600 Gallon Surger Reef Build

[mdreef1]

I've been meaning to start a build thread for a while now. Business has been slow, and I find myself with more time to write down what's been going on.

First, here's the tank:




The tank was built by Glass Cages. The outside dimensions are 96" long, 48" deep, 30.5" tall - total volume 608 Gallons. This thing is built to last; it has double 3/4" glass on the bottom, and extra bracing everwhere conceivable. The front pane is Starfire. In all, it's 1,400 lbs empty.

 

[Sps Dream]

Good Luck.

 

[mdreef1]

The tank showed up on a big rig, and it had problems making it up the soft mud/gravel driveway.

Eventually, we found a neighbor with a hydraulic flat bed truck, and a bunch of neighbors and family stopped by to lend a hand.

During construction of the house, we left a hole through the outside wall of the fish room. The size and weight of the tank meant that we could not have moved it in to the house any other way.

Luckily, since the truck bed was hydraulic, we were able to tip it back a bit to make it easier to slide the tank off and on to the waiting platform.

To make the tank easier to move, we used small diameter PVC pipes as rollers.

 

[mdreef1]

Good Luck.

Thanks for the well wishes!

 

[mdreef1]

Here's the tank after we got it on the temporary platform.

The platform has wheels so it can be easily moved around, and is strong enough to support being jacked up to the final resting height.

The little ones are waking up from their naps.. more to come later....

 

[7Reef]

That is a beautiful tank!!! I love the dimensions! What are you using for equipment and lighting?

 

[adamPL]

Looking good. Can`t wait to see rest of the equipment. Good Luck

 

[TheFishTeen]

Awesome! Very ambitious build!

 

[mdreef1]

Thanks, 7reef. The dimensions came about because 8 feet is just about as wide as I can go in the fish room, 30.5" is the deepest I can reach without having to get my face wet (counting glass and sand, and I wanted to go at least 4 feet deep to increase the varibility of the aquascape.

adamPL and TheTeenFish, thanks!

I'll put together a list of equipment and post it soon. I'm really excited about the water flow. Primary light will be sunlight, and the skimmer will be a BubbleKing SuperMarin 300 Internal. Energy efficiency is a big part of my design.

 

[TheFishTeen]

Thanks, 7reef. The dimensions came about because 8 feet is just about as wide as I can go in the fish room, 30.5" is the deepest I can reach without having to get my face wet (counting glass and sand, and I wanted to go at least 4 feet deep to increase the varibility of the aquascape.

adamPL and TheTeenFish, thanks!

I'll put together a list of equipment and post it soon. I'm really excited about the water flow. Primary light will be sunlight, and the skimmer will be a BubbleKing SuperMarin 300 Internal. Energy efficiency is a big part of my design.

Awesome! Obviously lots of thought has gone into this build. :reading:

 

[mdreef1]

Here's the tank jacked up to the final height of 53". We used a regular car jack, and raised a side about 6", braced it, moved to the other side, and repeat... over and over until we made it to the top. That back and forth twisting is why the temporary stand was so beefy.

The tank stand is pretty simple, made out of 6x6 pressure treated lumber. I thought about metal, but I don't weld, and I don't know anyone.

So, wood it is. 2x6 supports between the 6x6's, 3/4" plywood over that, then 1/2" low density styroform to soak up the lumps, then 1/2" high density styrofoam for stability and durability during the file positioning.

Next a combination of tow straps and ropes lifted the front half of the tank about 1/4" to 1/2", and another set of straps and come-alongs pulled the tank forward. Instead of using a lot of man power, we used a lot of time and tools, and just took it slow.

And here's the final resting place.

 

[mdreef1]

Also, in the pics above you can get an idea about the skylights that will be used.

 

[TheFishTeen]

Also, in the pics above you can get an idea about the skylights that will be used.

Yup, I see em. Now Im just thinking, are they going to provide enough direct sunlight for your tank? Most sunlit tanks are under a full greenhouse or lit with solar tubes.

 

[mdreef1]

Yup, I see em. Now Im just thinking, are they going to provide enough direct sunlight for your tank? Most sunlit tanks are under a full greenhouse or lit with solar tubes.

I know exactly what you mean. I visited a few sunlit tanks, and none of them went with this approach. It was a decision I wrestled with for a while.

I considered solar tubes, and the largest ones I found were 18 inches, and the skylights are roughly 3'x3'. In the end, I'm gambling that 36 sqft of glass will be better than a smaller, more directed amount of light.

The greehouse idea (in this area) has a huge disadvantage of temp control.. from extreme heat in the summer to extreme cold in the winter. The one system I saw had 3 250' geo wells, and still had problems keeping the temp acceptable in summer. We didn't get in to heating in the winter; it was summer when I visited, and heating wasn't on anyone's mind at the time.

 

[mdreef1]

Here's the part of the system I'm most excited about, the heart of the system:

I know it doesn't look like much, but it's going to be a wicked cool gravity surger.

I've been enamored with gravity surgers for a long while now. They were popularized for aquarium use by Dr. Bruce Carlson - the so called Carlson Surge Device. They are a great way to amplify the water flow of a pump by storing up the pump's output and then dumping it quickly. You end up with periods of no flow followed by periods of exaggerated flow.

Here's a sketch of the basic idea:

There are three problems with this technique:

1. It takes too long between surges to be used as the primary flow.
2. The flow is laminar, tight, and harsh.
3. Bubbles in the output.

The surge tank I'm using is divided in to 10 sections. Each section has a 2" gravity surge outlet. It's sized so that when driven with a Hammerhead pump, all 10 will surge once per minute. Each section is a little different in size compared to the others so there's a bit of psuedo-randomness to the surges. At times there will be no flow, and at times all 10 will pop off together causing a tsunami. Though most of the time, I expect them to go off as indivduals or maybe pairs. Averaging 6 seconds per surge is fairly close to the way waves pass on a real reef.

The output will go through a 3' wide baffle to push the air bubbles out and widen and smooth the flow. That baffle will be the head end of the refugium. The other end of the 'fuge will output to the display tank.

 

[Addict0Reef]

Also, in the pics above you can get an idea about the skylights that will be used.

I am assuming that you are setting up a SPS mini reef, what with the interesting surge device you have planned. But using natural sunlight in MD for SPS from skylights seems challenging to me. If the natural light doesn't provide enough par, then what are your plans to supplement the lighting? As this build-up is to be energy efficient, do you plan to power the reef with solar panels or by other means?

Regarding the modified Carlson Surge Device, what kind of turnover in terms of the tank volume/hour are you planning for with this surge device? What other means of creating flow in this monster do you have planned? I am eagerly awaiting lots of pics and a video of the surge in action.:spin3:

Awesome start to this thread. Good Luck with the build-up process. I am subscribed!

 

[roxbury003]

tagging along!! When your are finished, you can set one up in my house too!

 

[klondike4001]

Looks very interesting and reminds me of the tank I saw at the Honolulu Aquarium. Tagging along to see how this works out.

 

[klondike4001]

Just curious, for water change purposes, are you going to be able to shut off compartments and simply fill them with fresh salt water and just allow the hammerhead to pump water into an external drain?

Again not sure on the total volume of the surge chambers.

The Honolulu aquarium would pump in fresh ocean water for each surge (if we could only be so lucky)

 

[tent boy]

Wow. Now thats going to be nice. The pictures are great. Thanks for documenting this.