Ok, my new 560g should be here some time next week, and I have a lot of remodeling, supporting, and planning to do, so this is really just the teaser thread. I will post a build thread when the time comes...
I am hoping for some input, because over the years, one thing I have learned, is that more ideas are far better than less ideas!
The tank itself is 120x36x30 with three overflows and a dual closed loop. The back is black and I will be building it into a wall with a closet for the other tanks and equipment.
All together this system will be around 1000 gallons. I really like mixed reef tanks, and I will have a large par variation through the tank. I am thinking 2 or 3 islands with different types of coral spread throughout lots of room on the sand bed, and at least one of the islands will have rock to the top (or even out of the water) and lot of sps towards the tops, zoa/palys/softies mid level mixed in with lps throughout. Also hoping to dominate the sand with low light and non photosynthetic coral.
I am a primarily small fish guy, but with a tank this big, they will get lost, so I am hoping to add a few BFG's the (F)riendly part is the most important, I have had aggressive tanks in the past, and I think it really ruins the mood of the reef. Don't get me wrong, predator tanks are cool, they just don't really mix with the reef vibe (IMO) I plan on having a ton of inverts as well, so fish gobbling them up really isn't an option for me
The tank will drain into a 60x18x18 pre-sump with a RDSB and my skimmer (Euroreef RSA250)
Then the pre-sump will drain into the main sump where I can add my reactors and other equipment.
The main sump will pump the water up to my elevated fuge (72x8x10) that will be above the display tank and packed full of chaetomorpha algae. This system will be ran at a slow flow rate to ensure good contact time with all of the equipment etc.
In the future, I plan on adding another stage in my basement that will have a 100g rubbermade tub with a 48x24x12 frag tank above it, and a PVC closed loop for a chiller if I need it.
Lighting will be LED (maybe not at first) but I am definitely working this out!
I will have a 100g 72x18x18 quarantine tank in the closet and also hope to have a 55g tank plumbed into the main system for easy water changes (50g r/o water + 1 bag of salt and a little mixing room) makes for an easy water change. If I hook the 55 up to a drain, I can easily turn off the pump, drain it, then fill it with r/o (I have a 150gpd r/o) mix the water/salt and turn the pump back on. I plan on doing this over the weekends.
Friday I will turn the pump off and drain the tank and let the r/o fill it overnite. Saturday I will add the salt and turn on the heater and mixing pump, then Sunday I will turn on the circulation pump to mix the new water into the system... when Friday comes, it will be time to "rinse and repeat"...
I am hoping to have plenty of room in the closet for all of this and my other reef goodies (food, cleaners, jugs etc), I have a feeling I will probably be having the pre-sump under the tank, and maybe even the main sump...
Plumbing is my biggest conundrum, I want to do this with minimal pumps, I know I will have one main return (everything will be plumbed inline via gravity) and then I will probably use just one pump and tie the two closed loops together.
I am really hoping to hear your guys thoughts on this setup, how would you do it (or better yet, how have you done it) I have cleared the space in my barn, and have acquired the equipment, but that's where I am as of right now. This is the perfect time for ideas...
please feel free to chime in, wisdom is appreciated flamers... not so much
lovin the water change ideas. that can be one of the biggest pains, and especially in a system as big as this. as for all the cleanup crew, have you ever visited reefcleaners.org. its a great site. sounds like its gonna take some work to get everything tuned in. what are your plans for heating this entire system?
For heat, I plan on running dual 1500w heaters, but in the long run, I want to look into natural gas. I already have a natural gas water heater, and have read a little about using them to heat large tanks. My electric bill is already huge, and I would love to save some $$$ monthly with a nat gas heater. Water changes are where I neglect my tanks the most, but I have a friend who does yearly water changes on his ~300g system and it is stellar... so yeah, I'm not to worried about missing a week or two here and there. I want one large tank because I want to start vacationing more, It's hard to leave for a week or more and have a friend come over to feed my tanks... I hope to setup a large autofeeder in combination with my elevated fuge/pod growout tank to feed the fish almost constantly. Fishies may miss their frozen while I'm gone, but they will be far from starving.
I have always ran my tanks "dirty" with high bioloads and huge bacterial colonies. For me, vodka dosing in combination with bio pellet reactors etc will be my method. I run 1/2 strength now with great success. I can even miss a week of dosing without issues (I have tested it).
The key to this tank is virtual self maintenance. Couple this with a controller, a network cam, and a few good reef buddies, I should be able to vacation and not spend the entire trip hugging my cell phone.
Anyone have some good suggestions for auto feeders? Maybe a link or two to some diy units or mods?
What king of reef system will the display be, specifically?
What king of frags will be grown in the frag tank? The corals in the frag tank will be a prime factor on if the frag tank will be on the going up, or the going down side of the system, rfom top floor to the basement.
If you like sps and softiees both, you might want to add 2 seperate frag tanks, on both eends of the system.
What king of reef system will the display be, specifically?
What king of frags will be grown in the frag tank? The corals in the frag tank will be a prime factor on if the frag tank will be on the going up, or the going down side of the system, rfom top floor to the basement.
If you like sps and softiees both, you might want to add 2 seperate frag tanks, on both eends of the system.
Well, I plan on running a mixed reef for the display, It will be separated into two or three sections of rock. I am planning on this tank being dominated by LPS, but I will have zoos to fill in the gaps. I plan on some softies, and some SPS but they wont be on the same island. I am familiar with coral warfare, and especially sps sensitivity. I currently have a 450g growout system going. It's not as cool as it sounds, It's 4 100g rubbermade tubs and a 75g reef. One tub is the sump, one tub is my zoa/lps tank, one is for sps and other non conflicting coral, and one is just filled to the brim with live rock chaeto and a few fish and inverts. all for tubs are in line with a pump push water to one, and they drain to the next one all the way down to the sump. The 75g is also hooked up to the common sump, and filled with mostly softies. There are a few LPS and SPS, and also a large rosie, but I just added those for looks the softies are great cleaners.
I have 4x t5's over the 75g, and t5's over the sump and rock tanks. My actual grow out tanks are each lit by 120w LEDs. The growth I get from this system is awesome, and the color of the coral is simply amazing! I actually have to frag my frags because they are growing over my egg crate. I'm thinking about going to tiles simply because of this reason. however, I hate trying to place tiles in a display, they are strickly remove and place frags...
When I setup up the new frag tank(s) they will be for zoos and sps, If I do frag the softies and/or LPS it will be done and placed back in the main display to heal. In my experience, softies pretty much frag themselves... and might need the help of a razorblade to seperate LPS will be fragged with either bonesnips or tile saw. I don't care to frag LPS much, but with a really big tank, It may be in my future a few years from now. I would love to have a "plate garden" on an open spot on my sand bed, it would be cool to get some fungia babies growing.
I hope to have this tank as close to a natural biotope as possible. And fragging will be done primarily to trim back mother colonies. Of course sharing with other reefers as well as making a little tank money will be nice too
I can't wait to get going on this. First things first, put a big hole in the wall, then slide the tank in, and fill the hole with a nice window... unfortunately the tank won't fit through the back door, and the windows are too small so slide it through.
Here is the tank sitting on her back, the can and 5g bucket are great for showing her size!
560g Display (teaser thread)
the (F)riendly part is the most important, I have had aggressive tanks in the past, and I think it really ruins the mood of the reef. Don't get me wrong, predator tanks are cool, they just don't really mix with the reef vibe (IMO) I plan on having a ton of inverts as well, so fish gobbling them up really isn't an option for me
flamers... not so much
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Hi my name is Larry and I'm a coral addict! 
Originally Posted by Sir Patrick
