Well I guess since Nano's are based on gallons and not dimensions I have to put this idea here...

While contruction hasn't begun yet, it looks like this is what will be coming... We still need to put the basement floors in (will be completed in the next month) but construction will begin as soon as the floors are in.

Here's a animated rendering... Tank will be 141.625x15.5x16.5. Orginally wanted a 16 footer but just not enough room to make it practical. The tank will act as a room divider seperating our rec room into two areas, our kids play area and another TV room.

AWESOME!

Are you restricted with the width? It seems like you're crippling your aquascaping options by going with 15". What are you going to light it with?

Thanks Jason, actually 15" is a step up from 12" and a step up from the original 7" I plan on keeping LPS (acans, micros, blastos etc) plus smaller fish so 15" should be plently. Plan on a ton of T-5's retro'd into the canopy with Tek Reflectors.

Here's my current planning delemma though...

I have 80" available under the soffit and if I put the stand at 40" that will give me 20" at the top (if I keep the canopy to 5") to help give the room an open feeling.

Will only 40" off the ground look lame? How high do you feel a tank should be off the ground? My wife doesn't want the tank to turn into a full wall but I want it easily viewable (don't want to have to bend over too much)... Thoughts?

Couldn't you put an easy chair or something by it, or make a "Sitting Area" or "Reading Area" right next to it?

Looks like a super cool concept, can't wait to see it brought to life.
The contest tank you did was pretty awesome.

Thanks Weetabix! Yes, the kids room will be about 10x16 the TV room with be about 13x16. Plenty of room for couches and other furniture. My concern is the height of the stand for the tank. How tall are everyone's stands?

ive got a 75g 22inch tall on a 40inch stand. u dont have to bend over too much to look in but u better have a stool to reach the bottom

sweet tank btw. i take it ur going to make it yourself? does acrylic come that long or do u have to seam it?

Thanks! Yeah I had a 20" tall once on a 42 stand and I had to get a small ladder to get high enough. It would be a custom cast to get 12' sheets so I'll be seaming it.

I would cover the top of the tank aswell and then put the lights so it looks like it is "built into the wall"

Nah, I kinda like it this way it's "different". This is gonna be so cool calvin! What fish are you planning?

How old are the kids? It would make me nervous to put a non inwall next to a play area....

Already have it pictured with a top on the tank which will contain the lighting... ???
It will still have a built in look. It will be connected to both walls and even drywalled and textured. The only thing cabinet on it will be the doors to get into the sump below the tank.



Planning on leopard wrasses, christmas wrasses, and melenaris wrasses plus some lyretail anthias.



3, 1, and another in about 11-12 months. It will be built in though so it should be fine. Orginal plan was to have the cabinet double as a toy bin, but that got trumped quickly.

Anyone else have some thoughts on 40" stand? Think I could go lower? Need to go higher? Comments?

I like my stands lower. It makes it easier to reach the arms in.

Measure from your armpit to the floor and make sure the top of the tank sits no higher then that.

I like where this thread is going. Too bad it can't be open top. :\

i have my tank sitting on a 36 inch stand... wish i went taller... true i can reach all the way to the bottom of the tank.. and its nice to sit back and watch it from the sofa... just stinks when you walk into the room and have to bend down to look at stuff near the bottom... i guess its a trade off

Looks good! With kids that small you will be dealing with toys & balls being thrown so I would think that taller would be better if you don't want unusual tank decorations. Not to mention the "stuff" that transfers from little fingers to toys that might not make good additives to your tank. Keep us posted with lots of pictures!

Are you going to put a sump on the tank? It dosnt look like you will have that much room under the tank for a big sump unless it is custom. I really like the long tank, it looks like it has the potential to have an increadible aquascape.

Good idea bud! We are planning on having a sectional back up against the tank, maybe I'll just measure the couch height so the tank will sit right at the top of the couch.



At 15" I doubt I'll have issues reaching the bottom, but I don't want to have to lay down to look at the tank either... Think I might just try to put it at the top of the couch and go from there.



Will be completely covered so the only thing the fish will need to worry about is the occasional ball hitting the acrylic. BTW, get your family out of your tank!!! LOL!



Yes, there will be a sump, and should have plenty of room, but that just got me thinking about it... I'll have to build the sump and stand together else it won't fit in there... Yes it will be custom, both tank and sump will be built by me.

Well my wife gave me the okay to frame the stand on the concrete instead of waiting for the floors to go in so I hope to tackle that this weekend... That is if I can find a SCMAS member with a truck and nothing better to do on a Saturday.

Thanks for all the help Paul, David and my other buddy David.

Here's what we were able to get done in the little time I had today...




Plugs for the tank...

This is going to be a great looking tank, can't wait to see it.

Following along

Wow, this is gonna be awesome. What kind of time frame are you expecting on the build?

Thanks, it will be a little bit of time in the making but howfully it will be worth it. Sorry if I'm posting along the way instead of showing it all done with progress pics, I'm just really stoked about this one.



Thanks, me too!




Not sure yet... I'm selling my wife's BMW and it will depend on how much I can get, and if I can put any of it towards the tank or if it will all go towards whatever my wife wants next. If anyone is intested in a 2003 325xi AWD 5-speed (rare) let me know. If there are 0 funds from the car then I'll probably be looking at 6-9 months. I have to get at least 8 SETS of T-5's (16 bulbs) plus skimmer, two Darts (return and closed loop) plus anything else I'm forgetting like acrylic for the tank and sump.

Just tell your wife that this is for her.

That would suck if you got nothing...I can't wait that long for this tank!

What dimensions on the sump are you looking at?

Oh yeah and I like how your doing the tank as it goes...it's fun to follow it and not be making comments on something that was done months ago.

NOR

LOL! Yeah she knows better.

Sump will have to go in as 3' sections to fit through the door openings I'm making and anticipate it to be approx 10" wide, unknown height yet, it will depend on what I have for materials. I will have an overflow on each end of the tank, one side will feed a fuge the other will feed the skimmer. Both will flow towards the center where the return pump (Dart maybe just a Snapper) will pump the water back up. I want to have a RODI reservior in there also for ATO, but not sure yet where I'll put it.

Do you guys think 8x turn over through the sump is fine for an LPS tank? The closed loop with be much higher...

I think that judging sump/fuge turnover based on tank volume isn't the best way to go about it. Many people say 10x the tank turnover is good for a sump/fuge, but what happens if the tank volume is 25 gallons and the sump/fuge volume is around 1 or 2 (such as in a 29 gallon BioCube)? Pulling 250 gallons per hour through such a small space won't allow for filtration, macroalgae growth, or even effective protein skimming.

So, what I propose is that you base your flow rate on the size of the sump/fuge, not on the size of the display. I think your idea for the sump design is ingenious, because you can essentially separate the fuge and skimmer, and by adjusting the size of the two sumps you can adjust the flow rate. For example, you could make the skimmer half taller, with a smaller output to the return pump, which should decrease the flow rate. Same thing for the fuge. It would take some calculations to ensure that you wouldn't overflow one of the two sumps, but it wouldn't be too hard.

You could also just take the easy route and plumb it all together, making it all the same size. In either case, you should base your flow rate on the volume of the sump, not the display. I'd say anywhere between 10-20x turnover of the sump volume per hour should work well for your purposes. HTH

Well if I go with two 36"x11"x20" sumps with about 8" of water that will provide plenty of room for back flow, but that's 72*11*8 or 27.4 gallons and with 1100 gph that would be 40x turn over in the sump... I can't believe that would be too much...

Reason is I'd like to be able to see into the tank from the end, and the support column isn't too wide, so I could be able to see in if I only put an overflow on one end. But with the limited room on the ends, it will restrict the about of flow into the sump.

Any other opinions or thoughts?

the only problem with that much flow through the sump is controlling micro bubbles. u could try it and if needed u could just vavle the pump down. is there a reason ur useing a snapper for return? it just seems kind of alot of pump for the little distance the water needs to be pumped.

one other thing why do u need so much room for back flow?

Well the Snapper was for when I was going to have dual overflows, if I cut it back to 1100 GPH obviously I won't need a Snapper... I don't want to fill the sump with back flow and at 144*15*2 that's 18 gallons which will fill up almost 6 inches in the sump.

oops, i forgot that ur sump isnt going to be as long as ur tank and thats the reason for the room in the sump.

dont u love trying to figure out all the details

Very nice. I'm assuming that you made the long tank at RC's nTOTM? That was really clean and "simple"!
reference to those who don't know:
http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.p...hreadid=1060365

Wow taging along for this one... your making the tank yourself right?

LOL! Yeah, sometimes I think the planning and building is more fun than actually having the tank. Guess I'll drag my feet on this one so I can keep the pleasure going.



Thanks!
Yes, that was the trial version. I orginally wanted to go 8' long on that one, but decided against it so I could compete in the N-R build off too.



Yes I am... I still have some more test welds to try, I want to get the seam as clear as possible.

Shame shame, selling your wife's car to fulfill your saltwater needs. LOL J/K I really can't wait to see this tank when it's finished. I loved that custom nano that you built. This should blow that one away!

To tell you the truth, the first thought that came to me was to put in only one overflow. This way, you could direct the return flow from one end of the tank to the other. You'd have better mixing of filtered water with tank water, as well as reduce the chance of overflowing the sump. Plus you could have a longer distance between the skimmer and the return, and with a bubble trap placed right before the return pump you could virtually eliminate microbubbles.

wow, makes me want to do something like this, however I'm not sure the apartment landlord will be so understanding. blah hate renting.

LOL! Thanks!



Good call, I was thinking the same thing, just worried if it would be enough filtration... I guess really the LR in the tank will handle the majority of the filtration, everything else will be for polishing the water.



LOL! Yeah apartments are the best place to start tearing out walls.


Thanks for all the feedback guys, I just bought a Dart yesterday for the closed loop, so I guess that means it has officially begun.

Calvin, I just wish I had the technical ability to make some of the stuff you do. You wouldn't be available for hire, would you?

LOL! It's not tough, just have to think it through first. I'm currently trying to get my own calcium and kalk reactor line www.elite-reef.com up and going, but running out of time for everything. If you have a small project I might be able to help, if you just need someone to bounce ideas off of, just shoot me a PM, chit chat is always free.

Sorry for the lack of updates, we got the floors ordered this morning so now I have to get the stand finished, they will be here in 10 days! I'm hoping to get the plywood on it this weekend so I can drywall, texture, and then get to work on building the tank. Stay tuned...

Here's what I did today.



My wife putting on the primer to make sure we don't have any issues down the road. However, I'm thinking about putting in a pond liner to really make sure there are no issues.





Corner Round and first layer of mud slapped on.







BTW, the green board on the top just because I had it leftover and it was the right size. It's not put there with a purpose.

Well I was able to sand last night, put on a second coat, and we got confirmation that the floors are being delivered on Wednesday. We have plans tomorrow night so I hope to get everything (sanded, final coat of mud, spray texture) done tonight and then my wife can paint on Wednesday. We have our reef club meeting this weekend and I still need to prep for my acrylic demo so I'm afaid the tank construction won't begin until next week.

*fingers crossed I can get everything done tonight*

Mush! Work harder, faster! lol

Calvin, you forgot to drill holes for the overflow, return, and closed loop. I can't wait for this thing to be done, it is going to be awesome. For the closed loop, if you have the budget, I would go through the bottom with a 4-way on that dart. If you need extra flow from there, you can put eductors on the outlets. How are you planning on accessing the tank from the top?

green board might have been good for the whole thing... but pricey. perhaps shoot the inside of the "stand" with a water resistant paint, KILZ is great primer for the whole stand and is mold resistant

alsi, i might caulk all the way around the base line 2X4, in case of a leak it will keep the wter off the floor,

you could put a 1/4" drain line out the exterior wall

just thinking out loud.

normaly i am opposed to CL systems but in your case, 2 reversing CL systems might be a very efficent way to get flow throuought the tank without powerheads inside and random flow to boot

oh yea, very cool build

LOL! Thanks bud. Unfortunately we're calling it a night. The mud from the final coat is still too wet to sand and we're out of primer to finish priming the walls. Maybe we can get some more work done late tomorrow.



Holes will be drilled once the tank is built and I know where I want them drilled. I allowed room in the supports for all the plumbing to still fit through. I will likely be just running the dart through 6 return ports, all through the bottom. I don't want to see anything in the tank if I can help it. The tank will be accessed directly through the top, the canopy will sit on top of the tank but will have a lift system running to the soffit to allow me to lift it out of the way.



Thought about the green board, but I'll have sufficient air flow through the stand to keep it from becoming humid. Here in Colorado we have nearly 0% humidity so any from the tank will be welcomed plus the air from the stand will be directed at the furnace to hopefully blow it to the rest of the house. I will likely prime the entire interior once it's all finished and then will run a pond liner on the inside to keep the water contained in the event of a leak.

For flow, I plan on the CL to keep the water circulating bottom to top along the length of the tank and then the sump return will be on the opposite end of the overflow to help force any surface scum to the overflow to be skimmed off.

ok another idea,

a overflow at each end and reverse return sides every minute or so, if you have ever dove in costal reefs, that is the way water flows naturally except a lot faster intervals and more powerfully than most any of us are willing to pay for

and the kilz is not for humidity, it is for spills and splashes

Thought about it, but I'd really like to have it clear on one of the ends... Anyone else think I should go back to dual overflows and black out both ends? I can't get enough flow to span 12' without destroying what's close to the outlet so it would only work for the sump return to redirect the surface flow.

I think I'll just stick to the pond liner to seal up the stand.