Dave W's 3000 gal plankton/reef tank

[dave w]

Hey folks, I am building a tank in my sunroom addition, although it might be more accurate to say that I'm building a sunroom around the tank.

 

To keep the heating and cooling bills to a minimum, the sunroom is buried into the earth about 5' and on the south side of the house. The tank is horseshoe shaped. The roof, south and west sides are glazed, the east will be a solid wall because trees block the morning sun, and the north side of the room is up against the house. I will start posting pictures whenever I figure out how. I have excavated and have poured footings, block should start this weekend, if it doesn't keep raining.

 

I have kept large tanks for 25 years but have been out of the hobby for 8 years, so I have a lot to learn. I am amazed how far the hobby has progressed over the years. I look forward to the help and advice from the people on this forum.

[dcreefer]

Wow that is huge! I will be following along...please share photos as you take them!

[zygote2k]

Putting pictures on here is simple-

1) go to "My Gallery" on your profile.

2) make an Album

3) click on whatever title you called your new album

4) select "New Image" for single pictures or "Bulk Upload" for multiple pictures.

5) select "Browse"

6) select an image from somewhere on your computer

7) select "Submit Image"

 

You will now have a picture in your album. When you make a post and want to include a picture, click the "insert image from your gallery" icon and then you just click on the picture and it will now appear on your post

[davelin315]

3000 gallons! Wow! Are you going to go with all natural lighting, heating, and cooling for the tank?

[rocko918]

Very nice... where are you located? would like to see this sucker!!!!

[Coral Hind]

Wow, that is huge. I was planning to do the same thing so I will be watching this thread closely. You can also host the pictures on a web service like photobucket and post the links here. I like hosting it on photobucket as it allows me to post the pics on several boards without uploading them to each board. Just copy the IMG code and paste in your post here.

 

[Chad]

Wow, this will be one heck of a project!!

 

I love how everyone's idea of what "large" is varies

 

On the "Chad scale" large is 500 +/- or so, 3000 is Humungo!!

[zygote2k]

Dave-

Can you give us some details as to what the tank will be filtered with? How about one of those nice sketchup drawings?

[dave w]

3000 gallons! Wow! Are you going to go with all natural lighting, heating, and cooling for the tank?

 

Yes, Davelin315, I will go natural as much as possible. The polycarbonate glazing is supposed to let in about 92% of the sunlight, but I will need some kind of LED track light for evenings. The system is set into the ground to act as a natural heat sink in the winter and cool sink in the summer to moderate temperatures. I will plumb it with pex tubing for radiant heating. And the sump is around 2,000 gallons to help with temperature moderation.

 

Very nice... where are you located? would like to see this sucker!!!!

 

Rocko918, I am in Fairfax Station, about half an hour from you in Bristow. You are welcome to come by any time, especially if you are employed as a block layer!

 

Wow, that is huge. I was planning to do the same thing so I will be watching this thread closely

 

Coral Hind, I think the size of the tank is not necessarily related to the amount of work required if you keep your filtration and water moving systems simple. This tank will be plywood and fiberglass, so doubling the size may only take 10% more construction.

 

I love how everyone's idea of what "large" is varies

 

Chad, because only the front of the tank is acrylic and the filtrations systems are simple, I hope the maintenance will be more in line with a "small" tank.

 

Putting pictures on here is simple-

 

zygote2k, thanks for the guidance. I'm sure it will seem easy to me after the first couple of pics are posted, I'm just not familiar with the process yet. For that matter, I don't know if I am cutting and pasting correctly right now! I generally lurk on forums and don't post much. Most of my pics so far have been on my blackberry, I have yet to find my wife's nice digital camera to take pics.

 

 

Wow that is huge! I will be following along...please share photos as you take them!

 

DCreefer, thanks for the encouragement. Construction photos will probably bore most people, but I have been mulling over filtration systems for a while and the integration of these systems into the construction may pique the interest of some folks.

 

 

Everyone, thanks for the interest so far. I won't make you wait very long before posting pictures and asking your advice.

[dave w]

Dave-

Can you give us some details as to what the tank will be filtered with? How about one of those nice sketchup drawings?

 

I'll enlcose some sketchup drawings as soon as 1) I clean them up a little because I'm embarassed about my crude sketchup abilities and 2) I figure out how to post them along with the first pictures. Hopefully just a couple of days.

[Integral9]

Wow, that's swim-spa sized! I definately want to see the build pictures of that one.

 

You could use a SwimJet as a wave maker... and spa pumps for your skimmer(s)...

 

btw. How are you going to handle the humidity?

[Larry Grenier]

Construction photos will probably bore most people

Not these folks!

[dave w]

Wow, that's swim-spa sized! I definately want to see the build pictures of that one.

 

You could use a SwimJet as a wave maker... and spa pumps for your skimmer(s)...

 

btw. How are you going to handle the humidity?

 

 

Humidity will be a large problem, especially in winter. At Justin Capps recommendation I will keep polycarbonate covers on the tank in winter to reduce humidity and slow heat loss. I will install an air-to-air heat exchanger to flush out humidity and recapture as much of the heat as possible.

 

I was originally going to put this tank in my basement office, and my wife was constantly worried about humidity and leaks. I can't describe the look of relief on her face when I told her I would build the sunroom addition for the tank.

 

I will circulate with low rpm pumps and geyser pumps to keep plankton alive, so the excellent Hayward pool pumps will not work here, although I'm pretty sure you were joking. I don't know what the Swimjet is.

[dave w]

Not these folks!

 

Larry, having spent much of my life in the construction trades, few things put me to sleep faster than construction details.

[dave w]

This pic was taken just before excavation. The door is in the master bath and used to lead out into a greenhouse that was destroyed by the heavy snows last winter. The bobcat is one of my favorite toys.

 

 

 

 

[dave w]

 

Here is a picture of the footing on the east half of the tank.

 

 

[dave w]

 

Here is a picture of the footings of the west half of the tank.

[Coral Hind]

So did the county permit office look at you funny when you applied for the building permit for a 3000g tank?

[davelin315]

We are a strange group here, we love the pictures! So wait, is it 3,000 gallons for the display plus another 2,000 for the sump or is it 1,000 display and 2,000 sump? Either way, looks like a lot of fun! Also, I wonder if you could avoid most pumps and simply use a surge or wave device on that? A simple piston type system with a "flap" could move the water back and forth gently. I've always wanted to try and build my own wave device by using something like a small motor driving a fin back and forth but never had the ideal setup for it. This sounds like you could do it!

[dave w]

So did the county permit office look at you funny when you applied for the building permit for a 3000g tank?

 

Actually I asked my brother about that one and he said aquariums are outside of the building and inspection codes.

[dave w]

We are a strange group here, we love the pictures! So wait, is it 3,000 gallons for the display plus another 2,000 for the sump or is it 1,000 display and 2,000 sump? Either way, looks like a lot of fun! Also, I wonder if you could avoid most pumps and simply use a surge or wave device on that? A simple piston type system with a "flap" could move the water back and forth gently. I've always wanted to try and build my own wave device by using something like a small motor driving a fin back and forth but never had the ideal setup for it. This sounds like you could do it!

 

It is 3,000 gallons for the display tank and another 2,000 in the sump. I don't really count the sump because I may just use it for copepods and artemia. Circulating the tank through the sump requires a high rpm pump that damages the plankton upon which this system is based. With the refugiums just above water level the sump won't be needed for a fuge.

 

The folks in Hawaii needed 2,000 gallons of copepod culture to raise each batch of pygmy angel larvae, and I'd like to try this. I tried raising pygmy angel larvae before (without copepods) but always failed. Now that the Hawaiians have shown the way, it sounds like a good use for the sump.

 

I have thought of wave devices, but lean toward a tidal approach on this tank, because low rpm motors with large propellers can't lift water vertically. Perhaps half the pumps will circulate clockwise for 5.5 hours, then all the motors will "storm" the tank for half an hour, then the other half of the pumps will push counter-clockwise for 5.5 hours to simulate tidal change. If I can incorporate a wave device and get the water up to the device without the high rpm pumps, I would be interested in that. Would your idea of a motor/fin fit within these parameters? Can you explain how this would work?

[davelin315]

I was thinking of something more along the lines of a single chamber in the tank with a piece of acrylic in it that is mounted on one side on an axle. The other side is hooked up to piston (think of old steam locomotives) that drives it very slowly back and forth. This would basically just "stir" the water up. Essentially, it would be similar to tilting the tank back and forth as the water would be forced in one direction and then the other by the fin that moves back and forth. It's not much different than the concept of fanning yourself with something flat. The back and forth motion would push the water back and forth.

 

Have you thought of using a massive air pump in order to drive the water up? I know that some commercial applications use massive air pumps to move water, I'll bet you could do something like that, although it would probably be fairly noisy. I would think with the lack of spinning impellers or propellers you wouldn't lose much plankton from the system.

[Chad]

Dave's mentioning of a wave, surge and piston reminded me of a design that may be of use to you (another Dave)...

 

This picture is from Simon Garratt's inter tidal reef build on the Manhattan reef forums... (an interesting read in and of itself)

 

Should be scalable to any size and would create a standing wave and would be inline with your "gentle water movement" design goal.

 

The bottom of the piston is then piped directly to the tank. The piston is driven by a slow variable speed motor than can be tuned to oscillate at the natrual frequency of your tank... and voila, a low power consumption standing wave. Simon has some videos of it in operation on you tube somewhere.

 

Edited November 6, 2010 by Chad

[zygote2k]

You could use a high torque servo for r/c airplanes to move a fin back and forth in the upper water column. If you were to put it in the center of the "U", between the 2 scrubbers, it could be used to generate surge and more effectively circulate the water without shredding plankton. Maybe you wouldn't even need the big bladed pumps and just use the geyser pumps.

[zygote2k]

 

 

Have you thought of using a massive air pump in order to drive the water up? I know that some commercial applications use massive air pumps to move water, I'll bet you could do something like that, although it would probably be fairly noisy. I would think with the lack of spinning impellers or propellers you wouldn't lose much plankton from the system.

Davelin- look up "geyser pumps". low air, high flow, high suction. new technology from wastewater treatment.