Los' 360 reef CAD plans and setup

[ReefingBuddha]

I recommend the second chiller as well. Currently I have enough fans on my system to act as a complete backup to my chiller (instead of a second chiller) and they are also set 2 degrees lower but evaporate a lot of water and I don't really recommend it, but they are a cheap alternative to a back up chiller and can keep my tank below 81 as I found out while "testing" my system.

 

[rlxwcapt]

thanks Ricks, I would love to see some pictures of your setup and tank.

Nick

 

[makoJ]

The hammerhead is very quite and pumps ton of water if it was too much you could dial it back or go with the barracuda.

and as far as the calcium reactor Deltec has been the best one I have used thus far out of MRC,GEO, and a custom unit. I have just upgraded to the PF1001 from the PF601S

 

[ricks]

Here you go some shots of our 500 gallon reef

 

[rlxwcapt]

Rick Thanx for the pics. Your tank looks great. How is the flow through your sump with the 4 iwakis? Why did you go with 4 100 iwakis? Do you have pictures of your sump? Los and I are still designing the sump. If anyone has pictures or ideas please let us know. So far we are looking at a sump 48 x 30 x 20" this will have a refugium 18 x 24, skimmer and calcium section 30 x 24. This will leave a run way of 48 x 6 for heaters,float valve and intake for the pumps.

Nick

Nick

 

[ricks]

The iwakis are under the house in a crawl space along with the chiller. I'm still running high flow through the sump around 4,000 - 4,500 per hour. The sump is 300 gallons with 65 gallon fuge.

 

[Los]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=12006407#post12006407 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by thirschmann
I picked up a automatic generator as soon as I decided to get a big tank and I love it. With the hurricanes and big storms here in florida it has kicked in a handful of times and is just really convenient for a home anyways (I don't have a fish tank there at the moment). The peace of mind of having a automatic backup generator is definitely worth it, especially if you travel all the time. Plus even if you are at home you don't have to go through the power outage scramble of getting circulation and air in your tank.

Thirschmann - What model automatic generator did you go with? I haven't researched these at all and would welcome the advice of someone who has already been through the learning curve.

TIA,

Los

 

[Los]

Ricks-

Oh my GOD!!!! That is one perfect tank. WOW. You and Mako certainly have this hobby licked. OK, I am now sold on more flow. When I was reading your specs I thought you were going way overboard, but then I saw your tank. Unbelievable. More flow is definitely in my future...

If you were in my shoes, would you focus on more flow via bigger closed-loop pumps or should I instead get a couple Tunze PHs?

Thanks,

Los

 

[Los]

Mako-

You sold me as well. I'm definitely bumping up the flow. Thanks. I'm also going to look at more horsepower from my calcium reactor and chiller.

Thanks,

Los

 

[ricks]

Los, thanks for the compliment..

The flow issue is a tuff one. SPS like intense indirect flow, kind of hard to explain. You need to create enough flow, yet not blow the flesh off. As they grow the flow issues increase, hence the tunze. I do not like there appearance in the tank. They work you can direct them, they can be controlled, and they are backed by Roger, one of the best guys around.

The closed loop was install with the tank. Is it the must energy efficient, probably not.. Does it work, yes for flow behind the rocks. You would not be able to place coral in front of the inlets. As you can't place coral in front of the tunze either.

You need flow behind and under your rock. Are you running sand or BB? I really don't think you could get the kind of flow I have achieved with sand.

I would go CL, sea swirls on CL or through sump and add tunze as needed for increased flow as tank matures...

Happy reefing

 

[djbacon]

I see why you like this site Los, seems you get a lot more feedback....either that or your painting the freaking mona lisa and everyone has a brush

 

[djbacon]

.

 

[Untamed12]

If you have not already stumbled upon my build thread, I invite you to have a look. Maybe it gives you ideas. I built the tank with 2 CLs, each running a Dart and used a Dart as the return as well. I don't feel I need more flow. In fact, the flow exiting the 1" pipes into the tank is so intense that I really can't have any SPS anywhere in the path of an outflow.

I also took Paul's advice and "roll" the water with the 2 CLs. In my case, the roll is front to back instead of left to right.

Sorry it is so long...but you'll find the plumbing bits in the early pages.

http://www.canreef.com/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=28436

I did not see it mentioned by anyone, but ditch the 2 dursos. You've got enough holes planned to do a Herbie, which is absolutely the way to move water from the tank to the sump...provide you have the holes to do it....

 

[Untamed12]

I'm a bit concerned about those CL intakes. I know that you are trying to split up the suction into the 4 intakes, but I think you may be better served with 1 intake with a VERY large strainer on it. I can't say for sure that dividing the 2" intake into 4 x 1" intakes is going to have the effect you're hoping for.

I suppose you can test it out. But I can tell you what I know to work.

Here is the 2" strainer that I use on my CL intakes. Because their surface area is so large, there is no dangerous suction whatsoever. (recall that my CLs use Dart pumps)

http://www.usplastic.com/catalog/product.asp?catalog_name=usplastic&category_name=53&product_id=2457

 

[rlxwcapt]

Untamed12, I have read your thread. What an awesome tank you have. Thank you for your input. I used the same strainer that you suggested on my 120. The one thing that I did not like about it was how big is was and then to sit a piece of rock on top of it covered half of the strainer. So I changed it out and split it to 2 strainers. This has been working for me for a while now.

The idea of going to 4 strainers was Pauls (from Oceans Motions) idea. The benefit of doing this is that you will pull water in from 4 different directions. This will also prevent anemones and fish from getting stock on the strainer. (I hope) It should be easier to hide the smaller strainers. We will see which is better.

 

[Mako]

Carlos - Still crazy after all these years. lol (a voice from the past)

Man, that looks like quite the project. Looks like you are off to a great start planning wise. I really like the concept you have come up with for simulating tidal flow. Sweet!

I would recommend the AQ3 for your controller as well. Have always enjoyed using the Neptune controllers. Not much you can't do with one them hooked up. Just picked up a pro not too long ago and it's going to work out nicely on a new somewhat large (not as big as yours though) project I got in the works.

I am going the ATB route for the skimmer on this one. The med. cone flavor will work nicely for what I am cooking. I might lean towards the large for your setup though. Would probably be centered around how many fish you plan on having and your feeding habits. Talk with Victor over in the ATB forum.

Good luck with the new project. Will be watchin the progress.

 

[Harleyguy]

One thing you could do for the closed loop flow issue. Run a pair of darts, or Sequence 4200's per closed loop. Together they use about the same power as a Hammerhead with more flow, and you have built-in redundancy. Just a thought.

 

[rlxwcapt]

Harleyguy, How loud are the Sequence 4200's vs the Dart and Hammerhead? I like that they use less energy. Our idea at this point is to run a Dart for the sump return, Dart for one of the OM and a Hammerhead for the other OM.

 

[Los]

Untamed - your tank is beautiful. It took me a couple of sessions to work through the thread, but WOW. Really, really nice.

Mako - I've heard really good things about ATB. Hahn recommends them as well. I'll check it out.

Harleyguy - I've settled on the pumps: 1 Dart for sump return; 1 Dart for Oceans Motions Closed Loop; and 1 Barracuda for the second Oceans Motions Closed Loop.

Following the advice of pretty much everyone and trying to accommodate some flow designs that Nick had, I purchased a couple of Tunze 6101s along with a 7095 controller. I'll put these in as needed and where needed to get the flow I'm looking for. I'm also definitely getting a Neptune Acuacontroller to run it all together.

I'll post the latest design pics which have the sump shown in a few minutes.

Thanks for all the help, everyone. As my friend Rick (DJBacon) suggested, this is a group Mona Lisa.

Cheers!

Los

 

[Los]

Here are some new CAD drawings in which you can see the sump and plumbing a lot better. I decided to ditch the Dursos and instead go to two under-water drains with a backup drain. A fourth bulkhead is there in case I decide to add something else down the road. Hopefully it will be clear from the pictures.

There are also two Oceans Motions. One will be powered by a Dart and one by a Barracuda (probably the gold version). I haven't yet drawn in the piping except for the drains and the pumps they go to. I'll get to the rest later.

The sump return will be via a Dart as well. There is a second Dart shown there, but that's a place holder for either an external skimmer or a second pump, to be decided later.

Everything else should, hopefully, make sense.

Thanks for looking at my tank!

Los