Another Canadian Reef! 600 gallon Penninsula!

[Cougarman]

Hello fellow reefers. Well Its finally time to build my dream tank! I've recently moved into a new house with the perfect spot to build it! One of the great things about this hobby is there are several ways to achieve success with one way not necessarily being better than another. I would like to share my build with anyone interested.

Traditionally I've built my own tanks, not just for cost savings but because I like to work with my hands. In the past I've built tanks out of glass, acrylic and plywood. I've decided to go with glass this time and also to have it custom built. After making a few inquiries I decided to hire Lukas from Oceans Alive in the Toronto area. I've known him for years, he's one of the 1st people I met in the hobby, and I trust the knowledge and skills he brings to the table.

It will be a penninsula style tank with demensions measuring 102L x 42W x 32H. Just shy of 600 gallons. The three viewing sides will be made from starfire glass for the purpose of clarity. The stand will be welded out of steel and rust proofed. A wooden canopy will sit atop the tank. Both will be skirted in custom cabinetry.

The tank will sit on the main floor and plumbed through to an unfinished room below it. Lukas who has an engineering background will be re-enforcing the floor and adding several jack posts to support the estimated 8000lbs this tank will weigh. It will be built on site once the stand and supports are in place.

The theme of this tank will be simplicity and reliability. While I admire the complexity of some peoples systems, I've decided to go the opposite direction with my tank. For instance, the water flow will be powered almost exclusively by powerheads. There will be no closed loops on this system. I like the flexibility of power heads and with the tank sitting on the main floor of my house I want to drill the least number of holes possible. More holes translates to a greater chance of leaks. Any veteran this hobby knows if there is a chance of something going wrong, it eventually will happen.

Unfortunately I am out of time for this post. Stay tuned, we have much to discuss with regards to tank design, filtration, lighting, water flow etc. Bear with me as I find time to post all this information. In the mean time here are some pics of the location of the tank. I've marked it out in green tape. Also here are some pics of the tank stand being welded.

 

[chingchai]

Beautiful house and great spot for the reef tank.
Thank you for sharing.

 

[jpsika08]

Great start!
One thing though, I would have used the complete space up to the columns in front of the tank, you still would have walking space behind them and the tank would have been bigger maybe?

Good luck.

 

[tgunn]

Awesome! I am glad to see another fellow Canadian taking on a tank like this. Though I must admit I'm envious of you living in the GTA as you'll have a much better selection of corals and fish than I get here in Manitoba.

I think you're wise to leave a bit of room to view the tank from the end like you have between the tank and the pillar. Length-wise was by far my favorite view-point for my 140g tank. It gives SO much depth.

Looking forward to seeing this build up!

 

[nineball]

Hello again.......

Hello again.......

I will be tagging along. Its great to see you resurface again. I have to tell you that the Sohal Tang you gave me is my favourite fish. He is very healthy and peacefully owns the tank. Thank you so very much for the fish, they are all doing well and healthy.

Peter

 

[NorthReefer]

can never go wrong with a metal stand. Love to see what lights your going to put up.

 

[AcMonster]

Can't wait to watch the progress.

 

[CreativeGuy]

Tagging along - Another fellow Canadian from Windsor area (also doing a similar size build - probably should have kept it simple too, lol).

Congrats on the new home and project.

Joe

 

[c-me-fish]

Looks good.
Are you going to have any braces in the middle of your stand?

 

[maik1]

Should be a nice build. Subscribed.

Maik1

 

[Esardog]

Anxiously watching!! tagged

 

[Cougarman]

Beautiful house and great spot for the reef tank.
Thank you for sharing.

Thanks Chingchai. I've seen pics of your tank and hopefully one day I will achieve similar success.

 

[Cougarman]

Great start!
One thing though, I would have used the complete space up to the columns in front of the tank, you still would have walking space behind them and the tank would have been bigger maybe?

Good luck.

Thanks Juan. I wanted to be able to view the tank from one of the short ends to get a different viewing perspective of the tank.

 

[Cougarman]

Awesome! I am glad to see another fellow Canadian taking on a tank like this. Though I must admit I'm envious of you living in the GTA as you'll have a much better selection of corals and fish than I get here in Manitoba.

I think you're wise to leave a bit of room to view the tank from the end like you have between the tank and the pillar. Length-wise was by far my favorite view-point for my 140g tank. It gives SO much depth.

Looking forward to seeing this build up!

Thanks tgunn. Yes the coral selection is great in this area. My existing corals which I will eventually post about are taking a bit of a hit from the move. Fish are doing well though.

Can't wait to watch the progress.

Thanks AcMonster.

can never go wrong with a metal stand. Love to see what lights your going to put up.

Thanks for posting NorthReefer. The lights will be orphek LEDs. I have six of them from me previous tank. I may need a couple more though.

I will be tagging along. Its great to see you resurface again. I have to tell you that the Sohal Tang you gave me is my favourite fish. He is very healthy and peacefully owns the tank. Thank you so very much for the fish, they are all doing well and healthy.

Peter

Thanks for joining Peter. I'm glad the fish are doing well. I was very sad to see them go. I will have to stop by and see them. I'd also like to get a peak at your sump system before I finalize my design.

Tagging along - Another fellow Canadian from Windsor area (also doing a similar size build - probably should have kept it simple too, lol).

Congrats on the new home and project.

Joe

Thanks Joe. Glad your tagging along.

Looks good.
Are you going to have any braces in the middle of your stand?

Should be a nice build. Subscribed.

Maik1

Thank you maik1. I'll try my best to keep it interesting.

Anxiously watching!! tagged

Welcome Esardog.

 

[Cougarman]

Hello everyone. Well it's time to post about tank design.

This tank will have a bit of a twist to the overflow side. There will be two 8 x 8 dry columns (no water) on each side of the overflow. With the tank being 42 inches wide, the overflow will then be 26 inches wide and sit between the two dry columns. The purpose of the dry columns will be to house the magnets for mounting powerheads vertically along the columns. There will be a hole drilled in the bottom of each column for power cords to pass through from under the tank.

The dry columns and powerheads will be an eye soar from the viewing sides, so I've made arrangements to have two cabinetry doors on each side of the tank cover the drycolumns and extend a few inches further to block visibility of the powerheads from the viewing side. The doors will be functional to give me access to the dry columns. The rock work will be aquascaped along the center of the tank and will block the visibility of the powerheads from the opposite side.

Tank water will drain from the overflow through the floor and down into a sump system which I will post about once I've finalized the design. The return will be a simple submerged pump with fexitube that will extend back up over and into the tank. There will be two check valves positioned over the tank to prevent back siphon in the even of a power outage. Positioning the valves over the tank should provide extra security should them malfunction for any reason.

Here are a few crude sketches of my design.

 

[Cougarman]

Looks good.
Are you going to have any braces in the middle of your stand?

Here is a pic of the stand, with welded center supports. Several coats of rust proof paint will now be applied. Lukas used extra thick steel allow us only one center support on each side. This was pre-planned to work with the cabinetry design we have decided on. We didn't want to open a cabinet door and have a post right in the middle of the opening. Plus I want to be able to crawl under the tank with ease if necessary. He estimates it weighs about 350lbs.

 

[nineball]

You are welcome to come and visit your fish in my tank any time you want. Just pm me when you are ready and I will send you the coordinates. In the mean time check out the info on my reference website on the specs for the sump...... at petersfishtank.com. You might find some of that helpful.

Peter

 

[jpsika08]

I like very much the design of the tank, looks very functional; how will you provide flow on the overflow's opposite side?

Very well made stand as well, looks really sturdy, nice job.

 

[Cougarman]

You are welcome to come and visit your fish in my tank any time you want. Just pm me when you are ready and I will send you the coordinates. In the mean time check out the info on my reference website on the specs for the sump...... at petersfishtank.com. You might find some of that helpful.

Peter

Thanks Peter. I'll take you up on that offer in the very near future.

I'll check out your site too. Sorry I've fallen behind on your thread the last couple months.

Jared

 

[Cougarman]

I like very much the design of the tank, looks very functional; how will you provide flow on the overflow's opposite side?

Very well made stand as well, looks really sturdy, nice job.

Hi jpsika08. There will be a dry column of powerheads on both sides of the tank to give flow to both sides. In my estimation the flow should follow the length of the tank on both sides of the center rocks, then meet on the far end and come back through the middle to the overflow. Atleast that's what I think will happen.