Slaying the beast. Planning the system of my dreams.

[ruiny]

My 180 is 24 front to back and once had it as an island tank and found it to narrow and not enough room understand. Now my 280 is 34 wide and find it nice but a few more inches for sand would be nice. Your 40 inch would be great a 120 x 40 x 30 inch tank comes out to ~625 gal and would look amazing.
More filtration, for the aggressives, will be required but it will just be one of many details to work out.
Personaly I would want like 10 show fish in that tank, but that is just me.

Think,
2 x eels
2 x lions
1 x tusk fish
1 x coral grouper
2 x large hawk
2 x large wrasses

And think you could be one of the few who could keep a domino damsel without being in trouble.
Yes filtration will be a challange. But know your needs from the begining and build the system to suit.

 

[ruiny]

By the way.
You can focus more on softies and some lps that are much more tollerant to water quality and still look great.
But as you can see. Fish are a big part of a fish tank to me

 

[kentrob11]

I agree with Ruiny but even with softies and whatnot, you'd still have algea issues to consider from elevated nutrient levels.....

 

[jgross1]

I just can't argue with reason. It sounds like 40" will definetely be the way to go. Softies and LPS would be a great system for me since I already planned on turning my 90 to a purely SPS after this new system comes into play. After looking at these new numbers it makes me glad that me whole build will sit directly on the concrete foundation. I can't really think of anywhere else in my house I would trust 625g of water. I absolutely agree with you both that the greatest challenge with the system as it now sits will be designing a filtration system that could deal with that kind of bioload. Frankly I am way out of my league when it comes to finding any designs that could effectively deal with that magnitude.

 

[seandanekind]

Regarding Evap...

I have an air exchanger in my basement in the sump room adjacent to my tank) that is supposodly good for a 1500 sq ft house. From October to April it does a great job at removing the humidity.

In fact, I can somewhat control the temperature of my tank by adjusting the humidity level in the basement - to control the evap rate.

From May to September, the burden falls on my whole house AC system. If need be, I have the option of just using 1 fan on the exchanger as a vent to the outside...

 

[999sterling]

If you want the aggressives in the tank and corals and such as well. You MIGHT could but in a divider grid part way accross the tank. I saw it done once in a friends freshwater breeding tank. He used a plastic grid that had 1/2 inch openings. (I think it may have been a piece of florescent lighting difuser.?) It let the water through and didn't interfere with filtration at all, but it kept the big fish on one side of the tank and left the rest of the tank for the little fish. He lost a small fish now and then when it swam to the wrong side of the divider, but he felt that was acceptable, it worked quite well for what he was doing.

It could give your crabs, snails etc. at least a chance of surviving in the tank with the large aggressive fish. But you would give up something in the apperance of the tank even if the divider is of clear plastic or thin acryilic, it would be somewhat noticable. But it might be the way to make your tank be what you want it to be. Just an idea anyway.

 

[alien9168]

Looks interesting

This seems like a really nice, big, project

Cant wait to read about it !

Good luck

 

[jgross1]

Thanks for all the input. I thought some about some sort of barrier, but ultimately decided that it would kind of defeat the idea of having a tank that big. The idea is to have that feeling of freedom of motion and space that can really only be achieved with a tank that size. I am still contemplating what can be done about the obvious algae problem that will arise with those kind of waste producers and the inability to maintain a cleaning crew. Hopefully a solution will present itself, but luckily it isnt a setup tank that is currently presenting the problem so there is still all the time in the world to think up a plan.

 

[jgross1]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8506326#post8506326 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by alien9168
Looks interesting

This seems like a really nice, big, project

Cant wait to read about it !

Good luck

Thanks for the interest. The size is one of the other reasons for alot of planning and a far removed starting date. I am not at all deluded about what a system like this is going to cost and so long term planning and fundraising are walking hand-in-hand.

 

[jgross1]

I got a working diagram of the surge device I will be using. I got the idea from "Aquarium Corals" by Eric Borneman and I saw a similar device in action at a local aquarium shop. The entire system is based on a toilet flushing device. The design is incredibly simple and effective as opposed to most surge devices that I have seen in the past. It also creates a suprisingly negligible amount of noise. Although the one that I saw was only dumping 5 gallons through a 1.5" pipe. I plan on surging 20g about once a minute. I think that I will probably go with a 2" pipe to keep the noise down, but that might not be big enough. I plan on experimenting with it over Christmas to see if I can find the optimal pipe sizes and flow rates. I think that it will create a very impressive wave on this size of a reef.

 

[jgross1]

Here is a new question. I have heard all of the horror stories of eels jumping ship. In order to prevent this on a tank this size, what could be a viable option? A glass cover on a tank this big would weigh alot. How can I cover a tank this big while keeping the cover moveable and a little of a light defractor as possible. Also, with the surge device and flow that I am planning, it will be difficult to fabricate a doable cover. Anyone have some advise on this?