My Dream Tank

[Gvtv44]

Ok, I am in the process of planning my pseudo-dream tank... hopefully it will soon become a reality

So, the plan is this: 3 tanks in a U shape... fw on either side, marine in the center.

2- 125 gallon tanks (FW- One Planted Discus and one with some huge predator (Arowana or the like) or cardinal tetras and rams (Think 100 cardinals and 6 Rams)

1- Custom tank (Reef of course) (8' Long X 24"-30" High X an unknown width)

The custom tank will be bow front, and they have black trim with black silicone, with the custom being open top, and the other two being closed top.

Question #1: How do I go about getting this massive tank? I know they don't make them standard...

#2 How do I calculate the gallonage?

I am planning on 3 pendants hung from the ceiling... will that be enough, or will I need 4? How much area do they typically cover? I would also like to have actinics... where do I put those? What wattage pendants are we talking here?

How large of a sump? Will I need a kalk reactor? Ozone? I need your help! Should I run UV?

Stocking will go as follows:

1 lb per gallon of LR

2" Sandbed

Anemones

Clams

100's of zoa types

Mushrooms

LPS

No to very few SPS

All types of softies

Shrimp

Hermits

Snails

Urchins

Clowns

Firefish

Other fish

Etc, Etc. It will be an enlarged version of my nano basically.

I would want the tank to have overflows, right? And then in my sump I will have my Heaters, protein skimmer, and Purapads!

Your advice is appreciated

-Gvtv44

[EtOH_is_good]

doesn't the top banner say nano-reef?

 

these would be good questions for our good friends at the rc. i know that there is a gallon calculator around somewhere.

[shag26272]

A custom made bowfront? Thats insane. Be prepared to pay 10 thousand dollars.

[Gvtv44]

I posted in the large tank section, but no luck there... 10g? I doubt it!

I WILL NOT JOIN RC.... (unless I have to... ) Come on N-R.com... help me out!

[Fanof49ASU]

8' long? Wow. I don't know lighting, but I'd guess you'd need 5 or 6 pendants.

[shag26272]

You could use 4 pendants, I would go with flat glass. The glass would have to be very thick and it would look distorted like crazy. Not to mention the price of a curved piece of glass 8 feet long probabaly 1 inch thick

[dshnarw]

I'd say 4 pendants would do it, provided enough wattage to make it 30'' down. 3 would be enough if you left the sides a little darker. The softies would like it.

 

For making the tank, your best bet would be to find a custom aquarium maker near you, shouldn't be a problem in that area. Won't be cheap at 8' long.

 

 

For calculating the gallonage - let me know when you get the final dimensions and I'll calculate it for you - much easier than explaining all that area of a circle, triangle, etc.

 

Just to give you an idea - a 2' width at the corner to a 2.5' width in the middle on that tank is ~270 gallons, assuming 2' height.

 

So for that, I'd go with at least a 75g sump, no UV, display tank definitely drilled for overflows.

[Gvtv44]

Thanks everyone!

I have emailed Oceanic and All-glass... am looking up local people, and am also looking online. Local is ideal of course, because there won't be any shipping (I have access to trucks that can hold a 12 footer )

Yea, I forgot how to find the area of an arc The space has decided on the demensions: 8' x 21- 27" (bow)x 24" high (still kinda rough though). So what's that, like 250 gallons? Just give me the formula for the arc of a circle, and I can do the rest The tank will be drilled and have overflows (probably built in) but the sump... it needs to go under the stand, as the tank will be against an exterior wall... any suggestions? Do I really need more than the room I need for heaters, chiller probe, protein skimmer, and pura pads? I agree, no UV- I like my phytoplankton and other microscopic buddies

As for lighting: where do I get some cheap pendents and balasts? (3-4)

Do I need Kalk? Ozone?

Thanks!

[shag26272]

Dude the glass will be too thick, to see through. You might have to go acrylic.

[dshnarw]

Thanks everyone!

I have emailed Oceanic and All-glass... am looking up local people, and am also looking online. Local is ideal of course, because there won't be any shipping (I have access to trucks that can hold a 12 footer )

Yea, I forgot how to find the area of an arc The space has decided on the demensions: 8' x 21- 27" (bow)x 24" high (still kinda rough though). So what's that, like 250 gallons? Just give me the formula for the arc of a circle, and I can do the rest The tank will be drilled and have overflows (probably built in) but the sump... it needs to go under the stand, as the tank will be against an exterior wall... any suggestions? Do I really need more than the room I need for heaters, chiller probe, protein skimmer, and pura pads? I agree, no UV- I like my phytoplankton and other microscopic buddies

As for lighting: where do I get some cheap pendents and balasts? (3-4)

Do I need Kalk? Ozone?

Thanks!

 

 

Found a website for you (much easier than figuring out what I did to get it: Circle calculator

 

Haven't recalculated, but I'd guess its a little under 250 gallons.

 

Personally, I'd make enough room in the sump for a ton of macroalgae, also. Kalk and ozone I'm not sure about.

 

The cheapest place for my sunpod was Pet Mountain (but you should, of course, check out all the NR sponsors )

 

shaq makes a good point - the refractive index of glass may well make it extremely blurry in the middle portion of that tank. Acrylic makes much more sense for that thickness.

[shag26272]

You need 400 watters for a 30 inch deep tank at least 3 possibly 4

[Diskusting]

Reef Central is a great place to find info on Large Tanks. I dont know why Nano-reef and Reefcentral are rivals. I find them both helpfull.

[Gvtv44]

On RC: I'll probably be flamed to death I'll get my flame retardent suit on tomorrow

 

Will 3 of these work:

http://www.petmountain.com/product/light-f...de-pendant.html

?

 

Depth will be 24", and they will be hung above the tank enough to reach in and do stuff in there...

 

 

I may just go flat fron if it is a stellar difference in cost...

 

 

Anyone know custom tank builder websites???

Thanks for your help everyone!

[shag26272]

aquariumobsessed.com go with flat you can get starfire glass

 

you probably need 4 of those

[dshnarw]

Those lights would probably be fine if you kept the SPS and high light stuff at the top, the softies and LPS at the bottom.

 

For only $150 more you could get the 6' Outer Orbit T5 with 3 250w HQIs and 8 39w T5s. Not sure how you like the idea of a single long pendant, but the extra wattage would be worth it, I think. Maybe have a custom built pendant-style canopy to hide it, so it doesn't look a foot short on either side.

[EtOH_is_good]

sheez, rc isn't that bad. of course they may ask that you do a lot a research before asking such ridiculous questions, even if they are not.

 

anyhowz, my brother-in-law has 4x400w pendents over his 300 g acrylic reef tank. has one pump on a closed loop and another for the overflow return. don't forget to add an in-line chiller. the sump is another 50g with three sections. the first is just the collection from the overflow. the second is a fuge. the third is the skimmer, heater and return pump. if you want to force flow through carbon don't forget to get it correctly baffled. there's no problem with microbubbles, so no seperate baffling between skimmer and return plumbing. oh yes, the length is freaking gynormus. any questions?

[matt510]

id go with two 1000 watt halides, someone i know has a 4x3x2 and uses a 1000 watt thats about 3 feet over the tank with vho's for actinic and his keeps everything in his tank, he said running a 1000 watt halide is cheaper then when he ran two 400 watts.. just an idea, but youd need a pretty big canopy id think about doing an in wall set it up if i were you..

[masterbuilder]

I love the idea you have but to be honest, unless you have done very large tanks like this in the past I would suggest that you get some professional help. Yeah ... It will cost you but you’re already looking at 10's of thousands of dollars. In the long run it may save you twice as much as you paid them. I am not saying you have to let them give you a turn key setup, but at least get some design advice. You also have to consider the structure of your house too, you may need to make some minor changes. I build houses and I promise you just can’t drop that much weight in a corner or somewhere. You WILL end up with sagging floors or a cracked slab and that may lead to a major disaster with your tanks. The tanks you described with sumps, etc will weight in excess of 5000 lbs

 

I built a high end house a few years back that was to have a monster aquarium in it and we talked to these companies for the engineering. The owners ended up going with livingcolor.com. I never saw it filled with water and corals/fish..... but it was very COOL.

 

http://www.aquariumdesign.com/

http://www.seavisions.com/

http://www.livingcolor.com/

 

Mark

 

p.s. you should see their other toys....the guy had way too much money.

[Gvtv44]

Well, right now I have a 125 gallon discus tank that needs replacing (silicone is +20 years old!) and that's how all this started

It is on the ground level, there isn't a basement, and the house is a bi-level the same age as the tank (a little over 20 years) the 125 was custom made, and has no center brace, and is bow front (it wasn't made that way!) As old Stev-o would say: " Danja, Danja, Danja!"

 

So, I would have 520 gallons of water (incl. sump) in one room... + live rock+ sand+ rock+ fish = mucho weight... thanks for making me realize that!

 

So, the U shape will have to wait (might be moving soon)... therefore... how about just a big ol' reef tank... and no more discus ?

 

MB: you seem to have experience with this... (I am not holding you accountable for any subsequent damages your advice may cause) how big of a tank can I safely have along the exterior wall of the house? (I will get rid of the other tanks )

 

 

 

 

As for advice and what not... it seems obvious RC is where I need to research.. I know a whole lot of LFS store owners too... I guess I'll talk to them too

 

I went out looking at this like a big nano... but obviously, it's not... so what do you think of my revised plan? (I still want bow front though... there is a company right in Long Branch, NJ (Aquariums for you) and I requested a quote... You really think this is gonna be 10k+ ? I was figuring 5g's at most... this is budget dream reefing my friends! (What a paradox! )

 

Remember, this is a pseudo- dream tank (it still might happen) but my true "DREAM" tank is:

5000+ gallons

Bow front (of course)

Euro Bracing

Open Top

Dozens of 400 watt pendents

6 ft tall skimmers

Giant Sized- Giant clams

Did I mention I need SCUBA gear?

[travisurfer]

if you are moving soon i would wait to setup such a large tank. can you imagine moving that thing? no thanks. once you get it into your new house you can build individual closets behind each tank for maintenance. remember that with 3 large tanks, humidity may be an issue.

[Oceanic 30g]

For a tank around 250-300 gallons you are going to need a fish room behind it or a setup below it just for water changes. Your water changes are going to be like 50 gallons! and maintenance. Have you looked at some of the tanks of the month on reef central? Read up on some of them. Most are 250+ gallons and most people with that type of tank have at least $40k into the setup.

 

You may be better off doing a 125 reef to start off and then move to the larger tank.

 

A friend had a 300 gallon salt tank nad he had to install a 125 under it for maintenance and put jackstands under the floor to prevent sagging. A tank that size weighs as much as a car.

 

Good Luck!

[masterbuilder]

remember that with 3 large tanks, humidity may be an issue.

MAY! Will

 

Anyway... 250-300 gallons would be the max that I would put along an exterior wall, assuming your on a slab (no crawlspace) without having someone check it out, but thats just me. I dont have any experience with big setups like you are talking about, I just built a space for one once and the experts took it from there.

 

Like mentioned earlier, if your even thinking about moving in the next 20 years.... oh....I hate to even think about that.

 

Check out some of the 'tanks of the month" over on RC. The really big ones have lots of equipment that fill up a bathroom sized space. 500+ gallon is quite a big project. People do it all the time though, if you can swing it....GO FOR IT.

[Gvtv44]

Beakdown:

Item- $$$

Tank- ???

Sump- how big should it be for a 200- 250 gallon tank? Would I get away with 30 gallons?- ???

Protein Skimmer-$250

Lighting- $1,200

Sand- 13 bags- $260

Rock- 250lbs- $500

6 Koralia Power Heads- $360

Digital Thermometer with 3 probes- $80

Heaters- 4 - 300 watt azoo titanium- $120

Refractometer: $45

Chiller -~500

Salt?- ~ 200

R/O DI unit- $200

etc...

 

So... ~ 4 g's + Tank

 

 

I think I may just make a BC29 with MH upgrade my dream tank for now

[geekreef_05]

lol, 5,000 gallons eh?

 

A better idea would then be to buy a swimming pool and convert it into a reef tank. Then you can snorkel in the comfort of your own home.

 

think of the insanity!

[Gvtv44]

No, I have to be able to see it from the sides

Could you having someone over to trade frags, and you say,"I'll go down and get them"