Dary's tank!

[Dary421]

Wow, i haven't viewed your thread in a while Dary. I think it's time to change the name of it. Looks great! That sucks about the trigger. What will you end up doing with him?

Hey Doug,..yep,...the tank(s) have come a long ways from the early mushroom days ( as I have too ) ,.. Thank you for the comments ,.. Kinda like John Wayne telling a young actor " good job"..., it means a lot.
As far as the trigger goes,..he's 100% back in shape again and just loving living in the sump,...I really don't know quite what to do yet to be honest about it,...one day I'll prob try and reintroduce him back into the main tank and hope for the best but or now ,...????

 

[Gregcoyote]

I agree on the trigger, so am trying to talk a friend out of a 110 he has. That would be much better.
I plan on a 3 sided tank made of glass this time (overflow is on 4th side against wall, tank projects long way from wall). I like deep tanks so it will be 36-40 inches depending on how I buy the glass sheets. All the plumbing goes in an adjoining room, like my system is now.

I want a massive sump with automation on all the filling and mixing...with (gasp) a floor drain. Just amping up what I have now. As to the natural light, the advantage of the solar tubes is they shed all the infrared radiation and can be irised open and closed so they can be added into the lighting regime as needed. What a waste spinning the electric meter on a nice sunny day, says the green part of my nature.

I agree on the LEDs, except I have seen folks spend over a thousand on a 50 gallon reef and IMO you can do if far less expensively. No, you can't simulate a lunar eclipse with the cheaper lights...but what the heck...

I import chinese panels to my spec and my extremely broke but resourceful son scrounges Cree emitters and builds his own. Save your money for frags!

 

[Dary421]

I agree on the trigger, so am trying to talk a friend out of a 110 he has. That would be much better.
I plan on a 3 sided tank made of glass this time (overflow is on 4th side against wall, tank projects long way from wall). I like deep tanks so it will be 36-40 inches depending on how I buy the glass sheets. All the plumbing goes in an adjoining room, like my system is now.

I want a massive sump with automation on all the filling and mixing...with (gasp) a floor drain. Just amping up what I have now. As to the natural light, the advantage of the solar tubes is they shed all the infrared radiation and can be irised open and closed so they can be added into the lighting regime as needed. What a waste spinning the electric meter on a nice sunny day, says the green part of my nature.

I agree on the LEDs, except I have seen folks spend over a thousand on a 50 gallon reef and IMO you can do if far less expensively. No, you can't simulate a lunar eclipse with the cheaper lights...but what the heck...

I import chinese panels to my spec and my extremely broke but resourceful son scrounges Cree emitters and builds his own. Save your money for frags!

How would the automation on the salt mixing/ filling work??? Sound like something from sea world or the future....wouldn't it be tough to move/ clean etc on a 3-31/2 foot deep tank??? .... Very interested in your ideas.

 

[needmorecowbell]

Woah, you changed the name of your thread!! Pretty cool. I can't wait to see the jumbo tank, I'll be reading the thread so much.

 

[Dary421]

Woah, you changed the name of your thread!! Pretty cool. I can't wait to see the jumbo tank, I'll be reading the thread so much.

Hey Adam,...yep,.. I'd been thinking about it for awhile because it started out as a mushroom thread but it's expanded to sooo many different Things...when mr.x ( Doug) Jokingly suggested a change of name for the thread yesterday,..well,..that's all it took,...Ryan had actually suggested this thread's name about six months ago and I kinda liked it soooooo I asked Doug if he'd change it today :- ) ,...it'll depicts a little closer to the actual's thread's content,( BS) ...if you don't like it we can all beat up Ryan !!! ... Ok,..Ryan,..you buy the first round!!!! And thank you Doug!

 

[needmorecowbell]

Lol okay, it's a great name for the thread.

 

[Gregcoyote]

I have been buying Nori on the Internet wholesale for my tangs. Unbelievable. I have one tang that is 4" in diameter and over a inch thick. Never have I seen fat tangs before in all my years. Obviously the way to go for me.

The water handling system will be based on 2 - 200 gallon mixing barrels. One barrel will be for mixing fresh saltwater with a circulation pump that can also be diverted to the main sump with a three way valve. The other barrel is for drawing off the water to be replaced. I like to condition my fresh seawater for at least a few days while I aeriate it. The sump will be 200-300 gallons alone, so doing a water exchange should be a matter of turning a few valves and waiting. The display is 1000 gallons, I intend on another 500-600 gallons in the sump, big refuge, algae scrubber, my associated 40 gallon frag tank and new 110 gallon predator tank will make up the bulk of that.

I am going to set the tank up so you can get to three sides of it and reinforce the top so I can lay on it and work in the tank. Short end with overflow sits flush to the wall. I am a diver, so in worst case, I could crawl onto it, but for ordinary cleaning I don't think it will be too bad. I tend to build my light arrays on racks that can be lifted all the way out of the way anyways, so this will be no exception. My tank now uses an hydraulic jack to raise the whole top up like a beer stein, giving excellent access to the whole tank. I like deep tanks because it gives you so many more placement options for corals.

 

[mr_X]

How will you handle humidity issues? I have to leave the window open in the tank room to combat the mold growth, and I'm only at barely 300 gallons so far.



...and your welcome Dary.

 

[needmorecowbell]

Wish I could get a tang :/ such pretty fish.

 

[AquaRick]

How will you handle humidity issues? I have to leave the window open in the tank room to combat the mold growth, and I'm only at barely 300 gallons so far.



...and your welcome Dary.

I was wondering the same thing. Will you be installing fans and/or ducts to circulate the air?

 

[Gregcoyote]

How will you handle humidity issues? I have to leave the window open in the tank room to combat the mold growth, and I'm only at barely 300 gallons so far.

...and your welcome Dary.

I am running about 350 gallons now and my house doesn't seem to notice it, no steam on the windows even. Probably matters on your square footage and how well your home is sealed up. I have several portable dehumidifiers I use in my work, so I could easily put one of those in, but at this stage it isn't needed, at least in my drafty house.

Here is a picture of "Mitt" my gold Midas blenny.

 

[barterking85]

Hey Dary I like the thread name lol and I guess the first rounds on me cheers

 

[Dary421]

Greg,...roughly speaking about how many feet long s this beast going to be and how wide,...I'm envisioning that your glass is going to be somewhere in the neighborhood of an inch thick + - ?? ....Is this something that you personally will assemble or would you have some tech's come out and do the majority of the assembly ?
I suppose you've calculated just how much this beast would weigh both wet and dry also,...sounds really cool but very expensive and time consuming i assume you have a giant custom made skimmer ?? I wish I had the means to tackle something like this,...but reality enters the picture and my 135 is all I care to tackle right now.
You may have to charge admission to view this critter to recoup some of your initial cash out lay .

 

[Dary421]

Hey Dary I like the thread name lol and I guess the first rounds on me cheers

Yeah I figured you would ... I had to go back thru a ton of pages in order to find the name you suggested.
P.s. make mine a " longboard " for the first round.

 

[Gregcoyote]

I am researching glass vs acrylic prices and thickness's. My 250 is as tall as the new tank will be and it is about 34" tall. It is an unusual, but strong shape that allowed us to build it out of 5/8" cell cast acrylic and it has been more than strong enough. My best guess is I will use 5/8 - 3/4" depending on how things all sort out. Starphire glass is available from lots of different sources, not just aquarium suppliers, so I am sourcing from building suppliers that supply to large office building construction where they use this stuff like concrete. I may be able to buy a overage from another project if I am not picky on final dimensions of the tank. They even use thick slabs of the glass for railings!

I am shooting for +8' long x +6' wide x 3' deep. Will run a reef down the center as I want easy viewing access to both sides. Ah dreams....

 

[mr_X]

Wow...that's deep! I wouldn't want it more than 25". I have to reach the bottom without a snorkel!

 

[Gregcoyote]

At 34" now, I've learned to use the long tools pretty well! But you are right, I can barely reach the bottom and my shoulder gets wet. My tangs tell me they like the pressure...

 

[mr_X]

The fish don't really use that top few inches anyway. If i ever manage to afford a larger tank, i'm going to keep mine a bit shallower. I'm almost miserable with this 265.

 

[Gregcoyote]

The fish don't really use that top few inches anyway. If i ever manage to afford a larger tank, i'm going to keep mine a bit shallower. I'm almost miserable with this 265.

That seems to be true. My Midas blenny stays pretty high up, but I guess I don't have any surface fish.

 

[needmorecowbell]

Lol it makes me feel pretty wimpy with my 30 gallon haha. Luckily I can reach it without struggle.