320g build/journey/experiment :-)

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At first I didn't think about the sun. It seems like a neat idea to be able to see this monster tank from outside the house in that big window. Hopefully you won't have to close it too often. Does this window get hit a lot with sunlight? Good progress though.
 
Not lots of direct light so that won't be a problem... more in the winter because the sun is lower in the sky in the winter.
 
some more pictures of my stand in the stage where I am ready to build my tank on it... The tape measure is the height of my tank.
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My daughter really likes to help... but most of all she wants to be in the pictures.
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I think your lights for your refug, is a little overkill. a couple of 6500k T-5's would be all you would really need, It also looks like you will be fairly close to the ceiling and with the 400w MH that close to the water you would need a chiller.
 
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When I bought the house I wasn't thinking of a tank there, but once I had the idea it was only a matter of time :-D
 
Good luck with this project. Looks like you have the construction part down, but PLEASE, work on the tank's biological part. You are heading for disaster.
I plan on having a reef setup with a 72"W x 30"L x 39"H with a bottom tank of 100g 60"x18"x24" Lots of lighting 3 x 250w MH for the bottom tank 2x400w MH +2x175w MH + 3x20w LED
Basically a tank that's 6" wider, front to back, than a 180. I'm not sure what your thought process if for such a tall tank. If it's schooling fish at different levels, it's not going to happen in such a small tank.
What makes you think you need that much lighting? I know of and have seen 3 500g reefs run with 3x400w MH, but they are only 30" tall.
No wave makers, power heads, reactors, or protein skimmers. (the 2 pumps will be split into 2 pipes each so it will be like having 4 power heads)
Basically a closed loop system. Not many people like them because you are stuck with where you put them, can't set it up with wave makers for the random flow corals need, and usually a big pump uses more power than several powerheads.
Do you have a daily auto water change system setup? You will need to be doing lots of water changes not using a skimmer or any type of reactor.
I plan on overpopulating my tank to the point of collapse to see if I can find a way to have a dense population of fish.
I'm not sure what you want to prove.
I have amassed a large list of fish... 25 spices 126 total fish (I plan on having schools and I know that the total number of fish will probably be smaller that's what this test is for)
What test? I'm not sure I even want you to elaborate.

Can you provide more details on your plan for this system? I assume you plan on corals which need pristine water quality, yet you plan on a tank packed with fish. How do you plan to get light to corals near or at the bottom of the tank? What will be your methods of nutrient export?
 
How far is the top of the tank from the ceiling? The pic of your helper shows the top, does that mean where glass ends? or how far lights are from ceiling? Looks like it might be hard to get into.
 
I'll have only 11" so ya hard to get into... don't plan on swimming in it much though. I plan on climbing in to do the rock work and then not again for a long time.
 
I'll have only 11" so ya hard to get into... don't plan on swimming in it much though. I plan on climbing in to do the rock work and then not again for a long time.
You will be surprised At the amount of arranging and rearranging needs to be done in a tank. You don't really need a tank that deep. Most fish don't swim up and down.
 
Healthy true reefs are quite densely populated the reason why you can't do it in a tank is the waste management. (or one of the reasons...) The reason for the deep tank is yes most fish don't swim up and down so if you go vertical you will have less conflicts between the "top" and "middle" and "bottom" because the fish like space... in a short tank your fish that occupy the top portion of the tank will bump into the bottom feeders... more chance for conflict...(IMO) but that's what this whole tank is about... it's an experiment.
 
If you got lots of money then it's a grand experiment, but for most of us the internet is a more cost effective solution to an experiment.
 
Quote: ccCapt: "Looks like you have the construction part down, but PLEASE, work on the tank's biological part. You are heading for disaster."

Just to help you to feel more at ease I will be taking it really slow... and be testing constantly. I will stop before disaster. If there is fighting then I will remove/return fish, if my tank is having a hard time with the ammonia/nitrite/nitrate then I will reduce my bio load or attempt to remedy it prior to adding more bio load.

Quote: "What makes you think you need that much lighting? I know of and have seen 3 500g reefs run with 3x400w MH, but they are only 30" tall." "How do you plan to get light to corals near or at the bottom of the tank"

I plan on having lots of lighting so that I can have corals near the bottom of the tank. my lights are not going to be symmetrical so I will have brighter locations and dimmer ones... for fish and coral as there is different desired light levels for many species.

When I say to the point of collapse I mean without losing fish due to overpopulation... I do not want a collapse as I will have way too much money just in my inverts and coral.

Quote: "What test? I'm not sure I even want you to elaborate."

That's good because I am not planning on elaborating or explaining the test that much I'll just say that it is a new style of salt water set-up that I have not seen and hope will become more common. (if it works) but that is a long way away.

I have done lots of searching the internet and not found something with this style of set-up in any scale... (I believe that this will work on many scales from 10000g to 10g)

About the money thing... I was in a motorcycle accident and my wife said if I didn't get a new bike I could do what I wanted with the money... so I decided I wanted a fish tank again... started research and didn't find what I was looking for... looked at the free money (except that my knee is gonna hurt on and off the rest of my life) and decided on a budget for an experiment. (I like experimenting) When I'm done I plan on not having a dead tank but having a low maintenance tank that remains beautiful and happy.
 
You have the correct mindset and that's the most important thing. Always keep animal safety in mind and you won't go wrong.
 
So I went to a couple of glass places in town... a few times... and none of them wanted to sell me the glass... Every time I talked to them they would need to get back to me on something so I would wait for a call back... no call ever came... I went back to both stores and more crap. So I decided to go with a pre-built tank rather then building it myself. I ordered it today and they say I can pick it up in 4-6weeks :-D I also got some more oolite aragonite. The stupid stores in my area can't order it in for me and they only get 2-4 bags in at a time... so I go in and clean them out when their truck comes every 2 weeks... got 12 30lbs bags so far.
 
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