Third Time's A Charm!

[dascharisma]

3 months later and I am getting ready to order the tank. Just need to save a bit more money. Here are some pics of the progress on the theater room and the fish room.


This is the theater room with drywall going up.

Here is a mock up of how big the tank will be in the room.

Here is the room after drywall and painting. The picture on the wall sits opposite where the tank will go.

Here is the left side of the fishroom.

Here is the right side of the fish room. I plan to remove the little window and install some sort of fan on a humidistat like you would find in a green house. So far I haven't had any luck finding one, so any advice would be appreciated.

I had a sub panel installed next to the tank in the fishroom. There are 10 circuits. 5 circuits have their own switch controlling them, to allow for easy maintianence. Of course everything is on its own GFI. I plan to use all these circuits to split up all umportant tank functions. For instance I will have 2 small return pumps running on separate circuits to protect me in case one fails.

The next step is to seal off the fishroom from the rest of the house. After that is done I plan to order the tank. I don't know exactly how much a 400 gallon glass tank weighs, but I am pretty sure I will need some volunteers when it arrives.



Brad

 

[leeweber85]

coming along nicely!

 

[matt the fiddler]

check pool supplies. I think most green house fans are heat and not moisture triggered.

Many farms use time triggered fans to clear out the ammonia

 

[Double-J]

nice progress. Since you are going to be running an aquacontroller just buy a humidistat and connect it to the digital input on the controller so if humidity is above 50% or whatever on the humidistat then the Aquacontroller will turn on the fan.

 

[dascharisma]

Today I am ordering the tank. But as with most things, I am not ordering the tank I had planned. After lots of worrying about how on earth I would be able to get a 400 gallon glass tank in my house through a window, I realized that it would need to be professionally done. In the end I figured that to get the glass tank in the house (and back out when I move) it would cost about $3000 more than if I bought an acrylic tank and moved it myself. Although I would prefer to have a glass tank (cause I hate the way acrylic scratches), I decided it was just not financially responsible to spend $3000 more.

I decided to have Aquatic Systems Design build the tank. They built JJ's tanks and sump, so I know they will do a good job. They are close enough that I can just go pick it up myself, and that will be alot cheaper than crating and shipping it.

The tank is going to be 61.5" X 48.5" X 33.25" totaling a little more than 400 gallons. It will have a perimeter brace and a cross brace. The exact layout of the overflow and the holes in bracing for cords etc. have not been finalized, so I will post them once they are. The tank should be ready in a little more than 8 weeks, and I still have lots of basement cleanup to do. I also need to get the stand built and the base rock ordered. Dan Hinch is going to build the stand and canopy for me, and I will post some pics once that is underway.

 

[Jojoyojimbi]

if you need help moving it in, i'm not far, just down in urbandale, and would love to see a large tank going in

 

[dascharisma]

Well the fun has begun (for me at least).

I ordered 220 lbs of Marcorocks and , I have around 50 lbs of base rock already. So I am hoping that the 270 lbs of base rock will be enough to build the super open aquascape I have planned. I have another 120 lbs of rock in my sump that I will continue to use for Bio filtration. The rock was shipped today , and I hope to have it by the end of the week. My plan is to get some acrylic or pvc rods and some epoxy and build the reef structure before the tank is filled.

Does anyone have suggestions on whether to use acrylic or pvc rods for rock support? Does anyone know what epoxy to order?



I also ordered the reflectors for my halides. I went with 4 Lumenarc IVs with the A/C option and PFO connectors. I plan to connect the 4 reflectors' vents together in a chain and run a single exhaust fan through the ducting and out the window. I ordered a Fantech centrifugal fan, that the guys at pacificgardensupply.com thought would be the best option for venting 4 reflectors through another 25 feet of ducting. I plan to run the fan whenever the halides are on, to strip the most intense heat being put into the system.

I realize that the lumenarc IVs are probably not quite as good as the lumenarc IIIs, but for lighting a 60" X 40" area (the area behind the back rock wall won't be lit) I think 4 L IVs are the best bet.

I will post pics of everything as it arrives.

In the mean time, here is the first sketch of my tank with a 5 gallon bucket for comparison. (courtesy of tinytool) I still need to figure out where I want to have the holes for electric cords and for the auto feeder.

Brad

 

[waverz]

Brad, that is gonna be a bad *** tank man.....uhhmmm what did you say you did for a living again?

 

[dascharisma]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10123300#post10123300 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by waverz
Brad, that is gonna be a bad *** tank man.....uhhmmm what did you say you did for a living again?

Yep, I am really looking forward to making this happen. As for the $, I drive a crap car to afford this.

Brad

 

[waverz]

I drive 3 crap cars, i must be doing something wrong.....

LOL

 

[slovan]

I really like the depth of the tank, Brad! Did you make it a 390 just to edge out Tinytool? I hope so, it'll eat at him and then he'll upgrade again.

Let me know if you need help moving your tank when you get it.

 

[Double-J]

Man, that is one good sketchup

Yeah he is going to beat me by a few gallons...= Upgrade time

 

[slovan]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10129282#post10129282 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by tinytool
Man, that is one good sketchup

Yeah he is going to beat me by a few gallons...= Upgrade time

I'm not buying that stuff about how busy you with work when you have time to draw up the most detailed 5 gallon bucket I've ever seen on Google Sketchup! :lol:

Better go big, Brad will probably have a lot more overall water volume than you so don't forget to take that into account.

 

[Double-J]

Thats just a little imported image lol. Yeah, He is going to have more water outside the tank than inside! Can't compete with that

 

[dascharisma]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10123682#post10123682 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by waverz
I drive 3 crap cars, i must be doing something wrong.....

LOL

My other secret is reef maintenance. I have had a single account for a little more than a year. My guess is that by the time this project is complete I will have earned enough from the maintenance to pay for the tank, skimmer, lights, flow and chiller.

Brad

 

[dascharisma]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10123786#post10123786 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by slovan
I really like the depth of the tank, Brad! Did you make it a 390 just to edge out Tinytool? I hope so, it'll eat at him and then he'll upgrade again.

Let me know if you need help moving your tank when you get it.

Ohh no, I went with a 420 just to edge him out! J/K

But seriously, I would love to tell you that I edged him out just to f#%* with him, but it all came down to what would fit.

The length of the tank was determined by the length of the room, and the support pillars in the basement. The width is the max yield from a standard size sheet of acrylic, and the biggest that would fit through the window in the basement. The height is the tallest I could make it without increasing the thickness of the acrylic to 1" which would have been expensive.

 

[dascharisma]

I recieved the non cherry picked portion of my Marcorocks.com order today. It is around 145Lbs of rock. 100lbs figi and the other 45lbs is tonga shelf rock. I am totally blown away by the quality of these rocks. They are incredibly lightweight and porous. You can see that the rocks are old coral skeletons in the pics. The only problem is that I probably ordered too much rock considering how light these pieces are.


Dang that's a lot of rocks

Now I need to find a way to clean the rocks up a bit. I will probably take them out to the driveway and hose them off for a while. Once the tank arrives and I build the rock structure, I plan to let the tank sit empty for 10 weeks or so just stabalizing. I don't plan to cook the rocks, so time will tell if there are any unforseen problems.


Brad

 

[glaspie69]

that looks like some pretty cool shelf rock, should be fun putting it all together.......are you planning on setting the rock up and leaving the tank empty for a week incase you change your mind about the rockwork.....I'd move that rock 90 times before I'd find a good balance...I do it with every tank

 

[dascharisma]

Here is a pic that JJ made of the sump I am having built (XBOX for reference). The sump will be 8' X 2' X 2'. It sits on the opposite side of the room as the fishtank. I will run the water level at 18" to allow for the additional water that will pour into the sump when the return is off.

The 3 skimmers in the pic are just place holders for future equipment like calcium reactor, nitrate reactor, phosphate reactor, etc..

The area in the center between the 2 braces will be a prop section of the sump. I will light it with the 8 x T5 fixture I currently have on my holding tank. I will suspend the lights from underneath the stand and have those little pully hangers let me raise and lower the light as needed for maintenance. The right and left section of the sump will hold the 120Lbs of rock currently in my sump.

To the left of the sump will sit the skimmers on a short platform. To the right of the sump will sit the chiller. To the right of the chiller will be the 300 gallon conical bottom tank that will add to tank volume and stability.

Brad

 

[dascharisma]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10144416#post10144416 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by glaspie69
that looks like some pretty cool shelf rock, should be fun putting it all together.......are you planning on setting the rock up and leaving the tank empty for a week incase you change your mind about the rockwork.....I'd move that rock 90 times before I'd find a good balance...I do it with every tank

Yep Jason, it is going to be really fun trying to create a good structure with all that rock. Since I am building the structure before filling the tank, and since I am going to epoxy the hell out of it, I will probably leave the tank empty for at least a week to be sure. Once water goes in, there is no going back.

I ordered some 3/8" and 1/2" pvc rods to use in testing. I worry that it will be very tricky to work with those thin shelves.

Brad