A ~19,000 Gallon Aquarium

[nahham]

Voting 2010.05.19

Voting 2010.05.19

Here is how it looks at the end of the 19th of May:

Want to change the design? VOTE!!

 

[H20ENG]

:wave::thumbsup: +1 for the Viper units. The other great thing about them is they are very compact as far as sterilizers go.

Congrats on TOTM! I have to ask a ? about your flow diagram. The diagram shows pump suction from both the ocean and the aquaculture tank. I would not want to introduce the heavier bioloaded fish waste to the reef side if possible. Do the pumps just tee off to the farm on the supply side or the suction side?

Depending on the turbidity and weight of the suspended solids in the raw water, buried vortex settling chambers can be surprisingly effective without creating the backpressure that mechanical filtration does. Since you seem to enjoy digging so much

 

[Marchingbandjs]

Ever think about putting a plan in so incase there is an oil spill, you can close off the system... I know there is a well known reefer in the USA who is scrambling to modify his system and get it to stop drawling from the gulf...

Just something to think about..

 

[rklaue]

1666:thumbsup:

 

[dbend2001]

MDF255 looks neat@!

 

[nahham]

:wave::thumbsup: +1 for the Viper units. The other great thing about them is they are very compact as far as sterilizers go.

I am thinking they are the way to go when my wallet pump slows down a bit .

Congrats on TOTM! I have to ask a ? about your flow diagram. The diagram shows pump suction from both the ocean and the aquaculture tank. I would not want to introduce the heavier bioloaded fish waste to the reef side if possible. Do the pumps just tee off to the farm on the supply side or the suction side?

Thanks, I got it because of all the posters on my thread, including you.

It is connected through the suction side. The reason was that when I was planning an open system, water flow was: Sea --> Refugium --> Aquarium --> Fish Farm --> Sea. The suction from the fish farm was just here in case I needed to close the system from the sea for any reason; it wasn't a permanent solution. Now that I'm changing the system from an totally open system to a somewhat open system I don't know what I should do. I have two pumps that I installed for redundancy so that I alternate between them and I have one if one breaks. I can always use one to just circulate water in the fish farm and the other for the aquarium. That will make me worry about have no back-up plans. Another idea I had (actually my brother had and I'm hijacking it) is to grow mangroves in part of the fish farm, maybe a 8m x 6m area near the pump suction. Do you think that will help with the bioload?

Depending on the turbidity and weight of the suspended solids in the raw water, buried vortex settling chambers can be surprisingly effective without creating the backpressure that mechanical filtration does. Since you seem to enjoy digging so much

hmmm .. intriguing. I started reading about vortex settling chambers and I have to admit I'm seriously thinking of it. If I can find a proper pre-built container, maybe a fiberglass one then it will make it much easier to build. It won't be totally buried though, just because you said I liked digging .

Ever think about putting a plan in so incase there is an oil spill, you can close off the system... I know there is a well known reefer in the USA who is scrambling to modify his system and get it to stop drawling from the gulf...

Just something to think about..

The circulation setup, as described above is capable of closing off the sea supply for a while. Also, water is being sucked from around 5 - 6 meters under the water surface, which helps with surface floating problems .

 

[maroun.c]

Anyway to be able to circulate water from the sea around the tank or maybe just around the fuge to cool it down when temp hits upper 40s in summer as that is even more critical than filtration I would say.

 

[KarlBob]

On a project this size, redundant pumps could be the difference between life and death for a large group of critters one day. When a Maxi-Jet 1200 breaks down, most reef-keepers can make a trip to the LFS and replace it within a day or two. When a special-ordered large pump like yours breaks down, it may take weeks to ship and install a replacement, or to repair the original. I would definitely keep some redundancy in the design, nahham, if you already have it.

Regarding pumping from the fish farm to the aquarium, remember that it's more like a fish spa. The amount of waste in this "farm" will be far less than in a commercial aquaculture tank.

I don't know about the rock. It kind of looks like sandstone to me. If it doesn't have a network of internal pore spaces like true live rock, then it's unlikely to support the same bacterial populations as live rock. If it can't support nitrifying and denitrifying bacteria, it won't help you very much.

I don't recall how I voted the first time, but for this round, I'm in favor of MDF1666. I agree with MarkGrant that the area covered by the grid will be pretty large, so a big, bold pattern will be more visible than a small pattern.

 

[mr.wilson]

Depending on the turbidity and weight of the suspended solids in the raw water, buried vortex settling chambers can be surprisingly effective without creating the backpressure that mechanical filtration does. Since you seem to enjoy digging so much

I know vortex settling chambers are popular for koi ponds, but will they settle out smaller detritus? Does the extra buoyancy of saltwater make it harder to settle suspended matter? Especially the 40ppt salinity water Nahham has available.

Koi ponds develop a lot of heavy detritus from the fish and plants. Are these vortex settling chambers limited to these conditions? I've never actually seen one in use and pond filtration ads are sooooo gimmicky.

 

[nahham]

Aquarium Front Design Voting 2010.05.20

Aquarium Front Design Voting 2010.05.20

Here are the results so far:

 

[nahham]

Anyway to be able to circulate water from the sea around the tank or maybe just around the fuge to cool it down when temp hits upper 40s in summer as that is even more critical than filtration I would say.

When I ran the fish farm aka fish spa, I didn't have any problems with water temperature. It might be a problem if I want corals but when constant water movement I don't think it will be a major issue.

On a project this size, redundant pumps could be the difference between life and death for a large group of critters one day. When a Maxi-Jet 1200 breaks down, most reef-keepers can make a trip to the LFS and replace it within a day or two. When a special-ordered large pump like yours breaks down, it may take weeks to ship and install a replacement, or to repair the original. I would definitely keep some redundancy in the design, nahham, if you already have it.

Regarding pumping from the fish farm to the aquarium, remember that it's more like a fish spa. The amount of waste in this "farm" will be far less than in a commercial aquaculture tank.

I don't know about the rock. It kind of looks like sandstone to me. If it doesn't have a network of internal pore spaces like true live rock, then it's unlikely to support the same bacterial populations as live rock. If it can't support nitrifying and denitrifying bacteria, it won't help you very much.

I don't recall how I voted the first time, but for this round, I'm in favor of MDF1666. I agree with MarkGrant that the area covered by the grid will be pretty large, so a big, bold pattern will be more visible than a small pattern.

I'm just throwing ideas out there. As for the voting, it is not like voting for a new president; you only have one vote, it's like voting for your favourite idol; you can vote as much as you want .

I know vortex settling chambers are popular for koi ponds, but will they settle out smaller detritus? Does the extra buoyancy of saltwater make it harder to settle suspended matter? Especially the 40ppt salinity water Nahham has available.

Koi ponds develop a lot of heavy detritus from the fish and plants. Are these vortex settling chambers limited to these conditions? I've never actually seen one in use and pond filtration ads are sooooo gimmicky.

I can see the reasoning but until we try, there seem to be no proof that it doesn't work for saltwater.

 

[lastlight]

mdf255

 

[Christoff247]

MDF1666

Awesome build Nahham, looking forward to seeing it progress

Chris

 

[digitalchrisg]

Mdf1666

 

[shua71]

Mdf255

 

[Cannon7]

255

 

[john baker]

Mdf1666

 

[masterswimmer]

1666

 

[lucky1980]

Mdf255

 

[gear*guru]

Mdf 1666