Justin's 550 almost-cube

[YBeNormal]

Justin,

Are you sure you want to put a tank on there? It looks a little wobbly and unstable to me! ROFL

 

I agree. You might consider reinforcing that with some pine 2x6 framing.

[Anthworks]

You should see the skimmer for this tank. Its on the large size.

 

Sorry about tonight Justin. Work is getting in the way of my hobbies.

[ctenophore]

No worries Anthony. It will get up on that stand eventually.

 

Jason, yes it will be inwall. The tank is in the garage. Here is the newly installed header above the viewing window (my wife wasn't thrilled about this part, and will be less so when the room-facing drywall is cut out later on)

 

Skimmer pic:

 

Got the skimmer fired up the other day. Grey Seas skimmer cup works flawlessly!

 

Here is some of the rock I'm going to use to aquascape. Many of these pieces are > 2' wide and 1" thick. The lacy pukani rock weighs next to nothing.

[Black Mammoth]

Wow...do you think your skimmer is big enough? It looks to be a bit underpowered...lol. What is that an old water heater or an old scud missle How big is that tank? Also we need more pictures. Addicts like us need visuals

[ctenophore]

Well, it's overkill for this tank (550) but when I get the solarium built on the back of the house, I will have about 3500 more gallons out there for coral propagation. So it will run the entire system. It's a fiberglass body I had a custom mold built for. We have several of these in the greenhouse in Florida. I definitely got a lot of looks when this thing was on a trailer coming up here!

 

I'll post more pics when the tank is on the stand and I can start aquascaping.

[NRehman]

Justin,

Just saw this build. Very nice!

 

I have a "mini" greenhouse which I am thinking of plumbing a tank into...if my wife lets me!

 

That wouldn't be one of Dan's new "closet" skimmers would it?

[jason the filter freak]

Are you looking into any "alternative" power sources to run your tank/operation.

[ctenophore]

Are you looking into any "alternative" power sources to run your tank/operation.

I'm probably going to build a passive solar heating system. I may look at PV eventually. There has been a lot of chatter on a commercial aquaculture forum about new upcoming PV systems to run our greenhouses but they're probably 2-3 years out yet.

 

FWIW, I looked at ground-source heat pumps for my FL facility but the ROI didn't work out within 5 years for closed loop geothermal. Open loop was cheaper but had problems in FL with calcium buildup in the exchangers due to the extremely hard groundwater.

 

Justin

[jason the filter freak]

I don't know what PV means, but is a solar array at all feesable?

[ctenophore]

I don't know what PV means, but is a solar array at all feesable?

Sorry, PV means Photo Voltaic, or a solar cell capable of turning light into electrons. "Passive Solar" refers to a black mat which absorbs heat energy with water. In my case, I will pump water from a reservoir through this passive collector during the day, then pump that hot water to the tank at night, either through a heat exchanger (if I use freshwater in the collector) or directly into the tank (if saltwater is stored in the reservoir).

 

Passive solar is significantly cheaper than PV, since you only need a black plastic mat and some insulated tubing. However, it only generates moderately useful warm water (maybe 120F max) rather than pure electricity. It just so happens that passive solar is extremely useful for tropical marine recirculating systems since our target temperatures are the mid 70's, which is what passive solar is good at producing.

[ctenophore]

Justin,

Just saw this build. Very nice!

 

I have a "mini" greenhouse which I am thinking of plumbing a tank into...if my wife lets me!

 

That wouldn't be one of Dan's new "closet" skimmers would it?

Thanks! Though that big ugly thing is all me, except Dan made the collection cup. This is a case of function over form; the inside is smooth like acrylic, the outside is rough fiberglass. I'm sure Dan's would look much nicer.

 

Here is a pic of the needlewheel impeller that's going in the Hammerhead pump that runs this thing:

[lanman]

Well, it's overkill for this tank (550) but when I get the solarium built on the back of the house, I will have about 3500 more gallons out there for coral propagation. So it will run the entire system. It's a fiberglass body I had a custom mold built for. We have several of these in the greenhouse in Florida. I definitely got a lot of looks when this thing was on a trailer coming up here!

 

I'll post more pics when the tank is on the stand and I can start aquascaping.

 

You are putting in a greenhouse saltwater system here in Virginia?? 3500 gallons of coral propagation??

 

I am in awe... be sure to let us know when you get started on that project; I for one would be happy to help, just to see it done. Not that I'm a complete piker - my coral propagation system is only 1/100th that size!

 

bob

 

No worries Anthony. It will get up on that stand eventually.

 

Skimmer pic:

 

 

And NAGA thought we were kidding about using his 24" diameter acrylic tubes for giant skimmers!!

 

bob

[ctenophore]

Bob, yes that's the plan. I will start as soon as Montgomery county deems my plans worthy of their blessing. I have seals from two structural engineers yet they still give me trouble.

 

I managed to get the tank up on the stand, it only took 9 people and ~18 beers during our family Christmas party. We managed to take out my overhead garage light while lifting it up, but at least all the glass shards fell in the tank. There are pics of this humorous process, but they were taken by somebody else so I will post them when I get them later. Until then, here is the tank on the stand:

 

Today, Anthony (anthworks) and I did the unthinkable: cutting a 15 sqft hole in the living room wall. My wife's reaction was: "There's a big hole in my wall." me: "Yes, but look at how sweet that tank is going to look! Isn't this exciting??" her: "I'll be more excited when it's filled up and finished."

Well, at least she'll be excited at some point. That's progress!

 

Next up: Aquascaping!

If anyone's interested in helping, I could use some critical eyes while deciding how to set up the rock structure. You will get to:

• Lift heavy rocks
  
• Operate a hammerdrill
  
• Stack rocks on PVC supports
  

Please PM me if interested in this most fun part of reeftank building, and I'll try to coordinate a time sometime soon.

 

 

Justin

[zotzer]

Wow...that is one funny looking fish. No wonder your wife is upset! ROFL

 

Coming along great. I know I am going to LOVE this tank. Will be a benchmark for many, I am sure!

 

Tracy

[trble81]

Sweet Moses, Justin! You must have married a saint!

 

 

When you were talking about this at Raf's the other day, I was like "wow, that seems like a crazy project." And after seeing these pictures (especially the skimmer pic), I stand by my initial thought

 

 

Looking good!

 

 

 

--Mike

[rsaavedra]

Next up: Aquascaping!

If anyone's interested in helping, I could use some critical eyes while deciding how to set up the rock structure. You will get to:

• Lift heavy rocks
  
• Operate a hammerdrill
  
• Stack rocks on PVC supports
  

Please PM me if interested in this most fun part of reeftank building, and I'll try to coordinate a time sometime soon.

 

Justin

Justin LMK Time/Date and I'll figure a way to help, you already know the times I'm available.

 

Raf

[dschflier]

Another great project. Justin it was really nice seeing what you are working on. As always this is a huge education which is part of what I love so much about the hobby.

 

I will be away for a week or so but if you are not finished aquascaping I would love to come up and help out when I am back home.

[jamesbuf]

Lets see some pics of the work we all did today. Can't wait to see this system setup and running.

[ctenophore]

Sorry James, I meant to post these last night. First I want to say a big thank you to James(buf), Lee (vaironman), Scott (scott711), and Raf (rsaavedra) for helping me do this. It was certainly something that I could never have done by myself.

 

The plan for this tank was to create a vertical pillar on the left, going up to and out of the water, with as many shelf pieces arranged as one might find on a vertical reef wall. The shelves are only partially overlapping, so as to allow good light coverage of all rock. There are certain vines that grow leaves in this pattern, spiral-stairstepping up a central stalk to maximize light exposure for the least number of leaves.

I also wanted to have a shorter pillar on the right, giving the impression of looking through a channel.

 

Here we are talking about how to arrange the main stack

 

Here is Scott on the hammerdrill

 

Team Aquascape (James, Lee, Scott; not pictured: Justin w/camera, Raf who arrived later)

 

Here I am restacking the tall pillar. This sounds easy but getting each rock back into its proper orientation was somewhat tricky. We took them off in order and preserved their orientation while moving them as best as possible.

 

Top-down shot of the small stack on the right

 

Top-down shot of the tall stack

 

Front shot showing the comparative heights. Tall stack is about 40". The small rocks that fill gaps and hide the pipe aren't installed yet. I'm planning on using small live rocks to hide the pipe and seed the dead stuff. It was hard to get a decent picture of this since there is no light over the tank yet, and the flash kept reflecting off the glass. The left stack looks somewhat spindly in this pic, but it doesn't seem that way in person. Hopefully the filler rocks will give it a more solid appearance.

 

I will also add about 2" of fine aragonite on the bottom, enough to cover the paver stone bases. Very little rock will be buried in sand, probably less than 1/2".

 

Any criticisms of this design are very welcome, I would love to hear ideas on what to change now rather than after the tank is up and running

 

Next step is getting the Streams installed (I need to glue the brackets to the walls) then some saltwater to cycle these rocks. Raf and I started plumbing last night, that should be pretty easy though since the skimmer & sump are already running. I just need to tie in two drain lines and one return.

[davelin315]

Very cool, it's neat the way you were able to stack those rocks (and those must be huge!). One thing I'm curious about, is the tall stack supported by anything at the top or are the bars you used enough to hold it steady? Are they PVC? Also, how do you plan on reaching the bottom? Is it always going to be a snorkeling trip?

[vaironman]

"those rocks (and those must be huge!). "

 

The rocks are big and surprisingly light. All are very porous. Super nice rocks.

[NRehman]

Justin,

 

Looks fantastic.

 

When you add water, is there any chance the added bouyancy could cause the rock stack to loose stability? It seems that you could add stabalizing bars which are pretty well hidden.

 

Nadir

[jamesbuf]

The PVC in the middle of the rocks goes up to the top of the tank, then turns 90 degrees and hooks over the side of the tank, preventing it from falling over. It was actually very sturdy when I left. Once the water is added, it'll actually take some added pressure off the pvc since the rocks will be lighter in water.

 

And yes Dave, Justin did mention going snorkeling about once a month.

[ctenophore]

Thanks for the compliments, guys.

 

As for stability, I gave the rock stack another shake test again today, just to be sure. It felt just as solid as yesterday. I think the PVC acts more like a strong cord than a rod at the 4.5' length, giving it supple strength.

 

Dave, I wanted the big open area in the middle partially to act as a landing spot when I jump in to do maintenance. Hopefully not more than once per month. There will be no urchins in this tank

[Anthworks]

Justin- Looking great. If you need help this week let me know.

 

thanks

a