Jake,
Trust me it was not discouraging, only comical in the limited scope of their "vast" knowledge of aquaculture. My style is to just smile along with them and move onto the next guy in the chain when he gets tired of answering my questions. You would be surprised how quickly they will pass you up the chain when you ask them four or five questions they don't know the answer to. Good point on the aquanic reference. I have added it to my arsenal should I ever have to go down that road.
On the tanks issue, I am not sure how helpful this will be but I am planning on 6'x2'x30" tanks. The big reasons for the surface area decision was they way they would lay out within the greenhouse. The depth was strictly to allow for a greater water volume. Each of those tanks will hold ~300G, and I can't express how important the issue of temperature stability is in a greenhouse. That was one lesson I did learn well from the fish culture guys at the state. My hope is that it will help not only maintain the vat temps but also provide some GH ambient temp stability as well. 300G was a number I also heard from people using water walls in passive greenhouses.
As far as getting the tanks Redox brought up a good point, look for fiberglass builders and get them to make you some. They can do any size and shape, within reason and if you find someone local you are going to save a bundle. The people that would most likely do this sort of thing are RV shops, boat builders, pool shops, and some auto shops. For the tanks listed above I am looking at ~200 each with a quantity of 15. It is much more (in the $500-600 range) if you only want one or two though. As far as having to reach into the tanks I will be putting the corals in the top 18" of the tanks so I don't think it will be much of a problem.
Trust me it was not discouraging, only comical in the limited scope of their "vast" knowledge of aquaculture. My style is to just smile along with them and move onto the next guy in the chain when he gets tired of answering my questions. You would be surprised how quickly they will pass you up the chain when you ask them four or five questions they don't know the answer to. Good point on the aquanic reference. I have added it to my arsenal should I ever have to go down that road.
On the tanks issue, I am not sure how helpful this will be but I am planning on 6'x2'x30" tanks. The big reasons for the surface area decision was they way they would lay out within the greenhouse. The depth was strictly to allow for a greater water volume. Each of those tanks will hold ~300G, and I can't express how important the issue of temperature stability is in a greenhouse. That was one lesson I did learn well from the fish culture guys at the state. My hope is that it will help not only maintain the vat temps but also provide some GH ambient temp stability as well. 300G was a number I also heard from people using water walls in passive greenhouses.
As far as getting the tanks Redox brought up a good point, look for fiberglass builders and get them to make you some. They can do any size and shape, within reason and if you find someone local you are going to save a bundle. The people that would most likely do this sort of thing are RV shops, boat builders, pool shops, and some auto shops. For the tanks listed above I am looking at ~200 each with a quantity of 15. It is much more (in the $500-600 range) if you only want one or two though. As far as having to reach into the tanks I will be putting the corals in the top 18" of the tanks so I don't think it will be much of a problem.