Large Tank Expert advice needed

[Alex T.]

Sometimes it pays to be nice. Over the last few years, I've donated many corals and fish that have outgrown my 150 SPS tank to my local public aquarium. They recently decided that they were going to make a larger and wider reef display and asked if I would be interested in taking the current tank. Believe it or not, it's against the grain of reef tank dimensions but I've always wanted something like it.

The tank dimensions are 72L x 60W x 48H with approximate volume of 1,100 gallons. The sides and rear are fiberglass with a 1 inch thick acrylic viewing panel that spans the entire front dimension. I brought over one of my MP 40's to see if it would hold through the fiberglass and all is well. I plan to keep many SPS and clams in the upper 30 or so inches with some nice LPS at the bottom. I was wondering what you all thought about the setup.

It would be inset into the wall of my family room and actually sitting directly on the floor of the garage which is concrete. I would have 4 MP 40's and a large closed loop in addition to two sumps each with a Reeflo Dart return.

I always wanted to experiment with a large system that had swimming room at more depths than most reef tanks to see how the shoaling fish school, but the price of tanks that are this tall always kept me from trying.

 

[tangstank]

WOW, very nice of you on the Good gesture & it has paid off well with a very nice "LARGE" tank.
The dimensions seems awesome, only issue I see is with the height being 48, you will need a lot of lighting to support SPS requirements and looks like you are already thinking through this.

 

[LifeAquatic]

You night want 4 mp60's on a tank that size. Sounds like a way cool project.

 

[Nanook]

Being that your location is in New Jersey, I hope you have a well heated and insulated garage.

 

[geaux xman]

what will you do for skimming? sounds like that tank will cost an arm and a leg to maintain. salt for that tank alone is $300 a clip.

 

[username in use]

One initial concern is a static load of close to 10,000lbs on the floor. I would have someone versed in concrete loading come and look at the floor to make sure it won't settle over time, that could be catastrophic. It may hold fine, but I would want to make sure first.

As for lighting, I can see this really needing 400w halides at the least. If you aquascape it into islands or light and dark areas you can probably minimize how many you are going to need, or have 400's over the acro's and then 250's over areas that don't need as much light. You might even be able to do it with just a couple of 1000's, you'll have to research that more though.

As for flow, I agree that you might want to look into the MP 60's or even, since its in your garage, a good size surge device is very useful on a tank of those purportions as you can get some good flow all the way to the bottom and all around with a 30-50g surge every 2-3min. Couple that with 4 or 5 of the large seaswirls pushing maximum gph and you should be good without any real in tank powerheads.

Good luck, it could be a stunning display.

 

[serpentman]

Assuming you can afford the upgrade (i.e. skimmer, salt, electric, etc.) I say jump on it. Even if you can't at the moment, I'd nab it and start saving. A deal like that comes around rarely. Virtually any obstacle you encounter can be overcome. You may need to pour a thicker concrete pad, etc. However, the finished product would be a spectacle.

As far as the 4' height, a friend of mine had a 40" tall tank and successfully grew softies, etc. all the way on the bottom. I would go with 400W MH with Lumen Bright reflectors and you should be able to grow SPS 2/3 of the way down.

 

[d3hree]

I am currently planning a 48" deep tank. Similar to yours, fibreglassed with a front viewing pane of glass. I am planning on having a 6" DSB in the tank because of the constuction there will be 12" of tank below the bottom edge of glass. This will mean that even LPS will only be 42" from the lights
I will be using 400w halides and utilising aquascaped rock towers to ensure that sps can be as close to the lights as I wish.

Hope that helps

 

[dzfish17]

Youre not kidding about the price of tall tanks. I have a 600g (96x36x46) made out of 1 1/4 in acrylic. I would not have been able to buy it if it werent for a jackpot in Vegas. Get some pics of the tank as I would love to see it. Have fun with youre project.

Dave

 

[Alex T.]

Thanks for all the replies!!

Nanook, I'm not too concerned for the heat/cold periods in the garage. Once the tank is seated properly into the wall, it better never leak because I'm building an insulated room around it with its' own entrance from the garage to the fish room. This will be ventilated out the roof of the garage with a direct link to the heating and air conditioning units which are less than 3 feet away in the laundry room on the other side of an interior wall. I'm also going to cement backerboard the entire interior of the room and tile it.

As for the weight of the system, I'm not concerned about it at all. I'm a tile contractor by trade, and that area of the garage routinely has thousands of pounds in tile, thinset mortar and backerboard...sometimes stacked 6 feet high. This by itself can weigh over 10,000 pounds sometimes, with my F350 diesel on the same slab only feet away.

As for the lighting, I will only be keeping SPS in the upper half to 30 inches of the tank, so 400 halides would be fine with the right reflectors. I plan on making a dramatic drop off from the point where the SPS stop to create a large cave where I plan to keep some LPS and even non-photosynthetic corals in the dark areas. The key to my aquascaping will be four massive but open pillars reaching toward the surface with many tabling acros jetting out in all directions.

For flow, there will be two Reeflo darts on two sump returns, 4 MP40's from the back wall forward, and an idea that I've always had....tide simulation. Being that there are 2 low and two high tides per day, each side of the tank will have an additional external pump plumbed in and put on alternating 6 hour timers. The fiberglass will be cut like swiss cheese to allow for the closed loop. Every six hours one side will predominate the flow from left to right while the other right to left pump shuts down. Then, after six hours' time this flow pattern would predominate the other way. This would be roughly 40,000 gallons per hour of flow, with considerably more turbulent water designed to be at the top half of the tank.

I anticipate starting the project in January sometime after they disassemble the system. It's worked great for them with only half the flow that I myself am anticipating.

Part of the agreement is that I must transport the tank myself, which if you've been reading is no problem with my truck.

What would really sweeten the deal is if they would throw in that 15" Sohal!!!

 

[jeffs86GT]

Since your in NJ does that mean the tank is coming from the Camden Aquarium?

 

[Alex T.]

The aquarium asked that I not divulge to others so that no one comes looking for freebies. Apparently I'm the only one who ever brought them frags, fish and even a misguided purchasing of a gigas clam that quickly overtook my system.

However, I can assure you that it was not the Camden Aquarium.

 

[username in use]

I donate stuff to my local aquarium as well. Anytime I get an interesting coral I offer them a frag, they have almost everything you can imagine growing in frag tanks, but an interesting color variant is always welcome. Maybe it will pay off like this someday.

 

[Holyreefer]

No pics?

 

[silentstorm]

Wow.. It's going to be one sweet build!! ..... Any pics of the current setup?

 

[Alex T.]

No pics?

Wow.. It's going to be one sweet build!! ..... Any pics of the current setup?

Sorry folks. This was over 4 years ago. I wound up passing on the tank. Wondering how you found the thread.