Custom Lagoon Book End Tank Design with Waterfall

[omar jawad]

Hi R2R members. We recently moved to a new home. This new home has more wall space which I feel will dwarf my current Redsea Reefer 450. I have decided to upgrade the total system volume from 90 gallons of display to 190-200 gallons. I'm starting this thread to show the process, get feedback and design ideas and show off the quality of wiring, plumbing, and design. The system will consist of one RedSea Reefer 450 as the center tank with 2 custom made 36"x20"x12" lagoon tanks to bookend the system. Each outer tank will have a waterfall and mangrove plants. As I finalize the design and equipment, I will share the list and design images. Below is a design image I patiently created on a simple excel spreadsheet

The cabinet will merely be a removable facade on top of a custom steel frame. The idea of the steel frame and facade is to give me a lot of freedom to maintain the tank.

I currently own 3 Kessil a360w led lights and plan on adding two more. I will be adding 120" of t5 retrofit kits. All the lighting will be concealed in the canopy which will be float mounted to the wall with no visual brackets.

The system will be controlled with my current Apex controller.

I hope to have the system installed in 3-4 week but it all depends on the vendors providing the additional aquariums.

Please comment with any ideas or suggestions

Hope you enjoy this thread as the build takes shape.

 

[omar jawad]

Tank location in new home

 

[omar jawad]

Rendetion

 

[Bryce M.]

Looks really nice!

 

[Nick tang]

Very nice design.

 

[omar jawad]

The Guts

 

[omar jawad]

The steel frame is being delivered on Monday. Then to the paint booth for a white epoxy finish to seal it and prevent rust. I'll post those pictures next week.

 

[Devaji]

oh this is gonna look real nice!
keep the updates coming

 

[ZoWhat]

1) is everyone in the house prepared for the sound of the waterfalls? sounding like a pitcher of water being poured into a bathtub? constantly? just sayin'....

2) how are you going to overflow the center tank into two waterfalls where it only flows water over the left wall / right wall bookends? and not have all four sides overflowing water? there's going to have to be some sort of LIP cut into the center tank left and right. and the lip protruding out far enough to waterfall into the bookends

3) how are you going to perfectly bookend all three tanks so it doesn't look like three tanks pushed together? there's going to be some sort of small gap btwn acrylic tanks pushed together. I foresee there being at least a 1/32nd to 1/64th of an inch gap due to variation in the walls..... neither one is going to be perfectly squared-off, flat and dead-on vertical with each other....there's going to be slight waveyness in the acrylic

4) I'm trying to visualize in my head where the return line versus the drain lines need to be. my initial thought are the drain lines in the bookend so when the system is OFF the drain lines wont overflow backflow flood the bookends

5) wouldn't the waterfall create a lot of salt creep with all the splashing?

just askin'

 

[omar jawad]

1) how are you going to overflow the center tank into two waterfalls where it only flows water over the left wall / right wall bookends? and not have all four sides overflowing water? there's going to have to be some sort of LIP cut into the center tank left and right. and the lip protruding out far enough to waterfall into the bookends

2) how are you going to perfectly bookend all three tanks so it doesn't look like three tanks pushed together? there's going to be some sort of small gap btwn acrylic tanks pushed together. I foresee there being at least a 1/32nd to 1/64th of an inch gap due to variation in the walls..... neither one is going to be perfectly squared-off, flat and dead-on vertical with each other....there's going to be slight waveyness in the acrylic

3) I'm trying to visualize in my head where the return line versus the drain lines need to be. my initial thought are the drain lines in the bookend so when the system is OFF the drain lines wont overflow backflow flood the bookends

4) wouldn't the waterfall create a lot of salt creep with all the splashing?

just askin'

There will be one single waterfall in the left tank. The watefall will be made with rocks. The center tank will have the rear overflow plumbed to the sump. The Left and the right tank will also have an overflow all plumbed to a single 54" sump
The tanks are glass. The center tank is a prior tank that I have running now. It's a Red Sea Reefer 450 with a custom stand.
The waterfall will be a slow trickle. Salt creep may be an issue but I don't anticipate that.

 

[ZoWhat]

There will be one single waterfall in the left tank. The watefall will be made with rocks. The center tank will have the rear overflow plumbed to the sump. The Left and the right tank will also have an overflow all plumbed to a single 54" sump
The tanks are glass. The center tank is a prior tank that I have running now. It's a Red Sea Reefer 450 with a custom stand.
The waterfall will be a slow trickle. Salt creep may be an issue but I don't anticipate that.

I'm still not visualizing how you are going to control a waterfall to only flow off the left side of the center tank..... water is a self leveling liquid and I see it overflowing all four sides of the center tank as its leveling.

somehow you will be manipulating the water to just overflow the left side. trying to visualize how you're going to manipulate the water to only trickle in just that area.

I'm sure you have a solid plan. I just cant visualize it

 

[Katrina71]

I'm curious about salt creep and water splashing on the drywall as well. That is a topic of debate between my husband and I for a new build we are doing. I had considered using plexiglass. I'm looking forward to your ideas.

 

[omar jawad]

I'm still not visualizing how you are going to control a waterfall to only flow off the left side of the center tank..... water is a self leveling liquid and I see it overflowing all four sides of the center tank as its leveling.

somehow you will be manipulating the water to just overflow the left side. trying to visualize how you're going to manipulate the water to only trickle in just that area.

I'm sure you have a solid plan. I just cant visualize it

The lagoon tank will have a hole and bulkhead in the bottom left corner. The plumbing will come up and away from the wall at a 45-degree angle. The rocks will be drilled to direct the water in the direction of the plumbing. The water will take the path of least resistance which is away from the wall.

 

[omar jawad]

I'm still not visualizing how you are going to control a waterfall to only flow off the left side of the center tank..... water is a self leveling liquid and I see it overflowing all four sides of the center tank as its leveling.

somehow you will be manipulating the water to just overflow the left side. trying to visualize how you're going to manipulate the water to only trickle in just that area.

I'm sure you have a solid plan. I just cant visualize it

I may not be explaining things correctly. The Waterfall is only going to be in the left tank. Maybe the right tank as well. The center tank's water will never function as it always has with an overflow in the center of the tank. The waterline is about two inches lower than the glass. All three tanks will have there own overflow.

 

[ZoWhat]

I'm seeing it, now

the center tank will be its own semi-closed loop system while sharing a sump

Now I understand

 

[ihavecrabs]

Sounds pretty cool. I had difficulty visualizing it (thinking you were altering the middle ranks glass so the water overflowed to the left tank, but that last visual cleared it up!

Salt creep and higher levels of evaporation would be the only two items I would worry about. I would imagine it would be easy to overcome though, just extra maintenance.

Looking forward to seeing this come together!

 

[omar jawad]

The stand is almost done and ready for rust treatment.

 

[Ravan]

Can’t wait for more updates! I love the idea

 

[abraha]

This will be cool! I like unique tanks.

 

[Daniel@R2R]

Cool! Following!