Coral Tank from Canada (1350gal Display Tank)

[nineball]

hey capn nice to see you again. if you get PaulB then the waterkeeper is coming too. I'll call on tmz then well just start the refugiums good bad and ugly thread all over again. perhaps the lonjevity thread as well?

http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1540422 (refugiums)
http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1520368 (longevity)


both verry long threads, lots of input and tons of helpfur info to squirrel away for later. Just plain good reads for those whom have the time.

Hey guys, I'm drowning here!!!!!

But thank you. I know we will for sure be hitting these subjects and this will be helpfull.

Peter

 

[nineball]

:lol2:Very nice build. I have been watching since the beginning. I can't wait to see more pictures of it coming together.:lol2:

Thank you Garrett. More pics shortly......

Peter

 

[nineball]

Wow!! Peter congratulations on a fabulous build. Great house, great tank. The whole package is very impressive. Not sure how I missed this thread until now but I'll be following along from here on.

We are honoured to have you join us. My hope is that we can pull something usefull together and your experience would be welcome.

Peter

 

[nineball]

Peter the natives are getting restless! any more detailed pics? the bear room mabey. beer tap install anything?



ps. keep up the good work. And be careful how low the candle burns while your reading corrisponding research.

More pics coming that will be focused on the tank plumbing.....I hope.

Peter

 

[nineball]

What a awesome setup! I just spent the last 4 hours reading and drooling. By the way what is a Mars system?

Thank you David, The mars system is a commercial retail unit which I will be customizing further to care for fish and coral as part of the overall management strategy for the entire ecosystem. It gives me about 27 compartments isolated from the display and in line system. Alot more on the subject at the right time.

Peter

 

[nineball]

Peter

I also think it is important to bring up the issue of the way you accomplish flow in your tank. I have always totally discounted the flow produced by the return pump in terms of the amount of turnover in a large reef tank for 2 reasons:

1. The flow from a return pump is entirely uni-directional.

Uni-directional flow is not typical flow pattern found on a reef in the wild and tends to work towards blowing the particulate food matter past corals rather than swirling the food around the coral.

Also, part of the benefit of erratic flow in a reef tank is that the coral (meaning the zooxanthellae within the coral) do respire and thus a layer of CO2 (normally a few microns thick) tends to envelop the coral structure itself. Uni-directional flow removes CO2 from only one portion of the coral structure while erratic flow encompasses the entire coral's structure, thus ensuring proper respiration.

2. Bigger is not necessarily better when it comes to flow from your main pump.

Presumably the function of your main circulation pump is bring water out of your DT to be filtered by your skimmer, refugium, RDSB, etc. In several of these filtration sources (refugium, RDSB, crypic zone, and whatnot) a very slow flow is desired for full effectiveness. Also, you skimmer has a maximum effective flow rate (for the purposes of this explanation let's say 1000 gph). If you skimmer can only process 1000 gph, blowing two or three times that through the sump accomplishes water movement in the DT but does not effectuate efficient filtration via skimming.

Why pay more to purchase and run a bigger pump (and add more heat to the water) if increased flow results in a more laminar water pattern and is no more effective in terms of filtration?

The most profound observation I can make plyr is that you are starting to make sense. Its frightening really........

Peter

 

[iluzhun]

Thank you, if all else fails we can all pile in and head for the casino.

Peter

Bentley, casino, I'm in for sure. Did mention you had me at Bentley. I can only dream of riding in a fine piece of automotive excellence like that. Peter i must say your taste is impecable.

 

[nineball]

Tim the Tool Man has his Mr. Wilson, and we in the reefing community have ours!

I wish I had 1/5th of our Mr. Wilson's knowledge :thumbsup:, Then I could say I know what I'm doing :beer:

Ken, I can't believe the quality and breadth of experience I have seen on this thread. I've said it before and I will say it again.....I am very proud of this group who in over 60,000 page views has not lost its positive culture even once. Thats rare and I for one feel privileged to be a part of it.
As far as Mr. Wilson's intellectual reach...........I appreciate his willingness to take the time to coach such a wide variety of experience including my limited insight.

You are right we are fortunate........

Peter

 

[nineball]

sorry to go off topic, but seriously...I need a link or something I wan't to know more about those ambiance lights that you have down there, I am remodeling my house right now, and that is something that looks just too good to pass up

John from DQI put the link in a few pages back.......a warning though.......they are not cheap.

Peter

 

[plyr58]

LOL

 

[nineball]

Also, if you are a slow typist, have you thought about Dragon NaturallySpeaking? I use it to dictate complaints and letters and whatnot at work and it has significantly sped up my practice. I even use it to post on here. The Preferred edition is 200 bucks and it takes about 20 minutes to install and to do the initial training. I would say that it was more than 90 percent accurate out of the box and as you use it learns how you speak and become more accurate. It was easily 98% accurate after 2 weeks. Now VERY close to 100%.

I remember using it when it was ver 1.0.......There's almost a benefit to being so slow.....it gives you guys a chance to get a word in edgewise......

Peter

 

[nineball]

Nope. 20 year old technology. They trap debris in the system and you HAVE to be religious about changing the media and doing thorough cleanings. Otherwise they become nitrate factories.

The self changing filtration system I linked to earlier would be much more effective than a canister filter. A sump is, in effect, an open and much more effective canister filter.

Ok two thoughts....... first my plan is to establish written SOP for all operations and maintenance for the entire ecosystem. I'm pretty sure I will have some full time help so this discipline will be ingrained into the daily routine.

so I have two tracks to follow........the closed system and the open in line system???? Are they both doing the same thing????

 

[rwynn]

All this talk about flow got me thinking about the vortechs and the 3/4'' limitations....why not if you decide on these just drill out the acrylic a little where each powerhead will go(to the required 3/4'' or a little less) and recess one of the 2(or both I guess) sides of the powerhead....I wouldn't think this would affect the structural integrity of your tank in any way.

I could be totally forgetting something, but just a thought I didn't see anyone else suggest.

 

[nineball]

Bentley, casino, I'm in for sure. Did mention you had me at Bentley. I can only dream of riding in a fine piece of automotive excellence like that. Peter i must say your taste is impecable.

Thank you but please don't tell anybody, they'll think its gone to our heads!!!

Peter

 

[nineball]

LOL

Absolutely far out!!!!!!


Peter:artist:

 

[Oldude]

Thank you David, The mars system is a commercial retail unit which I will be customizing further to care for fish and coral as part of the overall management strategy for the entire ecosystem. It gives me about 27 compartments isolated from the display and in line system. Alot more on the subject at the right time.

Peter

This MARS system is also new to me. Sounds intriguing and I'm very interested to hear more about it.

 

[Elliott]

every separate reservoir in your system will collect detritus and require cleaning, either by hand or with a pump to blow it up and keep it in the water column, the mars system of individual tanks will probably be a detritus trap with resulting high nitrates and phosphates, IMO

 

[swissgaurd]

peter on the flow issue.
it may be a good time to contact echotech marine engineer department.
try to get them to design a vortech that will work with thicker glass.
i cant see why this cant be done as magnets come with stronger pull.
yours could be the prototype.
also the jets of a hot tub may be an idea as they can be positioned any which way.

vic

 

[Crutch77]

Hello! New to the thread, and fascinated by watching this come together

peter on the flow issue.
it may be a good time to contact echotech marine engineer department.
try to get them to design a vortech that will work with thicker glass.
i cant see why this cant be done as magnets come with stronger pull.
yours could be the prototype.
also the jets of a hot tub may be an idea as they can be positioned any which way.

vic

Anything not purpose made for aquarium use would be highly suspect, as there could be components made out of brass or other undesirable metals exposed to the water.

 

[mr.wilson]

Is there such a thing as a reverse deep sand bed?

yes, it's called quicksand, but I wouldn't go near it