Roman Ogee
who goes where?
Looks like its gonna be a fun one!
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That is a large basement.....
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That is a large basement.....
My 1165 Gallon in-wall Display Tank project
- Thread starter Albright
- Start date
normanfine
New member
looks fun good luck
chrisqueenz
New member
Jumping on this one for future ideas!
Bebo77
Premium Nonpaying Member
hey.. sorry for the late response...
RD are great if you need a no noise producing pump.. they are dead silent and as my tank is next to the living room.. it had to be quiet..
If you dont care about noise then i would tell you to pass... they cost alot of money... and the only good side to them is the fact that they are dead silent...
Teremei
New member
I know you already made your descision. But man, with a tank that size, you should go for a 3 sided tank so you can view everything from each side.
I mean there will be alot of fish in the back not visible alot of the time. I guess you could really have a nice open landscape with rocks along the edges and corners and some islands in the middle and that could help quite alot.
I mean there will be alot of fish in the back not visible alot of the time. I guess you could really have a nice open landscape with rocks along the edges and corners and some islands in the middle and that could help quite alot.
skriz
In Memoriam
You are in for an adventure! My tank has the same viewable pane as yours! 120" x 35"
Lighting that beast is going to be something! I would think MH is the best bang for your buck. Solaris would be insanely expensive to cover 66 x 120! With mh you can go with a mixture of 250w, 400w, & even 1000W. You don't have to have even lighting all over the tank. You probably want lower light around the areas that you can't really see anyway, right? If you are going to do a mixed reef, you can have areas of low light corals and areas of high light corals. This will save on energy and ballast cost.
Have you thought about how you are going to suspend the lighting? You'll have to have it so they can move out of the way to give you access inside the tank.
My 2 cents on the pumps. I am using sequence hammerheads (2) in my tank, which is located in the living room. They are dead silent! I can't even tell that they are on. So, I wouldn't waste your cash on the RD. Like bebo said, their main benefit is the sound.
Lighting that beast is going to be something! I would think MH is the best bang for your buck. Solaris would be insanely expensive to cover 66 x 120! With mh you can go with a mixture of 250w, 400w, & even 1000W. You don't have to have even lighting all over the tank. You probably want lower light around the areas that you can't really see anyway, right? If you are going to do a mixed reef, you can have areas of low light corals and areas of high light corals. This will save on energy and ballast cost.
Have you thought about how you are going to suspend the lighting? You'll have to have it so they can move out of the way to give you access inside the tank.
My 2 cents on the pumps. I am using sequence hammerheads (2) in my tank, which is located in the living room. They are dead silent! I can't even tell that they are on. So, I wouldn't waste your cash on the RD. Like bebo said, their main benefit is the sound.
jnarowe
New member
I use 1000W Ushio 20+K lamps on my 35" inch deep tank and my corals love them. I also use a Hammerhead for my return and I can't hear it at all.
As far as 3 sides go, I don't buy into that. I had really wanted a 4-sided island tank or three viewable sides, but the fact is in-wall installations are just so much more practical, and as the "owner", I can see all 4 sides any time I want! :lol:
As far as 3 sides go, I don't buy into that. I had really wanted a 4-sided island tank or three viewable sides, but the fact is in-wall installations are just so much more practical, and as the "owner", I can see all 4 sides any time I want! :lol:
CaptiveReefer03
New member
If its okay that I drop my 2 cents in ,
If your going 66" front to back how are you cleaning the system up front? Acrylic is a great idea as my new system is built out of it but watch for thickness, that much weight is going to require some thick and i do mean thick acrylic! if your looking for black acrylic use a thin sheet and have them glue it in on the sides that your wanting its cheeper but still has the same appeal. Who ever you decide on your manufacture, tell them you want it glued solid and then it wont have a tendency to pull away in a few years after use if you end up geting a hairline crack and end up with salt creep down in between. Anyways another Idea is reconsider your viewing sides, its a shame to waste such a wonderful system only to have it viewable on one side. If your droping the dime then be able to enjoy it from multiple angles so that you can get the full effect of the tank in its entirety. Look at my system: http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=1166748 , and see if it gives you any ideas? I realize its smaller, and Trust me I wish I had the room for somthing as large as yours but either way enjoy!
Best regards,
Charles-
If your going 66" front to back how are you cleaning the system up front? Acrylic is a great idea as my new system is built out of it but watch for thickness, that much weight is going to require some thick and i do mean thick acrylic! if your looking for black acrylic use a thin sheet and have them glue it in on the sides that your wanting its cheeper but still has the same appeal. Who ever you decide on your manufacture, tell them you want it glued solid and then it wont have a tendency to pull away in a few years after use if you end up geting a hairline crack and end up with salt creep down in between. Anyways another Idea is reconsider your viewing sides, its a shame to waste such a wonderful system only to have it viewable on one side. If your droping the dime then be able to enjoy it from multiple angles so that you can get the full effect of the tank in its entirety. Look at my system: http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=1166748 , and see if it gives you any ideas? I realize its smaller, and Trust me I wish I had the room for somthing as large as yours but either way enjoy!
Best regards,
Charles-
ctenophore
Premium Member
Here are a few thoughts to consider re: glass vs. acrylic. I have experience with large tanks of each type, and I have to say glass is the way to go. Keeping 30 square feet of acrylic coralline-free will be a full time job. I couldn't keep my 7'x30" front clean without hours of scrubbing. On the plus side, working a magnet made for 1" acrylic for an hour is an excellent cardio workout.
With that tank width and depth, you will be getting in it to do maintenance. My friend has a 10x4x30" (~700gal) and he has to get in. His is laminated starphire, 1" all around. Watching him clean his glass in 15 minutes with a razor magnet made up my mind to go glass on my new tank. Moving it was challenging, but we have some great pics to prove it can be done.
Another friend of mine has a 1000gal concrete tank, with two sides 1" laminated starphire. Every time I went to his house, his glass was spotless. His tank is 8x4x5, which also requires mask & snorkel ownership.
My new project is a 5.5x4x4 fiberglass tank with a wood & foam core and 1" laminated starphire front pane. It is fairly light considering the size, and very durable as well. I will start a thread once I get the glass installed and the system going.
I think acrylic is great for large fish-only tanks, but not for high light & alkalinity sps reefs. The coralline will kill you, unless you contract that work out to a maintenance company or something.
Good luck with your project.
Justin
With that tank width and depth, you will be getting in it to do maintenance. My friend has a 10x4x30" (~700gal) and he has to get in. His is laminated starphire, 1" all around. Watching him clean his glass in 15 minutes with a razor magnet made up my mind to go glass on my new tank. Moving it was challenging, but we have some great pics to prove it can be done.
Another friend of mine has a 1000gal concrete tank, with two sides 1" laminated starphire. Every time I went to his house, his glass was spotless. His tank is 8x4x5, which also requires mask & snorkel ownership.
My new project is a 5.5x4x4 fiberglass tank with a wood & foam core and 1" laminated starphire front pane. It is fairly light considering the size, and very durable as well. I will start a thread once I get the glass installed and the system going.
I think acrylic is great for large fish-only tanks, but not for high light & alkalinity sps reefs. The coralline will kill you, unless you contract that work out to a maintenance company or something.
Good luck with your project.
Justin
I'm very happy with my AGE tank. Their pricing is very good considering the quality. You only need starphire glass on the front panel which will help with the cost. AGE built a metal stand for my tank at a very reasonable price, probably cheaper than I could have sourced it locally.
You may want to consider using a light mover (like the Gualala) considering how much area you need to illuminate. You could probably get by with half the number of 400w MH you would otherwise need and your corals will be getting illuminated from different angles during the day, similar to nature. The Sfiligoi modular MH/T5 lighting units are very nice too.
You may want to consider using a light mover (like the Gualala) considering how much area you need to illuminate. You could probably get by with half the number of 400w MH you would otherwise need and your corals will be getting illuminated from different angles during the day, similar to nature. The Sfiligoi modular MH/T5 lighting units are very nice too.
Albright
New member
Back from MACNA with some equipment 
Pics of the GEO ???? Reactor. The first piece of equipment to officially to make it into the (no where near complete) fish room.
It is sitting on a table which is not the final table nor the reactors final location. Where its sitting it would actually be in the tank.
Mountain Dew can for scale...
Full shot:
Straight on:
Pump and a handy drain to make life easier:
Close-up of pump:
Angled full shot:
The man himself, http://www.geosreef.com:
Pics of the next piece of equipment will hopefully be up tonight if I don't get too tired to put it back together
Pics of the GEO ???? Reactor. The first piece of equipment to officially to make it into the (no where near complete) fish room.
It is sitting on a table which is not the final table nor the reactors final location. Where its sitting it would actually be in the tank.
Mountain Dew can for scale...
Full shot:
Straight on:
Pump and a handy drain to make life easier:
Close-up of pump:
Angled full shot:
The man himself, http://www.geosreef.com:
Pics of the next piece of equipment will hopefully be up tonight if I don't get too tired to put it back together
Albright
New member
Me too
We wound up staying downtown and saw the city a lot. Definitely not as much time as I had hoped to spend at the show but still got done what I needed to.No need to go all the way to Pittsburgh to meet everyone from NJ. I'm sure I'll be lucky enough to meet everyone soon.
