Coral Tank from Canada (1350gal Display Tank)

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Cgreene said:
I was thinking the same thing.


I have been following your build since December and have learned plenty. Thank you for the time your team puts into spreading your knowledge on RC.

Casey
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Thanks Casey, the information flow has definitely been two ways on this thread and makes membership to this thread worthwhile if not.............PRICELESS!!!

Peter
 
Peter and team nineball, first off I don't know what else i can say that hasn't been said already, so keep up the dream so i can live vicariously through you!

second i owe you guys a thank you. When i first showed my wife this thread last year she told me don't get any ideas! now that the thank is filling out and seeing different fish and coral she says, "can we get that, how about this?" So thank you very much!

Phil
 
mr.wilson said:
Some people drill a siphon break hole in the return line just below the surface of the water. When the return pump shuts down, air enters the hole and breaks the siphon so the sump doesn't overflow. If you drill the hole at a downward angle it will become a venturi and suck air in. If you drill it pointing up water will be forced out of the hole, but it will eventually plug with debris, crystalize salts, and cover over with coraline algae.

A better system is to use a swing (flapper) check valve to draw in air to break the siphon when the return pump is off. Using a check valve to govern the direction of water inline is less effective as it can seize if calcified, or plugged with sand, algae or snails etc. If you use a check valve (wet) inline, it is forced open for extended periods. You cannot rely on the valve closing when it finally gets called to duty. On the other hand, a check valve that is forced closed is only partially exposed to corrosive salt water and detritus and critters cannot jam it closed. As soon as the pump is turned off, it will always open and let air in. This method also avoids any restriction of flow.

I use true union, clear check valves so I can see if there is any kind of blockage or wear to the rubber, and clean or replace them if there are any issues. Ball or spring style check valves are noisy, require strong pressure to open and can be unreliable. Swiss Wye style check valves are supposed to be good, but I have never used one. They need a certain amount of pressure to get a good vacuum seal and they need to be cleaned a few times a year.

The check valve should go as close to the end of the line as possible, and can be vertical or horizontal. Even though no water will ever come out of the end of the check valve, make sure it is directed over the tank or overflow box just to be safe.

One issue with back siphon is having enough space in the sump to accommodate the extra water. The other issue is exposing corals to air as the water level drops. If you don't plan well you may also end up with a system that splashes the lighting and spills water out of the tank when the pump comes back on and the water level is low.

Always perform a test power outage and simulated drain clog to make sure your fail safes kick in the way you think they will.
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This is very interesting. If I remember correctly, Peters tank has returns on the bottom of the tank. How did you plumb these returns to prevent draining the tank and also prevent the check valves from getting stuck open?

Jared
 
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The plumbing on the bottom of the tank is just for the closed loop.

The three sump return outlets are just below the surface.

You can make a siphon break with a sump return at the bottom of the tank. The pipe has to run up the side or within the tank to the surface, then run back down.
 
Finally made IT!!! Never went through an entire thread before!

Finally made IT!!! Never went through an entire thread before!

Hats of to you Peter, I saw this thread sitting here at home with H1N1, and thought lemme go through reef central as usual. I saw your thread a couple of months ago and saw 1350G and decided Eish(its a south african word pronounced Ayeshhhh) thats big but decided to skip, What a mistake. In this last week i have spent all this sick time going through this thread. Initially from the back and then decided what the heck let me start at the beginning. Now that was confusing because from the Back Mr Wilson is part of the team from the front he is giving advice as an outsider:worried2: very confusing. As time went along i could not wait for Mr wilson to be added to the Team (as well as the couple of PM's that i sent you:thumbsup:)

You have been amazing as a person who has the amount of wealth like you do to be able to take time out of your life to share this amazing build with us from the start, to get input from everyone here regardless of where they come from or what they do. Taking the advice that you got and using it. WOW:thumbsup:

Also shows that even with a budget such as yours poor workmanship is always a possibility and just because you paying the beeg bucks does not mean you getting the best:headwallblue:

It is now 00:24 here and i am by myself in the dark lounge as the wife has kicked me out as the light from the machine is disturbing her but i had to finish this today.

I truly wished i had read this before i started my tank it would have saved me so much time and effort and i would have been able to design a much better system:rolleyes:

Hats off to the Brothers Grimm and the rest of the team in maintaining such an awesome tank

Hats off to Mr Wilson for sharing all the knowledge that he has with the world wide reefing community and answering us in PM's

Hats of to you Peter for being the individual that you are, I truly wish that there were more Peters like you in this world:thumbsup:
 
ziyaadb said:
Hats of to you Peter, I saw this thread sitting here at home with H1N1, and thought lemme go through reef central as usual. I saw your thread a couple of months ago and saw 1350G and decided Eish(its a south african word pronounced Ayeshhhh) thats big but decided to skip, What a mistake. In this last week i have spent all this sick time going through this thread. Initially from the back and then decided what the heck let me start at the beginning. Now that was confusing because from the Back Mr Wilson is part of the team from the front he is giving advice as an outsider:worried2: very confusing. As time went along i could not wait for Mr wilson to be added to the Team (as well as the couple of PM's that i sent you:thumbsup:)

You have been amazing as a person who has the amount of wealth like you do to be able to take time out of your life to share this amazing build with us from the start, to get input from everyone here regardless of where they come from or what they do. Taking the advice that you got and using it. WOW:thumbsup:

Also shows that even with a budget such as yours poor workmanship is always a possibility and just because you paying the beeg bucks does not mean you getting the best:headwallblue:

It is now 00:24 here and i am by myself in the dark lounge as the wife has kicked me out as the light from the machine is disturbing her but i had to finish this today.

I truly wished i had read this before i started my tank it would have saved me so much time and effort and i would have been able to design a much better system:rolleyes:

Hats off to the Brothers Grimm and the rest of the team in maintaining such an awesome tank

Hats off to Mr Wilson for sharing all the knowledge that he has with the world wide reefing community and answering us in PM's

Hats of to you Peter for being the individual that you are, I truly wish that there were more Peters like you in this world:thumbsup:
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I'm really not sure how to respond to this but on behalf of the team thank you for your enthusiastic support. If there is a consistent theme developing here it is that team building is as important as equipment and passion for the hobby. I am proud of all the contributors to this build. I don't think a single member would find fault with your sentiments and passion for what we have been trying to accomplish with this build.

This brings me to one of the characteristics of the typical way we sometimes approach a challenge when there might be the impression of divergent views on a subject discussed in this thread. Recently, we have had a discussion on a possible candidate for the fish in the display tank. One of your countrymen 'kinlayan' advised me to resist the temptation of putting more than one Moorish Idol in the display tank as the history of this fish is dominated with failed attempts to integrate more than one into the general population. I took this concern very seriously and found that most serious participants in this hobby would agree.

Mr. Wilson and I spent a fair amount of time researching the history of failed attempts and agreed to try a trail taking the documented concerns into account.

This is an experiment and NOT an encouragement to follow suit. There are a number of details that we have addressed I believe that make this attempt unique. First, we were able to find healthy specimens that were acclimatized by an importer that had taken the time to keep the fish healthy. The company also aspires to maintain best practices when transporting the fish and our experience with the result bears this out.

We had decided to use the hospital tank in the fish room which gave us 130 gal environment to house the 3 idols. We also decided to add a peacekeeper (bigger fish) to the mix on arrival to perhaps take some of the steam out of the aggressive tendencies of the idols. The lights have been subdued and the environment has been monitored almost around the clock. Mr. Wilson can list the medications that have been administered in a later post. We added some additional fish that were kindly donated to team nineball that had been coincidentally raised with a moorish idol that we hoped would further prepare the idols for their eventual home. All the fish are eating 'everything'. Brine shrimp, Mysis shrimp, flakes and even romaine lettuce that has been placed into the tank. Mr. Wilson has been monitoring water quality every day and conducting substantial water changes every two days. We have also been harvesting some of the algae that came with the live rock and feeding that to the fish and they love it.

Again, Mr. Wilson and I are NOT promoting Moorish Idols for our reef aquariums. We have done a whole bunch of things that the average hobbyist either doesn't have the time and space for or the resources that we are putting to this project. We are far from our target of integrating the new citizens into the display tank and if things don't go as planned we already have homes for the "Three Amigo's'.

Sorry folks, I am having a difficult time getting photos to appear properly with my mac.....but I will get it. I need to experiment a bit more.

Peter
 
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Amazing what you guys have accomplished in such short time.... keep up with those water changes.. :rollface:

I love that this thread has become part of my daily chores :strooper:

btw be sure to check out post 7075 its mind blowing :thumbsup: (last post page 283)

Love this picture from the slide show


<a href="http://s186.photobucket.com/albums/x8/legendarywoods/?action=view&current=Untitled-1-2.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i186.photobucket.com/albums/x8/legendarywoods/Untitled-1-2.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>

what are those fish called?

ps i would love to see a slide show of equipment only =)
 
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createyourown said:
Amazing what you guys have accomplished in such short time.... keeps up with those water changes.. :rollface:

I love that this thread has become part of my daily chores :strooper:

btw be sure to check out post 7075 its mind blowing :thumbsup: (last post page 283)

Love this picture from the slide show


<a href="http://s186.photobucket.com/albums/x8/legendarywoods/?action=view&current=Untitled-1-2.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i186.photobucket.com/albums/x8/legendarywoods/Untitled-1-2.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>

what are those fish called?

ps i would love to see a slide show of equipment only =)
Click to expand...

I will be doing an equipment update with the release of a new web site so stay tuned....

The common name for the fish is 'shrimp fish'. The general advice is that they will not do well in a large tank with lots of flow and aggressive wrasse will cause problems. Neither has been a problem for us so far. They freely roam throughout the length of the tank and seem to own it!!!!

Peter
 
0_0_6d3c12c40370d7e1a8a0b4de415c3a04_1
 
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