Storytime again for us fish nerds... Southern Japan and Guam dive/fish trip 2012 :)
- Thread starter copps
- Start date
Vili_Shark
New member
This project sure needs a mega thread.
copps
Premium Member
Thanks again guys! I'll eventually do a proper build thread...
You sound like my wife!
The design of this system was thought out to minimize as much as possible the aspects of the hobby I do not like... like water changes and the general moving around of water and the like... for instance here is my 200 gallon water change vat for the large system, which is just about 10% of the system volume... the tub is drilled with a float switch for it to automatically full. I have a closed loop set up on the vat, which tees off a couple of times. At the one tee I am able to draw water to test salinity or fill a five gallon bucket. The other tee goes up into the ceiling and directly back to the system to refill the 200 gallons. On the 1300 gallon display I have just one hole drilled into the tank, hidden behind the Kydex in the corner by the overflow. After I shut all of the pumps off and the level in the display levels off, I open up a ball valve that drains exactly 200 gallons of water. I could drain that water into the drain, or into the coral QT system I will have setup. Also, going into the top I have a drain from my RO water vat for the times where I have to easily tweak the salinity...
Backing up, you could see the water change/ coral QT area...
The top vat holds about 60 gallons of RO water all of the time. This water is piped to three different places... one I talked about above to the water change vat, the second goes to the sink so I have a faucet of RO water for when I rinse my frozen food off, and the third goes to near the floor where I could fill a bucket whenever I need to with RO water. Also on this last drain if I swap out the union with another PVC pipe it runs to my top off water vat which is a 55 gallon. So if my topoff ever sticks on for any reason it will at the most add 55 gallons, which my system could easily take, and like everything else is done with the turn of handle... you could also do all of the above with just gravity, which I use wherever I can as I wanted to keep the electricity bill down...
Please excuse the mess in the photos... All will be cleaned up soon...
Will respond more in a bit...
Copps
You sound like my wife!
The design of this system was thought out to minimize as much as possible the aspects of the hobby I do not like... like water changes and the general moving around of water and the like... for instance here is my 200 gallon water change vat for the large system, which is just about 10% of the system volume... the tub is drilled with a float switch for it to automatically full. I have a closed loop set up on the vat, which tees off a couple of times. At the one tee I am able to draw water to test salinity or fill a five gallon bucket. The other tee goes up into the ceiling and directly back to the system to refill the 200 gallons. On the 1300 gallon display I have just one hole drilled into the tank, hidden behind the Kydex in the corner by the overflow. After I shut all of the pumps off and the level in the display levels off, I open up a ball valve that drains exactly 200 gallons of water. I could drain that water into the drain, or into the coral QT system I will have setup. Also, going into the top I have a drain from my RO water vat for the times where I have to easily tweak the salinity...
Backing up, you could see the water change/ coral QT area...
The top vat holds about 60 gallons of RO water all of the time. This water is piped to three different places... one I talked about above to the water change vat, the second goes to the sink so I have a faucet of RO water for when I rinse my frozen food off, and the third goes to near the floor where I could fill a bucket whenever I need to with RO water. Also on this last drain if I swap out the union with another PVC pipe it runs to my top off water vat which is a 55 gallon. So if my topoff ever sticks on for any reason it will at the most add 55 gallons, which my system could easily take, and like everything else is done with the turn of handle... you could also do all of the above with just gravity, which I use wherever I can as I wanted to keep the electricity bill down...
Please excuse the mess in the photos... All will be cleaned up soon...
Will respond more in a bit...
Copps
Allmost
New member
John, thats truly a dream house for a reefer ! just perfect.
and thank you for sharing your experience and thoughts which you have brought to life in this built with us. just the way u have set up the RO system and QT tanks and ... have given me and alot of others many good new Ideas on how to make the downside of this hobby easier ... carrying buckets and water and ...
about the UV, will you be using that in the main sump ? I thought u used to have dedicated UV for each tank in the old house ? might be mistaken, been a couple days since I read ure last TOTM article for the millionth time
haha
and thank you for sharing your experience and thoughts which you have brought to life in this built with us. just the way u have set up the RO system and QT tanks and ... have given me and alot of others many good new Ideas on how to make the downside of this hobby easier ... carrying buckets and water and ...
about the UV, will you be using that in the main sump ? I thought u used to have dedicated UV for each tank in the old house ? might be mistaken, been a couple days since I read ure last TOTM article for the millionth time
haha
copps
Premium Member
I'm afraid to ask but what is the total number of gallons in all of your aquariums? I am in awe John!! Can we (RC members) have a sleep over someday?
The reef system is just short of 2000 total... the fish only about 400 (with a display of 350), and the rest is fish QT (about 200 gallons), a coral QT (about 100 gallons), and all of my water makeup... somewhere around 3000 gallons. I'll ask my wife about the sleepover.
I had 17 dedicated 20 Amp circuits spread out through the fish room, and a couple to the fish only room. All of these are on a separate subpanel with a transfer switch and a hookup for my portable generator for now. I'll have a whole home gas generator added soon which will be a big expense, but that could wait for now. I have two redundant portable generators that could carry the systems for now. I've spent an absolute fortune but have not skimped on anything, and this system was built to last.
Hey Wayne, as you know I have two major passions... keeping a lot of fish and keeping colorful SPS corals... and in order to do these two things long term one thing I've always done is keep detritus out of my system at all costs... keeping my system young. I like the barebottom theory but in every dive I've done around the world you never see a sorry glass or plastic bottom on the reefs! So, I thought up a solution to keep beautiful reef sand in only the viewable area of the system, so that I could get to them with a gravel vacuum. Having such a huge rock structure built up on sand would cause long term problems with detritus. So, I used acrylic sheet sections about 2' x 2' or 3' to cover the bottom of the tank. I glued small 1/2" acrylic rod in sections of this to act a rebar. I then took the special grade reef sand and mixed it with epoxy and packed it on the acrylic base where I knew rocks would sit on top. Here's a photo... the sand you see underneath the rockwork here is a solid block where detritus could not penetrate...
I then filled sand in throughout the accessible areas of the system, so I could get to it with a gravel vac and always keep it as white as it is on the reef.
The large rocks where over two feet long and over 50 pounds a piece... I have about 900 pounds or so in the 1300, which still leaves plenty of open space...
This is what I was looking at when I started aquascaping... hum...:fun4:
I used 1/2" fiberglass rod to secure these huge pieces together.
copps
Premium Member
Some more shots... the largest skimmer Avast Marine has ever built! Avast is local to me and I've known Justin and Dan from when they were just hobbyists... they are stand up guys that know their stuff... was an easy decision on this guy... you know you're a reef nut when your five year old could fit inside your skimmer!
The manufacturing of this tank took months and so much of our move hinged on obviously having the tank, so I actually had it delivered to out old house. I then spoke with a rigging company to move the tank three miles to the new house and get it in the basement... and got a quote of $7000!:worried: Fortunately I found movers that took the challenge on... and it WAS a challenge... I've never been so nervous in my life. Planning this system when our house was just a pile of dirt took all of my skills I've developed through the years to the limit, but man is it paying off...
These shots will be entertaining to you guys... but for me I get nervous just thinking back!
The look on his face says it all...
It fit! I'm so glad I had the double wide walkup with French doors added on the house, purely for resale value... not for the tank...:spin3:
And in place... the effort was freakin Herculean!
The moving team... what an effort... it was much easier for them to move the rest of everything else we had in the house...
Copps
The manufacturing of this tank took months and so much of our move hinged on obviously having the tank, so I actually had it delivered to out old house. I then spoke with a rigging company to move the tank three miles to the new house and get it in the basement... and got a quote of $7000!:worried: Fortunately I found movers that took the challenge on... and it WAS a challenge... I've never been so nervous in my life. Planning this system when our house was just a pile of dirt took all of my skills I've developed through the years to the limit, but man is it paying off...
These shots will be entertaining to you guys... but for me I get nervous just thinking back!
The look on his face says it all...
It fit! I'm so glad I had the double wide walkup with French doors added on the house, purely for resale value... not for the tank...:spin3:
And in place... the effort was freakin Herculean!
The moving team... what an effort... it was much easier for them to move the rest of everything else we had in the house...
Copps
Vili_Shark
New member
I wonder what's the Bench press for the guy on the right...
Crazy system, really amazing.
Crazy system, really amazing.
nonstopfishies
Member
Wow this is epic. Look forward to hearing what you have in place for all the moisture from 3,000 gallons of water...
So glad this thread has been resurrected :spin1:
John, can't wait to see how this tank progresses - it's going to be EPIC!
Has your family moved yet? When do you plan to start filling it?
I saw you'd posted a few pics from Izu - I've often thought about stopping there to dive en-route to diving in warmer waters. Since Fukushima happened this idea was temporarily put on hold, but I think I'll give it a shot next time I'm out that way. Were they your pictures?
John, can't wait to see how this tank progresses - it's going to be EPIC!
Has your family moved yet? When do you plan to start filling it?
I saw you'd posted a few pics from Izu - I've often thought about stopping there to dive en-route to diving in warmer waters. Since Fukushima happened this idea was temporarily put on hold, but I think I'll give it a shot next time I'm out that way. Were they your pictures?
Blueline12
Member
Truly awesome set up!
aandfsoccr04
Active member
Wow what an incredible journey it has been for you from the planning to the execution. I look forward to following this thread and definitely hoping to see it in person once everything is completed and you and the family are settled in! Beautiful tank and definitely inspiring John!
Hi john amazing build and the journeys as well, I live in NOVA as well. Have a 125 gallon reef tank, nothing compared to yours
My wife and I enjoyed going through your page off adventures. By any chance do you give tours off your tank lol, we would love to come see.
Moving to DALLAS in June, job transfer. But honestly would love to see your tank and get ideas for my self, going to build our house around the tank in Dallas
My wife and I enjoyed going through your page off adventures. By any chance do you give tours off your tank lol, we would love to come see.
Moving to DALLAS in June, job transfer. But honestly would love to see your tank and get ideas for my self, going to build our house around the tank in Dallas
Hey John,
Thanks so much for the updates to this thread. Congratulations on the new home and set up, truly a dream for most of us here. I know you are a busy guy, but i'd be interested in seeing the "guts" of the system, filtration, sump, etc.
I am slowly setting up a 240 and really want to keep some tilefish. Do you think your sand method would allow for that? I had planned to go bare bottom and just wasn't going to keep any. Any solutions for burrowing fish? My tank is a fowlr and not a reef so the pristine conditions are not as critical.
Thanks so much for the updates to this thread. Congratulations on the new home and set up, truly a dream for most of us here. I know you are a busy guy, but i'd be interested in seeing the "guts" of the system, filtration, sump, etc.
I am slowly setting up a 240 and really want to keep some tilefish. Do you think your sand method would allow for that? I had planned to go bare bottom and just wasn't going to keep any. Any solutions for burrowing fish? My tank is a fowlr and not a reef so the pristine conditions are not as critical.
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