I am in the early stages of planning a new tank but i want to do something different and after a visit to the Townsville Aquarium (ReefHQ) i have decided (much to my wife's disappointment) to build a new tank. This is to be a large floor mounted tank that will be incorporated into a bar/entertainment room.
I am planning this well ahead of time because i feel that it will take alot of planning including engineering design work for the tank and a fair bit of thought for filtration and the like. I dont expect to start construction until 2011 so i am sorry but i will ave to stick with sketch up for the time being.
I have made up a sketch up drawing of my idea. This 4m long and 2m wide (approx 13 feet long x 6 feet wide) with a depth of 1.3m (approx 4 feet) and glass depth of 700mm (2 and a bit feet high).
The tank will have a rock section at one end which will have corals and then open water section maybe with a bommie for some interest. I would love some sort of shark but unsure if this will cause too many issues. Maybe the better idea is a bunch of reef fish. Any ideas.
Any help with design ideas or anything that i will have to think of that may present as a challenge would be appreciated
I want to start to work out an equipment list. I would like to tackle the following to start with and then move on from there.
Water Movement ideas
Lighting
Skimmer
Filtration Ideas - eg carbon FBF, sand filter?, etc
So this is where i am at:
Water Movement
Tunze Master or Hydro Wizard - this should give around 80 - 100k litres or so of water movement. I know the Hydro Wizard is capable of creating a wave so that would be interesting. the other option is to set the pumps to surge for 30 seconds then stop for 30 seconds to allow a person to view down into the tank. Of course the pumps could be switched off at any time to facilitate viewing from the top down. I am considering complimenting this with 15 - 20k pumps around the rock work where the corals will be to keep good water flow around this area.
Lighting
At this stage i am thinking MH's over the rock work to keep the corals happy and a couple spread over the rest of the display for general lighting as this will be open water for fish with maybe a small bommie. I am also considering solar tubes to supplement the lighting during the day. As the corals will be within 500mm of the surface i don't envisage any issues getting light to them. I may even look at a mechanised hanging system that keeps the lighting lower during the day to keep the right level of intensity but can be lifted out of the way to better view the action (say using a remote).
Skimmer
I have had the following skimmers suggested as a start BubbleKing Deluxe 650, ATB Giga Twin, and KZ REVOLUTION XXL. I have to admit i have been using a Beckett for some time and i love it. It is very efficient and creates great skimmate but for this size tank I assume it would just be too expensive to run due to pump size?????. So i am left looking at a large needlewheel style unit.
Any ideas would be great. It obviously needs to handle 8000 - 10000 litres with potentially a higher bio load.
Filtration Ideas
This is one area i am still unsure about. What further filtration do i need to keep a tank this size running. I thought maybe carbon filter, sand filter, big a$$ refugium i dont know. Any ideas?
I am planning this well ahead of time because i feel that it will take alot of planning including engineering design work for the tank and a fair bit of thought for filtration and the like. I dont expect to start construction until 2011 so i am sorry but i will ave to stick with sketch up for the time being.
I have made up a sketch up drawing of my idea. This 4m long and 2m wide (approx 13 feet long x 6 feet wide) with a depth of 1.3m (approx 4 feet) and glass depth of 700mm (2 and a bit feet high).
The tank will have a rock section at one end which will have corals and then open water section maybe with a bommie for some interest. I would love some sort of shark but unsure if this will cause too many issues. Maybe the better idea is a bunch of reef fish. Any ideas.
Any help with design ideas or anything that i will have to think of that may present as a challenge would be appreciated
I want to start to work out an equipment list. I would like to tackle the following to start with and then move on from there.
Water Movement ideas
Lighting
Skimmer
Filtration Ideas - eg carbon FBF, sand filter?, etc
So this is where i am at:
Water Movement
Tunze Master or Hydro Wizard - this should give around 80 - 100k litres or so of water movement. I know the Hydro Wizard is capable of creating a wave so that would be interesting. the other option is to set the pumps to surge for 30 seconds then stop for 30 seconds to allow a person to view down into the tank. Of course the pumps could be switched off at any time to facilitate viewing from the top down. I am considering complimenting this with 15 - 20k pumps around the rock work where the corals will be to keep good water flow around this area.
Lighting
At this stage i am thinking MH's over the rock work to keep the corals happy and a couple spread over the rest of the display for general lighting as this will be open water for fish with maybe a small bommie. I am also considering solar tubes to supplement the lighting during the day. As the corals will be within 500mm of the surface i don't envisage any issues getting light to them. I may even look at a mechanised hanging system that keeps the lighting lower during the day to keep the right level of intensity but can be lifted out of the way to better view the action (say using a remote).
Skimmer
I have had the following skimmers suggested as a start BubbleKing Deluxe 650, ATB Giga Twin, and KZ REVOLUTION XXL. I have to admit i have been using a Beckett for some time and i love it. It is very efficient and creates great skimmate but for this size tank I assume it would just be too expensive to run due to pump size?????. So i am left looking at a large needlewheel style unit.
Any ideas would be great. It obviously needs to handle 8000 - 10000 litres with potentially a higher bio load.
Filtration Ideas
This is one area i am still unsure about. What further filtration do i need to keep a tank this size running. I thought maybe carbon filter, sand filter, big a$$ refugium i dont know. Any ideas?
