Shannon Dual 210 Gallon Tank build

[extremeshannon]

Hello everyone. I am hopefully starting on the construction of my 420 Gallon(Dual 210 Gallon tank set-up). I have been planning this since I moved into my house almost a year ago, and I have bought a lot of the stuff needed. I have been doing my research. I have asked questions on RC, and talked with many people about my ideas. This all started out with a tank that was given to me and it turned out to be a 125 gallon tank all scratched up. So it has evolved to 2 210 gallon DT, 55 Gallon QT, 125 Gallon Sump, and a frag tank of undetermined size. So before I actually start cutting up rug and putting holes in walls and spend much money to do it wrong or not the best way I am going to start posting my plans, and would like to have comments about what I am planning on doing. I have been trying to use Google Sketchup and draw out my plans. I am learning this as I go so bare with me on the sketches. I am trying hard to Document everything, I know I have missed something.

This project might be a little slow going I am still learning and going to do this on my time off. I work shift work and when I am home have many other things going in my life. I hope to have mostly done in 6 months.

I will have a project page on my website with all the latest info when I get things going. I will post my progress here to get any feedback possible to help make my reef tank the best it can be.

Here are some pics

First this is what the finish DT will look like. I need to change the color and trim to what the finished product will be.

Display Tanks Frame

Display Tank Stand will be a 4x4 construction with 2x4's between them with ¾ plywood on the top and bottom. Behind the fish tanks will be left open for airflow. This way when the evac fan turns on it will suck air from above and below the tank and vent to the outside. I plan on completely sealing all around the tank with glue and silicone so no moisture gets into my walls. Painting inside white so I can see under the tanks with a few lights and keep moisture under control.

Filtration

All filtration will be in the garage. This will make it quieter in my basement, plumbing will be a snap, testing water, adding water, or doing anything will be easier. The garage is 4-5 feet higher than the basement. I will have a 55 gallon tank under the Display Tanks. The Display Tanks will drain with one 1" drain each into the 55 Gallon tank and pump the water up to the garage to the sump. Then gravity feed it back to the tanks. I will run a close loop system with the other drain in the each tank to get water flowing separate from the water coming up to the sump.



Reactors and filters

* 6 Stage RO/DI unit for topping off tank.
* Aquamedic Kalkwasser Stirrer / Reactor 5000
* External Protein skimmer I am looking at Reef Octopus Super Reef 6000 External Skimmer rated up to 550 Gallons. I don't think this will handle my setup. I am thinking 650-700 gallons of water in my system. Any suggestions would be great for this.
* JUMBO BRS GFO and Carbon Reactor

Quarantine Tank

I will have a QT in my garage going to the main filtration system. I will have 2 ball valves to shut off the filtrations and have a closed loop system running for water flow. This way I can shut off the QT and if all is good turn back on my filtrations. If I need a place to medicate coral or fish I can put in GT and shut off filtration and water flow.

Frag tank

I will be making this as big as I can out of glass. This will be in my garage with the filtration and run off the same filtration system. I will be able to shut off filtration and run a close loop system if needed.

Lighting

LED Lighting is my plan. I have been following nuclearheli's LED lights for his 210 gallon tank. I plan on doing that x2. This will be 138 Cree XR-E Royal Blue and 138 Cree XP-G R5 Cool White. 40-45 angle lens outside and 60-65 inside. I will use 4 Thomas Research Drivers to run this and use the same T-Slot framing. I think this will work very nicely for my tanks.


Monitoring and controlling

Apex Neptune

* AquaController Apex Probe: Upgrade to Lab pH and Add Lab ORP (+ $102.00)
* Apex EnergyBar 8
* LunarSim
* Variable Speed/Dimming Module
* 2 AquaBus Conductivity, Temperature Probe Module (PM2)
* 2 Lab Grade Conductivity Probe

Plumbing

• 1" Schedule 80 Piping, Fittings, and Valves. Hoping this will bee enough flow for both tanks.
• 3 PanWorld 100PXX External Water Pump - 1270gph Will be used to move water around. ! to Shuttle Water to sump. 1 For Closed Loop System in DT's. 1 for QT. There will be a coupled more pumps for skimmers, frag tank and something I haven't thought about yet..

 

[extremeshannon]

Breaking ground (Cutting up the rug) Saturday morning and starting on the construction. I will be taking lots of pics and have lots of comments on this build. Thanks for any suggestions and help.

 

[wakeboardgeek]

What's the reason for two 210s?

 

[dave.m]

Yep, that's the same question that first came to my mind: Why two 210s?

Dave.M

 

[fanning]

not to sound like a wise guy and not to speak for the OP...but why not!! this set-up is going kick some major you know what..lol...good luck!

 

[extremeshannon]

Thanks for the comments. Reason for 2 210 tanks. It all started with a tank that was given to me that was scratched up. So I talked to my LFS and a 210 gallon tank was the biggest non custom tank he could get. The cost for a larger tank and shipping to Alaska is outrageous. So I bought a 210 and had all my plans for it. Things changed location of tank changed. The larger wall the tank is going on now 26' foot wall to be exact. Will accommodate a larger tank. We started looking at putting the 55 Gallon QT next to the 210 and decided that would not look right. SO I explored different size tanks and decided on putting a second 210 gallon tank in for looks. Well I am not going to have a 210 gallon tank as a QT tank and decided that the QT can go in the garage with the filtration. But we liked the idea of 12 foot of tank so the 2 210 gallon tanks it is. One tank might be a predator tank. I hope this is clear as how I got to the 2 tanks.
Now after coming up with this idea the engineering and design to make this work has been a lot of fun. I hope all my ideas and thoughts work out but if they don't I will figure out how to make it all work one way or another. The challenge will be rewarded with the end result.

Thanks for looking

 

[extremeshannon]

On another note does anyone see any major design flaws that should be addressed. I have the next two weeks off and I plan on buying a majority of the stuff listed and getting the frame work done this weekend and the plumbing all next week. I will also be making my rock and soaking it in water starting Monday on that.

 

[prop-frags]

If I am understanding you correctly, the idea of draining into the 55, then pumping up to the sump is scary. Perhaps you can post a drawing of how you intend to plumb that. Depending on your design, you could have some flooding risk.

 

[lalav02]

I would leave some space between the two display tanks, maybe like 12"-18". This will facilitate cleaning, if not you will have to sides that will be covered with algae right in the middle of the viewing plane. Just a thought.

 

[nuccadoc]

Interesting build. I'm assuming your garage is well insulated?

 

[d3hree]

I agree with Mike. I would worry with the drain from the tanks into a 55 gallon and then pumping from there to the sump and gravity feeding back. On the event of a power cut you could have the drains from the tanks and a back syphon from the sumps all into a small 55 tank.

With 2 x 210 tanks can you not fit conventional sump/s underneath, it would be far more economical with pumps too.

 

[extremeshannon]

If I am understanding you correctly, the idea of draining into the 55, then pumping up to the sump is scary. Perhaps you can post a drawing of how you intend to plumb that. Depending on your design, you could have some flooding risk.

Yes this is scary but I have thought this through. I am planning on a 55 Gallon tank and if a larger tank is needed underneath I will put one in. I do not have a drawing of the plumbing yet working on this. But the pump shuttling water up will drop in the sump so if power goes out it will not syphon back. Second a check valve will be put in place to make sure. The water will be gravity fed so the sump has to hit a certain level before water will head to the display tanks. I am going to be playing with all the plumbing and testing power failures for a while.

 

[extremeshannon]

I would leave some space between the two display tanks, maybe like 12"-18". This will facilitate cleaning, if not you will have to sides that will be covered with algae right in the middle of the viewing plane. Just a thought.

I did think about this but I am not going to use a magnet cleaner there I am planning on using scraper on a rod to clean those walls.

 

[extremeshannon]

Interesting build. I'm assuming your garage is well insulated?

Garage well insulated and infloor heat. Garage is always warm.

 

[extremeshannon]

I agree with Mike. I would worry with the drain from the tanks into a 55 gallon and then pumping from there to the sump and gravity feeding back. On the event of a power cut you could have the drains from the tanks and a back syphon from the sumps all into a small 55 tank.

With 2 x 210 tanks can you not fit conventional sump/s underneath, it would be far more economical with pumps too.

I could fit underneath but the ease of plumbing for a drain, testing of water, adding and quiet of having it in the garage. Unfortunately my garage is just a few feet higher than my basement floor.

 

[extremeshannon]

A few ideas I had to help handle power outages and my tank. I do plan on have a battery back up (UPS) for the pumps. I do get power fluctuation which would just interrupt the power to the pumps. I will have a back up generator 20kw for my house this summer also.

Not sure but I played with the idea of have 2 pumps running so if one pumps dies the other one is still running. Not sure yet but I have thrown all sorts of ideas out there and still figuring this out.

 

[BrklynArch]

awesome build good luck man....just a thought not sure if it would be a good idea to plumb the QT in with the other stuff....wouldn't whatever ailment your trying to quarantine be mixed in with the rest of your system?

 

[extremeshannon]

awesome build good luck man....just a thought not sure if it would be a good idea to plumb the QT in with the other stuff....wouldn't whatever ailment your trying to quarantine be mixed in with the rest of your system?

Plan is to have it shut off when needed and have a closed loop circulating water. I have gone back and forth on this and it might change in the future.

 

[d3hree]

I have another question if you dont mind.
You say one of the tanks might be a predator tank. When I think of predator tanks I usually think of larger fish, messy eaters. Although I appreciate that its not always the case but high nitrates spring to mind when I picture "predator tanks"
Do you have a provision to run the tanks as seperate systems depending on what you stock in either? So that potential water quality issues wont effect either tank?

 

[extremeshannon]

I have another question if you dont mind.
You say one of the tanks might be a predator tank. When I think of predator tanks I usually think of larger fish, messy eaters. Although I appreciate that its not always the case but high nitrates spring to mind when I picture "predator tanks"
Do you have a provision to run the tanks as seperate systems depending on what you stock in either? So that potential water quality issues wont effect either tank?

Thank you for bringing this point up. The predator tank is not a must have was just a thought. If this will cause fluctuation in my chemistry ie nitrates I will probable not go with a predator tank. Thank you for bringing this up. More research will have to be done on my part before I make a discussion on this.