OK! Enough chat...Starting a 1000g+ Reef
- Thread starter jnarowe
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javajaws
Premium Member
Thanx! You know it's funny how these projects go...I think I spent more money on bulkheads, unions, and other plumbing stuff than I did on my tank itself! I still have a couple boxes of "leftovers" sitting in my garage. Now I know why plumber's charge so much...they charge you for the part they used to fix your problem...and for the other 2 parts it turns out he didn't need after all!
jnarowe
New member
No doubt. And like most men, you haven't even considered returning them.
The problem lies in not wanting to make every connection a 3x to the store deal. Also dealing with trying to order fittings online from text lists or drawings, and then getting the wrong part.
I have a "return" pile going, but then I have to find the receipts, etc. and it is a serious PITA, particularly when no one part is really worth my time to return it.
The problem lies in not wanting to make every connection a 3x to the store deal. Also dealing with trying to order fittings online from text lists or drawings, and then getting the wrong part.
I have a "return" pile going, but then I have to find the receipts, etc. and it is a serious PITA, particularly when no one part is really worth my time to return it.
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jnarowe
New member
TheCoralNabber
New member
Ok, wow Jonathan, your tank makes my dream tank look like a chump. 3 months of working on it.... I don't know if I could be that patient. Everything looks awsome though. Did you say that you were going with lumenarc IIIs for lighting? It took me about an hour to read through everything, and it is really coming along. Whatever happened to a pic with your wife in the tank? The only problem is that you have to watch out for Marc and his comments when it comes to stuff like that(blownchevy's post). Hmmm wonder what happened to him, didn't see too many posts from what I can remember on the last couple of pages. Not a two week job like his, but still very nice. Sorry to hear about your stroke, atleast you have time to spend on this bohemoth. I'd love to have a meer 360 or 480, I can't even imagine a 1K. It is going to take you a ton of LR if that 200 lbs barely puts a dent into it. What size reef did you have before this one, or is this going to be a FOWLR system. Anyway mad props, makes me want to go out and buy a house tomorrow so that I can get an upgrade. I guess that I can wait until the summer, and keep saving my money. Luckily I work at a LFS besides my real job in big Pharma and get somewhat of a discount. I've got 600 in store credit as it is. Hope to be able to pay off the tank when the time comes to order it. Can't wait for you to get water in, keep on trucking!
Dan
Dan
jnarowe
New member
Thanks for your kind comments Dan. I did pick up 2 Lumenarcs from propertyroom for the left and right thirds, and I have a dish shaped reflector for the center. No pic of my Wife in the tank. She suggested I move it to the garage like Weast. I think she was pulling my leg but you never know! I just laughed and that was never going to happen.
It will be a mixed reef with a couple of schools etc. This will be my first reef and I will not pile up the rock like most "experts" recommend. I will probably end up with about 700lbs. or so. I want to have some swimming and room for coral growth above the rock.
Working for LFS credits? Sort of like getting paid with stock? Sounds like a great idea! 3 months seems like a long time but each step takes thought and execution time. Next I will be building my RO/DI system, skimmer and calcium reactor. Once those are built I will finalize surface mount electrical and the ACIII Pro. I figure about 2 months, but that's what I said in October!
It will be a mixed reef with a couple of schools etc. This will be my first reef and I will not pile up the rock like most "experts" recommend. I will probably end up with about 700lbs. or so. I want to have some swimming and room for coral growth above the rock.
Working for LFS credits? Sort of like getting paid with stock? Sounds like a great idea! 3 months seems like a long time but each step takes thought and execution time. Next I will be building my RO/DI system, skimmer and calcium reactor. Once those are built I will finalize surface mount electrical and the ACIII Pro. I figure about 2 months, but that's what I said in October!
TheCoralNabber
New member
Yeah it works, well I actually do get paid, but just don't have any need for the cash except for my habit. That is the only reason I work there basically, that and I really enjoy helping out fellow sw/reefers. What is propertyroom? How many watts is your lighting going to be? 3 doesn't seem like much honestly, unless you are going to be putting the corals right under the lights. Chad at reefscience who is in the process of setting up a 1100 8x6x30" has 6 lumenarc IIIs on his system. You will have tons of room for swimming that is for sure. What schools are you going to go with? My suggestion is a school of powder browns, we've had quite a few at the store, and they are gorgeous! That is my plan for my tank, I also want a pair of crosshatch triggers. What do you have to rebuild on the RO unit. How may GPD is it? Guessing it will have to run all the time unless it is something crazy. Anyway keep it up man.
Dan
Dan
jnarowe
New member
Property Room is a place to buy seized items including pot growers' lighting equipment.
I am only using 3 lamps to provide a more natural reef area (IMO) and they will be 1000W MH 20K Ushios. I realize that 1 watt per gallon is on the low side, but I want to have shaded areas too. We'll see how it goes. I may have to supplement with T-5s but I'll wait and see. certainly for the first few months it should be fine.
I haven't seen any Powder Browns in person and have not researched them. Currently I am looking at a school of Hippos/Powder Blues, a school of either chromis, anthias or dwarf damsels. What I mean by chool is around 10 fish. I also am interested in Maroon Clowns and cleaner shrimp, as well as verious cleaning crew animals. I am wary of triggers but am also interested in a foxface. I really like then and since they are herbivores, that would suit this tank fine.
As far as RO/DI, I have 2 units, one 50gpd and one 60gpd. I will use one soley as top-off, and the other for water changes. Depending on what the evap from the main system is, I will choose one to also top-off the QT. BTW, better to have it run all the time than start and stop a lot. I went with 2 units so that if one were to break down, I wouldn't lose my top-off. I will make it so they are interchangable.
I am only using 3 lamps to provide a more natural reef area (IMO) and they will be 1000W MH 20K Ushios. I realize that 1 watt per gallon is on the low side, but I want to have shaded areas too. We'll see how it goes. I may have to supplement with T-5s but I'll wait and see. certainly for the first few months it should be fine.
I haven't seen any Powder Browns in person and have not researched them. Currently I am looking at a school of Hippos/Powder Blues, a school of either chromis, anthias or dwarf damsels. What I mean by chool is around 10 fish. I also am interested in Maroon Clowns and cleaner shrimp, as well as verious cleaning crew animals. I am wary of triggers but am also interested in a foxface. I really like then and since they are herbivores, that would suit this tank fine.
As far as RO/DI, I have 2 units, one 50gpd and one 60gpd. I will use one soley as top-off, and the other for water changes. Depending on what the evap from the main system is, I will choose one to also top-off the QT. BTW, better to have it run all the time than start and stop a lot. I went with 2 units so that if one were to break down, I wouldn't lose my top-off. I will make it so they are interchangable.
jnarowe
New member
Update:
Good news, I have finished polishing the viewing pane and it looks great. I am really happy it worked well, but taking a picture is somewhat meaningless.
I also Finished some hose work and ordinarily I don't get excited over anything that is 2", but in this case I make a major exception!
Hose Assembly
Manifold
I tell ya that even though it costs a bit more, nothing beats flexible PVC. It saves so much assembly time and reduces drag on the return flow. I am really getting bursts of excitement as I see this thing start to take shape.
Good news, I have finished polishing the viewing pane and it looks great. I am really happy it worked well, but taking a picture is somewhat meaningless.
I also Finished some hose work and ordinarily I don't get excited over anything that is 2", but in this case I make a major exception!
Hose Assembly
Manifold
I tell ya that even though it costs a bit more, nothing beats flexible PVC. It saves so much assembly time and reduces drag on the return flow. I am really getting bursts of excitement as I see this thing start to take shape.
jnarowe
New member
Good one Kent!
Marc: Not particularly. They are what I had in the box at go-to time, but I used better ones (sched. 80) on the BH ends of all these connections. I may run other equipment off the 2 BVs and figure if one was something critical, I would put it on the red valve.
Because of my stroke, I will have to label all the valves, but a little color change may help too. I don't want to turn the wrong one! The 1-1/2" coming off the left side is if I need to expand, and it's a sched. 80 as well. I may feed a remote DSB or sponge tank in the future.
Marc: Not particularly. They are what I had in the box at go-to time, but I used better ones (sched. 80) on the BH ends of all these connections. I may run other equipment off the 2 BVs and figure if one was something critical, I would put it on the red valve.
Because of my stroke, I will have to label all the valves, but a little color change may help too. I don't want to turn the wrong one! The 1-1/2" coming off the left side is if I need to expand, and it's a sched. 80 as well. I may feed a remote DSB or sponge tank in the future.
tinygiants
New member
For this size tank, that bulkhead sounds like a good start for the skimmer. What is your goal flow rate to the skimmer? Have you worked out what is the effective height of the skimmer feed line? That height will be the max height that your gravity fed skimmer can be tall.
Looks good so far.
Dale
Looks good so far.
Dale
I thought you could simply install a gate valve on the skimmer's output to control the height of the water in the skimmer. Then it should not matter what height the feed line is coming from.tinygiants
New member
If the overflow is 50 " high, it can not fill a skimmer to 60 " high by gravity. The highest the skimmer could be is 50". Yes a gate valve can be used to control water height.
Johnathon will need to process in the neighborhood of 20 gpm in order to skim his tank 2 times a day. He is going to need all the height and volume he can get.
Dale
Johnathon will need to process in the neighborhood of 20 gpm in order to skim his tank 2 times a day. He is going to need all the height and volume he can get.
Dale
jnarowe
New member
Hey Dale! There you are with your calculations again.
First off I have to give you credit where it is due, and you are the key reason why my manifold is where it is. Looks much better in person.
As far as flow rate, I don't have a target. In fact, I have done zero flow calculations for this entire set up. I am building the display plumbing with the idea of outflow being 4x the capacity of inflow. After talking with you I now know that the inflow will be under some pressure so it really is not an apples-to-apples comparison, but, I believe I am well within the range I need to be.
As far as the skimmer goes, it's just too complicated for me to take into account the various design parameters that you and others would determine. I am building a combination of a couple of designs in a robust size, and will do the wait-and-see. I can always add a re-circ pump or even a second skimmer if needed. If it gets even worse, I can rework the skimmer to include a beckett.
You're right of course that I need all the height and volume that I can get, but as you said before, height is limited to overflow height, and moreso by the pressure on the water at that height. Right now I have it set up so the oveflow water drops through the bulkhead and down about 8" before a 90 to the skimmer and have added an inch to the skimmer tower diameter. The skimmer footprint is restricted to about 16 x 14 if I want it to sit on the bottom of the sump. That gives me a lot of extra height though so I will try that first.
I know you made that post with the idea of getting some real numbers to put in your laptop so here they are:
--Overflow is 58" off sump floor
--skimmer base is 16 x 14 x 12"h
--Bottom of overflow 1-1/2" feed is at 50"
--that makes the effective skimmer body at 38" although I will build it a bit higher so I have room to increase water height if needed
I could make the base shorter but I do have those large BHs to install as well as needing significant strength to hold up the skimmer. And I am using extruded acrylic.
I don't think I can get 20gpm. In fact I am guessing around half that. I really appreciate your input and I can't believe my luck in meeting a local reefer who can share advanced technical knowledge of fluid movement!
First off I have to give you credit where it is due, and you are the key reason why my manifold is where it is. Looks much better in person.
As far as flow rate, I don't have a target. In fact, I have done zero flow calculations for this entire set up. I am building the display plumbing with the idea of outflow being 4x the capacity of inflow. After talking with you I now know that the inflow will be under some pressure so it really is not an apples-to-apples comparison, but, I believe I am well within the range I need to be.
As far as the skimmer goes, it's just too complicated for me to take into account the various design parameters that you and others would determine. I am building a combination of a couple of designs in a robust size, and will do the wait-and-see. I can always add a re-circ pump or even a second skimmer if needed. If it gets even worse, I can rework the skimmer to include a beckett.
You're right of course that I need all the height and volume that I can get, but as you said before, height is limited to overflow height, and moreso by the pressure on the water at that height. Right now I have it set up so the oveflow water drops through the bulkhead and down about 8" before a 90 to the skimmer and have added an inch to the skimmer tower diameter. The skimmer footprint is restricted to about 16 x 14 if I want it to sit on the bottom of the sump. That gives me a lot of extra height though so I will try that first.
I know you made that post with the idea of getting some real numbers to put in your laptop so here they are:
--Overflow is 58" off sump floor
--skimmer base is 16 x 14 x 12"h
--Bottom of overflow 1-1/2" feed is at 50"
--that makes the effective skimmer body at 38" although I will build it a bit higher so I have room to increase water height if needed
I could make the base shorter but I do have those large BHs to install as well as needing significant strength to hold up the skimmer. And I am using extruded acrylic.
I don't think I can get 20gpm. In fact I am guessing around half that. I really appreciate your input and I can't believe my luck in meeting a local reefer who can share advanced technical knowledge of fluid movement!
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