Background:
It's always been a dream of mine to keep marine fish and this interest has naturally evolved into wanting to keep a full coral reef. Now I'm truly settled in Japan I decided it was time to stop thinking and start actually doing it. Towards the end of last year I bought a 20 gallon tank, some LR and some fish and started to learn about this fascinating hobby. Around 5 months ago I upgraded to a 50 gallon and acquired more fish, soft coral, anemones and a few LPS and the bug had bitten me very deeply - I was hooked.
As fate would have it and certainly a year or two earlier than I'd anticipated the opportunity of designing and building a house presented itself. I work out of home so there would need to be an office and as I spend a considerable amount of time in the office I needed to have a serene environment and what better environment than a monster in-wall tank. (I say to my wife)
And the project is born. :thumbsup:
The Tank:
As the months of planning went on the tank kept getting bigger and bigger and I've now settled on a 340 gallon main display (72"x30"x36" - 30" tall). The sump is 48"x24"x30 (150g). The tank and sump are being made by the great guys at Envision Acrylics. James said they'll start building around October 1st and ship out 3 weeks later so I'll have them at the end of October. But I intend to acquire all the equipment before then and I'm well on way.
Equipment:
Being in southern Japan and faced with a technical language barrier (even though I speak the language well), I knew I wasn't going to get the system I wanted by shopping at Japanese vendors. Members here at ReefCentral have given me 100% of my knowledge (as little as it still is) and part of that knowledge has been great online vendors. Through RC I found MarineDepot, Envision Acrylics, Premium Aquatics, OceanMotions, DeltecUSA, Vivid Aquariums and Savko. I can't speak highly enough of all these vendors who have had to put up with barrages of stupid questions from me.
So the main equipment:
Deltec 902 Skimmer
PFO hood (3 x 400k Hamilton 14k moguls with 4 x 140w VHO)
3 Sequence Darts (closed loops)
1 PanWorld 100PX-X (return)
2 Iwaki 30RLXT (chiller and skimmer)
2 OM 4-Way units
1 OM Super Squirt
Arctica 1/2hp Chiller
Aquatronica
Korallin Calcium Reactor 3002
AquaMedic Kalk Reactor
There's also various miscellaneous stuff like auto top-off kits, water change pumps etc but outlined above is the core hardware.
Concept:
I think I've read just about every thread on SSB vs DSB vs BB and it was tough coming to a solution on this. I like the look of sand but didn't want a DSB but I also wanted the benefits of a BB tank which is quite a tall order I thought. The answer came from Steve Weast's inspirational set up at OregonReef. I'm going to design 2 rock racks out of 1.5" pvc pipe and plumb them into a closed loop powered by one Dart with outlets on the bottom of the tank. The rack will output to many 3/4" locline nozzles that will keep the rocks and area beneath free of detritus. I have designed a "sand barrier" which I'll show in a bit that should ensure the flow from the racks does not cause any sand dispersal so I can put in a small SSB at the front of the tank that I can siphon and stir regular. Best of both tank worlds I hope!
Flow:
So there's 2 more closed loops on the tank but these are run through OM 4-Ways. One CL will have 4 outlets on the back of the tank and the other CL will run 2 outlets on each side of the tank. I'll put the back 4 and the rack loops on the Aquatronica so I can turn those off at night. I decided on modest flow through the sump with a PanWorld rated at 1270gph. Total flow rate is over 12,000GPH or 35 times tank turnover which should allow me to keep any SPS I want.
Sump:
The sump is fairly large so I wanted to incorporate a coral grow-out into it. This proposes a bit of a headache as the Caulerpa I grow needs to be lit 24/7. I put this forward to James at Envision:
However, he has a better idea to minimise the light spill which I'll go into later. The chiller will be plumbed off the prop section and return via a Super Squirt. This will give the corals there some nice flow.
So still 2 months away from T-Day (Tank Day, heh) but I'll be very busy getting the equipment together. I'll post photos as the fish room take shape but this is what it looks like now:
My office is to the right in the corner and you can see where the tank will be in-wall. At the end where the pipe is sticking out will be a sink and the whole room is going to insulated with soundproof foam and finished like a bathroom (plastic walls).
I should be getting all the plumbing parts from Savko this month and the PFO hood from Premium Aquatics and I already have the Deltec 902, 2 Darts and the 4-Ways and Super Squirt from OceanMotions so full steam ahead. :thumbsup:
It's always been a dream of mine to keep marine fish and this interest has naturally evolved into wanting to keep a full coral reef. Now I'm truly settled in Japan I decided it was time to stop thinking and start actually doing it. Towards the end of last year I bought a 20 gallon tank, some LR and some fish and started to learn about this fascinating hobby. Around 5 months ago I upgraded to a 50 gallon and acquired more fish, soft coral, anemones and a few LPS and the bug had bitten me very deeply - I was hooked.
As fate would have it and certainly a year or two earlier than I'd anticipated the opportunity of designing and building a house presented itself. I work out of home so there would need to be an office and as I spend a considerable amount of time in the office I needed to have a serene environment and what better environment than a monster in-wall tank. (I say to my wife)
And the project is born. :thumbsup:
The Tank:
As the months of planning went on the tank kept getting bigger and bigger and I've now settled on a 340 gallon main display (72"x30"x36" - 30" tall). The sump is 48"x24"x30 (150g). The tank and sump are being made by the great guys at Envision Acrylics. James said they'll start building around October 1st and ship out 3 weeks later so I'll have them at the end of October. But I intend to acquire all the equipment before then and I'm well on way.
Equipment:
Being in southern Japan and faced with a technical language barrier (even though I speak the language well), I knew I wasn't going to get the system I wanted by shopping at Japanese vendors. Members here at ReefCentral have given me 100% of my knowledge (as little as it still is) and part of that knowledge has been great online vendors. Through RC I found MarineDepot, Envision Acrylics, Premium Aquatics, OceanMotions, DeltecUSA, Vivid Aquariums and Savko. I can't speak highly enough of all these vendors who have had to put up with barrages of stupid questions from me.
So the main equipment:
Deltec 902 Skimmer
PFO hood (3 x 400k Hamilton 14k moguls with 4 x 140w VHO)
3 Sequence Darts (closed loops)
1 PanWorld 100PX-X (return)
2 Iwaki 30RLXT (chiller and skimmer)
2 OM 4-Way units
1 OM Super Squirt
Arctica 1/2hp Chiller
Aquatronica
Korallin Calcium Reactor 3002
AquaMedic Kalk Reactor
There's also various miscellaneous stuff like auto top-off kits, water change pumps etc but outlined above is the core hardware.
Concept:
I think I've read just about every thread on SSB vs DSB vs BB and it was tough coming to a solution on this. I like the look of sand but didn't want a DSB but I also wanted the benefits of a BB tank which is quite a tall order I thought. The answer came from Steve Weast's inspirational set up at OregonReef. I'm going to design 2 rock racks out of 1.5" pvc pipe and plumb them into a closed loop powered by one Dart with outlets on the bottom of the tank. The rack will output to many 3/4" locline nozzles that will keep the rocks and area beneath free of detritus. I have designed a "sand barrier" which I'll show in a bit that should ensure the flow from the racks does not cause any sand dispersal so I can put in a small SSB at the front of the tank that I can siphon and stir regular. Best of both tank worlds I hope!
Flow:
So there's 2 more closed loops on the tank but these are run through OM 4-Ways. One CL will have 4 outlets on the back of the tank and the other CL will run 2 outlets on each side of the tank. I'll put the back 4 and the rack loops on the Aquatronica so I can turn those off at night. I decided on modest flow through the sump with a PanWorld rated at 1270gph. Total flow rate is over 12,000GPH or 35 times tank turnover which should allow me to keep any SPS I want.
Sump:
The sump is fairly large so I wanted to incorporate a coral grow-out into it. This proposes a bit of a headache as the Caulerpa I grow needs to be lit 24/7. I put this forward to James at Envision:
However, he has a better idea to minimise the light spill which I'll go into later. The chiller will be plumbed off the prop section and return via a Super Squirt. This will give the corals there some nice flow.
So still 2 months away from T-Day (Tank Day, heh) but I'll be very busy getting the equipment together. I'll post photos as the fish room take shape but this is what it looks like now:
My office is to the right in the corner and you can see where the tank will be in-wall. At the end where the pipe is sticking out will be a sink and the whole room is going to insulated with soundproof foam and finished like a bathroom (plastic walls).
I should be getting all the plumbing parts from Savko this month and the PFO hood from Premium Aquatics and I already have the Deltec 902, 2 Darts and the 4-Ways and Super Squirt from OceanMotions so full steam ahead. :thumbsup:
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