighting?

I think you can probably get away from not having a skimmer, but then, I have always heard that you need a really good skimmer to dose Vodka.

How about flow? You will need a lot of pumps for a tank that size.

 

[Mj75]

Wow. Nice build. That tank is gonna consume alot of vodka:fun2: Reminds me of an SPS tank built in Thailand. I'm looking for that thread here in RC.

 

[Big_Al]

Interesting design plan. I cant wait to see more pictures as it progresses.

 

[osi]

Vanpire, I have to use a skimmer coz it is a must when using vodka. And even I don't use vodka I like to think about skimmer as hart of a marine tank because of the gas exchange. And also I like my tanks to look very clean and skimmer will help a lot for that.

I'm planning to use 2 skimmers but second one is optional.

When it comes to lighting every sane reefer will suggest MH because of the depth of the tank. But I'm going to go with T5's. Like I said this tank is an experiment. So I like to see what I can do here with T5's.

I have an aquascape plan in my mind and T5 s going to suite well with that design. I done lot of research and also talk to Giesemann guys and they told me Giesemann powerchrome products can use to grow SPS up to 80 centimeters.

And this is a very good thred which shows what T5's can do

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1083336&highlight=t5

And also V1's reef tank is a good example.

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1767159

I'm planning to use 8 × 80w Giesemann powerchrome T5 bulbs on IceCap ballast and SKIMZ aluminium parabolic reflectors. Bulb combo will be

3 × Aquablue 80w
2 × Actini plus 80w
2 × Pureactinic 80w
1 × Aquapink 80w

Tank filing depth will be 49" and planning to hang light structure 6" above the water level.

 

[bdwilson]

Very ambitious, I like it. I look forward to seeing how this one turns out.

 

[osi]

"bdwilson" Thanks. But Do not expect to see any of the fancy high tech equipments on this build. It’s going to be a Jubart method reef tank mainly depend on biological filtration.

 

[r-balljunkie]

your're gonna have a heck of a time getting the light to punch thru 48". it might come off looking a bit dim. have you seen any other tanks with 48" depth light by T5's for reference? you might be venturing into 3 x 1000w lighting territory for corals, 2 x 400W for fish only.... good luck with the build, looks like fun.

c

 

[Vanpire]

your're gonna have a heck of a time getting the light to punch thru 48". it might come off looking a bit dim. have you seen any other tanks with 48" depth light by T5's for reference? you might be venturing into 3 x 1000w lighting territory for corals, 2 x 400W for fish only.... good luck with the build, looks like fun.

c

Agred that T5s are not going to be enough to grow corals.

Maybe for lighting, you might want to create an openning the in ceiling/roof the size of the tank. You can use natural lighting and use the T5s only for supplementation.

 

[TheFishTeen]

Agred that T5s are not going to be enough to grow corals.

Maybe for lighting, you might want to create an openning the in ceiling/roof the size of the tank. You can use natural lighting and use the T5s only for supplementation.

+1 on this idea. You could use Solatubes for your main source of light then T5 or even LED to give it a blue-er color.

 

[Rajandra]

Im using Giesemann powerchrome 8 x 39W pure actinic for my 84x36x48" height tank. But I do have 3 x 400W 20KK MH lamp too. The pure actinic is very powerful that it can reaches the bottom of the 48" tank. Eventhough I have not measured the PAR value at the bottom with this T5, but my clams at the bottom seem to be happy with this T5 but I believe you must have MH if you thinking to have SPS at the bottom of your tank. Attached is the picture of my tank with T5 pure actinic only.

By the way, it is not easy to do maintenance and aquascaping if your tank is that deep. Imagine that I used to do snorkeling especially when I have to place new corals at the bottom. Plan well on your aquascaping and make sure it is strong bonding especially the LR.
Aquarium tong and feeding prong (kent marine) is a must.
You will definitely enjoy looking at your fishes swimming at this depth.
Good luck.

 

[osi]

LOL I know I know most of you guys will think I’m nuts. Couple of year back even I was a huge MH fan. I used to think if its sps then its MH. But one of my ma8s running a 30” SPS tank with T5’s and his corals growing like crazy.

Besides like I mentioned before there is lot of reef tank here in RC which runs only by T5’s. But then none of them are 48” deep.

But I’m planning to aquascape this tank with rock pillars and most of the corals which going to go in this tank will be monti cap from middle to upper parts of the pillars in spiral formation. All other SPS will place within 18” from top of the water level.

I did asked Giesemann technicians and according to them there T5 tubes are good to grow SPS till 32” from top of the water level.

And no I cannot use solar tubing coz tank is on the ground floor of 4 story building.

Anyway this will be an experiment and I can always hang few MH if this setup didn’t work out. It’s always good to do Experiments.

 

[osi]

Rajandra Have you measured the PAR levels on ya Pure Actinic coz I saw someone wrote Pure Actinic is like almost black light and have really low PAR levels. Maybe I should change my bulb combo to 3 Pure Actinic.

If anyone knows any info regarding this please let me know.

Cheers.

 

[osi]

some pictures of the tank after taking out the supporters for the glass.

 

[Crazy_Beaver]

Thats huge!!!!!!!!!All the best!!!!!!!!

 

[osi]

Thanks Beaver..

 

[osi]

Just finish applying 3 coats of super flow cement to prevent any possible water leaks.

 

[biecacka]

crazy big tank!!!!!

 

[TheFishTeen]

Very nice. What are the dimensions on this tank?