700 gallon tank, or how i spent my daughters inheritance
- Thread starter BlueCorn
- Start date
dahenley
New member
i would lend a hand myself!
stewmiester
Member
Awesome tank, love the natural lighting.
denash24
Me too!
I don't know Carl but i did have the opportunity to see his system in person (he was kind enough to show me around when I purchased something from him) and I was amazed at the potential in his system. However in my opinion I think it is unnecessarily overcomplicated and it and Carl would really benefit from keeping it simple, and in my opinion the following changes would only improve the beauty of the tank;
Start fresh remove the L/R and cure it or buy new.
Remove the cement blocks/ pavers.
Remove the DSB in the display tank/ its not necessary with the size of sump that you have.
Simplify the sump/ refugium by removing the algae scrubber and some of the humongous pieces of L/R.
Simplify the return by just having it go back to your tank (the return lines were all over / very complicated).
Use only proven additives and chemicals (too much to risk by using industrial grade stuff).
If the corals are important to you remove some of the larger fish.
Get a better skimmer (BK or something similar) and simplify the set up so that its in you sump.
Add supplemental lighting, T5's would go great with the natural sunlight.
I'm not pretending to have detailed knowledge of your entire set up, I'm only going by what I saw and what you described both in person and in your thread, I know my opinion was not requested and I'm ceratinly not an expert but I'm only commenting in hopes of providing you with an outsiders point of view with nothing but the best intentions and wishes for you and your beautiful tank.
Good luck.
Start fresh remove the L/R and cure it or buy new.
Remove the cement blocks/ pavers.
Remove the DSB in the display tank/ its not necessary with the size of sump that you have.
Simplify the sump/ refugium by removing the algae scrubber and some of the humongous pieces of L/R.
Simplify the return by just having it go back to your tank (the return lines were all over / very complicated).
Use only proven additives and chemicals (too much to risk by using industrial grade stuff).
If the corals are important to you remove some of the larger fish.
Get a better skimmer (BK or something similar) and simplify the set up so that its in you sump.
Add supplemental lighting, T5's would go great with the natural sunlight.
I'm not pretending to have detailed knowledge of your entire set up, I'm only going by what I saw and what you described both in person and in your thread, I know my opinion was not requested and I'm ceratinly not an expert but I'm only commenting in hopes of providing you with an outsiders point of view with nothing but the best intentions and wishes for you and your beautiful tank.
Good luck.
Reefski's
Active member
Mario- thank you for taking the time to comment. your input is greatly appreciated.
i will be taking the rock out of the tank and frying the hydroids with a blow torch and recuring the rock.
there is only one return from the sump to the tank now. there is a second return line and pump for backup that is not running and another that went to the surges that have been eliminated. perhaps what you saw that seemed too overly complicated was the five overflows from the DT to the sump.
the concrete blocks have gone from the sumps and will from the tank as well. i am still not convinced they are bad as my old tank did great with them in it but i am removing them nevertheless.
as far as the DSB goes, i agree that the sumps DSB will be enough but i don't like the BB look and i like the diversity that grows in the bed. i think it adds a lot to the system and i can keep other fish and inverts in the tank. i would love to have a pistal shrimp and fish partner. on the other hand it would make it easier and less risky to keep the acrylic clean without worry. i will think about that some more.
the turf scrubber is gone.
i love my fish and don't want to get rid of them. i don't think there are that many for 1500 gallons. have you seen how many fish Joe has at Atlantis Marine World in his 20,000 gallon most amazing reef tank in the world? many more fish and bigger fish per gallon than i have. also David Saxby's tank and many others.
my skimmer is rated for 3000 gallons and i will keep it running.
i stopped using the industrial chems, at least the MgCl that was suspect. although i saw the same bags for sale at one of the coral wholesalers a few months ago. i am buying CaCl in bulk which is more pure and Soda Ash for alk maintenance both of which i think are ok.
we have had a very overcast summer here so far, at least the last 3 months. temps have rarely gotten even into the low 70's here at my place. great for roofing but not for corals. i have been leaving two 400 watt 10K halides on over the tank on light movers for the whole day. if the sun comes out in the afternoon and i am around i will turn the lights off. this seems to be enough light according to my PAR meter.
tank temps has been steady at about 79-80 degrees.
water parameters this week.
pH 8.3
nitrate 10 ppm
PO4 0.09 ppm
alk 10 dKH
Mg 1400 ppm
Ca 450
i will be taking the rock out of the tank and frying the hydroids with a blow torch and recuring the rock.
there is only one return from the sump to the tank now. there is a second return line and pump for backup that is not running and another that went to the surges that have been eliminated. perhaps what you saw that seemed too overly complicated was the five overflows from the DT to the sump.
the concrete blocks have gone from the sumps and will from the tank as well. i am still not convinced they are bad as my old tank did great with them in it but i am removing them nevertheless.
as far as the DSB goes, i agree that the sumps DSB will be enough but i don't like the BB look and i like the diversity that grows in the bed. i think it adds a lot to the system and i can keep other fish and inverts in the tank. i would love to have a pistal shrimp and fish partner. on the other hand it would make it easier and less risky to keep the acrylic clean without worry. i will think about that some more.
the turf scrubber is gone.
i love my fish and don't want to get rid of them. i don't think there are that many for 1500 gallons. have you seen how many fish Joe has at Atlantis Marine World in his 20,000 gallon most amazing reef tank in the world? many more fish and bigger fish per gallon than i have. also David Saxby's tank and many others.
my skimmer is rated for 3000 gallons and i will keep it running.
i stopped using the industrial chems, at least the MgCl that was suspect. although i saw the same bags for sale at one of the coral wholesalers a few months ago. i am buying CaCl in bulk which is more pure and Soda Ash for alk maintenance both of which i think are ok.
we have had a very overcast summer here so far, at least the last 3 months. temps have rarely gotten even into the low 70's here at my place. great for roofing but not for corals. i have been leaving two 400 watt 10K halides on over the tank on light movers for the whole day. if the sun comes out in the afternoon and i am around i will turn the lights off. this seems to be enough light according to my PAR meter.
tank temps has been steady at about 79-80 degrees.
water parameters this week.
pH 8.3
nitrate 10 ppm
PO4 0.09 ppm
alk 10 dKH
Mg 1400 ppm
Ca 450
Reefski's
Active member
i have cut back a bit on the feeding now that the triggers are gone. these pieces are about 1.5". that can't be too much for 1500 gallons for the whole day.
a few photos of the Steinhart Aquarium in San Francisco from my recent trip. it is looking better than last year. still has a long ways to go for the reef tank it will become. it is interesting that even the best aquarists in the world have had problems with keeping corals alive in their system.
i love the shallow water part of the reef with the clams. i counted about 30.
the lights over the shallow tide pools with the clams.
a nice big clump of Halimeda.
a few photos of the Steinhart Aquarium in San Francisco from my recent trip. it is looking better than last year. still has a long ways to go for the reef tank it will become. it is interesting that even the best aquarists in the world have had problems with keeping corals alive in their system.
i love the shallow water part of the reef with the clams. i counted about 30.
the lights over the shallow tide pools with the clams.
a nice big clump of Halimeda.
Mr. Brooks
MASVC Member
Have you considered running a shallow sand bed?
Reefski's
Active member
how would that fail safe everything? my lights are on an industrial timer and the pumps run all the time. i don't have anything else to control. oh, and i have the multicontroller for the Tunze's.
i love the clams also. i have a bunch more pix to post later from the aquarium.
i am considering a shallow sand bed, like 2-3". that is what charles Delbeek recommends in "The Reef Aquarium"
Carl
Mr. Brooks
MASVC Member
That's what I have and I'm very happy with it. I have a sand sifting goby that keeps it clean and white.
bullitr
broke but happy
You can monitor it your parameters and equipment all the time
So many things you can do
The lights if the temp goes up certain degree it will Automatically shuts off
Tunze you can control different setting on certain time of the day and change it even while your away.
If your chiller fail or over cooled it automatically shuts off
If your ph drop you calcium reactor will shuts off
If your ph raise your kalkwasser will shuts off
denash24
Me too!
Sounds like you're on the way to a beautiful reef / cheering for you and wishing you the best with your tank.
s2k
Active member
Carl - let me know when you new tank is ready for corals. I can give you a variety to help get you started. So sad when I ready about your crosshatch. That was a really nice fish.
On a separate note, my buddy just started a koi pond a few months ago and he already have some baby kois. Maybe someday you can resurrect the one in your back yard.
On a separate note, my buddy just started a koi pond a few months ago and he already have some baby kois. Maybe someday you can resurrect the one in your back yard.
Reefski's
Active member
very sad about the crosshatch. i still am bummed out about it. i would really like another but promised myself i won't again. maybe some day when the tank is flourishing.
thank you so much for your offer of some corals. i will take you up on that later this year.
my wife has tentatively offered to help this weekend with some tank remodeling.
i still have the koi pond at the office that is in the video above but it would be great to have it at the house again but not likely. it has become a pool just this month after being dry since May 2009. it is pretty, pretty boring. after all the fish used it every day and we shall see how often it gets used by the humans.
how big is your friends pond?
Carl
Reefski's
Active member
i don't have a chiller, Ca reactor, or Kalk reactor. my tank hasn't gotten over 80 this year yet. i do have a big fan to blow over the sump tank if the temp gets high that i suppose i could control. but as the temp rises i just open the garage door to get air flow through the garage, around the tank and out the open skylight. i have not opened the skylight yet this year. i suspect those days will come pretty soon though.
today has been sunny since this morning. not overcast at all and it is 77 degrees here now at 3pm.
Carl
