A ~19,000 Gallon Aquarium

[Last Version]

nice big one aquarium!

 

[heaton]

Wow. Huge.

 

[seanfhaynes]

pics

pics

pics are always good :lol2:

wonder how long till you get the upgrade jitters....

it always seems like when I'm building a tank I get about 3/4 of the way through and start thinking ..."I shoulda went bigger"

 

[palmer373]

nahham what fish are in your fish farm? sounds likes pirahnas to me lol. also, clownfish and hippo tangs arent local fish!?! whats up with UAE? lol you need to have dory and nemo in there!

 

[Desertdweller]

Wow this "tank" is unbelievable.

 

[kinlayan]

truly an exciting project Nahham, i do think you should introduce alot of herbivorous fish as they will limit the algae growth, but im also sure that with all the sea life(macro and micro), that you will be able to access being so close to the source you will be able to create a spectacular section of reef in that Aquarium.

 

[K.Sweeney]

Below the tank seat area, do think you will have issues with the shade it makes for coarls? Do you think you also, may get eggs etc from the sea water? most worry about hicth hikers on live rock but you may get them sraight form the sea, good and bad.

 

[Reefski's]

what kind of corals are local? do you have any photos of local reefs?

have you used the local water you will be using to grow local corals? are there reef corals right outside where the tank is?

 

[KarlBob]

Below the tank seat area, do think you will have issues with the shade it makes for coarls? Do you think you also, may get eggs etc from the sea water? most worry about hicth hikers on live rock but you may get them sraight form the sea, good and bad.

If I may presume to answer part of this for Nahham, he has mentioned the potential to install lights for that area:

Currently I have outlets within the tank, meaning inside it, where I'm planning to install water-proof lighting, but if need be I'll install lights under the over-the-aquarium-seating-area thing

Speaking of eggs, wouldn't it be amazing if local coral eggs found their way in, and spontaneous colonies developed in the tank?

I agree with the notion that it might be a problem adding non-local fish, but then the children will hate me for not having a nemo and a dori in the tank

Another thing, the overflow goes through the fish farm, and those fish are aggressive, I mean really really aggressive. They would eat anything we throw for them, including small fish and something not so small fish as well. I once threw a lamb leg with a bit of meat on it and they disconnected the two bones in seconds (and ate the meat in the process). That's my firewall.

Hungry, predatory fish between the reef and the ocean make for an interesting biological quarantine system.

 

[returnofsid]

To address your "live rock" issue, have you considered substituting Tufa Stone, for a majority of your live rock? Tufa Stone is ancient live rock, that's found on land. It's widely used for landscaping purposes, and should be easily found, in your area. In the past, I purchased quite a bit of it, used it as a portion of the rock in a couple different reef tanks. It quickly became live rock. It would save you A LOT of money, and might even be more easily accessible.

 

[nahham]

Thanks KarlBob for your help in answering the questions; always helpful.

pics are always good :lol2:

wonder how long till you get the upgrade jitters....

it always seems like when I'm building a tank I get about 3/4 of the way through and start thinking ..."I shoulda went bigger"

I already have the jitters. I was thinking if the glass what 2.5 meters high instead of 1.2 it would of been great.

nahham what fish are in your fish farm? sounds likes pirahnas to me lol. also, clownfish and hippo tangs arent local fish!?! whats up with UAE? lol you need to have dory and nemo in there!

I think if I threw piranhas there my fish will eat them as well Actually come to think of it, the ocean research center of the ministry told me a story about the fish I have: there were 2 tanks next to each other, one that had these fish (Subaiti) and the other had Gold fish (fresh water). The Subaiti actually jumped from the salt water to fresh water and took a bit to adapt (none died) and started eating the gold fish. This story came directly from the guy and several other people confirmed it.

wow thats amazing
wouldnt it cost you alot?

It's an addiction, cost is no issue, until you are broke.

truly an exciting project Nahham, i do think you should introduce alot of herbivorous fish as they will limit the algae growth, but im also sure that with all the sea life(macro and micro), that you will be able to access being so close to the source you will be able to create a spectacular section of reef in that Aquarium.

It is a bit unclear right now, but I'm hoping for more successful results.

Below the tank seat area, do think you will have issues with the shade it makes for coarls? Do you think you also, may get eggs etc from the sea water? most worry about hicth hikers on live rock but you may get them sraight form the sea, good and bad.

As KarlBob said, I am considering installing lights under there. It will interesting to see what will happen, depending on the time of year, the sun goes down to 45 degrees in winter and up to 85 degrees in summer varying the amount the direction of sunlight that gets to the aquarium.

what kind of corals are local? do you have any photos of local reefs?

have you used the local water you will be using to grow local corals? are there reef corals right outside where the tank is?

I like how your questions are direct and to the point.

Here is a sample of the fish and corals from the UAE:
http://www.uae.gov.ae/uaeagricent/fisheries/fishimages.stm

Excuse the Arabic text, I couldn't find the English page.

I didn't use the local water to grow local corals (yet). They are not right outside the tank, but since the water is coming from the salt water well, I expect it to be closer to the quality of the water where corals are. I will test the water quality when the well is made.

 

[palmer373]

wow sweet story and love the local corals!!

 

[ransomed4ever]

from that list it does look like you do have what appears to be clarki clowns that are native to the area, so while you may not have the official Nemo (ocellaris clown), you do have some clownfish.

 

[Dipandots]

Wowza.

 

[palmer373]

nemos an ocellaris? how can you tell? just curious sorry about goin off topic.

 

[K.Sweeney]

Sorry to keep asking questions, but when the tank is closed off from the sea, it is "relatively" (to to sea) a small body of water do you think you could have heat issues?

Thank you, KarlBob for the answers, and thank you to Nahham.

 

[onibaku10]

waiting for new pics ^ ^

 

[nahham]

To address your "live rock" issue, have you considered substituting Tufa Stone, for a majority of your live rock? Tufa Stone is ancient live rock, that's found on land. It's widely used for landscaping purposes, and should be easily found, in your area. In the past, I purchased quite a bit of it, used it as a portion of the rock in a couple different reef tanks. It quickly became live rock. It would save you A LOT of money, and might even be more easily accessible.

This sound interesting. I will have to ask around about tufa rock though. I didn't hear of it before. I'm not sure we have access to it here.

from that list it does look like you do have what appears to be clarki clowns that are native to the area, so while you may not have the official Nemo (ocellaris clown), you do have some clownfish.

This clown fish looks like a very old nemo, I don't think it will fly with the kids

Sorry to keep asking questions, but when the tank is closed off from the sea, it is "relatively" (to to sea) a small body of water do you think you could have heat issues?

Thank you, KarlBob for the answers, and thank you to Nahham.

People from the ministry of water's ocean research center came and tested the 2 body of water (the tank and the sea next to it) and found no significant difference in quality or temperature (and they went deep in the sea as well). They came in the hot days. Also, the water flow rate I am aiming for is >4x (around 80,000 gph) so I hope this will prevent any spikes in water temperature. Finally, I'm planning to have fish from the local sea (at least at the beginning), as long as the water in the tank is comparable to that of the sea, we are fine

 

[nahham]

waiting for new pics ^ ^

Me too

I'm currently travelling so unfortunately there won't be any new photos until I go back (22nd of March).

 

[g8gxp]

Regarding the live rock issue. Do you really think you need to subscribe to the 1.5-2 lbs. of live rock per gallon idea? I think that holds true for traditional closed system tanks that need rock and sand for nitrification purposes. But since you are drawing seawater with continual turnover i don't think you need anywhere near that much. IMO just the rock that you need for coral placements and aquascaping should be sufficient for your needs.