Planning a really really really big tank.

[turtleman10]

I'm planning a big plywood tank and would like some input. I think I've hammered out most of the plans but I've never thought about doing something like this before so I would love some input. The tank will be a mixed reef tank. The dimensions will be 132 x 48 x 48. I will have 2 viewing windows one on the front and one on the side.

 

[Snowboarda42]

"I am McLovin"

 

[turtleman10]

Heres a sketch of the tank.

 

[ricks]

Looks nice, 1,316 gallons. What do you plan on keeping?? Big tank = big bucks

 

[Jar*Head]

I agree. I wonder what your filtration would be like....

 

[cbui2]

with that wide of a span requires some type of eurobracing on the top. fiberglass, west system? here are some links

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=1052033&perpage=&pagenumber=1

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=1046155&perpage=&pagenumber=1

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=1122916&perpage=&pagenumber=1

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=716410&perpage=&pagenumber=1

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=1026436

 

[vetdog]

wow that is gonna be huge

 

[derrikd]

Looks nice, is this going in a basement? scech looks good

 

[Bax]

If the tank will be located in Hawaii, that may help with the cost. Free sunlight, free or cheap NSW, ambient temps are great for an out door fish room. That could save a lot of coin for running a project like this. This could be cool!

 

[reefdna]

48" depth is tough to penetrate with lighting. I had 400W MH's in Lumenarc reflectors and a 30" depth and had little to no problems with penetration for LPS and softies but SPS though surviving didn't thrive until placed up or nearer the top. what are your lighting plans?

 

[tank watch]

Where will this madness end? LOL gotta go big !!
You either need tall ceilings or lots of room behind the tank.

 

[turtleman10]

Well to start the tank will be a reef tank. I think for my rock work I will do DIY rock and use the 200+ pounds of rock from my 120 I have running now. This should help keep some of the costs down. I estimate it will cost me about $2000 to build this tank ad that will be using low lead glass. I have designed it with euro bracing a 2 x 4 running along the top and bottom and 2 x 2 running on the sides. The glass will be 3/4 inch thick. For lighting I'm thinking 8 400W with lumen reflectors. For flow I'm planning on having 3 surges about 40 gallons each that will be hooked up to the sump with a dart and a closed loop using a hammerhead. This will all be in my basement with a fish room behind it. I plan on having lots of tangs in this tank and I wanted plenty of room for them.

 

[turtleman10]

Heres another sketch.

 

[Leonardo_]

Lumenbright reflectors will penetrate deep into the water so I would use these

Love your avatar btw Great movie.

Leonardo

 

[alpine]

That second sketch looks really cool.You are going to have a lot of fun cleaning that monster .

Do you feel the lumenbrights are better then the luminarcs,as far as light spread and penetration goes ?Any reason why you choose the lumenbrights.

Also why not use like 4 1000 watters instead of 8 400 watters?

Also how do you plan to get the 11ft length with plywood?Do you have a source for oversized plywood?

 

[ricks]

I run (6) 400's with HQI's with (4) 160 antinic and (4) 96 PC's on my 96 x 36 x 36 and have no problems growing SPS on or near the bottom...

I can tell you that a dart for a surge and a hammerhead for a CL will be no where close to successful growing of SPS..

I run a hammerhead on a CL and (4) iwaki 100's with sea swirls along with (6) tunze 6200's on my 500 and barely have enough flow for SPS..

To have proper lighting and flow for that size of system you will need a 2HP chiller.

Figure about 1.00 per gallon monthly cost for successful full blown SPS system. Now if you plan only on Softies, you will get by for a lot less...

Happy Reefing

 

[Nickde123]

very interesting. Wat skimmer will you be using with this ?

 

[creep]

WOW, I wish I could do something like this. That looks like its going to be awesome. I have one question though. What did you use to make those drawings. i see drawings like that all the time here, and would like to be able to do it for my future project. So what is everyone using for that.

 

[alpine]

creep
That looks like google sketchup.Its a free program,and even though I have it on my computer.I cant use it to save my life.Pencil and paper work best for me,lol.

ricks
I believe he said he was going with a mixed reef in the beginning of the thread. Hey ricks do you think 400's will penetrate well enough on a 4ft deep tank? I know you said you have a 36" deep tank,but thats still not 4ft deep. Thats why I suggested the 1000watt halides instead of the 400's.

 

[Jar*Head]

I agree on the 1000watter for such tall tank. But he may have his rock work 6"-8" below the water surface for the SPS, he may not want to have any coral in the bottom. One thing i know for sure he will not have enough flow with just the Hammerhead and dart. Unless he has a series of hammerhead as CL. But i highly recommend Tunze 6201 or 6301 for such large tank.

My new tank is only half of his size and i already have 6 tunze 6201, 4 tunze waveboxes and my 2200gph return pump...