6000 gallon reef tank

[frozenapple22]

I am hoping to start a reef tank that is around 6000 gallons in a few years i need help on deciding all the filtration, lighting, and flow. I am hope for the tank to be 10' l 10' w 8' h about the size of your normal bedroom i am planning to use concrete for the 3 of the 4 walls and glass for the 4th. Please give me some advice

 

[t-bone2]

the hight of that is going to be a killer on lighting a volcano skimmer from spazz and flow wow i like your vision but wow hey i guess you could swim with your fish good luck with the project should prove to be awsome when done

 

[RedEDGE2k1]

That's quite a leap from a 20g reef! I admire your ambition (and wallet!)

 

[mikey3165]

now do you plan on putting this in your house? if you are going to send some of pics where you are you are goin to put it lol

 

[frozenapple22]

my house is suppose to be done around july of this year and yea it is going in my house i will make a 3d design and post a picture soon

 

[hahnmeister]

I would have glass on at least 3 sides, if not all 4. OTherwise looking around a tank that size w/o a scuba mask will be very hard.

 

[nick540]

I agree with hahnmeister, that there should be glass on 3 sides and perhaps a wall at the end. This gives better vewing oprions. I would also if possible, not make the tank so deep but rather longer and wider. This can give the tank better depth as well as minimize the light required to penetrate 8 feet of water. here is a link idea for depth:
http://www.oregonreef.com/sub_aquascaping.htm

 

[mikey3165]

ok cool because i am going to be on top of this build for the next couple years i cant wait and it isnt even my tank lol

 

[frozenapple22]

i would really like to thank you nick for the link it is a big help!! : ) What do you think about cutting the height down to 5 feet which would actually be much easier to hide the lighting and such. thank you for any advice and if you have any ideas i will take them into consideration.

 

[frozenapple22]

here are some quick sketches of the setup there is a 15 by 15 room next to about a 10 by 10 room the 10 by 10 with be for all my equipment the 15 by 15 will hold the display tank

the first one is my 15 by 15 the second is the 10 by 10

 

[hahnmeister]

Yeah... I love square dimension tanks and all... but if you put them in the corner... I dont much see the point visually. You may not think it now, but you will not want to put rocks/corals in that back corner (why would you) because they will be very far away, and hard to get to.

I did a 8'x8'x3' tall tank by Chicago, and it works only because its a 360 degree viewable tank with a central overflow assembly/dock for tunze 6200s all around, with a hole in the floor for plumbing. This is effective because the owner gets an effective 32' linear feet of tank space to work with... enough room to have a frag area on the backside and you cant even tell from the other sides. A tank that deep in a corner though... I think I have had nightmares about tanks like that. 3' front-to-back is the maximum I would suggest per side of access. So a tank that you can get to from front and back... sure.. up to 6' (although 4'-5' is more likely), but I would use more length if anything. What is behind the tank on that one wall? Could the tank be moved out into the room a bit? Then you could have 3' sides, and the backside would be functional somewhat. You could make it 5' wide, and 20' long, and still have the same volume.

 

[frozenapple22]

thanks for the info sense my house isn't really built yeat i can ask them to extend the wall a few feet so i could center the tank i think that would be a great idea i think for my aquascape i may have 2 big islands and a smaller 3rd one what do you think of that???

 

[dogstar74]

Frozen,

I think perhaps, many here have assumed you know the problems with evaporation of a tank this big? There was a guy that put a 4000 Gallon tank in the basement of a NEW HOME! without any sealing off the tank from the rest of the house, the humidity spoiled the whole house. He literally had water running off his windows in the winter, and with all the moisture from the tank, it molded and ruined his new house.

Believe me, I am all for building really huge tanks! I want one myself someday, but there are some really big issues that take place when you go truely LARGE. This is not something that will be done on a small budget. It's more than just pouring a little more cement. There are many things that should be planned for, such as duplicity in all systems, Chillers on a massive scale, Lighting requiring your own power plant, and three phase Huge scale DC motors for circulation. Heating with boilers rather than aquarium filters, and all this hardware will be either plastic, acrylic, or Titanium or stainless steel of an expensive grade. Do you realize the weight of 6000 gallons is nearly 30 TONS! You're talking about pouring a footing and slab that can handle 30 tons just to keep the foundation from settling and cracking your whole house up.
Trust me, I've dreamt of this enough to keep me awake at night, and there really is something to be said for a truely awe inspiring fish room, or tank. But if oooos and aaaaahs are what you're going for, then maybe a 600 gallon is more for you. Friends and relatives are still impressed with my 90 gallon, and that's such a small beans aquarium for me.

With that, Hey man! Just tell me where to buy tickets!

 

[frozenapple22]

dogstar yes i have took all the points you have made into consideration the concrete under the tank will be a extra 12" and i am still working out all the kinks i am not planning on starting for 2-4 years this will be a slow project not a weekend i still have lots of planning to do. thank you for you input it is appreciated. If you have any more thought tell me. : )

thanks

 

[nick540]

I think you are doing the right thing by taking your time. better to get it right the first time. Dogstar does make a good point about evaporation, but since you get to work with a brand new house this may make the project easier as you can adjust what your needs for the tank are. I also agree that 360 degrees look.

 

[RonBuck]

I know your set on glass. And, may be weight isn't an issue for you. But, I recommend Acrylic for anything taller than 40". Unless you split the panes of glass in equal sections and use reinforcement posts. If money isn't an issue, use glass thicker than 1 1/4" thick. The only obstacle will have at that point is the green tint of the glass.

 

[frozenapple22]

hmmm ron you make a good point i will check into it thanks

 

[blueroof]

A custom job like that, stocked with coral. Figure at least 50-60 dollars a gallon to build and a couple thousand a month to operate. You or someone else will need to spend at least 20 hrs a week properly maintaining the tank. Those are my best estimates. I have about 100k in a 1200 gallon reef and it costs about $40 a day to operate (lights, media, electric, equip replacement, live stock replacement, etc.) Sounds like a great project, but there is a reason 6000 gallon reefs don't exist in homes. At least none that I know of. Just some food for thought.

Good Luck

 

[juliovideo]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10747296#post10747296 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by blueroof
A custom job like that, stocked with coral. Figure at least 50-60 dollars a gallon to build and a couple thousand a month to operate. You or someone else will need to spend at least 20 hrs a week properly maintaining the tank. Those are my best estimates. I have about 100k in a 1200 gallon reef and it costs about $40 a day to operate (lights, media, electric, equip replacement, live stock replacement, etc.) Sounds like a great project, but there is a reason 6000 gallon reefs don't exist in homes. At least none that I know of. Just some food for thought.

Good Luck

5,000 litre corner aquarium

Location:
Stuttgart ( Germany )
Technical Data:
Composite construction 40mm + 8mm PVC-CAW plates, front glass: 30mm VSG 2x15mm laminated optiwhite glass.
Furniture:
19mm MDF plates + 2mm PVC plates inside.
Lacquer:
Ital. creme-withe /matt de luxe, hand polished high-quality on 2-C-PU-based vanishing.
Skimmer:
Royal MU-300/250, height: 235 cm, air suction: 2500 L/h, with an intake pan.
Pumps:
2 x 16m³ White-Line pumps for the filter-aquarium, and the Skimmer-filter, 4 x 7m3 Red-Dragon Power-Wave pumps and 3 x 6m³

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10,000 litre aquarium

Location:
Stuttgart ( Germany )
Technical Data:
Composite construction 40 mm + 8 mm PVC-CAW plates, front glass: 30mm VSG 2x15mm laminated optiwhite glass.
Aquarium stands in a seperated room, innwall construction.
Furniture:
19 mm MDF plates + 2 mm PVC inside.
Lacquer:
Ital. creme-withe /matt de luxe, hand polished high-quality 2-C-PU-base vanishing.
Skimmer:
Royal MU-300/250, height: 235 cm, air suction: 2,500 l/h, with an intake pan.
Pumps:
2 x 16m³ White-Line pumps for the filter-aquarium flow, and skimmer-filter flow, 4 x 7m³ Red-Dragon Power-Wave pumps and 3 x 6m3 Red-Dragon pumps inside the tank for internal flow.

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[spazz]

there are 1 or 2 tanks out there that are over the 4000 gallon mark but most of them are owned by people who dont want everyone to know about there little slice of heven. the only privatly owned tank being built right now that hits the 10,000 gallon mark is bill wann's tank in chicago ill. its 21 ft long 8 ft wide and 8 ft 6 tall. it holds just over 10,000 gallons (38,000 liters) in the tank and will be about 20,000 gallons (76,000 liters) total volume. this system should be up and running with corals and fish around christmas time.