Building 1300-gallon Reef System (construction pictures)

[criticalencore]

Placing a pane of glass in bare feet? Must be a new safety protocol I haven't heard about.

Dave.M

Yeah basically.....you apparently didn't put one of the new cover sheets on your TPS reports. Did you see the memo? Yeah...... and I'll make sure you get another copy of that memo......

Apparently barefoot glass installs and checking glass strength by putting your bare handed weight on it are covered under the Obama care.

Are you going to build the mangrove section first then the tank above? I was thinking when I saw this how cool would it be to have the ato container pump to a container above the mangroves for top off to kind of wash the mangroves as it tops off. I had like 12 mangroves when I did my build but I think the ATO out competed them. Build is looking good so far.

 

[JohnPaulGross]

Mangrove tank

Mangrove tank

Yeah, I do way more work on the system barefooted than I should. Although compared to the tack welding I did earlier I think the glass was relatively safe for my bare feet.

I am planning on having 3x 2" lines coming directly from the side panel of the main tank into the mangrove tank. I am going to cover them with either acrylic panels or large PVC pipe to hide them and make some kind of waterfall to aerate the water and keep it from looking ghetto. Those will be for flow, but shouldn't get the mangrove tops wet.

For the mangroves, I have been thinking about doing some kind of fresh water misting system. I am going to put in Plexiglas doors around the top of the mangrove tank to build a sealed "phone-booth" type box around the system to keep it warm and humid. I have a few misters I bought from a greenhouse supply store that are kind of like the produce misters at the grocery store and I think I will periodically have freshwater misted onto the mangroves. The freshwater ato is going to be on top of the closet stand, so it should have about 2-3' of head above the mangroves. I am not sure if that is enough to drive the misters properly, but if not, it shouldn't be that big of deal to hook up a small pump to drive the misters.

Thank you for the ideas and the safety tips...I will make sure to throw on some shoes going forward ; )

BTW...I always love Office Space quotes showing up on this forum...that's my stapler.

 

[JohnPaulGross]

Main pump layout and siphon breaks

Main pump layout and siphon breaks

Hi all.

Still waiting on rubber to add more glass panels, hoping for tomorrow on that, but today I happened to be at the local true value and found some really nice one-way PVC valves to serve as siphon breaks for my main pumps (which will be two Dolphin Amp Master Diamond External Marine Pump - 6250 GPH (Type-2)).

The layout is just initial and only represents the biggest components. I am definitely going to install some additional 1" Loc-line off of the main pipes to direct flow as needed and in the end I will probably end up drilling a bunch of extra holes just for better diffuse flow as well.

The under-tank sump system is being designed so that as the lowest tank in the system fills up due to power failure the water level will eventually reach an emergency overflow that has a gravity feed and one way valve to the sewage system so that any water that would overflow will be dumped into the drain field instead of onto the floor.

That said, obviously it helps if the main pump lines don't siphon a bunch of water from the main tank. I decided that with these one-way valves (the tops above the operating water level in the main tank), the pumps won't blast the lights with water while they are on and if they fail for any reason, the ensuing siphon should pop the valve and suck in air to break the siphon.

This isn't the final design and I haven't glued or Teflon taped any of the connections, but I like the way it is looking and I think it has some potential to be a more than adequate feed system.

As always, I am happy to hear suggestions or answer questions.

 

[dave.m]

I don't know if you are aware of this but these check valves have a nasty reputation for failing. I would suggest that if you are going to use check valves that you get the transparent kind so you can see if the flap is working inside, and that you set up your plumbing so that you can remove and replace the check valves in the case of failure.

Dave.M

 

[TheLub]

This is an interesting build and I'll be following for sure. I love DIY tank builds.

I applaud your daring use of tempered glass. If (God forbid) a tragic break would occur, you're looking at a quick, and devastating flood instead of a (usually) survivable leak.

 

[JohnPaulGross]

Check valves

Check valves

I don't know if you are aware of this but these check valves have a nasty reputation for failing. I would suggest that if you are going to use check valves that you get the transparent kind so you can see if the flap is working inside, and that you set up your plumbing so that you can remove and replace the check valves in the case of failure.

Dave.M

I have had some sketchy performance from the valves in the past. I appreciate the concern and I do also have some of the clear valves. The only reason I reconsidered the clear valves is that with the way the flap hangs when it is open, I was concerned that when the pumps are on, some water might get splashed past the flap and into the lights. I am going to experiment with both setups to see if they work consistently.

 

[criticalencore]

Double up on check valves so that if one fails there is another inline. Triple up if you can..... saltwater is nasty. Might be easier to bulkhead an overflow off tank to waste area so if it is so much water overflowed into the sump it overflows into a tube drain to somewhere... then you would need to replenish the missing water with saltwater like it was a water change. Just my $0.03?

 

[JohnPaulGross]

Tempered Glass

Tempered Glass

This is an interesting build and I'll be following for sure. I love DIY tank builds.

I applaud your daring use of tempered glass. If (God forbid) a tragic break would occur, you're looking at a quick, and devastating flood instead of a (usually) survivable leak.

Not surprisingly, I have had similar concerns. I did a significant amount of research on the subjects of water forces, aquariums and especially tempered glass.

According to most of the research and corroborated by data I received from the company that actually made the tempered panels for the main and mangrove tanks. Their calculated ratio of plain 3/8 pane glass and tempered 3/8 glass strength was consistently around 1 to 4.

The conclusion that I drew was that the reason people don't generally build home aquariums above 3 feet deep is because once you get above that region, you end up needing really strong glass.

Since I understood the consequences of miscalculating any part of this system (like half a foot of water in our whole basement), I used a generous safety factor and bought top materials for the spots that really mattered. If I had used untempered glass, each pane would've been over 1.25" thick at which point its own weight can be devastating and obviously the weight involved would've required many more people. In the end, with the 316ss frame and the professionally tempered glass, I am about as confidant as I could be with the setup.

That said, I plan on using industrial dishwasher dish racks (3' x 3' x 6" tall plastic) anchored to pvc and acrylic rods to keep the entire rock formation as solid as a building. I add the sand in after the whole cure and rock setup to ensure that nothing is on top of sand. I know that it's all a bunch of talk and I could still end up flooding the basement, but at least I have thought about it and I am on a concrete slab with nothing beneath us so it could be worse.

Sorry that it's been so long with the updates, but I have a few pictures here and I will post some more to fill in the blanks later tonight. This morning I siliconed in the last panel, I have six new built tanks!

 

[JohnPaulGross]

Overflow

Overflow

Double up on check valves so that if one fails there is another inline. Triple up if you can..... saltwater is nasty. Might be easier to bulkhead an overflow off tank to waste area so if it is so much water overflowed into the sump it overflows into a tube drain to somewhere... then you would need to replenish the missing water with saltwater like it was a water change. Just my $0.03?

Thanks for the reply.

That is my plan exactly.

The two main pumps will be fed through one 50-gallon tank under the front of the setup. It will normally operate at about half-full.

In the event of power failure, if a siphon occurs, it will fill up the 50-gallon to the point that it reaches a secondary overflow near the top of the tank which can then gravity feed to the sewer line.

This plan is the reason that I have an integrated 80 gallon water change tank that will always be full, mixed and heated. I am hoping that will be enough volume to reset the system since I am also planning on having generator backup since my family recently bought a new home generator and I am inheriting the old smaller one for the system.

Thanks again for all the replies, the more insight I get from everyone the less likely this thing is to blow up in my face :blown:

 

[JohnPaulGross]

System Overview

System Overview

Before I get into nitty gritty actual construction descriptions from the last week, I have a few more pictures to help demonstrate the system design as far as locations and number of tanks.

It can be hard to get a good feeling for where some of the tanks go, especially the ones that aren't in place yet, but if you look through all the different angles, it can get easier to form a clear picture.

 

[venomcc]

Interesting idea, going to be along for the ride.

 

[Matthias7]

Did this tank ever come to fruition?