Large tank project Advice

I happen to be the friend with the camera; and since Pete has graciously taken in my corals while my tank is down (but not out!)(planning a move soon) I definitely owe him a posting or two of tank photos.

I guess I hold some bragging rights on his tank being some of the nicest specimens were mine (LOL).

Pete,
Here are some photos we snapped on Sept 9th, 2006...
As bright as many appear, it has been overcast and nothing compared to a sunny day with the full effects of the skylights.

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Okay not mine but beautiful...
vet9.jpg
 
Some of the fish:

A mouthful of babies.
babies.jpg


gmphawk.jpg


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This anemone was from George's tank (Griss here at RC) and split twice in my tank. Here in Pete's tank it has already divided once.

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I must admit that the tank is much more impressive in person; if my photography skills were a little better I might be able to capture a fraction of its true beauty.

Pete you should be proud.

As one more Kudos to Pete; he is our emergency contact for after hours care on my 54 goverment working canines protecting the southern border here in El Paso!

Ed
 
Very nice.

What kind of anonome is that? It is a beauty.
And what are those 6 little schooling fish shown with the mandarin?

Joe
 
The brooding fish is the same as the ones schooling: Red spot cardinals.

No more colorful than the average freshwater tetra but they seem to school better than most any other reef fish in the trade right now. I think the tangs do their part to keep them in line so that might be part of the reason they school so well.

I want to add a couple more large groups of other cardinals because they give a very natural effect. I think glass cardinals and perhaps orange strip and flame cardinals.

The anemone is a bubble tip (E. quadricolor) but I have never seen one this pink before.

There is a guy on frags.org that offered one that looked just like it but I never saw it in person. The pic was very similar though.

The pic of this one is pretty much spot on. Truly an impressive specimen. How often does someone simply GIVE you a specimen like that? AND it split within 3 weeks of arrival too!

Well it goes without saying that when Ed. sets his tank back up he will have a clone waiting on him of course along with frags of anything else in the tank he wants.

AND Ed by now knows how much of an addict I am so the longer he waits the more stuff to choose from!

cheers,

Pete
 
NICE Pete! Thanks for the link from e-mail.

I was wondering the same on that fish. I don't think I've ever seen them at a LFS in San Antonio.

I still want to see that system live some time...just need a work reason to head out there!

Todd
 
I like the extra ballast water the cistern provides. Water chemistry and salinity are much more stable.

Example: I lose about 50 gallons of water to evaporation every 4 days during the summer so you can see that instead of a 10% increase in salinity I only notice about a 5% difference over that time before a top-off.

If I was doing a brand new project with a new slab (we dug up the slab under the tank but the rest of the building had a slab already). I would add a HUGE cistern (as big as I could find).

Something on the order of 2000 to 3000 gallons plus. I would use two of them and one would be for water changes only. Think about it: One could stock a 500 gallon display at densities beyond belief and in many ways you still would be far understocked given the water volume. (keeping in mind that it isn't quite that simple since a 2000 gallon tank would have different surface area and oxygen exchange than an underground cistern).

The concept is not my Idea but Lam Ngyuen's; He is the person that gave me the idea.

If we are talking about the same space I have right now then the main thing I would change would be to add 2 more smaller underground tanks for RO water and water changes. I had thought about this but we were pressed for time and I couldn't figure out the details quick enough to add it on during construction.

As it is set-up right now I can mix water in the cistern but it's not as convienient as a seperate tank would be and I don't like taking the cistern "off line" i.e. out of circulation with the main system although it is plumbed to do easily do so.

Mixing water in the cistern exposes the sponges, tube worms and other cryptic fauna to extreme conditions so it is definately not ideal.

The cistern does provide some cooling due to contact with the ground but it is not would have been nice to add some geothermal loops. with a submersible water pump in the cistern to circulate the water.

i.e. a series of hairpin turns of pvc pipe that would radiate out from the cistern and circulate water through them.

The problem is that this sort of system could end up becoming plugged with sponge growth or other creatures that could concievable end up in the cistern one way or another.

Overall I am glad to have the cistern. (but I havn't had to replace a foot check valve yet so when that time arrives I suspect I won't be too happy)
 
Thanks for the update Pete!
I was wondering how that cooling setup we drew up way back in the beginning worked out. That was a fun one:)
Beautiful setup!
 
I tried to edit the long winded post but it was too late.

What I meant to say was: The cistern certainly does keep the water temp down but it isn't as dramatic as I had hoped.

H20ENG, I ended up leaving the actuated ball valves off because it was taking way too much time to get it plumbed.

In the end it worked out just fine without the actuated valves.

Do you know anyone who needs any Hayward 3 way actuated valves. 1.5"?

I have been meaning to list them.
 
I think the turbulent flow really is a neccesity in heat exchange, and one of the reasons you get more cooling with a loop than simply a buried vat. Hopefully yours keeps up enough that it is not a problem.

With 2- 3 way valves you could make an alternating closed loop- One side of the tank would draw water and return on the other, then switch the valves and the water flows the opposite way :)
 
Herpervet
I'm building a 560 as well 120x36x30 with a 240 refuge and a 1050 cistern so may need the valve please send me a link to which one it is and a price.
 
A question about the cystern. I presume that there is very minimal flow in there. As such it will tend to be a detritus trap. Do you have any plans to vacuum out the bottom during water changes with any regularity?

EDIT - I don't recall if you said there was a prefilter before the cystern. If so that would greatly reduce any POM that would potentially make it into the cystern.
I don't mean to bash the idea. I think you did an awsome job planning the system but like any system there will be minor flaws. Even the ocean ins a work in progress. :)
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8145867#post8145867 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by WetSleeves
A question about the cystern. I presume that there is very minimal flow in there. As such it will tend to be a detritus trap. Do you have any plans to vacuum out the bottom during water changes with any regularity?

EDIT - I don't recall if you said there was a prefilter before the cystern. If so that would greatly reduce any POM that would potentially make it into the cystern.
I don't mean to bash the idea. I think you did an awsome job planning the system but like any system there will be minor flaws. Even the ocean ins a work in progress. :)
Click to expand...



I had two nylon filter socks before the cistern I have 5 of these that I rotate some are 100micron and some are 200 I believe.

Aquatic ecosystems sells them and they are a very nice large size.

One filters the water that enters the stock tank and then that water goes to the cistern and passes through the second filter sock.

Recently I took off the second sock because it never had much of anything in it. The first one does the job pretty well.
 
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