calvin415 Posted March 31, 2006 Author Share Posted March 31, 2006 Ooh, I must say fish rooms are awesome.(And wider is better!) LOL!!! Everyone still loves quoting that GrandPrix commercial including myself! I'm really leaning toward the fish room idea, but if I do the fish room I don't think I'll go over 24 wide so I have room around the tank. The room will only be about 5 ft deep and 3ft of work room isn't much more than space to walk. Thanks for the input danskim, please keep it coming guys! Link to comment
Perpetual98 Posted March 31, 2006 Share Posted March 31, 2006 Let me know what you need for equipment and I'll hook you up through my store. For a system that large, any money saved can add up quick! Eric Link to comment
calvin415 Posted March 31, 2006 Author Share Posted March 31, 2006 Let me know what you need for equipment and I'll hook you up through my store. For a system that large, any money saved can add up quick! Eric Thanks bro! Can you PM me with any wave making equipment, water pumps and MH lighting setups you might have and prices? If I know what I can get it would help out a bunch in determining what I'll actually use... Be sure to let me know any thoughts you have on how I could also set it up. I've seen too many setups which give me too many ideas and now I can't determine which one I want to use myself! LOL!!! Link to comment
reffer9391 Posted March 31, 2006 Share Posted March 31, 2006 Do the fish room and make it as big as you can k like a 220 that would be sweet and a hidden room behind like a med. tank and pro. tank Link to comment
calvin415 Posted March 31, 2006 Author Share Posted March 31, 2006 Do the fish room and make it as big as you can k like a 220 that would be sweet and a hidden room behind like a med. tank and pro. tank If I do the fish room the tank at 120"x24"x20" will come in at 250 gallons, will that do? As for other tanks, I'm sure I'll come up with other ones but the focus right now is the display tank. I've already got a 55 gallon to use as a refugium and trying to get a 75 gallon for a sump. That would total 315 gallons assuming the sump and refug are 50% full at all times. This would also allow room for upto a 5" drop in the display tank in the even of a power failure. No need for check valves if I have room for the water. I'm still torn on how to provide nice reliable random flow. Part of me wants to keep it simple just to prove that big doesn't always mean expensive, say 6-8 DIY MaxiJet Streams (http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=790770) setup on timers. Part wants to try something new like a wave2k, and yet a CL with an OM will work too. Should I see how cheap I can build this for? Too many decision! For the overflows I'm pretty sure I'm set on the idea of externals on each end of the tank with the return flowing from the center pointed to each end. For lighting I really like the 250w HQI pendants... They have worked perfect for me so I can't justify changing, but I'm still deciding how many bulbs to use; 4 or 5??? Link to comment
neanderthalman Posted March 31, 2006 Share Posted March 31, 2006 Thanks for your input, now I have to run the fish room idea by my wife and see if I have to put my foot down. LOL! It's easier to ask forgiveness than it is to ask permission..... Link to comment
jeremai Posted March 31, 2006 Share Posted March 31, 2006 Should I go down to 10 feet and have a fish room? Seems like that would solve a lot of problems. Link to comment
calvin415 Posted March 31, 2006 Author Share Posted March 31, 2006 It's easier to ask forgiveness than it is to ask permission..... LOL!!! I've already told her, she has free run (decorating) of all the rest of the house and the guest room (room 5 in the basement) but the rec room is mine! Link to comment
calvin415 Posted March 31, 2006 Author Share Posted March 31, 2006 Seems like that would solve a lot of problems. Yes it would, but the biggest problem with more options is deciding on one! Link to comment
calvin415 Posted April 1, 2006 Author Share Posted April 1, 2006 Alright guys, I just got home and looked at the blue prints and the room between the bathroom and the wall on the other end is actually 16'6" so I could actually put in a 14' tank! I know that's what the dimension above says but I thought that was the width of the room including infont of the stairs. I don't know if I will actually do it because lighting is already running way too much, but I didnt' realize the room I have. If that's not good enough news, I talk to my wife and she thinks the fish room idea would be cool too! I can't believe my luck! Now I just need to see if I can get HQI's to span 3 ft instead of 2. If I can pull it off, I think I can manage 5 HQI's and then a 14 footer could happen! Link to comment
Perpetual98 Posted April 1, 2006 Share Posted April 1, 2006 To be honest, with a tank that shallow (20") if you're going to have a sandbed, say 4" or so, I'd opt for 175W halides. Save you serious money at the outset, you can go with spider reflectors, you don't need to worry about UV glass and your electric bill will thank you, especially if you're going to run oodles of bulbs. Another thing that you could do would be to bend the spider reflectors "open" a bit and I would think that you could get 3' spread on them. It would probably work great if you ran some T5 down the length of the tank for supplementation and dusk/dawn. Just my 1.5 cents... Another wicked cool idea that I want to do some day is a walkaround square tank in the middle of a room. The plumbing would be trickier, and you couldn't do the fish room, but my dream tank would be a 96"x96"x24" tank, viewable from all sides and set up similar to Steve Weasts. Later! Eric Link to comment
calvin415 Posted April 1, 2006 Author Share Posted April 1, 2006 To be honest, with a tank that shallow (20") if you're going to have a sandbed, say 4" or so, I'd opt for 175W halides. Save you serious money at the outset, you can go with spider reflectors, you don't need to worry about UV glass and your electric bill will thank you, especially if you're going to run oodles of bulbs. Another thing that you could do would be to bend the spider reflectors "open" a bit and I would think that you could get 3' spread on them. It would probably work great if you ran some T5 down the length of the tank for supplementation and dusk/dawn. Just my 1.5 cents... Another wicked cool idea that I want to do some day is a walkaround square tank in the middle of a room. The plumbing would be trickier, and you couldn't do the fish room, but my dream tank would be a 96"x96"x24" tank, viewable from all sides and set up similar to Steve Weasts. Later! Eric Eric, I'll be running a SSB so 1" max which will be often syphoned. I was thinking HQI because at 250w it's the equivilent of a 400SE (or so I've read) and in order to get the spread I will need to raise it up and still need to have sufficient par for SPS corals. For Actinics I'm planning on running 14K bulbs so I think a couple VHO's will be sufficent for D/D effects. Appreciate the thoughts though and trust me I've considered it and haven't ruled it out, but I don't want to drop a grand just to have to replace them... My dad has a 75 w/ 2 HQI's that I'm going to experiment with to see if I can get 3ft of spread with 1 HQI. Again my biggest concern is flow and stability. I've considered the big cube in the room, but I've measured and I can't get a 72x72 piece of glass down the stairs to build the tank let alone a 96x96 piece! The biggest I can go is 60x60 and that defeats the purpose of a long tank (lots of swimming room). Link to comment
Perpetual98 Posted April 1, 2006 Share Posted April 1, 2006 Hey there, no worries, I'm just tossing out ideas since you're still in the planning phase. You should plumb it like this: Link to comment
calvin415 Posted April 1, 2006 Author Share Posted April 1, 2006 Hey there, no worries, I'm just tossing out ideas since you're still in the planning phase. You should plumb it like this: LOL!!! Thanks! I really do appreciate the idea, and it got me thinking about the reflectors... At 3x3 here's the par rating on the PFO running parallel with the tank. This is with a 400w DE but with the 250HQI hopefully it will be close to the same PAR, if so I think this would work. Here's the entire article... http://www.advancedaquarist.com/issues/mar2003/feature.htm Link to comment
neanderthalman Posted April 1, 2006 Share Posted April 1, 2006 Another wicked cool idea that I want to do some day is a walkaround square tank in the middle of a room. The plumbing would be trickier, and you couldn't do the fish room, but my dream tank would be a 96"x96"x24" tank, viewable from all sides and set up similar to Steve Weasts. Later! Eric Center overflow, closed loop drilled in bottom of the tank. Put a fish room in the room on the floor below the aquarium Link to comment
TheNorthernLight Posted April 13, 2006 Share Posted April 13, 2006 Hello, Here's another idea. build a 3/4" or 1" rectangular pvc pipe frame, that will fit around the entire edge of the tank. Then along the way... say every 2-3ft, put in a cross section of attached pipe. Then in the middle of each of these cross sections, put a ocean motion type device that has 2 - 4 (or more even) nozzles that point down and across the tank. (maybe one point upwards somewhat). _____x____________x__________x \/........|...........L....\/....|..........L......\/.| [.........|...........[...........|..........[..........| |.........|...........|...........|..........|..........| >........o..........o...........o.........o.........< |.........|...........|...........|..........|..........| |.........[...........|...........[..........|..........[ |.........L...........|...........L..........|..........L x-----------------x-----------------x--------- looking at the above drawing : \/ = drains to sump. L = flow control valves (pvc ball valves) > & < = single stream nozzle [ = pvc union connector o = Oceans motion device. x = a physical connection, that is actually plugged off at that end. think of it as a caped 1" tube INSIDE a T . ____ | = Pvc tube frame. ------ This would keep the entire movement system out of the water (or view), plus it would allow you to maintain and fix/clean any section of your system without having to stop your water ever. Also, it would break up your entire flow and keep it fairly random (less dead spots). Also, if you count, you would have to add 1 more MH light, but that would fit perfectly inbetween each pipe, so their would be virtually no show cast by the tubing. Or would get washed out be the other MH's. Also using this method, removes you from drilling the back wall at all, and also less chances of leaks. plus if a leak DOES happen, with 1 way valves in your plumbing it would only ever affect the section with the leak, not the whole system. Also, with this, you would only need 3-4 syphon holes drilled in the bottom. btw, i really DO think drillin in the bottom for this is best) my only suggestion here, is have one in each corner, then two in the middle (back of tank) ___________________________________________________ D.../.............................\....D....|...D..../...............................\....D.. ---/................................\-------|------/..................................\------ This will allow skimmin from each drain for 4ft per drain. if each drain section is 7-10" long, thats the same as what most people have on a single 75G tank. Should do a fairly good amount of skimming. Oh, one last thing make ALL your plumbing AT LEAST 1". except for the return, which again I think would be good with 3/4, or maybe even 11/4" tubing. (really depending on your return pumps). Hope you like the idea. Link to comment
Bikelock Posted April 20, 2006 Share Posted April 20, 2006 http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthre...25&pagenumber=1 Check out Bomber's 400gallon room divider tank. Lots a good ideas on flow, skimming, lights, ect. Link to comment
manse Posted September 13, 2006 Share Posted September 13, 2006 I was just thinking of a tank like this the other night. Here are some far-fetched "brainstorming" type ideas... How about a surge tank with muliple outputs? Or multiple surge tanks... can be built with the innards of a toilet. For lighting, what about MH's on "tracks" above the tank, that slowly moves back and forth across the tank. (actually a track system and a controller for it may be cheaper than just a full set of MHs... Well, I didn't say the were good ideas Good luck and keep us posted! Link to comment
MJD Posted November 22, 2006 Share Posted November 22, 2006 hey whats going on here?!?!? darn and i actually thought it was gonna happen. MJD Link to comment
calvin415 Posted December 28, 2006 Author Share Posted December 28, 2006 hey whats going on here?!?!? darn and i actually thought it was gonna happen. MJD Forgot about this thread, guess I've moved on with my idea and forgot to bring everyone else along for the ride. It's still going to happen, but instead of 12' it will be about 26'. However due to building limitations it will be in sections as I have to make breaks for window and a bookcase which I'll also build since the longest piece of acrylic I can get is 12' long. It will consist of 3 tanks spanning 2 corners (so they will be L shaped) and another section of wall. They will all share the same sump just seperate displays for everything. Only hold up right now is getting the basement finished first but framing is done, electrical is 98% done and plumbing is 90% done. Have confidence young one. LOL!!! Here's a diagram... Link to comment
Withers Posted December 28, 2006 Share Posted December 28, 2006 Since you're still under construction with your basement, what about creating a space behind all 3 tanks so you can build it into a wall and have access to it from behind? Also, what else is going in the rec room? Pool table? Have kids? You might want to consider adding a piece of acrylic to cover the front panes of glass to prevent damage. Link to comment
calvin415 Posted December 28, 2006 Author Share Posted December 28, 2006 That rec room is way too small to try to build in a fish room especially for these little nano tanks... Everything will be run below the tanks and finished to hide it all. Rec room will just be a kids play room and the tanks will already be made of acrylic, not glass. Link to comment
Withers Posted December 28, 2006 Share Posted December 28, 2006 Ah, for some reason I thought they were going to be made of glass. Good luck with it! Link to comment
travisurfer Posted December 28, 2006 Share Posted December 28, 2006 wow, i like the divided idea. that way you can have seperate biotopes Link to comment
MJD Posted December 28, 2006 Share Posted December 28, 2006 PICS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Link to comment
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