New Large tank project

D

Dazz

Premium Member
Hi everyone. I really dont know how to start this off.

My wife and I have started designing our new home. As a part of this house, she has agreed that we need a beautiful tank and has graciously allowed me to design it :D

Full disclosure:
It will be probably 2 years before we break ground on the house which means that there will be no pictures (I know how they are like crack and keep a thread going). I hope the lack of pictures will not remove the impetus for discussion.

The meat of it:
One main feature of our house will be a large solarium which will be south facing. After seeing this fantastic Sun Powered Reef, I knew I had to have a tank with access to natural sunlight.

In addition loved the ability to look down on the top of of the tank, but I also enjoy looking from the side so I want to incorporate both features. The result is having the tank built in the solarium with the top at ground level, with a viewing window in the basement next to the solarium.

Since this is a dream tank, I figured I might as well think about all the extras that I believe would be interesting to add 2 other zones to the tank. One mangrove/grass area and one clam/rockpool area.

So I have questions about many things including building a concrete tank with a large acrylic window. Anyone built anything like that? I know I have seen some threads on here about tanks build like that but it's been a couple years since I have read about them.
I'm thinking epoxy coated rebar to reinforce the structure, however, any suggestions on how you attach such a large piece of acrylic to concrete? Also, any engineers there think that building a tank attached to the foundation think that settling may cause small cracks?

So here are the pics of my idea. First from the basement view:
front.JPG


The Next 3 are from the Solarium:
Top.JPG


Top2.JPG


Top3.JPG


Thoughts, comments?
 
grate dissing man if you can do it go for it now the only problem i see is how about you want to see the tank at night sometimes whats going to happen just think of some lights for night viewing to even if they are in a pendent which you can move by day and night but that will be a grate tan any way thats why i will like to give the firts

nice tank dissing man:D
 
Looks like a sweet idea. You could go swimming with ur fishes, did you makes thoes diagrams with Google Skethup cause if you did your skills with it far exceed mine lol. With it being 3.4 foot high how are you going to mantain reach to the bottom for maintainance and the such

Josh
 
Thanks for the replys guys.

thesaent14: Well for the nights where the moon is behind covers, I do plan on having some red LED light strips. That way I wont disturb the inhabitants. Also I do plan on having probably 1 pendant for a little extra light, but I want to see what can be accomplished with mostly sunlight.

marinebeginners and 2020: Yes that is google sketchup, so far I love it. You can do so much so quickly. As for access, I'm thinking mostly extra long grabbers. If necessary, I can always get in the tank and use a snorkel :). The depth of the tank is going to be closer to 48", it's the viewing pane that is 3'4". Incidentally, the size of the viewing pane should be 1 8'x4' piece of acrylic. As far as overflow and piping, I plan on having a 3 ft overflow on the long side of "Side B" which is 4 feet. The tubing will be cast into the concrete and I will make sure I have a surplus that I can choose to use or not.

Also, under the raised area in the solarium, at the end of the "Side B" tank will be the sump room. You can see it's door to the right of the viewing side of the tank. I'm still working on modeling that. I plan on making it (and the room on the viewing side) water proof with ample drainage. They will be completely tile and have a rubber membrane approximately 6 inches up the wall.

To get a considerable amount of water movement with little energy used, I plan on trying wave makers for the majority of the water movement.

One of the things I failed to mention is that in the design of our house, we have decided to be as green as possible. In that vein, I would like to be able to do all my cooling with a geothermal ground loop and evaporation. Since the solarium will house tropical plants and fruit trees, we actually want the high humidity in there.
Our house will be built with 12" exterior walls for a very high R value (hopefully 30+). We are hoping to have sun tracking, and stationary solar panels, geo-thermal heating/cooling and if we have the room, even a wind turbine.
 
Ah, so the top of the tank is going to be open. Since you mentioned the 'sun powered reef' thread, I made the assumption the top would be glass covered like that tank. That's certainly answers the access question! :)
 
Oh! Sorry about that, yes, there will not be any glass covering the top of the tank directly.
 
2 years before pics!? That will kill us you know that right?

Those sketchups look amazing I can nearly see it already. Very exciting approach and if you pull it off it'll be one of the nicest tanks around...
 
lastlight: Kill you? Think about me, no tank for 2 years! ;)

jgs107: Thanks! I'm hoping so.

marinebeginners: Yes, the solarium is a sun room, the exterior walls and roof being all glass.
For fish I am thinking 2 or 3 tangs, 2 or 3 pair of different clown species, 4 or 5 wrass, a couple pair of bangii cardinals and a large school of anthias. Inverts: a few BTAs, cleaner shrimp, pepermint shrimp, plenty of SPS, a few LPS, about a dozen clams (mostly placed in the clam pond section), a nice assortment of snails and crabs.
 
wow cant wait to see this start to get underway. i would personaly not realy 100% on the sun. maby get 1 or 2 pendents to sumplement in case the sun isnt enough in the winter ect
 
Very cool project, the solarium will be spectacular to say the least. I'd agree, maybe just a couple of MH spots for night viewing from the down stairs that would not shadow the tank during the day?
 
Here are some resources you may be able to use in designing/constructing your aquarium. The April/May issue of Coral magazine is devoted to "large Reef Aquariums". Lots of information, for example they talk about reinforcing the concrete with epoxy coated rebar. Since you're in NYC you may want to check out "Atlantis Marine World" on Long Island. The owner/curator, Joe Yaiullo designed a 20,000 gal tank. Might be a great local resource for you. As far as a suggestion for fishes check out the Bellis Angel. Good luck
 
marinebeginners: It will decrease the intensity of the sun to a certain extent, but I dont think that will be a problem.

purebullet417: I do plan on having 1 pendant as backup and probably some well placed LEDs, but I also was thinking of putting in a reflector that would be maybe 5 to 6 feet above the tank that is the size of the main body of water. It would help add more light when the sun is low in the sky. One of my goals is to keep this tank (and my home) as energy efficient as possible.

coldwaterreefer: That did cross my mind as well. I'm not sure how I"m going to handle that (we dont have kids). I wouldnt want kids in the solarium more for the fact that they like to throw things in water :). 1 Penny in there would kill the tank, and I would not be a happy man. Perhaps a removable clear barrier of some type could be employed.

Bax: Thanks! My wife and I really have a taste for many tropical fruit, so I thought what better way of having that than building a large solarium to grow them in.

CFS: I'll see if I can get my hands on a copy of that, thanks! I did read about Atlantis Marine World while doing some research on large tanks. We are planning a trip out there, but it is 2 hours out of Manhattan and work is keeping me quite busy :). I had thought about the Bellus Angel, but they have, to a certain extent become a "fad fish". Dont get me wrong, they are beautiful, and a mated pair would be amazing, however, I dont know if they are right for my tank. Thank you for the suggestion though.
 
maby if u get a 1000w mh you can hang it far enough above that it is out of the way and just have it turn on with a switch
 
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