Coral Tank from Canada (1350gal Display Tank)

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Great article in Coral. Thanks for spreading the good new. Slideshow is great too, Can I somehow make that my screensaver?? :)
 
Scott,

The short answer is yes. I have been working on a web site with Dave M's help which will have a huge library of digital photo's in full resolution for easy download if you wish. I will release it as soon as Mr. Wilson gives Dave M the updates he needs for the hard written content that has been gathered by Dave. One small observation however. The galleries are huge with what may appear to be a lot of similars. When I take digital pictures, I am hoping for one good picture in 20. There may be very subtle differences in angle, light or exposure but rather than choose one and throw the rest out....I keep them all.

I use a photo site called Phanfare as the storage is unlimited, there is no restriction on file sizes, I can save both JPEG and RAW full size and I can create albums which can be posted to the web with no bandwidth implications to me.
Add to that backup within the cloud.....for me that is an important distinction, Backup within the cloud NOT to the cloud. That means that there are two copies in two locations within the cloud. So I can have a catastrophe at home and my photo archive is never at risk. Phanfare can be destroyed and there is still a copy that I can access anywhere in the world and they support PC and MAC platforms. I think the current rate is 29.95 per year without RAW & limited video storage but its a very good deal to protect and distribute your photos. I think I am paying somewhere around two hundred a year because I wanted everything they offered and I believe it works well for me.

Finally, I have no personal economic interest in Phanfare but I do mention it here because I believe for us marine foto addicts this service is clearly a best practice worth recognition.

Peter

thank you
 
Hi Peter and team Nineball :)

It's been a few months since I last posted on this thread and it has been
great to see the tank and thread continually improving during this time !

I'm interrupting my silent lurking today as I would like to submit an idea for a simple automatic rinser, involving only one solenoid and a pump:

rinser.jpg


The solenoid would be on the left side pipe and usually on the open position.

The "frozen slush" is poured in the right compartment from a machine similar to the one Mr. Wilson has posted a few pages back. It would be easy to replace the mechanical switch to pour the mixture with a switch time-controlled by the profilux. The bottom of this compartment (pink on the picture) is made of a mesh with holes smaller than the smallest food particles in the slush.... Actually it would probably work better if the bottom of this compartment was in the shape of a coffee filter but it's more complicated to do this in sketchup :)

RO/DI water is then pumped on top of the slush. When it reaches a certain level, the left pipe starts a syphon and sends the water to the drain. As soon as the syphon breaks, the water level goes up again before starting the syphon again. By keeping pumping in RO/Di and keeping the solenoid open, the food can be rinsed as many times as necessary.

After a suitable time, the solenoid is closed while water keeps being pumped in. When the water levels reaches a higher level, the right hand pipe starts a syphon and sends the food to the sump. As the level of the water on the left side goes down, it comes up through the mesh and pushes the food to the pipe. By repeating this process a few times all the food should be cleared from the rinser.

It is possible to imagine that all the top-off water would be sent through the rinser and feed the tank while maintaining salinity.

The slush dispenser, top off pump, and solenoid could be plugged in the profilux to ensure that they always stay synchronized.

Since only pure water goes through the solenoid it should not get clogged over time, but by simply adding a second draining syphon pipe next to the first one with a solenoid on the same timer there should hopefully never be any problem.
 
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the slideshow looks great , Mr Wilson, i would like your opinion on whitespot(cryptocaryon irritans), i am of the opinion that it is often latent in the majority of large Reef aquariums ,waiting for a chance to strike even in spite of quarantine which is essential but not 100% sure proof way of preventing it being introduced given a complicated lifecycle with some stages being resistant to most treatments.

Do you agree or do you think that a reef with large quantities of fish and corals can indeed be totally free of whitespot for the life time of that Aquarium , given that new fish /coral/rock introduced in spite of quarantine may in fact still allow just one parasite to sneak in?And once in it becomes a question of managing water quality and keeping stress out to keep it from becoming a problem.

Of course Uv and ozone would also help keep parasite numbers low as would strong immune systems.
 
Hi Peter and team Nineball :)

It's been a few months since I last posted on this thread and it has been
great to see the tank and thread continually improving during this time !

I'm interrupting my silent lurking today as I would like to submit an idea for a simple automatic rinser, involving only one solenoid and a pump:

rinser.jpg


The solenoid would be on the left side pipe and usually on the open position.

The "frozen slush" is poured in the right compartment from a machine similar to the one Mr. Wilson has posted a few pages back. It would be easy to replace the mechanical switch to pour the mixture with a switch time-controlled by the profilux. The bottom of this compartment (pink on the picture) is made of a mesh with holes smaller than the smallest food particles in the slush.... Actually it would probably work better if the bottom of this compartment was in the shape of a coffee filter but it's more complicated to do this in sketchup :)

RO/DI water is then pumped on top of the slush. When it reaches a certain level, the left pipe starts a syphon and sends the water to the drain. As soon as the syphon breaks, the water level goes up again before starting the syphon again. By keeping pumping in RO/Di and keeping the solenoid open, the food can be rinsed as many times as necessary.

After a suitable time, the solenoid is closed while water keeps being pumped in. When the water levels reaches a higher level, the right hand pipe starts a syphon and sends the food to the sump. As the level of the water on the left side goes down, it comes up through the mesh and pushes the food to the pipe. By repeating this process a few times all the food should be cleared from the rinser.

It is possible to imagine that all the top-off water would be sent through the rinser and feed the tank while maintaining salinity.

The slush dispenser, top off pump, and solenoid could be plugged in the profilux to ensure that they always stay synchronized.

Since only pure water goes through the solenoid it should not get clogged over time, but by simply adding a second draining syphon pipe next to the first one with a solenoid on the same timer there should hopefully never be any problem.

I'm going to let Mr. Wilson discuss the design elements with you but I want to take this opportunity to thank you for taking the time and initiative to put this together for us. This is what makes this community so powerful and rewarding to be a part of.

I think it is great and makes a lot of sense by the way.

Thank you,

Peter
 
nineball said:
Ok either Mon or Thursday......I'll let you know tomorrow after I check with Mr. Wilson.
I take it Monday's off then? Mr. Wilson's presence is not absolutely required, as I can get much of the remaining info in person.

Thx,

Dave.M
 
I'm going to let Mr. Wilson discuss the design elements with you but I want to take this opportunity to thank you for taking the time and initiative to put this together for us. This is what makes this community so powerful and rewarding to be a part of.

I think it is great and makes a lot of sense by the way.

Thank you,

Peter

Thanks for the kind words Peter :)
It's an honor and pleasure to have a chance to contribute anything to such a great tank and thread !! :rollface:
Sylvain
 
When I started reading your tank build I wasn't sure if you were just someone who wanted to show off what his money could buy or if you really had a passion and interest in this hobby. I am happy that the last has proven true. You have stated all along that you wanted to show an example how a build could be done the right way for the fish, the coral, and the viewers. You have done this.

I just wanted to thank you for the dedication you have shown in keeping your tank build thread updated. It is no easy task to build tank with the world looking over your shoulder. Keeping a thread updated would have been the last thing on my mind. It has been a pleasure to read and a great learning experience. You have encouraged me.

Mr. Wilson, your knowledge is truely amazing and the time you have taken to provide in depth explainations is very appriciated. You made this thread worth reading (even if half of what you said went right over my head).

It took me 3 weeks of reading a couple hours every night to get through, but well worth it. I may have missed it, (and I just don't know where to start looking) but have you named all the "masters" yet or just Chingchai? As well, I was wondering how many fish do you have in your tank? There looks to be hundreds...

Thanks again for your dedication.
Alec
 
When I started reading your tank build I wasn't sure if you were just someone who wanted to show off what his money could buy or if you really had a passion and interest in this hobby. I am happy that the last has proven true. You have stated all along that you wanted to show an example how a build could be done the right way for the fish, the coral, and the viewers. You have done this.

I just wanted to thank you for the dedication you have shown in keeping your tank build thread updated. It is no easy task to build tank with the world looking over your shoulder. Keeping a thread updated would have been the last thing on my mind. It has been a pleasure to read and a great learning experience. You have encouraged me.

Mr. Wilson, your knowledge is truely amazing and the time you have taken to provide in depth explainations is very appriciated. You made this thread worth reading (even if half of what you said went right over my head).

It took me 3 weeks of reading a couple hours every night to get through, but well worth it. I may have missed it, (and I just don't know where to start looking) but have you named all the "masters" yet or just Chingchai? As well, I was wondering how many fish do you have in your tank? There looks to be hundreds...

Thanks again for your dedication.
Alec

Alec, Thank you very much for your generous assessment of this process and build. There have been more times than I can count where I had many of the same questions that you had in the beginning.

So far the only "Grand Master" is Chingchai. He continues to be a mentor and excellent example of what this hobby ought to be about. I have a good handle on the next two "grand Masters" but have had some second thoughts about timing the public acknowledgement. Both individuals have had world class marine environments with distinct styles that are renown. Both individuals however, for different reasons, have changed their tanks and I wasn't sure what to do. I have a small group of thread members that I have relied on for advice and counsel who have suggested that I can recognize them regardless of their current projects because they are so recognized and copied for their past works by hobbyists in our domain. They also share many attributes that Chingchai has with respect to planning, discipline and execution of best practices in all areas affecting our marine ecosystems.

Hopefully, I will be announcing the second Grand Master in a few weeks, perhaps in time for MACNA........so stay tuned.

Oh and most important Alec, a sincere welcome to our thread community.

Peter
 
i have read this post from start to finish the past few days as i had some down time. all i can say is that you have done some magical things. the vast knowlage you have aquired, and then shared with this forum has been priceless. you have taken reefing to a whole new level, and have made it so beautiful, that words canot describe this. its truly breathtaking. well done my friend. i bow down to you peter.
jeff C.
 
i have read this post from start to finish the past few days as i had some down time. all i can say is that you have done some magical things. the vast knowlage you have aquired, and then shared with this forum has been priceless. you have taken reefing to a whole new level, and have made it so beautiful, that words canot describe this. its truly breathtaking. well done my friend. i bow down to you peter.
jeff C.

Thank you Jeff. Every time I suggest the best is yet to come I have to realize that the best way to see that is looking back from sometime in the future. This is beginning to sound like science fiction!!!! :beer:

Welcome to the community and don't forget to check back!!!

Peter
 
Stuff............

Stuff............

As I write I can hear a throbbing noise as a bunch of guys cut holes in my ceiling to run an inch pipe from the water main intake to my irrigation system. The goal is to bypass the whole house water softener system. The water softener has a special dedicated carbon tank as well which means the RO DI system never gets above 3 ppm going in and 0 ppm out. The issue has been however that the same water line feeds my irrigation system that is drawing 14 gals per minute for three hours of 'conditioned' water every night. The consequence of that is that I have to carry a 50 pound bag of salt 300 feet every two days. If all the noise I am listing to right now results in the bypass working I will have more time to type updates on the thread rather than haul salt around for a living.

The Mangroves are really taking off so I expect we will be pruning them very soon. The original promise of a living wall of green looks like it will be realized. Again, I tip my hat to Mr. Wilson for the fantastic design and implementation.

I find with almost 25 feet of reef (50 feet if you walk around both side of the tank) that I have to let go of every attempt to be perfect. In order to relax and enjoy this experience I have to accept that the reef itself will take over more and more of the evolution of this system. I mention this because for me this is new. If I continued to try and micro manage every square foot (meter) it would take me 2 hours each day just to inspect the tank never mind the work associated with finding something that needs attention. Add to that an hour feeding all the inhabitants and I might as well get a mask and live in the tank.

Working with Mr. Wilson on the tank and system maintenance has been an enormously educational experience. I am learning that inevitably it is most probably the greatest area for disasters to occur over time. Fortunately I am retired and have had the time and passion to stay involved but I can easily see that for the majority of folks in this hobby that the mundane but important maintenance routines would become tiring. Watching water parameters requires commitment and discipline. It's easy to forget checking water temperatures because you start to take some of the basics for granted. All of the primary and secondary systems should have backups. This is a best practice for good reason. In a complex environment such as this one there are just too many things to forget, too many pieces to fail and too much change to keep track on an ad hoc basis.

My challenge in the next phase of this build is to take my senility and laziness out of the equation. This is not just going to be about automating stuff. This is about keeping a high level of motivation and in fact raising the bar on equipment and system performance in many key areas. The more redundant smart systems and practices maintaing them will guarantee that the quality of life for both the owner and the captive life forms is always paramount.

So Mr. Wilson and I will be reviewing every aspect of this build with this in mind for the next phase of our activities.

Peter
 
My challenge in the next phase of this build is to take "my senility and laziness" out of the equation.

Too funny and also too true. The remark of a humble realist.

I've been following this thread from the beginning and the tank and the process are both first rate. The spirit of the the whole thing is inspiring.
 
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