A ~19,000 Gallon Aquarium

[JillNairn]

Your thread has peaked the local reefing community's curiosity. I know reefcentral has vast amount of knowledge, but we do hope you come and join us.

www.masuae.org

 

[nahham]

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.

As KarlBob mentioned in post #273, this rule of thumb doesn't really scale up well, which is something I agree with (for my sake at least). And as you mentioned, I have a fresh supply of water going around the tank all the time. What I am thinking in making 3 islands of rock: one on each side and one in the middle and see how that goes. More about this later.

Your thread has peaked the local reefing community's curiosity. I know reefcentral has vast amount of knowledge, but we do hope you come and join us.

www.masuae.org

Hello Jill, thanks for the heads-up. I did not know of any local community and will happy to come look around and probably join. I'll be the guy standing in the corner not talking to anyone .

 

[JillNairn]

There wasnt really one, so I made one We are still growing. If you happen along a local reefer, please let them know.

 

[joemarchetti]

it would be very cool to have a small pod of those cuttlefish!

 

[KarlBob]

it would be very cool to have a small pod of those cuttlefish!

I agree. That would be great.

 

[nahham]

it would be very cool to have a small pod of those cuttlefish!

I agree. That would be great.

Do you think I can have a cuttle fish in the aquarium? It is aggressive even with bigger fish..

 

[ransomed4ever]

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

I read that is what he was based off of somewhere, can't remember where. It could very well just be a generic clownfish interpretation.

 

[arshad98]

OMG!!! I'm 20 mins away from you, when can I bring coffee?

 

[zemuron114]

Interesting idea!

for paint, you have to be careful not to get a marine boat paint that kills barnacles (frig, i forget the name of the chemical) but it will kill everything you put in there!

live rock - i dont know what the regulations are there, but i would try to get 5-10 HUGE (500-1000 lb) pieces, have them craned in and dropped in... this would be less costly then trying to buy 10000 lbs of 5-30# pieces...

Can you import fish there? I wouldn't put any groupers, eels, snappers, large wrasses etc... it is tough to maintain a large predator tank because they always kill each other... if you can do 10000 small fish

There is no need to QT anything, since you will be feeding from the ocean, so invest in A LOT of cleaner wrasse in order to keep ich at bay. you WILL get it...

good luck!

 

[nahham]

OMG!!! I'm 20 mins away from you, when can I bring coffee?

Are you Arshad the LFS guy? If so then anytime I'm currently travelling and will get in touch when I come back if you like.

Interesting idea!

for paint, you have to be careful not to get a marine boat paint that kills barnacles (frig, i forget the name of the chemical) but it will kill everything you put in there!

Anti-foil is what they use for boats, and that will never work. What I used is an epoxy with (hopefully) no dangerous chemicals.

live rock - i dont know what the regulations are there, but i would try to get 5-10 HUGE (500-1000 lb) pieces, have them craned in and dropped in... this would be less costly then trying to buy 10000 lbs of 5-30# pieces...

This is currently the plan.

Can you import fish there? I wouldn't put any groupers, eels, snappers, large wrasses etc... it is tough to maintain a large predator tank because they always kill each other... if you can do 10000 small fish

I believe we can . However, I am planning to go with local fish at the beginning.

There is no need to QT anything, since you will be feeding from the ocean, so invest in A LOT of cleaner wrasse in order to keep ich at bay. you WILL get it...

good luck!

Music to my ears especially the no QT part..

 

[Haksar]

Wow!! Another one joins the group full on.
I beg you to invite me for your tank show,anytime.You need anything from us your own local reef club masuae is there to assist you.

 

[nahham]

Wow!! Another one joins the group full on.
I beg you to invite me for your tank show,anytime.You need anything from us your own local reef club masuae is there to assist you.

Enough with the marketing, I already joined . I mentioned there the possibility of having an open day when the tank is open, depending on the response, I might have one.

 

[KarlBob]

Do you think I can have a cuttle fish in the aquarium? It is aggressive even with bigger fish..

Can you have one? I'll bet this tank would support one, or even several. Would it eat some of your fish? Almost certainly. Would the cool factor be worth the dead fish? Maybe not, especially if it ate Nemo after your kids got attached to their favorite clownfish!

 

[nahham]

Can you have one? I'll bet this tank would support one, or even several. Would it eat some of your fish? Almost certainly. Would the cool factor be worth the dead fish? Maybe not, especially if it ate Nemo after your kids got attached to their favorite clownfish!

We can't sacrifice nemo now can we?!! I found some much smaller species that they claim to be reef safe, but I'm suspicious.

 

[Haksar]

Enough with the marketing, I already joined . I mentioned there the possibility of having an open day when the tank is open, depending on the response, I might have one.

Good now we can have personalised pics of the biggest hobbyist tank in UAE in our own forum.:celeb3:

 

[palmer373]

not "biggest hobbyist tank in UAE" its "biggest hobbyist tank in THE WORLD" just saying.

 

[maroun.c]

Hi Naham,
Definitly a very unique and challenging project you got there. Hope it all goes smoothly and that using the sea water (the biggest concern for such a project) proves to be safe. If that goes well I'm sure you don't have to worry about any cycle or LR as whatever you throw there will be live in a matter of weeks...
Having lived in Dubai for 3 years I did go to Fujeirah and snorkled there and UAE does have a surprising variety of corals and fish. the wide diversity of corals and fish there will allow you a very diverse collection of inhabitants without having to get non local fish or corals... It's not Ajman but in the end it's still in UAE...
Good luck with your project and looking forward to be in UAE if you endup having that open day.
Any way to contact the people running Atlantis or Dubai Mall or maybe the Burj el Arab tanks as if you can have a contact there yo umight be able to get some good help on equipment to use and suppliers, yo ucould also ask about their treatment for seawater before having it in their tanks and things to watch out from...
Maybeyo ucould pick up some fish or corals from their quarantine facility or things they take out of their tanks....

 

[nahham]

Hi Naham,
Definitly a very unique and challenging project you got there. Hope it all goes smoothly and that using the sea water (the biggest concern for such a project) proves to be safe. If that goes well I'm sure you don't have to worry about any cycle or LR as whatever you throw there will be live in a matter of weeks...
Having lived in Dubai for 3 years I did go to Fujeirah and snorkled there and UAE does have a surprising variety of corals and fish. the wide diversity of corals and fish there will allow you a very diverse collection of inhabitants without having to get non local fish or corals... It's not Ajman but in the end it's still in UAE...
Good luck with your project and looking forward to be in UAE if you endup having that open day.
Any way to contact the people running Atlantis or Dubai Mall or maybe the Burj el Arab tanks as if you can have a contact there yo umight be able to get some good help on equipment to use and suppliers, yo ucould also ask about their treatment for seawater before having it in their tanks and things to watch out from...
Maybeyo ucould pick up some fish or corals from their quarantine facility or things they take out of their tanks....

Thanks for the information and suggestions. I am planning to get in touch with Dubai Aquarium and Atlantis people when I have the time.

 

[Reefski's]

i would just like to say again like maroun.c that i would have great concerns before proceeding that the local water is safe.

have you grown corals with this water pumped from your local source?

 

[username in use]

If his local water has reefs, and those are growing corals, I see no problems.