Coral Tank from Canada (1350gal Display Tank)

[nineball]

I have three elevators but I still find it easier to build on site. Like I said before, try it with a few pieces before you spend all day and potentially paint yourself into a corner.

I use a sheet of cardboard against the inside of the tank to protect the acrylic from rock dings. If you use smaller pieces of cardboard they are easy to move out of the way to inspect your arrangement.

My last piece of advice is to make sure you don't build up the suspense of the rock work too much or the pressure may become too daunting

This is an important part of the deliberate exploitation of Chingchai's build. If you recall, his efforts (well documented in his thread) were way above and beyond the typical 'rock pile' equation. He kept the rocks wet in the tank and his team worked diligently to get it right. At one point they even took it apart and rebuilt it. This was the closest thing to art that works, I have seen. The result was the adoption of a style that was distinctive and unlike any other. I am pretty sure that if I am going to capture that style I'm going to have to run the extra mile (kilometer). I have an additional challenge in that regard.....His environment is double the height of my tank so I have to capture the style without diluting it. There is another build in Bangkok that has I believe done exactly that and I will try and benefit from their success.

Now, just three more styles to be identified and Grand Masters to be chosen ...........

:bounce3::bounce3::bounce3:

Peter

 

[tonyf]

Hopefully you got the round in before the siren went off, we got called off twice today.

Hehehehe! Yesterday 26C, light cool breeze, 10SM green speed, and a 76 off the back markers ... :fun2: I feel for you guys having to put up with such atrocious weather for a round. If you're ever down this way and want a game, it would be my pleasure to entertain you ... http://www.indooroopillygolf.com.au/welcome/index.mhtml

Tone :celeb2:

 

[K.Sweeney]

I'm sorry but I'm of the thought that it is a long walk, spoiled.

 

[nineball]

I'm sorry but I'm of the thought that it is a long walk, spoiled.

Ah but if it was with me K.Sweeney, it would be an even longer walk spoiled!!!!!!!

Peter :bounce3:

 

[nineball]

Hehehehe! Yesterday 26C, light cool breeze, 10SM green speed, and a 76 off the back markers ... :fun2: I feel for you guys having to put up with such atrocious weather for a round. If you're ever down this way and want a game, it would be my pleasure to entertain you ... http://www.indooroopillygolf.com.au/welcome/index.mhtml

Tone :celeb2:

That course almost makes me tear up!!!!! Hard to keep your head down with all that spectacular scenery!!!!! I know I will make it to Sydney, looks like I will not be able to avoid Brisbane at this rate. I don't know how you folks can play golf without snow.......I guess it takes all kinds!!!!!!:wildone::bounce1::bounce2::bounce1:

Peter

 

[Dustin1300]

Add another to the the subscription list. Don't know how I've missed this thread but just spent a good amount of time catching up. Could not believe some of the cheapest skimmers on the market that I've owned was shown skimming the rocks Anyways, cannot wait to see the tank develop. Great job thus far!

 

[nineball]

Add another to the the subscription list. Don't know how I've missed this thread but just spent a good amount of time catching up. Could not believe some of the cheapest skimmers on the market that I've owned was shown skimming the rocks Anyways, cannot wait to see the tank develop. Great job thus far!

Dustin, welcome to the group.......the skimmers may be cheap but they are definitely not harming my live rock!!!!!

Hang in for more in short order!

Peter

 

[tonyf]

That course almost makes me tear up!!!!! Hard to keep your head down with all that spectacular scenery!!!!! I know I will make it to Sydney, looks like I will not be able to avoid Brisbane at this rate. I don't know how you folks can play golf without snow.......I guess it takes all kinds!!!!!!:wildone::bounce1::bounce2::bounce1:

Peter

Played golf in the snow in Vienna a few years back with my father's brother.

He never did beat my dad and so after the old man passed away I went back to maintain the family tradition of never letting him win. :crazy1:

Y'know 'Briz' is only 55min away from Sydney on the Citiflyer :worried:

Back to the display ... this is now getting to the really impressive part ... aquascaping and establishment. Exiting times!

So, broadly speaking, what is now locked in for the finished product?

Tone :twitch:

 

[nineball]

Played golf in the snow in Vienna a few years back with my father's brother.

He never did beat my dad and so after the old man passed away I went back to maintain the family tradition of never letting him win. :crazy1:

Y'know 'Briz' is only 55min away from Sydney on the Citiflyer :worried:

Back to the display ... this is now getting to the really impressive part ... aquascaping and establishment. Exiting times!

So, broadly speaking, what is now locked in for the finished product?

Tone :twitch:

Tone, as close as is seems, when you look at closely at the details, the light in the tunnel isn't even a flicker yet.

I still have to sort through my lighting issues.

The fish room plumbing and electrical infrastructure is done but the final under tank closed loop plumbing has to be completed such that the two systems can operate together or independently and that some fore-planning has been done to ensure that the pipe maintenance is relatively straight forward when the time comes. I want to be able to replace any and all of the PVC should that be the better alternative at the time. So my thought is to have a completely redundant PVC layout so that the decision to do the right thing at the right time is academic and less stressful for all.

As far as the open system is concerned I think I have most of that sorted through but I frankly want to see it in place to make any further adjustments. I have set up the RO/DI tanks in such a way that I can produce roughly 250 gal a day to build the salt water changes as well as produce sufficient top off water to meet the needs of the mars bars as well as the main display tank. Having read through a bazillion lines of reef central material kindly provided by various members of this community I have decided that I will start with Reef Crystals salt. Chingchai again is a safe benchmark as well as other users in this group for this decision. Mr. Wilson is probably the only one to challenge that but if I don't read his rebuttal then I can sleep.

I have decided that the aqua sculpting of the four grand master styles will be done as originally planned and I will suggest the four styles and ask for best candidates representative of each. I think I will have to keep reminding folks that its the 'styles' that we are highlighting. I think I have an overall approach finally, that will allow for the four styles to interact in such a way that the whole is greater than the sum of the parts. Time will tell how successful that will be.

After the rock is 'settled in' I will want to benefit as much as I can from this community to build a comprehensive 'best in class' management system for the entire ecosystem. I am determined to ensure that the tank is stable before adding any corals as I am intending to make a fairly significant investment at this stage so I figure I will have lots of time before I actually introduce the red bugs and those special flat worms that everyone is convinced I will have. I any event I expect some of the members in this group to take some pride in helping to build an effective technological capability to ensure best practices are maintained.

Note, I have not talked about fish yet. The final choices for the coral 'islands' will help determine the fish selection and I expect to have a very respectable array of specimens befitting this build and this tank. The underlying coral however will always be the mainstay of this presentation and the fish will be a compliment to that.

I am determined to maintain a positive stance when it comes to coral and fish selection. I am planning to deal with known sources for material and most likely farmed products whenever possible. I will likely go to the source when and where possible to hand pick the selection as I have yet to see anything decent in any of the local LFS. I am not being critical of our local commercial efforts to support our hobby, its just that this build is a little unusual in its scope and most if not all the LFS's are not set up for this kind of buy.

So Tone, there is a little distance yet to get where we need to go but I am determined to get there with patience and perseverance(not to mention the occasional golf game :beer.

Peter

 

[Patwa]

I am determined to maintain a positive stance when it comes to coral and fish selection. I am planning to deal with known sources for material and most likely farmed products whenever possible. I will likely go to the source when and where possible to hand pick the selection as I have yet to see anything decent in any of the local LFS. I am not being critical of our local commercial efforts to support our hobby, its just that this build is a little unusual in its scope and most if not all the LFS's are not set up for this kind of buy.

Really? you have yet to see anything "decent" in our local LFS? are you kiddng me?? I nearly spat my tea on my monitor when I read that. If this concern about livestock sort of typifies what you see as a shortcoming of having to build and stock a reef tank in the GTA, you are way off the mark.

And don't count yourself short....your tank is not that "unusual in it's scope" - it's just a very big reef tank, no matter what way you want to cut it. Any reputable reef-centric store in the GTA should be able to sort you out, ESPECIALLY if you have the money and are keen on doing special "hand-picked" or farm-raised orders (kudos for the latter, btw! )

I don't know where you're getting your info, or if you're actually going out to each and every store, but you need to re-evaluate all that, stat. More so, a simple stroll up and down a store's aisles will not paint a good picture of the coral choices we have here....you need to go the day after a shipment arrivies, or better yet, arrange to be there when a shipment arrives so you can unpack and make your choices, etc.

Toronto has some of the best reef shops this side of the Pacific...and as far as Canada goes, prolly #1 with regard to coral imports, selection and price. So much so, that reefers from Michigan and Ohio routinely make runs up here to snatch up our stuff. Reef Raft, a rare coral mecca here in Toronto, routinely ships their best stuff to the US markets; those in the know in the US know Toronto is pretty respectable.

I take offence to anyone downplaying how good it is up here; it's pretty damn good, let me tell ya! haha

Z.

 

[alan2222]

Sean, I am meeting with a Philips engineer to discuss the LED's. The commercial systems are capable of throwing 5000 lumens 500 ft. This is extraordinary light power. However it has not been designed for aquaria even though it is suitable for outside wet weather. The light we see in theaters is 12 to 16 lumens reflected off the screen. Also these lights are capable of throwing any colour through program management with the red green blue led's. I do not know yet whether any non visible light spectrum is produced like UV along the way.

Are there any definitive specifications for LED's that meet a baseline criteria for our hobby?

I have seen some very encouraging anecdotal references but nothing that would prompt anyone to spend thirty or forty thousand dollars on a lighting system with any degree of confidence that there was a beneficial comparison between traditional and LED lighting arrangements. If there were some science to support an available algorithm I would think that based on the limited experience I have had with the capabilities of the Philips commercial system that the programming flexibility to choose any colour light, any frequency and any degree of saturation would be game changing for this hobby. But everything I read is far from definitive. Part of the justification is that the current generation of LED's which have only now been practical are still too new to deliver any confidence to the end user.

Thoughts??

Peter

Hi Peter - really enjoying this thread!

I think the key thing about light loss over distance is that decrease in intensity follows the inverse square law. Basically, if you double the distance you quarter the intensity. I hope that makes sense but it's far more comprehensively and eloquently explained here:

http://www.advancedaquarist.com/2005/8/aafeature/view?searchterm=inverse square law

and here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inverse-square_law

One of the benefits of LED lighting is that it can be sited closer to the water surface without the same heat issues as metal halide lighting though obviously the spread of light will be less (inverse square law again).

Cheers

Alan

 

[chingchai]

Really? you have yet to see anything "decent" in our local LFS? are you kiddng me?? I nearly spat my tea on my monitor when I read that. If this concern about livestock sort of typifies what you see as a shortcoming of having to build and stock a reef tank in the GTA, you are way off the mark.

And don't count yourself short....your tank is not that "unusual in it's scope" - it's just a very big reef tank, no matter what way you want to cut it. Any reputable reef-centric store in the GTA should be able to sort you out, ESPECIALLY if you have the money and are keen on doing special "hand-picked" or farm-raised orders (kudos for the latter, btw! )

I don't know where you're getting your info, or if you're actually going out to each and every store, but you need to re-evaluate all that, stat. More so, a simple stroll up and down a store's aisles will not paint a good picture of the coral choices we have here....you need to go the day after a shipment arrivies, or better yet, arrange to be there when a shipment arrives so you can unpack and make your choices, etc.

Toronto has some of the best reef shops this side of the Pacific...and as far as Canada goes, prolly #1 with regard to coral imports, selection and price. So much so, that reefers from Michigan and Ohio routinely make runs up here to snatch up our stuff. Reef Raft, a rare coral mecca here in Toronto, routinely ships their best stuff to the US markets; those in the know in the US know Toronto is pretty respectable.

I take offence to anyone downplaying how good it is up here; it's pretty damn good, let me tell ya! haha

Z.

Patwa. Are you too nervous or skeptical?
The way you posted is really annoying me.
This is Peter's thread.
If you feel uncomfortable to read, just ignore it.

 

[dainiusiva]

Patwa. Are you too nervous or skeptical?
The way you posted is really annoying me.
This is Peter's thread.
If you feel uncomfortable to read, just ignore it.

+1 on that. there is no need to be so critical patwa.i guess nineball never bothered to ask store owner if he could arrange a shipment befitting the scale of his tank.i understand that very few lfs' will have the quantity and variety to fill even 1/4 of nineballs tank but there really is this option to arrange a shipment directly from suppliers.i think since chingchai and nineball are on so good relationship (and since chingchai is a sps master :spin2: ) he really could handpick the corals and arrange the shipment from bkk.at least for his "island".

 

[crazzy]

Just read Patwa previous posts elsewhere on other threads and you see the problem he has.
His posts here on this thread just has him jealous in his critical norm.
This a fantastic detailed sharing of ideas, Thanx nineball for your endeavour and sharing.
This thread really brings a lot of diverse opinions together in one thread.
Congratulations and may you have a pleasant "Journey"

 

[dave.m]

I think Patwa's tone may seem a bit harsh, but if he knows the local market and can give useful suggestions about where and how to shop for something as special as nineball's tank then it can do no harm to let him have his say. Let's not be too quick to judge others simply by the way they express themsleves. Where I live the LFSs truly are attrocious when it comes to reef stock. I would be very happy to learn of quality places to shop in the GTA.

djm

 

[nineball]

+1 on that. there is no need to be so critical patwa.i guess nineball never bothered to ask store owner if he could arrange a shipment befitting the scale of his tank.i understand that very few lfs' will have the quantity and variety to fill even 1/4 of nineballs tank but there really is this option to arrange a shipment directly from suppliers.i think since chingchai and nineball are on so good relationship (and since chingchai is a sps master :spin2: ) he really could handpick the corals and arrange the shipment from bkk.at least for his "island".

:beer:

Peter

 

[nineball]

I think Patwa's tone may seem a bit harsh, but if he knows the local market and can give useful suggestions about where and how to shop for something as special as nineball's tank then it can do no harm to let him have his say. Let's not be too quick to judge others simply by the way they express themsleves. Where I live the LFSs truly are attrocious when it comes to reef stock. I would be very happy to learn of quality places to shop in the GTA.

djm

Thanks Dave, You are right, I will be checking out the suggestions for sure.

That's what this thread is all about...........

Peter

 

[nineball]

Just read Patwa previous posts elsewhere on other threads and you see the problem he has.
His posts here on this thread just has him jealous in his critical norm.
This a fantastic detailed sharing of ideas, Thanx nineball for your endeavour and sharing.
This thread really brings a lot of diverse opinions together in one thread.
Congratulations and may you have a pleasant "Journey"

Thank you for your support crazzy, I am pleased to have you along for the ride!!!!

Peter

Especially from Bolivia !!!!!!!! you live in a great part of the world.

 

[Ninong]

Good luck with your project, Peter. I'm sure it will be amazing. Can't wait to see the finished product.

 

[nineball]

Patwa. Are you too nervous or skeptical?
The way you posted is really annoying me.
This is Peter's thread.
If you feel uncomfortable to read, just ignore it.

:wave:

Thank you my friend......

By the way have things settled down a bit in Bangkok?? With the events in the Gulf of Mexico all other news has taken a back seat and rightfully so I guess. It`s a disaster of unimaginable proportion. But I still carry some concern for events in your country. I guess you could say its self interest on my part. I still have not visited Thailand for the first time yet and I am very much looking forward to a time when I can. :wave:

Peter