Hello everyone! I am currently designing a 1250 gallon system with the goal of incorporating as many niche habitats and biodiversity as possible while also enabling the reef to go through natural cycles and perhaps even get the corals to sexually reproduce.
I work at an affluent private school in Taiwan and currently need to write up a list of things for a budget for next year. I plan on having a class and a club based around marine biology and the upkeep of this aquarium and husbandry of some of the animals. Money is not a major problem.
My major question is about creating artificial tides and waves. I plan on using a tide pool as one of two overflows and switching between them based on a number of factors. I am hoping to incorporate a number of advanced techniques in the design and execution of the system. Before I get into more detail about the plumbing and such it would be good to have a look at what I have so far:
Ideally the system will feed and filter itself to a large extent. I still plan on having a sump (perhaps on the other side where the "sediment collector" is shown here?) and a skimmer. I need a place to have about 350 gallons of water drain for the artificial tide. I plan on skimming that and having a couple drums that I can quickly interchange for water changes.
I have a feeling the mangrove forest, seagrass bed, and the area in front of the seagrass bed (which I plan on hosting a lot of beautiful macro algae) will service the reef area when it comes to nutrient balance. I want to have a conch and seahorses and a plethora of other organisms there. The wave action can cause a bit of a break on the higher part of the mangrove forest and with the currents of the whole system return quite a bit of little shrimp and pods to the main reef area. I plan on having some live rock in there to create a few niche environments and natural barriers for a variety of organisms to thrive.
The tide pool area is designed so that the excess water trapped back there during low tide will flow down through the crypt. Between all the organisms that collect detritus in the tide pool and the "sediment collector" (inspired by the 55g drums set up by the dude that came up with the duplex system, which did not collect detritus, but rather hosted lots of filtering creatures) I plan on being able to host a large bio load in the main reef while feeding all the rest of the tank (and I think that a large bio load will be needed to keep from needing to supplement the rest of the tank!).
The crypt is going to be filled with live rock and then return water to the reef. This wont be the only thing doing so; I plan to have an overflow on the main reef as well, that flows to an area for processing before going to the sump (which is also kind of the job of the tide pool as well). When next summer comes I hope to collect a lot of new polyps.
I want the lights set up to mimic nature and include a moon phase that goes with the tides. I don't know of any tanks that do this already (so any links to stuff would be great).
Even if I don't reach all of the goals of this system, as long as there are lots of cute fish for the students to enjoy and all of the different ecosystems here working together to use as a teaching tool everything will be good. I want to try and avoid using completely separate tanks and keep everything as natural as possible. I still expect heavy maintenance and pruning and water changes and all that, but I want to make a system that will be stocked with the right organisms to minimize the necessity as much as possible.
I am not sure how I will do the plumbing and account for the tide and waves (which I assume will also vary in intensity depending on tides and other factors I would want to include). Any ideas would be greatly appreciated along with any constructive criticism of the ideas presented here.
Thanks!
I work at an affluent private school in Taiwan and currently need to write up a list of things for a budget for next year. I plan on having a class and a club based around marine biology and the upkeep of this aquarium and husbandry of some of the animals. Money is not a major problem.
My major question is about creating artificial tides and waves. I plan on using a tide pool as one of two overflows and switching between them based on a number of factors. I am hoping to incorporate a number of advanced techniques in the design and execution of the system. Before I get into more detail about the plumbing and such it would be good to have a look at what I have so far:
Ideally the system will feed and filter itself to a large extent. I still plan on having a sump (perhaps on the other side where the "sediment collector" is shown here?) and a skimmer. I need a place to have about 350 gallons of water drain for the artificial tide. I plan on skimming that and having a couple drums that I can quickly interchange for water changes.
I have a feeling the mangrove forest, seagrass bed, and the area in front of the seagrass bed (which I plan on hosting a lot of beautiful macro algae) will service the reef area when it comes to nutrient balance. I want to have a conch and seahorses and a plethora of other organisms there. The wave action can cause a bit of a break on the higher part of the mangrove forest and with the currents of the whole system return quite a bit of little shrimp and pods to the main reef area. I plan on having some live rock in there to create a few niche environments and natural barriers for a variety of organisms to thrive.
The tide pool area is designed so that the excess water trapped back there during low tide will flow down through the crypt. Between all the organisms that collect detritus in the tide pool and the "sediment collector" (inspired by the 55g drums set up by the dude that came up with the duplex system, which did not collect detritus, but rather hosted lots of filtering creatures) I plan on being able to host a large bio load in the main reef while feeding all the rest of the tank (and I think that a large bio load will be needed to keep from needing to supplement the rest of the tank!).
The crypt is going to be filled with live rock and then return water to the reef. This wont be the only thing doing so; I plan to have an overflow on the main reef as well, that flows to an area for processing before going to the sump (which is also kind of the job of the tide pool as well). When next summer comes I hope to collect a lot of new polyps.
I want the lights set up to mimic nature and include a moon phase that goes with the tides. I don't know of any tanks that do this already (so any links to stuff would be great).
Even if I don't reach all of the goals of this system, as long as there are lots of cute fish for the students to enjoy and all of the different ecosystems here working together to use as a teaching tool everything will be good. I want to try and avoid using completely separate tanks and keep everything as natural as possible. I still expect heavy maintenance and pruning and water changes and all that, but I want to make a system that will be stocked with the right organisms to minimize the necessity as much as possible.
I am not sure how I will do the plumbing and account for the tide and waves (which I assume will also vary in intensity depending on tides and other factors I would want to include). Any ideas would be greatly appreciated along with any constructive criticism of the ideas presented here.
Thanks!
I was amazed at the prices! There were only about 2 shops selling corals at the prices I have seen online or in the states. Everything else is dirt cheap! 
