North Dakota Mini-Ocean

[Reefaquariumnut]

After much research and forum gazing (about 1 year) I have decided to turn the fellow reefers of Reef Central to help me out with a project.

I have a 9' x 12' room with dedicated HVAC and too many outlets to count that currently houses a 600 gallon aquarium built by Midwest Custom Aquariums in Minnesota. The viewing panes for the tank will be the front (outside the room) for the public and the back (inside the room) for maintenance (which would have a cover for all other times.)

The dimensions are 96" long x 48" wide x 30" tall. The two opposite end overflows are 14" x 6" x 30" tall with 1 1/2" deep teeth spaced 3/8" apart. The overflows have a 2" and 1 1/2" Hayward bulkhead for drain/return.

The four top corners of the tank have 1" holes for the returns to distribute water. Also, I have 4 - 1 1/2" holes and 1 - 2" hole drilled in the center of the bottom of the tank for a closed loop system. I was planning on using PVC to distribute flow from the four center holes to other areas of the tank.

I Basically have a rectangular room that has 12' x 4' of usable space with a bigger 3' x 7' chunk at the end of the room after the tank stand footprint is taken out. I have 27" of clearance under my tank and about 44" x 94" of usable footprint space under the tank. I have about 27" of clearance above my tank as well.

I also have 2 - Barracuda pumps and 1 - Dart pump. Thats it, everything else is up in the air.

Okay, so what I am looking for is suggestions, design ideas, or comments. I have Scott (Spazz) helping me on this as well, but I thought the more brains the better!!

I will post pictures and a drawing right away after I upload them!!

 

[Reefaquariumnut]

here is a couple photos and a drawing

 

[Reefaquariumnut]

 

[mrpet]

sweet tank i have a 375 in wall 48" deep as well looking good so far im going to go with all t5s 15 80w t5s on ic 660s with slrs.
mine is 90% done will finish up after x-mass

 

[hahnmeister]

Looks sweet, Spazz should know what do to to get you set up right... I have confidence in him. I suppose this means you will be using a Volcano skimmer?

What would you like to know about? Lighting? Skimming? Water movement?

What do you want to keep? Large fish? Lots of fish? SPS? Softies? This will heavily impact the selection. Some people want an all-SPS & high light 'cherry picked' tank with nothing but acan lords, SPS, etc all over the place. Some want a mixed reef. Those tank dimentions are very nice... should be a dream to work on.

It may be too late now, but due to the depth and width of the tank, I would have made the wall above the front of the tank removable to make getting into the tank much easier. I think you are going to find operating on stuff at the front of the tank will be a bit challenging with a 4' span to reach across, and 30" of depth, unless you jump in.

 

[Reefaquariumnut]

My initial thoughts on fish are a mixture of schooling fish along with a couple tangs, wrasses, clowns, and gobies...basically I am thinking medium to smaller fish with one or two large "show fish" whatever they may be.

The coral selection will be a mixture as well. I do enjoy SPS, but I like the movement of softys. I would say the mix will be around 60/40 in favor of soft corals.

My thoughts on aquascaping are large rock clumps with a few caves for hiding. I want to create "traffic" lanes for the fish by creating walls with the rock (think grand canyon). I am going to leave the front of the tank clear of rock so I can clean the glass easier. I will put on a snorkel mask and put my head in to get to all the hard to reach spots.

My lighting thoughts are MH and PC on a track above the tank that can be moved when I need to perform maintenance. How many and what kind are up in the air.

My water movement thoughts are totally up in the air. I have room to maybe do a surge tank in the room. I have holes drilled for a closed loop (4 drilled now). I am thinking of doing some supplemental flow such as tunze.

The sump, refugium, hospital, and quarantine tanks can be put anywhere. Like I said I have some room below the tank, so pretty much anything can be done.

 

[hahnmeister]

Well then, your response of 60/40 in favor of softies changes things alot... this tank will not be the 'SPS dominant' type so commonly found on these threads. This type of tank will not need quite the 'whallop' of lighting then.

You could most likely get away with 4x 400watt halides. I would go HQI on the ballast, and SE-HQI bulbs in Lumenarc full size reflectors (19"x19"). The list of HQI bulbs is short, but good...

Aquaconnect 14,000K
Aqualine 10,000K
Giesemann megachromes (same as Ushio)
Ushio/BLV nepturion/aqualite (non-CWA models) 10,000K, 14,000K, 20,000K.

Of those, I would most likely do the Aquaconnect. Its got loads of blue/actinic, and is pretty bright otherwise. With just these 4 bulbs, you would have a high-lighting area in the center of the tank, with a darker area up front on the sand for lower light corals, as well as in back. It really comes down to your aquascaping in the end, but thats how I would do it.

Your other option, if you should want to go with all higher light corals, or SPS down the road, would be to use 6-8 250wattDE bulbs instead of the 4x400s. This way, you could have a row of 3/4 in front and back. Selection of bulbs would be easier, since there are loads of 250wattDE's to pick from, so Im not even going to mention which bulbs... too many to pick from.

And another option, should you go with the 400's, is to suppliment them in front and back, with rows of T5s (dont use PC's). If you used 3-4 rows of T5s in front and behind the halides, you can fill in the lower light areas pretty well. Also, you could use a more daylight bulb with the halide, like the monsterous white output of the BLV 14,000K. This bulb, if combined with rows of blue+ bulbs in front and behind to fill in with a bit more intense blue, would provide very intense light in the center of the tank... perhaps too much for anything but SPS and toadstools in the center... a large xenia colony perhaps, or a giant clam bake.

Those are my top 3 suggestions though.

 

[moonyguy]

Great to see a North Dakota reefer. We have an active club based in Grand Forks-Fargo. Check out Red River Valley Reef club forum here on RC. We have a lot of experienced and generous members who will be happy to help.
Vishnu

 

[Reefaquariumnut]

Thanks for the information!! I can vision this tank completed, but it pains me to think about all the mechanics and plumbing involved to make it real. I have a long road ahead of me and I am taking the right steps to make sure I have experts along for the whole ride.

 

[invincible569]

Wow, love the overall tank presentation. Looks great even withtout fish in it. Love the slate floor too.

I like it when people dont go overboard on the aquascape with too much rock. It needs to be inviting and with a lot of open space. Plan for your coral placement before you design your aquascape. Then you will know where your lighting will need to be placed as SPS will need the most light especially from a 30" tank. Your SPS should be under your bulbs practically for optimal growth. The more open space you have, the more your fish adn corals will love you. Create a design, stick with it and dont go over your plan. I would go with Tonga Nuku Fusion rock.

 

[TandN]

looks amazing good luck with everything. I personally would stay away from certain softies that tend to grow out of control like shrooms JMHO

 

[MN. Reef crzy]

yeah i agree, it looks great all the way around even empty.

 

[Elliott]

impressive start, you are wise to post here, has saved me many a headache, good luck!

 

[ycnibrc]

awesome tank and room...love the lighting and nice floor too.

 

[Reefaquariumnut]

My electrician just finished up hooking the panel to the room. I have 5- 20Amp dedicated circuits in the room with 1-2 of them able to be dedicated to 240v. I counted 15 outlets in the room.

 

[moonyguy]

great. If you need help aquascaping let me know. Best to get dead rock from Marco rocks and build the setup outside and play with the design before installing it. I am in Hawai'i right now for work but will be in North Dakota for a week next week before heading down to Florida for vacation....drop a PM if you need anything.
Vishnu

 

[latazyo]

yep, also tagging along

Im from ND too, Im st louis for college, then I'll be back in the tundra in a few years

great tank

 

[reef / aholic]

Slate is typically a uneven material for flooring and that’s why you have shims under your stand. I would pull the slate up under the stand and address this before moving forward with just leveled concrete flooring.

I like the dimensions: 96" long x 48" wide x 30" tall.

 

[Doc_B]

Nice tank!

 

[Reefaquariumnut]

The shims are just temporary as the "feet" on the stand are able to screwed in/out for the proper level. once I have some water and rock in the tank I will remove the shims and do the fine adjustments to leveling the stand.