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

danfeig said:
Mathias.

I am sorry to hear about your grandmother. I hope that you have great memories of her and the times you spent together!

I have mostly been feeding the Whitetails a combination of frozen food, live brine shrimp and nori. I try to mix their diet a great deal. I have not tried feeding any krill yet. I will have to give it a try!
Click to expand...



Thanks Dan. She had a long and good life and simply didn't wake up one morning. So that is a good way to go :)


Hope to see some update pics here soon :)
Excited to see how the beauty does!
 
danfeig said:
Thanks kirkaz!

To answer your question, keeping the front glass clean is extremely easy. I use a magnet cleaner twice a week to wipe the front panel down. I had a scaffold built behind the tank and every so often, I use a long scraper to hit any places that need extra attention.

Because the tank is in my living room, I wanted to have the aquarium and fish room completely sealed off. My wife did not want any smells. So, I eliminated any cabinetry or access panels.

I sought bids from 14 different companies before choosing my builder. First you have to decide if you want to go with acrylic or glass. Titan was not around at the time, but, ******* was. With the amount of money being invested in my system, shipping was not a major factor. I wanted quality of workmanship.

Send me an email or PM and I would be glad to discuss manufacturers with you.

Regards,

Dan
Click to expand...

Thanks Dan....I'm getting new quotes as the home build had been delayed, it's under construction now though. Definitely going acrylic as both tanks are on the second floor (blame my wife for that). I won't go for as many bids as you did, but I did research quite a few. Probably stick to 3 companies at this point.

I appreciate the offer and will definitely take you up on it and shoot you a message before too long.
 
Dan.... honestly? Reefporn at that time? ;)

That looks so amazing, all those beautiful fish you got and the vivid colors of the corals.
Soo beautiful :)

You are the man, Dan!
 
Video is very cool and artistic, but he must remember watching fish is a relaxing event kind of like cigars and wine, you have to sit down and enjoy them nice and slow.
Can you ask him to also add a few minutes of a full tank shot in a separate video as if we were standing in front of the tank?
 
dotcommer said:
Video is very cool and artistic, but he must remember watching fish is a relaxing event kind of like cigars and wine, you have to sit down and enjoy them nice and slow.
Can you ask him to also add a few minutes of a full tank shot in a separate video as if we were standing in front of the tank?
Click to expand...

He is going on tour with a band, Rebelution, filming their concerts and activities for the next six weeks. He will be back in July and I will have him film a minute or two of a full tank shot to some Beethoven.
 
danfeig said:
Osteoclast,

Thanks for the compliments! Tangs are definitely my favorite fish. I love getting them small and watching them grow. Both my Lopezi and Vlamingi Tangs are getting huge!

I am real happy to share my Apex programs for my Vortechs or any of my equipment. I've actually been debating about getting two more MP40's to create additional flow on an intermittent basis. I enjoy sitting in front of the tank and creating different flow patterns.

With regards to my dosing... the plane truth is I don't know!!!

I purchase from my LFS the Calcium, Alkalinity and Magnesium formulas (I believe they purchase the powder in bulk from BRS), pour the powder/ingredients into 5 gallon drums, add RO water, mix and viola! Because I dose hourly, I use a mixture that is 150% - 170% of the normal concentration for Calcium and Alkalinity. Every month - six weeks when I replace the solution, I have to spend a 5 days or so adjusting my dosing levels. I use the BRS Drew's Doser Pumps, which are supposed to dose +/- 1.6 ml per minute (i'd be surprised if they do 1 ml per minute). Each hour I have my Calcium set for 11 minutes, my Alkalinity set for 13 minutes and my Magnesium set to dose for 4 minutes. I just lowered everything slightly...My Calcium is running at 450, Alkalinity is at 12 (I like it to be at 11) and Magnesium is around 1,200.

I keep my solutions constantly stirring. All my solutions are in 5 gallon water jugs and I have little/nano power heads residing in the bottom of each jug.

I hope this helps....

DSCN4195.jpg
[/IMG]
Click to expand...

Dan, sorry to jump in so late, I just found your thread and I am only on pg 50. However, I am reading closely and had a question regarding this posting. Do you use the small pumps in the 5 gallon drums to keep all the calcium and alk solutions mixed up properly? Have you tried running the dosing system without the stirring pumps? Great build once again. I too am a fan of Avast Marine and will be "borrowing" a few of your ideas if you don't mind. Thanks for your dedication and incredible postings. Chris.
 
chrismhaase said:
Dan, sorry to jump in so late, I just found your thread and I am only on pg 50. However, I am reading closely and had a question regarding this posting. Do you use the small pumps in the 5 gallon drums to keep all the calcium and alk solutions mixed up properly? Have you tried running the dosing system without the stirring pumps? Great build once again. I too am a fan of Avast Marine and will be "borrowing" a few of your ideas if you don't mind. Thanks for your dedication and incredible postings. Chris.
Click to expand...

Hi Chris. Thanks for the nice words. I did have to replace a couple of the nano powerbeads in the 5 gallon drums. I have found that when I do not have the solutions mixing properly, I will develop settling and somewhat of a "paste" in the bottom of both my Alk and Ca containers. That makes the dosing pumps less effective.
 
danfeig said:
Hi Chris. Thanks for the nice words. I did have to replace a couple of the nano powerbeads in the 5 gallon drums. I have found that when I do not have the solutions mixing properly, I will develop settling and somewhat of a "paste" in the bottom of both my Alk and Ca containers. That makes the dosing pumps less effective.
Click to expand...

Thanks for posting about that, I am looking to go larger with my dosing containers ((approx 5 gallons ) and didn't know about using a small pump in them to keep the solution mixed. Do you run your pump 24/7 or do you control them via the APEX to turn on once, twice a day etc.. and what size/type pump do you use?
 
danfeig said:
Hi Chris. Thanks for the nice words. I did have to replace a couple of the nano powerbeads in the 5 gallon drums. I have found that when I do not have the solutions mixing properly, I will develop settling and somewhat of a "paste" in the bottom of both my Alk and Ca containers. That makes the dosing pumps less effective.
Click to expand...


That's what I was thinking. Thank you for the reply. I'm up to page 68 now. I have a long road to catch up.
 
A Reef Tank in the Desert - +/- 1,400 gallon system

I have finally made it through the whole blog. It took me 3 nights and my wife continually reminding me there is no way in **** you are getting a tank that big. She is lucky because I have a limitation since I can't place the tank on the ground level of my home. The house is three stories and I want to/have to put it on the third level. Kinda stinks since I was planning a 180 WIDE SPS tank. Oh well I guess a 90 cube will work. I will wait to go big until I sell this place and buy another in a few years.
 
dotcommer said:
Thanks for posting about that, I am looking to go larger with my dosing containers ((approx 5 gallons ) and didn't know about using a small pump in them to keep the solution mixed. Do you run your pump 24/7 or do you control them via the APEX to turn on once, twice a day etc.. and what size/type pump do you use?
Click to expand...

Sal, I run the powerbeads 24x7. They're little nano ones so they don't use much electricity. I am dosing hourly too. So I want the water to always be mixing.
 
chrismhaase said:
I have finally made it through the whole blog. It took me 3 nights and my wife continually reminding me there is no way in **** you are getting a tank that big. She is lucky because I have a limitation since I can't place the tank on the ground level of my home. The house is three stories and I want to/have to put it on the third level. Kinda stinks since I was planning a 180 WIDE SPS tank. Oh well I guess a 90 cube will work. I will wait to go big until I sell this place and buy another in a few years.
Click to expand...

I hope that the blog didn't put you to sleep. You can check with a structural engineer to see how much weight your floor can support. Perhaps some additional support can be added to allow you go with the 180.

Good luck!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

DPauley
New Member and 2000 Gallon Tank
Replies
5
Views
391
DPauley
DPauley
M
Return to Reefing
2 3
Replies
40
Views
2K
kelly_12
K
M
Choosing Between Innovative Marine and Waterbox for a 200-Gallon Mixed Reef – Your Input Wanted!
Replies
2
Views
97
zak.payne
Z
D
Structural support for 125 gallon aquarium
Replies
7
Views
334
ddang
D
B
AI Hydra 32 question
Replies
3
Views
338
Batman222b
B
Back
Top