A Reef Tank in the Desert - +/- 1,400 gallon system

[acabgd]

The cost of the A/C unit really surprised me.

Initially I was quoted $2,900 installed. The fish room is only +/- 250 sq. ft. After discussions with my a/c contractors, we found a solution. We had the same a/c unit bought down in Puerto Penasco, Mexico (Rocky Point) and I ended up saving $1,400!!! Rocky Point is a four and a half hour drive from Tucson and we always seem to have friends going back and forth.

It is the same identical unit, however, the temperature setting is in Celsius instead of Fahrenheit. Big deal. And the instruction manual is in Spanish vs. English. I am sure that i will be able to download the manual in English. Apparently in Mexico, there are no tariffs on shipments from Japan.

Don't wanna bash you in any way, but I would never entrust thousands of dollars of livestock to el cheapo a/c.

I really don't know Mexican a/c units, but from what specs I could find online this is a cheap on/off system with 12000 BTU, using the outdated (and supposedly phased out) R22 gas.

I really don't know what units you have over there in the States, but over here in Europe only Toshiba, Daikin, Mitsubishi Heavy or Electric and evtl. Fujitsu inverters with R410 gas would come into consideration, especially because of all the heat and humidity placing the higher demand on the unit.

The physical placement is also crucial, you don't want the a/c blowing directly into your tanks or sump as the evaporation would be enormous and you would probably want to move the unit somewhere on the side, in the corner, as this would not affect the cooling effect within a closed room.

I'm also surprised by the prices you quoted, as a high-end Japanese a/c units in Europe cost around 1000-1200 euros, or up to 1500 US$.

I hope you have checked beforehand the real quality and specs of this unit and sorry if my info is completely wrong.

 

[danfeig]

Well you beat my list of 15 tangs, and the only large tang I have is the Achilles.

Sohal and Clowns.... That just sounds like Battle Royale to me. They are both such very aggressive species. In my experience the Sohal is more accepting to other tangs. Where pretty much every Clown I've ever dealt with has gone after every tang of equal or smaller size.

For the Naso's if you don't have them already I would wait and try to get a pair from the Red Sea. They are Blonds and have really great color.

For the Chevron's I've had good experience in keeping them in a Trio.

For the Blue Tangs, if you don't have them already, be patient and get the yellow belly version. Also a species I would consider getting 3 instead of 2.

I don't see any angels on your list... There are several very cool Centropyge species.

And how about a cluster of Royal Grammas and Yellow assessors to hang out on the undersides of your great rock towers ?

You skipped the pseudochromis family -- Frimandi and Springeri are both striking fish. I have 2 of each. The Springeri are tank raised and not paired up. The Frimandi I got a wild caught pair this week, and they are definitely paired up. These are cool fish cause they move in and out of all the rock work.

Leopard Wrasses ?

I used to love collecting the clown gobies. But then they did too well in my tank and when they pair up they start shredding the tissue off the sps colonies to make themselves a nice home to spawn in. After that happened to some of my favorite colonies I stopped collecting the clown gobies.

Hi Dave!

I have never had problems with my Clown Tang. It was never paired but in my tank at the same time I had it with an achilies, powder blues, purples... I feed a lot and that could help. It worth a try... Didn't Noah take things in twosies???

I definitely will go with the Blond Naso's...

I have had a pair of blue tangs for the last 18 months or so. Hardy as can be. Can't give them up.

I had such a difficult time with Angel's and my corals. I can't wait to give my Bicolor away when I takedown the tank in my bedroom. Don't get me wrong, he is a beautiful fish! He just loves my brains and elegance corals too much. If I could have caught him, he would have been gone two years ago. Similar experiences with my Emperor Angel.

Frimadi's are beautiful! I am sure I will be picking up a lot of smaller fish as I go. Assesor's or gramma's...

I have seen a lot of different names for the Leopard Wrasse. Another is the Black Spotted Wrasse... They are beautiful!

I received an update this morning. The Melanurus Wrasse's both seem to be doing okay. It appears that I am down to four of the Blue/Green Chromis - although I wouldn't be surprised if a couple are in the overflow or down in the sump.

Hope that you have a good week in court. Thanks for the comments, thoughts and help.

 

[danfeig]

Holy! Thats a lot of fish.

My thoughts:

Powder Blue + Achilles + Clown = Lots of roughhousing. I know your tank is very very big but still, these guys are insane. The 800G tank at Vivid Aquariums has a powder blue and he thinks he's boss. Don't underestimate these guys. Same with the clowns.

Like BigOldReef said, 3 is better than 2, but that might mean for you less variety more and more quantity. In other words instead of bumping up an extra tang for every species, cut back on how many of each kind and do less variance in fish types, but more of what you do choose.

Now about the smaller fish, I like the list. I was surprised you only put one pair of clowns on the list. You could easily get away with more.

Kovy:

I truly appreciate your thoughts and comments.

For over a year, perhaps 18 months, I had 2 Achilles, 2 Powder Blues, 2 Blue Tangs,1 Clown, 1 yellow and 2 Purple tangs together. I acquired them all as "small" tangs, although larger than juvenile.

I first had the yellow tang and then added the two Blue Tangs and 2 Powder Blues. The following week I added the Achilles, Clown and Purple Tang. They all got along "swimmingly." When I first added the Achilles, my Yellow Tangs fins stood erect and it showed it's dominance. After 2 days of feeding (a lot) and putting out dry seaweed (twice daily), they all got along very well.

You might wonder what happened... I foolishly put into the tank a Yellow Eye Kole Tang that I bought at a LFS, after he indicated he had it in QT with copper for 4 weeks. It brought to the tank a severe case of Ich. Ten days later I lost one of the Achilles, Clown, 1 Purple Tang and the Kole. It was after that sad turn of events that I purchased my UV and began a strict QT.

As long as I can find small pairs and can get them fattened up in the QT, I will cautiously introduce them together. The downside... if they don't get along, I have a great LFS that I can bring one of the species back to and they will find a good home for them.

With regards to the Clowns... I have been strongly considering a pair of Picasso Clowns..

 

[danfeig]

I've been watching your build ever since you ordered rock. I love the towers you built. I personally think you are going to need a bunch more rock to provide sleeping areas for that many fish. I put a lot of my fish in my 240 ga tank with good success but they all have a place to call home. Once tangs get up to 8 inches that would be a busy tank. After running my 240 and my 75 for a few months I have decided If I ever go bigger its going to be at least 5k ga and if I could afford 5k I'm sure I would be building a 50,000 ga one.

Welcome Thor109!

Thanks for following along. I definitely will be adding more rock with lots of holes and hiding places. I am going to drill/chisel some large holes into some of my live rock that I will be using to hide some of the lock line on the bottom of the tank. I am also going to place a few larger pieces on the bottom towards the rear of the tank.

I am starting off with tangs that are going to be 2"-3". It will be nice if they get that large! I then will have to talk my wife into a larger tank! I can go out another 52 inches and have the tank be viewable from 3 sides!!!!!

Glad you are here!!!

 

[danfeig]

thats a crazy looking tank i love it

Thanks BOBJONES, glad to have you here!

 

[danfeig]

wow that is alot of tangs!!! what about a bluedot jawfish, blackcap basslet,mystery wrasse,golden rhomboidalis wrasse, +1 on the naso thing i like the blondes alot more but you have an awesome list of fish kind of jealous lol

Thanks Havoc79!

It is a lot of tangs but I am going to give it a try. I am going to purchase small ones. Worse case, I end up with one of each species or 3 of some... Tangs are just my favorite fish!!! I will probably throw in some more wrasses.

I will be going with the blonde Naso's.

 

[danfeig]

Don't wanna bash you in any way, but I would never entrust thousands of dollars of livestock to el cheapo a/c.

I really don't know Mexican a/c units, but from what specs I could find online this is a cheap on/off system with 12000 BTU, using the outdated (and supposedly phased out) R22 gas.

I really don't know what units you have over there in the States, but over here in Europe only Toshiba, Daikin, Mitsubishi Heavy or Electric and evtl. Fujitsu inverters with R410 gas would come into consideration, especially because of all the heat and humidity placing the higher demand on the unit.

The physical placement is also crucial, you don't want the a/c blowing directly into your tanks or sump as the evaporation would be enormous and you would probably want to move the unit somewhere on the side, in the corner, as this would not affect the cooling effect within a closed room.

I'm also surprised by the prices you quoted, as a high-end Japanese a/c units in Europe cost around 1000-1200 euros, or up to 1500 US$.

I hope you have checked beforehand the real quality and specs of this unit and sorry if my info is completely wrong.

Thanks acabgd!

I believe the Mirage units are made by either Samsung or Mitsubishi. Not sure which one. While traveling here in Israel for the past 10 days, I have seen several of the exact same units just with a different brand. Same LED screen, same remotes...

I am real comfortable with my a/c contractor and the warranty that he provides me. He has been handling the a/c units in my shopping centers for years. He has more to lose than I do. :lolspin:

In any event, while the function of the a/c unit is to cool the fish room, it's main function is to help with the humidity in the room. I am not worried if the unit was to break or have issues, it will not cause damage to my system.

I have four other a/c units cooling & heating my house. We keep our house at a constant temperature of 77 degrees year round. If my mini split was to fail, it would just get awfully humid in the room!

 

[acabgd]

Thanks acabgd!

I believe the Mirage units are made by either Samsung or Mitsubishi.

Thanks for the detailed reply - I was not aware of that, as I've said, not familiar with this brand at all. Didn't realize you also keep the house at a constant temp, this of course changes things. Great to hear you've got all the bases covered.

Hope you're enjoying your holidays - can't wait for new major updates!

 

[aquaph8]

Hi Dan, better late than never, I just found your build. The tank looks great man.

 

[danfeig]

i want one

Numnoos - they are fun to build.

Join the fun!

 

[NVfishman]

For my tank over flowing what I did was put a floor drain in with cuts in the floor to direct it to the drain.

For my fishroom I went with a ductless AC room is about 150 sq ft
brand was Daikin have it on swing mode so it spreads the cool air around the room rather then hitting on tank and dropping the temp

Another thing I like in my fishroom is a duct fan with a humidity sensor that goes on when the humidity gets to 60% kick out the mist air through attic duct.

I would say go with a similar fan over the tank to pull out the heat ( I have a 110 cfm fan to pull out heat but looks like u got Leds

just a few things I picked up on my second time around building my fishroom

good luck definitely going to follow this thread

 

[Patricklong]

To say this build thread is amazing is such an understatement I cannot begin to explain.

Jaw dropped, wide open, I think I swallowed a bug kind of amazement.

This is truly art.

 

[danfeig]

For my tank over flowing what I did was put a floor drain in with cuts in the floor to direct it to the drain.

For my fishroom I went with a ductless AC room is about 150 sq ft
brand was Daikin have it on swing mode so it spreads the cool air around the room rather then hitting on tank and dropping the temp

Another thing I like in my fishroom is a duct fan with a humidity sensor that goes on when the humidity gets to 60% kick out the mist air through attic duct.

I would say go with a similar fan over the tank to pull out the heat ( I have a 110 cfm fan to pull out heat but looks like u got Leds

just a few things I picked up on my second time around building my fishroom

good luck definitely going to follow this thread

Thanks NVfishman!!!

Unfortunately, I was not able to put a floor drain in my fishroom. If we ever remodel our back porch, I will saw cut through my fishroom floor and 70' of flagstone.

My ductless system is set on "swing mode.". It gives a nice distribution of the cool air.

I will look into the duct fan. I was thinking that if humidity was a problem, I would purchase a dehumidifier and possibly an air exchanger.

Thank you for the suggestions and for following along!

- Dan

 

[NVfishman]

That would suck cutting the flagstone I kinda lucked out the main sewer line was only 10 feet away glad I put it in had a few floods with rodi and hoses falling out.

I tried the deumidifer method as well the thing worked great at taking the water out of the air but it produced to much heat in doing so. I used it for on or 2 days it just sits in the garage now (if u need one )
air exchanger might be a good idea I got to check those out. Right now I just leave the fishroom door open to the house but wife has been complaining itis to loud

 

[danfeig]

Hi Dan, better late than never, I just found your build. The tank looks great man.

Thanks Brett!

I have really enjoyed viewing your thread.

I love your photography skills!!!

 

[danfeig]

To say this build thread is amazing is such an understatement I cannot begin to explain.

Jaw dropped, wide open, I think I swallowed a bug kind of amazement.

This is truly art.

Thank you for the kind words Patricklong.

I feel like it is only just beginning!

 

[danfeig]

That would suck cutting the flagstone I kinda lucked out the main sewer line was only 10 feet away glad I put it in had a few floods with rodi and hoses falling out.

I tried the deumidifer method as well the thing worked great at taking the water out of the air but it produced to much heat in doing so. I used it for on or 2 days it just sits in the garage now (if u need one )
air exchanger might be a good idea I got to check those out. Right now I just leave the fishroom door open to the house but wife has been complaining itis to loud

The heat is my concern pertaining to a dehumidifier. I can possible vent it to the outside if that would help. I don't know if they rate any dehumidifiers by the heat that they generate.

My only other option for a drain was cutting a hole and placing a sump pump inside and then piping it over the ceiling in a crawl space and then across the house. My concern was the potential for leakage or condensation in the crawl space without me knowing it.

I definitely will install some flood alarms to give me some warning.

Does anyone have any suggestions for dehumidifiers????

 

[BigOldReef]

Could you hook up a vent fan to the outside and connect it to a Ranco humidity controller. So it will pull the moist air out of the room...

 

[danfeig]

Could you hook up a vent fan to the outside and connect it to a Ranco humidity controller. So it will pull the moist air out of the room...

Dave,

That is a good question. I am not sure. I do have a wall in the fish room that goes out to my back porch. As long as it was a "quiet" fan, I don't think my wife would object. I question how much cool air it would remove.

We arrived in Barcelona earlier this evening. I went online and checked out some of the dehumidifiers that they sell at Costco. I was wondering if those could not be set so that they turn on when the humidity in the room reaches a certain level.

I am going to place a post in the Lighting, Filtration & Other Equipment Forum and see if anyone there have any dehumidifier thoughts.

Regards...

 

[BigOldReef]

In my kitchen and master bath I installed inline turbine fans. The Fans are silent. In my kitchen you only hear the air rushing out. They move a bunch of air.

Perhaps your contractor could figure out how to install one in your configuration.

The wall mount fans, which would be simple solution do make a bunch of noise.

The inline fans I used were Fantech I think. They are a little more expensive for the fan, but not outrageous. But as far as noise goes they are your friend !