Large aquarium in small room?

[dave.m]

Unless those are weight-bearing walls on the little room I would remove them entirely and open the space up. That would give easy access for viewing to all. It would also avoid the potential problem of too much humidity in that tiny room. The piano would never survive.

Dave.M

 

[kowen]

I know this throws plans completely up in the air, but have you considered moving it to the wall that is backed up to the family room? Cut out a hole in the wall for viewing from the family room. That way people don't have to go out of their way to see the tank, including yourself. My new tank is in the family room, which can be seen from the kitchen and dining room. With it being front and center, it helps keep me on top of maintenance etc. If it were in it's own room it might start getting neglected a little.

I was having this same thought. My tank has never looked better now that it's somewhere that isn't out of my way to look at it. I think having it viewable from both sides will also make the 4' width more practical. However, the doors swinging against that wall may be an issue.

If leaving the tank against the back wall, I'd probably go 8' long x 2.5' tall x 3' wide. I don't think you'll get as much ROI on 4' width of it's only viewable from the front, so better use some of that space to make the room less cramped. Regardless of tank size or location, I'd also make the maintenance doors at least 12" tall instead of 6". With such a deep and wide tank, you'll want the extra room to maneuver.

 

[tkeracer619]

Have you confirmed you can actual cut a hole in the garage wall? That is a firewall and needs to be constructed in a way that is to code.

I'm setting up a 600gal 8x4x31.5 right now and wouldn't even consider it in a room that size. If you do prepare yourself for a lot of unforseen technical issues. Make sure you thoroughly plan out every step of the move in and getting the tank in place. Expect to tear a lot of walls out to do so. You won't be able to lift a tank or flip a tank that size so plan on hydraulic cart access with it in its natural position.

No need for heated floors, that room is going to be hot, there is going to be a large btu heater set to 76+deg 24/7.

You will need ventilation and dehumidification.

 

[victor_c3]

All,

Good points. I will definitely take a step back and take all of that into consideration.

Fortunately, I have plenty of time to think things through. My plan is to establish my fishroom in the basement and cycle my sump and filtration tanks first while I'm working on ironing out issues with the display.

 

[victor_c3]

I have essentially run out of patience and I have decided that when I get paid on the 1st that I'm going to pull the trigger and buy a "standard" 180 gallon tank. Since moving into the house I have found that I spend a lot of time in the room. The blank spot on the wall where I eventually plan to put a 350-ish tank is driving me nuts and I realized that it is going to be a while before I get everything together for my eventual 8' long 350 gallon tank.

The 180 gallon tank will give me a chance to start growing out my SPS frags into more substantial mini-colonies for my eventual 350 and give me a little more patience when it comes to putting the big system together. the 180 will be a very usual sort of build not even really worth going into detail about right now.

As for my eventual 350 plan...

I've been planning and researching my sump idea for years. Basically I'm going to run a skimmerless system with a 1,000 gallon refugium. I plan on breeding 1-3 species of plankton which will be added to the system throughout the day to provide food for copepods, corals, fish, and anything else that'll eat all this junk. Nutrient export will be accomplished with two 8' long troughs filled with macro algae which will on alternating lighting schedules.

The 1,000 gallon tank itself will be a plywood tank build and 8' x 4' x 4'. The bottom 12" or so will be a deep sand bed and the remaining space will be filled with live rock.

I'm hoping that this will provide adequate filtration for the display tank. If not, then I'll throw on a protein skimmer and go a more mainstream way. The main idea here is that I'll be preserving the microscopic live and copepods that live in our systems and in turn provide a better environment for my corals and hopefully non-photosynthetic sea fans and such. As these animals are filter feeders I'm hoping that this will make it easier for me to keep gorgonians and such. I haven't seen anyone do a build like the one I'm thinking of doing so I figure what the hell and why not give it a shot myself!

Any thoughts on any of this idea?

 

[dave.m]

I think you're begging for trouble with a 12" deep sandbed in the display tank. I suggest 3-4" max.

Only the top couple of inches work as your anoxic filter. Any deeper and you are risking eventually creating H2SO4 pockets which, if disturbed, can kill everything in the tank. Really deep sandbeds require a lot of flow to keep them oxygenated. Some people put a small deep sandbed filter in their sump. I have seen even these go bad if there's a power failure of any significant length of time.

I prefer to put the deep sandbed separate from the system so it can be cut off entirely from the system if anything goes wrong. Putting it directly in the display tank means that the whole system is hostage to this one filter.

Dave.M

 

[victor_c3]

I think you're begging for trouble with a 12" deep sandbed in the display tank. I suggest 3-4" max.

Only the top couple of inches work as your anoxic filter. Any deeper and you are risking eventually creating H2SO4 pockets which, if disturbed, can kill everything in the tank. Really deep sandbeds require a lot of flow to keep them oxygenated. Some people put a small deep sandbed filter in their sump. I have seen even these go bad if there's a power failure of any significant length of time.

I prefer to put the deep sandbed separate from the system so it can be cut off entirely from the system if anything goes wrong. Putting it directly in the display tank means that the whole system is hostage to this one filter.

Dave.M

Good point in separating it, however the sandbed will only be in the sump tank. The display will be bare-bottom.