A Great Way to ruin a perfect wall; My 400 Gallon Project

I have my hammerhead plummed off to feed the 3 returns, the 2 outflows into my refugium as well as directly to the Skimmer. I have valves to "trickle" water into the refugium (trickle is a relative term with teh Hammerhead LOL) as well as a valve to shunt the water away from the skimmer and directly back into the sump. This way I can clean the skimmer and the rest of the flow will not go up into the tank. I know that David recommends at least a Mag 24.
 
Geeze, the energy consumption on the Mag 24 really adds up! 265w per hour. I'd almost rather put a Sequence Dart on there to save money all year long. I know the outlet is .5" larger, but power consuption would be 160w I think.
 
I'm going to be running a Sequence Dart on mine. It will be split up three ways. One to the chiller, one to the return line from the sump to the tank, and the third (which will get most of the flow) to the skimmer. I added up the watts used from all the pumps I am using now compared to the one Dart and it will be just a little bit under with the new Dart. Plus I will get rid of bunch of stuff in the process!!
 
IMO, that is the way to go. Just make sure you plan for the ability to shunt the appropriate flows if you need to take something out of series *it may not be a big deal with the dart like it is with the Hammerhead*, but will prevent you from possibly overloading your overflows. Are you going to use 1 inch PVC around? Drain sizes? I wish Oceanic had bigger returns and drains:mad:
 
Very nice tank Servo, I have been wanting to do the exact same thing for many years. Unfornately I live in San Diego and the housing prices are crazy. So me and my beautiful wife own a small condo and are continuing our Education and for now my 90 gallon surfices my addictiion.

Anything you would do differently NOW?
 
great tank - good job!!

great tank - good job!!

very nice... hope i have much $$$$$ like you do... i think may be i start to saving $ now - probably by the time i am 80s... I will be able to have one like yours...

thanks again for all the interesting stories - good reading... i read your threads 3 night in a roll until 2am... (wife already complaining...) :mad:

--------

for whom wanted to see more tank like this, here is one:
Monster Tank:
Picture: see picture
Full Story: Full Story
:smokin:
 
malulu,

[welcome]

<b>Trickman</b> - I bet there are at least 5 things Ryan would have done differently. The birth of this tank was probably like the worst labor imaginable. ;)
 
Thanks for the kind words Malulu!

So, would I do differently?!?!?

First of all, there are some people that I would NOT have worked with, but that is irrelevent to the ultimate set up.

I have become INCREDIBLY PARANOID about fires now. The more that I surf around here and read about electrical fires, the more I become RFS!!!! (really ******* scared). I think that I would have looked into (and may do so in the next 2 years) plumbing a fire sprinkler system into the room. With all of the disaster planning that we do as reefers, fires are our biggest enemy and NO ONE plans for them!!!!! Any museum will spend countless amounts of time planning for fires. I think that we should to. It just may be financially unfeasable for most to do. But if you are setting up a large system, it AINT cheap!

I would have painted the framing of the walls on the floor with epoxy water proof paint. I don't anticipate a big leak, but I have made a mess multiple times while making RO water and had it leak under the wall. (MULTIPLE TIMES GRRRRR:mad2: ) Here we go again, time to get the wet dry vacuum out. I think that this would prevent any mold/decay of the walls.

The next distant thing on my list is a to set up a whole house backup generator that runs on natural gas. This way, I'll never have to worry about any nasty storm killing my tank! If the electricity goes out, my power will switch over to my natural gas!

I still have a long way to go. The next steps are big money tasks. I have a couple of business ventures that should help me out financially, then I can do more. The only thing is, Slicktrax was right; you have to be careful with those mermaids, they DO breed easily in captivity! I have my first arriving in February. I hope that doesn't put the tank modifications on the 10 year plan :p .
 
I put some silicone between my baseboard and floor. TThat will keep nearly all of the water in the room and on the floor. Not in the walls.
 
SERVO said:
The only thing is, Slicktrax was right; you have to be careful with those mermaids, they DO breed easily in captivity! I have my first arriving in February. I hope that doesn't put the tank modifications on the 10 year plan :p .
Click to expand...

But just think, another set or hands (or fins) to help with the tank over the coming yours. Mine are currently 4 and 2 and know so much about the tanks in our house and are learning more every day. The 4yr old got into it as much as the wife and I that he asked for a tank in his room for his 3rd birthday.
 
SERVO said:
I have become INCREDIBLY PARANOID about fires now. The more that I surf around here and read about electrical fires, the more I become RFS!!!! (really ******* scared).
Click to expand...

You and me both!!!!

One thing you should do NOW if you have not already is install a smoke detector in your fish room. It looks like your house is fairly new and if so, it should have smoke detectors that are 120V powered and tied together so that if one detects smoke, they all alarm. To add one in your fish room, all you need is a run of 14-3 wire from your fish room to the nearest smoke detector. Wire the black to black, white to white and red to red. This way if your fish room detector goes off, it will set off all the smoke alarms in your house...
 
Thanks for the advice! I have installed a smoke detector, but with everything in reefing, I want redundancy! I will have something pretty nice, but it will take time! Ultimately, I am going to have a zoned house with my aquarium, alarm, lights, media and pool all hooked up to a central "control". I'm sure I will have some type of fire hazard control integrated into it. Until then I shake in my boots!


I just purchased new bulbs! I jumped on the Coralvue bandwagon. Lets see how my colors pop once they burn in. I have been running 6500K bulbs that I used for growth in the year prior to moving. My tenuis has been growing like crazy! I have about 20 frags comming in the mail this week! Wooo Hooo!!!!
 
Last edited:
Remember Ryan:

needpics.gif
 
I have to GET the bulbs in before I post pics!!!! I hope that they ship them out today!

The corals should come Dec 1st! I'll post pics after, this weekend for sure! :pimp:

Hey Marc, if you want to come by and help me mount frags!!! Hint hint, I should be home by 6:30! LOL
 
:rolleyes: double post, so here is a preview

<img src="http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a12/ryanreeves/PB260014.jpg" alt="Image hosted by Photobucket.com">

<img src="http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a12/ryanreeves/PB260041.jpg" alt="Image hosted by Photobucket.com">

Here are some corals in the tank now, Can't wait to compare

<img src="http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a12/ryanreeves/PB130106.jpg" alt="Image hosted by Photobucket.com">

<img src="http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a12/ryanreeves/PB070112.jpg" alt="Image hosted by Photobucket.com">
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

Brian60077
Big project starting today......
Replies
7
Views
214
Dustin07
D
cilyjr
Cilyjr 320 gallon on the central coast
Replies
12
Views
571
rogerwilco357
rogerwilco357
TreyB381
200 gallon single 2” drain, how would you do it?
Replies
6
Views
206
Vinny Kreyling
Vinny Kreyling
F
MY 1000 GALLON TANK NEEDS CASTER WHEELS ON TANK STAND THAT CAN ACTUALLY HELP MOVE THE TANK TO WITHOUT WATER TO A FLATBED TRAILER
Replies
7
Views
262
Vinny Kreyling
Vinny Kreyling
Old Newbie
Old Newbi tank questions
Replies
7
Views
361
griss
griss
Back
Top