Anderson Family Reef - Concrete Aquarium DIY 5K All The Way (Page 33)

Garia666 · Jan 3, 2022

dca22anderson said:
Fish swim view of the rock stack so far

The bridge on the rocks of the background looks a bit artificial to me, you could break that by adding some more rock to break the straight line. Other than that it’s amazing!

edit: I see you added some in a later video

srcleary · Jan 3, 2022

Wow. I love the perspective showing more of the whole room. Going to be so cool to sit and watch!

Are you going to be finishing the concrete on the outside of the tank or leaving it more natural?

Steve

VanDalsenReef · Jan 3, 2022

This is just astonishing and I'm sure incredible in person. I hope there are no leaks. Could put in more pumps and salt to get it ready. Kind of start to cycle the rock. Unless you want to wait still for a total fill if there happens to be a leak.

Zach B · Jan 3, 2022

Wow! So cool, best of luck with everything. Following with my jaw on the floor in envy

AlexG · Jan 3, 2022

How quick did you fill that tank up to that level? How long are you planning to run the fill test for before you consider the tank a pass and move to normal operations? Is the water cold or have you heated up the water to normal operating temp for the fill test?

dca22anderson · Jan 3, 2022

Garia666 said:
The bridge on the rocks of the background looks a bit artificial to me, you could break that by adding some more rock to break the straight line. Other than that it’s amazing!

edit: I see you added some in a later video

Thanks! Yes, I still need to dial in the rock but I ran out and still have a few thousand pounds live in the holding systems that I want to use at some point. I plan on adding the final overflow box then building up the stack to integrate with it helping to hide it. Great feedback!

srcleary said:
Wow. I love the perspective showing more of the whole room. Going to be so cool to sit and watch!

Are you going to be finishing the concrete on the outside of the tank or leaving it more natural?

Steve

It shows how big it really is (thats an 8' long 240 gallon with the koi in it to the right). I can't wait to sit and watch it when there are some fish in there! My wife wants to paint it "concrete color", leave it more natural, and keep the texture. Still trying to get her to let me finish it with stacked slate or something like that...

VanDalsenReef said:
This is just astonishing and I'm sure incredible in person. I hope there are no leaks. Could put in more pumps and salt to get it ready. Kind of start to cycle the rock. Unless you want to wait still for a total fill if there happens to be a leak.

I like the idea of starting the cycle asap. I do need to still test the top seams so I will seal in the drain holes on the back wall this week, then fill it to the active water height. If all goes well I will then add salt and get going!!

Zach B said:
Wow! So cool, best of luck with everything. Following with my jaw on the floor in envy

Thanks for checking it out! I am pretty excited to see that water in there... it's a lot of water!!

AlexG said:
How quick did you fill that tank up to that level? How long are you planning to run the fill test for before you consider the tank a pass and move to normal operations? Is the water cold or have you heated up the water to normal operating temp for the fill test?

I just filled it with house water (unfiltered-280ppm TDS) which took two days using a cold water 3/8" sink feed for my old fish room sink. I think I will just leave that water in place till I can test the top seams with the overflow or even just add 3" - 90's that will let me get up to the active water height of the tank while I wait for the final overflow to get here.

I will leave it for a few weeks, filter out the fines to drop the TDS then add salt and get going. Probably do fish only for a few months till I feel good about all the seams and the cycle (easier to catch the fish and fix anything then mess with corals and fish) then slowly add softies, then a few months later LPS then a few months after that SPS.

Water is cool now but I will be bringing it up to temp here in the next week or so. I have an undersized heater and two internal Mag 24's adding a little heat but still waiting on my Heat Exchanger, Sump, Skimmer, UV and all my other big equipment to be finished by Aquarium Engineering (going on 10 months).

Super stoked to have it at this stage!!

Sleepingtiger · Jan 3, 2022

I think there was a guy on monsterfishkeeper who goes by mr10000. He did something very similar to you only placing it in his basement. I remember seeing pictures where he had excellent growth in his corals and the sps looked amazing.
I think his big failure was accounting for all the evaporation. I think his last post mentioned tearing down the system because it was rotting out his house. I have a 700g system and I add 15g per week. I hate to see how much water you need to add.

AlexG · Jan 3, 2022

Sleepingtiger said:
I think there was a guy on monsterfishkeeper who goes by mr10000. He did something very similar to you only placing it in his basement. I remember seeing pictures where he had excellent growth in his corals and the sps looked amazing.
I think his big failure was accounting for all the evaporation. I think his last post mentioned tearing down the system because it was rotting out his house. I have a 700g system and I add 15g per week. I hate to see how much water you need to add.

That was Mr. 4000. Yes he did not have a good humidity control system in place and had mold growing in his home which was the primary reason for the tear down from my understanding. It cannot be understated how important proper humidity monitoring and control systems are for monster aquariums. I evaporate ~20-30gallons a week for what I have running now which is ~2100gallons which will be growing larger in the next year. I also have well planned out and installed humidity mitigation system with monitors throughout my basement. A proper humidity control system will: Minimize evaporation, Contain moisture from evaporation, and Mitigate excess humidity to keep it at a healthy level.

dca22anderson · Jan 3, 2022

AlexG said:
That was Mr. 4000. Yes he did not have a good humidity control system in place and had mold growing in his home which was the primary reason for the tear down from my understanding. It cannot be understated how important proper humidity monitoring and control systems are for monster aquariums. I evaporate ~20-30gallons a week for what I have running now which is ~2100gallons which will be growing larger in the next year. I also have well planned out and installed humidity mitigation system with monitors throughout my basement. A proper humidity control system will: Minimize evaporation, Contain moisture from evaporation, and Mitigate excess humidity to keep it at a healthy level.

I remember watching that guy and thinking... I'm going to do that someday!! LOL!!

Alex what are your plans for humidity mitigation? I need to do that here shortly!! Love your build too by the way!!

dca22anderson · Jan 3, 2022

4” holes for 3-3” drains. Going to make a plate that covers the wall and just let the drain pipe poke through. Using backer rod and silicone to fill the gaps...

AlexG · Jan 3, 2022

dca22anderson said:
I remember watching that guy and thinking... I'm going to do that someday!! LOL!!

Alex what are your plans for humidity mitigation? I need to do that here shortly!! Love your build too by the way!!

I have a multi-layered system in place for humidity control. I added a few pictures to show what I have going on. I have a total of 4 humidity monitors in the basement that are spread out except for the 2 pictured as one is primarily for CO2 monitoring but also measures humidity. The primary and secondary sumps are covered with custom cut covers which minimize and contain much of the moisture generated from all the water movement in these tanks. From the picture you can see the humidity generated by water flowing into the sump with the clear top is high enough to cause condensation to the point where it drips back into the tank constantly. The 700 gallon refugium and 400 gallon tanks have canopies in place which help contain much of the humidity generated by these tanks along with a duct that sucks air out of these canopies when the dehumidifier is running. The entire ceiling of my fish room is covered in 4mil plastic sheeting to prevent moisture from absorbing into the structure of the house. Your house is like a giant sponge so preventing this moisture from being absorbed into the house is key because just like a sponge once the house can no longer absorb moisture it will condense just like it did for Mr.4000 and then the mold starts growing. Finally I have a whole house dehumidifier Aprilaire 1850 rated for a 5200sqft home well beyond the entire size of my home but this is only for the fish room and the display aquarium humidity control. I set the dehumidifier to 45% and it kicks on every hour or two and tests the air before starting a cycle to reach the setpoint. It has been running a lot less in the winter time with the air being drier but it runs most of the day during the summer. I have not implemented this step yet but eventually the fish room and the display aquarium canopy will be under a negative pressure from the dehumidifier and/or exhaust fans to further contain humidity within these areas so it cannot naturally flow into the rest of my home. I am also likely going to add an HRV which will help with humidity control during certain times of the year but is more for lowering CO2 levels in the house to help raise my pH. I will add if this is not enough I will be adding additional systems as needed.

flagg37 · Jan 3, 2022

AlexG said:
I have a multi-layered system in place for humidity control. I added a few pictures to show what I have going on. I have a total of 4 humidity monitors in the basement that are spread out except for the 2 pictured as one is primarily for CO2 monitoring but also measures humidity. The primary and secondary sumps are covered with custom cut covers which minimize and contain much of the moisture generated from all the water movement in these tanks. From the picture you can see the humidity generated by water flowing into the sump with the clear top is high enough to cause condensation to the point where it drips back into the tank constantly. The 700 gallon refugium and 400 gallon tanks have canopies in place which help contain much of the humidity generated by these tanks along with a duct that sucks air out of these canopies when the dehumidifier is running. The entire ceiling of my fish room is covered in 4mil plastic sheeting to prevent moisture from absorbing into the structure of the house. Your house is like a giant sponge so preventing this moisture from being absorbed into the house is key because just like a sponge once the house can no longer absorb moisture it will condense just like it did for Mr.4000 and then the mold starts growing. Finally I have a whole house dehumidifier Aprilaire 1850 rated for a 5200sqft home well beyond the entire size of my home but this is only for the fish room and the display aquarium humidity control. I set the dehumidifier to 45% and it kicks on every hour or two and tests the air before starting a cycle to reach the setpoint. It has been running a lot less in the winter time with the air being drier but it runs most of the day during the summer. I have not implemented this step yet but eventually the fish room and the display aquarium canopy will be under a negative pressure from the dehumidifier and/or exhaust fans to further contain humidity within these areas so it cannot naturally flow into the rest of my home. I am also likely going to add an HRV which will help with humidity control during certain times of the year but is more for lowering CO2 levels in the house to help raise my pH. I will add if this is not enough I will be adding additional systems as needed.

Man, you’re not messing around with the humidity.

flagg37 · Jan 3, 2022

dca22anderson said:
Thanks! Yes, I still need to dial in the rock but I ran out and still have a few thousand pounds live in the holding systems that I want to use at some point. I plan on adding the final overflow box then building up the stack to integrate with it helping to hide it. Great feedback!

It shows how big it really is (thats an 8' long 240 gallon with the koi in it to the right). I can't wait to sit and watch it when there are some fish in there! My wife wants to paint it "concrete color", leave it more natural, and keep the texture. Still trying to get her to let me finish it with stacked slate or something like that...

I like the idea of starting the cycle asap. I do need to still test the top seams so I will seal in the drain holes on the back wall this week, then fill it to the active water height. If all goes well I will then add salt and get going!!

Thanks for checking it out! I am pretty excited to see that water in there... it's a lot of water!!

I just filled it with house water (unfiltered-280ppm TDS) which took two days using a cold water 3/8" sink feed for my old fish room sink. I think I will just leave that water in place till I can test the top seams with the overflow or even just add 3" - 90's that will let me get up to the active water height of the tank while I wait for the final overflow to get here.

I will leave it for a few weeks, filter out the fines to drop the TDS then add salt and get going. Probably do fish only for a few months till I feel good about all the seams and the cycle (easier to catch the fish and fix anything then mess with corals and fish) then slowly add softies, then a few months later LPS then a few months after that SPS.

Water is cool now but I will be bringing it up to temp here in the next week or so. I have an undersized heater and two internal Mag 24's adding a little heat but still waiting on my Heat Exchanger, Sump, Skimmer, UV and all my other big equipment to be finished by Aquarium Engineering (going on 10 months).

Super stoked to have it at this stage!!

Did I understand you correctly that you are planning on using the 280 TDS tap water that you’re leak testing the tank with for your actual tank water? You’re just going to filter it a bit and add salt?

dca22anderson · Jan 3, 2022

flagg37 said:
Did I understand you correctly that you are planning on using the 280 TDS tap water that you’re leak testing the tank with for your actual tank water? You’re just going to filter it a bit and add salt?

If I can filter it down to 0 TDS, so filter it a lot

, then yes I like that idea of not wasting that water... if not then I will be watering the lawn for weeks LOL then I will refill it with new 0 TDS water, add salt and get going.

Sltloser · Jan 3, 2022

dca22anderson said:
I remember watching that guy and thinking... I'm going to do that someday!! LOL!!

Alex what are your plans for humidity mitigation? I need to do that here shortly!! Love your build too by the way!!

A story I thought you and all other large tank owners might find interesting. I was doing my M.Sc. degree down at Auburn and in 2017 managed to meet the head of research at the Georgia aquarium during one of our graduate seminars. He was gracious enough to invite me up to the aquarium for a behind the scenes tour of the aquarium when I was next in Atlanta (wonderful person and wonderful experience). While I was chatting with him in the whale shark exhibit I asked him how they deal with the loss of water to evaporation and he told me that they only lost approximately 1-2% of the water that was evaporated. I asked how and he said they had a "system" for it but wouldn't elaborate further when I asked how. I regret not pushing him further on it, I would love to understand how to do that so a system like yours (or Alex's) could be almost self sustaining in regards to top off water. I've been pondering how it could be done ever since.

dca22anderson · Jan 4, 2022

Sltloser said:
A story I thought you and all other large tank owners might find interesting. I was doing my M.Sc. degree down at Auburn and in 2017 managed to meet the head of research at the Georgia aquarium during one of our graduate seminars. He was gracious enough to invite me up to the aquarium for a behind the scenes tour of the aquarium when I was next in Atlanta (wonderful person and wonderful experience). While I was chatting with him in the whale shark exhibit I asked him how they deal with the loss of water to evaporation and he told me that they only lost approximately 1-2% of the water that was evaporated. I asked how and he said they had a "system" for it but wouldn't elaborate further when I asked how. I regret not pushing him further on it, I would love to understand how to do that so a system like yours (or Alex's) could be almost self sustaining in regards to top off water. I've been pondering how it could be done ever since.

That is a great story!! Thanks for sharing!! If you ever figure it out please do share LOL

flagg37 · Jan 4, 2022

Sltloser said:
A story I thought you and all other large tank owners might find interesting. I was doing my M.Sc. degree down at Auburn and in 2017 managed to meet the head of research at the Georgia aquarium during one of our graduate seminars. He was gracious enough to invite me up to the aquarium for a behind the scenes tour of the aquarium when I was next in Atlanta (wonderful person and wonderful experience). While I was chatting with him in the whale shark exhibit I asked him how they deal with the loss of water to evaporation and he told me that they only lost approximately 1-2% of the water that was evaporated. I asked how and he said they had a "system" for it but wouldn't elaborate further when I asked how. I regret not pushing him further on it, I would love to understand how to do that so a system like yours (or Alex's) could be almost self sustaining in regards to top off water. I've been pondering how it could be done ever since.

I wonder if they have a way of letting it condense and then dripping back into the system.

dantimdad · Jan 4, 2022

They have reclamation systems available on a very large scale. I have yet to see one that would work for something on the scale most of us would have, including a 5k gallon system. We are talking 10s of thousands of square feet.

I used to do contract IT for an environmental control company. IIRC they started at about $250K for a system for 200K cubic feet. But that was over 10 years ago.

Sltloser · Jan 4, 2022

dantimdad said:
They have reclamation systems available on a very large scale. I have yet to see one that would work for something on the scale most of us would have, including a 5k gallon system. We are talking 10s of thousands of square feet.

I used to do contract IT for an environmental control company. IIRC they started at about $250K for a system for 200K cubic feet. But that was over 10 years ago.

I appreciate the context, that's good to know.

Sltloser · Jan 4, 2022

I have pondered what it would take to filter water from a dehumidifier, the main issue is contaminants from heavy metals in the unit I believe. I wonder if using something like this to filter that water would work?