Another Canadian Reef! 600 gallon Penninsula!

[Guillaume]

Wow, congratulations for the project. I had a same in head, peninsula with dry box for power heads, little smaller though : 60L x 27W x 20H. Hopping the dry box solutions would help to reduce noise from Vortech pumps dry part.
Looking forward to see the results on your great project!

 

[bonifyde]

GE SCS-1200 construction silicone is most commonly used for aquarium building.

That is correct but according to the tube it says right on it that it is not intended for submersing underwater. John also told me that the silicone we used is SCS-1200 but the stuff he uses is tested for aquarium building.

 

[redddogg69]

That is correct but according to the tube it says right on it that it is not intended for submersing underwater. John also told me that the silicone we used is SCS-1200 but the stuff he uses is tested for aquarium building.

Scs1200 is scs1200. No such thing as a special lot tested specifically for him lol
Most silicones say not for aquarium use too. Scs1200 is what works EVERYONE uses it.

 

[bonifyde]

Scs1200 is scs1200. No such thing as a special lot tested specifically for him lol
Most silicones say not for aquarium use too. Scs1200 is what works EVERYONE uses it.

he says it comes from Hagen and they have it tested to their specifications. Not sure if he's making that up but i can't see why he would

 

[redddogg69]

he says it comes from Hagen and they have it tested to their specifications. Not sure if he's making that up but i can't see why he would

I don't have anything bad to say about John, but if you believe that I have an ultra rare coral for sale at a super good price.

 

[bonifyde]

I don't have anything bad to say about John, but if you believe that I have an ultra rare coral for sale at a super good price.

How Much? :lolspin:

 

[redddogg69]

Now back to Jared's super builds thread.

 

[Cougarman]

Some progress has been made on the tank. I purchased 250lbs of dry rock to aquascape the tank. It is very porous and light weight. I've been playing with different aquascapes, and I think I've decided on a three island design (although I may still change my mind). I seem to prefer to be able to look right through the tank at certain points rather than a rock wall in the middle blocking one side from the other. I may or may not create an arch way between two of them. I'm not a fan of making the rock work too fancy. Sometimes the more extravagant rockwork looses it's authenticity. I prefer the corals to do most of the aquascaping for me as they grow. I also will add some nice pieces of live rock to the islands to make them taller. Obviously I will have to wait til there is water in the tank to do this.

We've constructed the canopy framework and strung the lights. The canopy is made of 2 x 4s and is secured to the wall. We mounted 8 orphek pr-156 LED light fixtures. Some are 90 degree lenses and some are 120 degree. I personally don't notice a difference. I used the same aluminum rod fixture that I had on my previous tank to attach the lights to. This allows me to slide the lights to whatever position I want over the rock work. Each light comes with adjustable cable sliding things to configure height. I've been really happy with these fixtures. The colour is excellent and the light is focussed down instead of out the sides of the tanks. When I initially switched from 400 watt halides to LED, the intesity change burned my corals a bit. I'll probably have to start the tank with the lights at their highest position. My favourite aspect is the abcense of heat from these lights. With the tank on the main floor of the house I didn't want ambient heat from halides raising the temperature of my living room. I also won't get the night time temperature swings that you get with halides. Also there are some relative power savings from using LED.

One con with the orpheks though is the relatively short cord from the ballast to the fixture. My preference would have been to mount the ballasts under the tank, but we were forced to build a shelf above the tank overflow to place the ballasts. We were lucky the cord just reached from the farthest fixture to the ballast. There is a wierd union in the cord between the ballast and fixture. I wonder if they make some sort of coupler extension cord that would allow me to mount below the tank. The other annoying thing is the acrylic face plates that cover the buttons on the ballasts. I may remove them completely as I am sure them will fall into the tank or overflow at some point. It would be nice if they were on a hinge instead of completely removing from the ballast.

The cabinetry guys are coming tomorrow to measure. We will also get started on the plumbing.

Here are some pics of the rockwork and canopy.

 

[Cougarman]

 

[Cougarman]

 

[jimmy frag]

hey couger. those two x fours will twist in no time. get your cabinet guys in put when he comes

 

[launchnukes]

Looking good!

 

[Cougarman]

hey couger. those two x fours will twist in no time. get your cabinet guys in put when he comes

Thanks for the advice Jimmy frag. The doors will actually open up on the canopy. So we should be ok. We will also be using a piano hinge for the doors. It shouldn't take long to finish the cabinetry. We had them order the material well in advance.

 

[dahenley]

can you remove the 2x4's and paint every inch with a marine epoxy paint or a few coats of oil base? that way nothing will penetrate (or will help prevent as much as possible)

 

[Cougarman]

can you remove the 2x4's and paint every inch with a marine epoxy paint or a few coats of oil base? that way nothing will penetrate (or will help prevent as much as possible)

I'm not concerned with the 2 x 4s. Any minor salt splash won't pose a problem with the wood. My main concern is anything metalic eg. the hinges. Which is I went with a piano hinge and porcelain coated screws.

 

[dave.m]

I'm not sure splashing is the concern so much as prolonged exposure to high humidity in the wood. Will you be adding fans in the canopy to extract excess heat and moisture?

Dave.M

 

[Cougarman]

So the cabinetry guys came today today to measure. This is their 2nd visit, but 1st time since the tank was built. After much discussion I made some changes to our original plan to try to balance esthetics with functionality. The most difficult area has always been the cabinet doors over the dry boxes. I've decided the best solution is to have one single door that spans the height of the stand, tank and canopy. It will give me access to the dry boxes and overflow. My original plan on the canopy was to have the doors open upwards, but I've decided to change to standard side opening doors to match the doors on the stand. They will attach a center panel to one of the doors to cover the seem between the doors. The panel will oen with the doors and then still allow me a large area to work through. The hinges will be on the inside, which longterm wise may mean I have to replace some hinges, but from an esthetic point of view it will look much better. To me the most important feature is to have 4 large horizontal windows in the canopy to allow me to reach in and out of the tank. I don't want to have to squish through a small space everytime I reach into the tank. The front of the tank (end of the penninsula) will have fixed cabinetry that will add a lot of strength to the system.

The cabinets should be ready and installed for next friday.

 

[Cougarman]

I'm not sure splashing is the concern so much as prolonged exposure to high humidity in the wood. Will you be adding fans in the canopy to extract excess heat and moisture?

Dave.M

There will be little heat generated by the LED lights. They are amazingly cool running. As for humidity, I have left the option open of adding fans to the canopy to circulate air. The cabinetry will end about 4-5 inches from the ceiling. I did this purposely to allow air to circulate through. My house is not a normal house. The entire main floor and some of the 2nd floor are all one room. It has excellent circulation. My hope is the air will circulate enough on its own to not need fans. I would prefer not to have the noise on the main floor. We will see how things play out then I can easily modify accordingly.

In the sump room I will be installing bathroom fans to pump air outside the house. I have a humidity/temp control on my profilux that will control the fans.

It may also be possible to run a small duct ip from the basement to suck some of the humidity from the canopy down to the basement and then outside.

There are a few option with regards to humidity which I will address once we get to that part of the build.

 

[tgunn]

You might wish to consider enclosing the canopy and adding some sort of external ventilation for it.

When I had my 140g tank up and running the amount of humidity it added to my house was incredible. In the summer the latent heat from all the humidity made the large living room feel almost muggy. I sealed the canopy and ran a duct to suck air from the canopy and dump it into my basement fish room where the HRV vented it out of the house. That made a massive difference.

The humidity load of such a large tank will overwork your central A/C in the summer, and if you have winter where you are (you're in Canada, so yes) you could have humidity problems (I had high humidity in my house with my 140g tank).

 

[Cougarman]

You might wish to consider enclosing the canopy and adding some sort of external ventilation for it.

When I had my 140g tank up and running the amount of humidity it added to my house was incredible. In the summer the latent heat from all the humidity made the large living room feel almost muggy. I sealed the canopy and ran a duct to suck air from the canopy and dump it into my basement fish room where the HRV vented it out of the house. That made a massive difference.

The humidity load of such a large tank will overwork your central A/C in the summer, and if you have winter where you are (you're in Canada, so yes) you could have humidity problems (I had high humidity in my house with my 140g tank).

Thanks for the insight Tgunn. My last system had a larger water volume and the house was 1/3 the size, so I'm no stranger to humidity issues.

That's good to hear you were able to successfully suck air down to the basement. That would be a more favourable method for me. and not too difficult to implement. We will see what happens once the tank is circulating.