Day 1 Of My First Large Reef Tank

[pointx]

Just wanted to say hello to everyone. I have been reading all of the large reef tank post's the last couple months and have finally taken the plunge. I just picked up my 800 gallon (used) Aquarium and holly cow, what an adventure!!!

This is going to be my second natural Bio tope and will update my progress as I go. I will sure have a ton of questions and look forward to everyones advice.

Bigger then my f-150

Regards....

Randy C

 

[troyman]

bet you are excited as hell have lots of fun good luck

 

[pointx]

Very excited, but a bit overwhelmed. Now just gotta figure out how to unload it. I think a keg is in order and have an unloading party with all my friends.

 

[LobsterMan]

Well I hope you have fun with it.

 

[pointx]

Some quick facts on how this tank will be run. I am sure its far from the norm but it has been working for me with great results in the past. I plan to use natural sea water from a 14' well in a well I drilled. It has amazing water parameters and very stable temps. my overflow will dump in an effluent well 16' deep. The coral bedrock will be used as the natural filtration except for a 150 gallon sump I will have as a backup. I am using a 3hp IntelliFlo VS 3050 pump. Its a great pump with really nice controls like flow and speed (very adaptable!!!)

I have 700lbs of Rock curing in 300 gallon vats that was seeded with 200lbs of pulverized TBS live rock. Should be ready in a few weeks for placement.

I hope this all works out the way my smaller reef has done and I am not missing anything major( sure I am though)

 

[jgs107]

very cool.now get some bigger pics of the tank when you get it on the stand.what are the dimensions.i cant wait to see it set up.

 

[Discustopia]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=14148708#post14148708 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by pointx
Some quick facts on how this tank will be run. I am sure its far from the norm but it has been working for me with great results in the past. I plan to use natural sea water from a 14' well in a well I drilled. It has amazing water parameters and very stable temps. my overflow will dump in an effluent well 16' deep. The coral bedrock will be used as the natural filtration except for a 150 gallon sump I will have as a backup. I am using a 3hp IntelliFlo VS 3050 pump. Its a great pump with really nice controls like flow and speed (very adaptable!!!)

I have 700lbs of Rock curing in 300 gallon vats that was seeded with 200lbs of pulverized TBS live rock. Should be ready in a few weeks for placement.

I hope this all works out the way my smaller reef has done and I am not missing anything major( sure I am though)

Now THAT is having SW on tap!
makes me wonder how you get fresh water?

that has really got to make having a big tank like this soo much easier

 

[pointx]

All fresh water is piped in from the Miami Aquifer (45 miles or so) As far as the dimentions its
8'x4'x5' half hexagon. When I get some help and get it setup this week I will update with pictures.

Randy

 

[DamnPepShrimp]

So wait, are you just pumping water from the well straight into your tank and the overflows drain back into another well? So your constantly getting "new" water? I've always wondered if I lived close to the beach, if I could just use the ocean as my sump Pretty cool if that's what your doing. What are your livestock plans for it?

 

[pointx]

Well yes my return water is going into a effluent well, but not putting wastewater into the ocean, not a good idea here in the keys. The natural limestone bedrock is like a giant filter. I am no expert in geology or hydrology but it seems like it works quite well. My rock has been curing this way for a few weeks and my peramiters have not changed since day 1, thats including my effluent side as well. The neighbors think I am crazy for sure!!!!! Just wait to they see a barge and a crane in the canal lifting my tank to the second floor, of course that is after I remove all my front storm windows to get the required opening.

 

[OnlyCrimson]

Very cool that you can get natural sea water. Should be able to keep all sorts of delicate species!

 

[waynem]

New water everyday, how nice would that be.

Does rain effect the Sal?

 

[chachijoe75]

tagging along...

 

[Phillybean]

Wow that's awesome. I'm so jealous of you Floridian

 

[bkvreef]

I am offering my moving skills.

Did I mention that in Dayton it's 12 degrees and snowing!!

 

[~sp0ok~]

nice tank

 

[Mr. Brooks]

That's fascinating. I would feel a lot safer having a large closed system, then a seperate large water change container fed by the well. That way you could test the water before you introduce it to your tank. JUST to be safe. Like waynem said, how does rain effect the water? You could do large weekly water changes and be set. No real need to constantly change the water. Lots of us have very successful closed systems.

 

[pointx]

I thought about a closed loop system, but I have so many benefits vs the few negatives Just have to give it a try. Rainwater is a non issues based on my set up. The well casting will be about 12" over grade, so that will solve that issue. although if we get a big hurricane I will have to run a close loop temp.
Well inlet

Effluent discharge

I also am hoping to avoid freshwater top off's. I have been running this way for a while and my salinity in my Curing vats has stayed between 10.024 and 10.025 with no freshwater added.Also my alk(3.0) and cal(440) have been very stable, much more then my closed loop tank.

Another huge plus for me is Temp. I have a constant battle with water temp in my closed loop system. In the summer It runs around 85. With the well running all the time I should be able to maintain a constant temp around 79. To be honest alot of this is just me making my edjucated best guess, might be way wrong in the end.

Also I see a great benefit in avoiding a skimming. If I went to a closed system I would have to do aggressive skimming. I plan to have a bunch of Lookdowns and they create a lot of waste I have been told.

Finally I am hoping I can get quite a bit of control, speed and flow with programming my new pump. Its been fun messing with all the controls and its an amazing pump for the money.
I did have to change the seals and such to make it saltwater compatible. We will see if it lasts,lol

 

[zoo]

can you please explain the saltwater well better

 

[pointx]

Zoo, what would you like to know? Its a pretty simple well.