This is a tank thread with a difference- the system has been working for nearly 20 years, it has gone through a number of incarnations in that time. I hope you find something of interest as the thread rambles on.
I wrote this in 2002 when the tank was about a year old
And the liner in the pond had been replaced with a proper glass tank
The kit had evolved
Then about mid 2004 I started to have problems- totally my fault I hadn't designed the DSB properly and after a lot of soul searching I decided to strip the tank down and rebuild.
But that's for the next installment
I wrote this in 2002 when the tank was about a year old
This is the earliest picture I could find from 2003. I have already changed some of the kit, but it gives an idea of the layoutAbout 2 years ago we moved house. The new place had an old (leaky) conservatory, which we decided to replace with a room we could use all year round. This meant I could design a reef set-up without the constriction of making it fit into an existing space and I could let my imagination run (reasonably) riot!
So this set-up was born:
The tank is 2m x 1m x 1m (78in x 39in x 39in) made from 19mm glass. It has a weir to 4 x 1.5in holes to drain water to the sump, which is at the side of the tank. I wanted to make a feature of this by growing mangroves and sea grasses. The sump is 1.5m x 1m x 600mm deep (60in x 39in x 24in) and is a pit set into the floor (a marine pond), lined with a pond liner. The whole system holds about 550 uk galls. It has been running for about 8 months.
The hardware:
Skimmer- Turbofloter 5000
Pumps- 2 x ITT Marlow 2500 galls/hr- 1 pump is used to circulate the water from sump to the tank and drive the skimmer. The second circulates the water just around the tank (and act as a stand-by if the other fails). There are 20 Maxijet 1200’s. 16 on a wave maker (4 to a channel) and 4 on continuously to reduce dead spots at the back of the live rock.
Lighting- 3 x STM 250w M/H, 2 x 10,000K and 1 x 20,000K plus 2 x 60in Actinics. There are 2 spotlights over the sump on a timer to give a reverse photo-period.
Other equipment- Deltec calcium reactor. 2 x 30w UV’s used occasionally, RO unit for water replacement.
The interesting stuff:
Both the tank and the sump have DSB’s, approx. 8in deep in the tank and 6in in the sump. A total of 200Kilos of coral sand and aragonite plus 25kilos of aragomud in the sump.
There are 350Kilos of LR in the tank
And the liner in the pond had been replaced with a proper glass tank
The kit had evolved
A more picturesCirculation
Through the sump(pond) ITT Marlow 2500gall/hr pump
Spare ITT Marlow 2500 gall/hr on a closed loop in the tank
2 x 6100 Tunze Streams
16 x 1200 Maxijets on a wavemaker (4 to a channel)
Lighting
Tank
6 x 400watt M/H a mixture of 10kk and 20kk to give an asthetic look (to me)
2 x 55watt actinics
Pond
2 x 50watt halogen spots reverse photoperiod
Bits
Deltec Kalwasser stirrer direct from an RO connected to the mains (soon to be made auto topup, I have to turn it on at the moment)
Koralin 4001 calk reactor
Turbofloter 5000 skimmer
Then about mid 2004 I started to have problems- totally my fault I hadn't designed the DSB properly and after a lot of soul searching I decided to strip the tank down and rebuild.
But that's for the next installment