Fairy's Dream Tank

[Fairymary58]

Hi All,
Here is the title page for my tank build. Here's where I will put the abridged version of all the build details.

System Objectives: I've never had a reef tank before so when we built our house and hubby said I could upgrade my 4foot tank to my dream tank I had to go big. As agreed with hubby it was a one and done purchase, so no more upgrades after this one. The slab was engineered to hold the extra weight of the tank, and then we began. We are learning a lot as we go especially corals wise but

System Type: Plan is a mixed reef tank with lots of fish and pretty colours so that the youngest daughter can watch the tank when shes having bad days and cant do the things everyone else can.

Display System:
Strike up Date: 22/04/14
Display Tank: 12 ft (366cm) x 2.6ft (80cm) x 2ft(60cm) 15mm Glass
Display Lighting: Malibu ZLed * 4
Stand: 50x50x3 box Steel stand powder coated.
Hood: none at present but that may change
Sump: 8.5 ft * 2 ft * 2ft Racetrack sump as design pictures below

Support systems:
System Water: at present using Aqua forest salt
Display Water circulation: either 4 MP60's or 8 Nero 5's
Return Pump: 2 * Fluval SP6's
Skimmer: Seatorch 250 Beast
Evaporation Top Up: ATO controlled by Reefpi

Tank is being controlled via the Reefpi. At present its controlling, ATO, RO storage container filling, heaters, temp and Ph. Hubby is still developing it so as time goes on it will be increasing what it monitors and controls.

Water testing is done by a Reefbot V1.

REEFBOT: - will change when I can get compatible test kits consistently supplied
Alk: API
Ph: API
Ammonia: API
Nitirte: Fauna Marine
Nitrate: Fauna Marine

Chemical Support: No plans on this yet
Calcium Addition:
Alkalinity Addition:
Magnesium:

FIsh list
Old glory goby
blue/green cromis *3
Ocellaris clownfish *2
Blue tang
Chocolate tang
coral beauty *2
narissis Snails *5
trocus snail *8
strombus snail *2

FIsh WISH list
leopard wrasse
benggi cardinals
anthias - bicolour, lyretail, coopers, Japanese, pictillis, ventrallis
firefish - purple, red, helfrichi
orchid dottyback
shrimp and goby pair
mandarin dragonette
bicolour blenny
Midas blenny
scissortail dartfish
zebra barbed dartfish
purple tang
yellow tang
orange shoulder tang
two spot bristle tooth tang
mimic lemon peel tang
lavender tang
flame hawk x2 (pair)
ruby-red dragonette
scooter dragonette
neon dottyback
royal gramma
blackcap basslet
gold assessor basslet
flame angel
scotts velvet wrasse
redtail flasher wrasse
sailfin leopard blenny
Red coris wrasse ??
peacock flasher wrasse
Diamond tail flasher M
claire's fairy wrasse
fine spotted fariy wrasse
lemark angel
swallowtail angel F
tiger angel
zerba lyretail angel
Wanabei angel
bellus angel

clams
blood shrimp
sexy shrimp
harlequin shrimp (yes I know starfish will be required for food)

 

[NautiTang]

I wish you all the best, as far as family health goes, its more important than a giant water box with movy thingies in it. Don't know what equipment is available down under though to really help with that department. I do empathize with you on some levels as far as having to wait to set up you dream tank, I caught the reefing bug when I was about 8 when my uncle had a 300 gal and a 175 gal displays in the same system and aside from a 125 gal that i had a few years back have not been able to have a tank so I love vicariously through tank builds and suck here on R2R. Good things come to those who wait! (I hope )

 

[Fairymary58]

Hi All,
Just thought I would introduce myself and my dream tank build that's kinds on hold due to corona.
I'm an Australian living in beautiful sunny Melbourne, a nursing student and lover of Marine tanks.
My first tank was a 3footer with a canister filter. I jumped in the deep end with crappy LFS advice but that was about 20 years ago now.
I moved up to a custom 4 by 2 by 2 with trickle filter sump running a queen skimmer and was happy for years.
Then in 2011, we moved to Melbourne VIC from Wollongong NSW and the tank had to go into storage for 2 years.
I set it back up again in 2013 and was happy with a fish only tank for a while.
In August 2014 I gave birth to my little miracle and my 5th child. She was born with a heart defect and spent the first 6 months of her life in the hospital having 4 open heart surgeries and lots of other surgeries to keep her alive. And that's when then tank when in decline, Hubby's dad was watching the kids and thought he would help with the tank without asking. He topped the tank up continuously with saltwater instead of RO over a period of 3 months. Being so busy at the hospital I didn't realise that the RO never ran out or needed refilling so the tank crashed. I brought a new simmer, eco-tech radions, an mp40 and mp10 and in the hopes of resurrection without having a full reset. It didn't go well, so I shut the tank down for a few years while I focused on my baby and her therapy. Then I bought some land a built a house with the idea of getting my dream tank.

We have the concrete slab engineered to hold the tank weight of up to 7 tonnes (just to make sure). the building process got delayed and pushed my timeline back but I was happy to just be getting my tank. Once we finally got the house built my little one got sick again and needed more heart surgery and therapy over the next two years.
So come to 2020 and I'm back at square one planning my dream tank. In January I put the deposit down on my tank stand and sump from a builder in QLD and had the build put on a small hold as I had to travel for a month to a nursing practical placement so wouldn't be home to take delivery. Then just when I finished placement we got hit with COVID-19 and are put into lockdown for what seems like forever and the borders between states are closed to essential travel only. This closure has increased the price of delivery (double the cost of the tank) to the point where I'm probably better off to sell the tank and build it locally instead, but instead of selling I'm waiting for lockdown to pass and delivery fees to drop. I chose my tank builder for a reason and I want him to build my tank, so we are both just waiting. He hasn't built the tank yet which is fine for both of us as the glass storage isn't a problem on his end and makes it easier for him to work around instead of a monster tank sitting there getting in the way.

IF you have read to this point you're probably hoping I'll get to the finer details of how bigs the tank and everything else, so without further delay here are all the important details.

The tank will be a 365cm long (12 foot/ 144 inches), 80 cm front to back/deep (2.6foot/31.5 inches) and 65 cm tall/top to bottom (2.1foot/25.5inches)
It will sit on a metal stand that is 4 meters (13 foot) long by 1meter high (3.2 foot/39 inches). I'm housing the sump underneath the tank in the stand.
The sump will be 260cm long (8.5foot/102 inches) 65 cm (2.1foot/25.5inches) front to back/deep and 45 cm tall/top to bottom (1.4foot/17.7inches)
The system will hold about 2400 litres in total or 635 gallons.

So that is basically where I have gotten to in planning my dream tank. I need help trying to sort out the equipment and lighting and stocking as I'm not sure what I'm going to have in there just yet but do know I want to finally jump into the world of coral and have a full reef tank with fish.
I did set up the 4 footer back in January as a quarantine tank to start cycling some rock I was going to buy but didn't get very far as I couldn't work out what type of rock I wanted to go with. I got a mix of real reef and something else that I cant think of the name of. So I got about 6 pieces of rock in the 4 footer and then the kids wanted some fish so to keep them happy and match my daughter "wish" from make a wish we have 2 clownfish and a blue tang. My daughters wish is to go swimming with Nemo and before COVID hit we had a trip booked for "swimming with Nemo" on the Great Barrier Reef in Queensland but now its been put on hold until the borders open and it's safe to travel, so, for now, the tank makes her happy.

I will post the design of the sump we have as soon as I find it on my computer, its a bit different to the usual sump but I think it will work fine for me. It's based on the design of a local reefers tank who had a beautiful tank.
Thanks for reading this far, I can't wait to hear everyone's advice and feedback on things to make this tank move from dream to reality.

 

[Fairymary58]

So here the picture of the sump. One the end of the ATO reservoir.
The water flows through the outlets into the sump in the small chamber on the end, it then flows into the larger chamber on the end which could be a media or frag chamber (haven't decided exactly) in the middle large section which is for corals or a skimmer depending on final skimmer choice. It then flows on the largest chamber which could be the skimmer chamber or coral/frag section and then goes into the smaller chamber at the back which is where the return pumps are back to the main tank.
There are holes cut out of the glass in each section allowing for flow to travel in one direction. There will be no bubble traps or filter socks at this stage but there is room to have them in the inlet section if needed or maybe even a roller mat.
The main tank has a single centre weir for all the input and output of water.

 

[Fairymary58]

So, over the weekend Hubby and I have been chatting and I am going to be using the Reef-pi on this tank as a controller.
For me, it seems like such a big switch as originally wanted to have a Neptune Apex but hubby being a computer programmer wanted to go with the Reef-pi instead. He did agree if I don't like it I can switch to the Apex at a later stage.

 

[atomic081]

Cant wait to see this come to life!!! Will the sump be placed under the tank or in a separate room? Will the tank be viewable from 3 sides? Love the 12ft length!!!!!

 

[lpsreefer]

looking forward to see the aquarium built.

 

[Fairymary58]

Can't wait to see this come to life!!! Will the sump be placed under the tank or in a separate room? Will the tank be viewable from 3 sides? Love the 12ft length!!!!!

The sump will be placed underneath the tank in the stand. and will be viewable from at least 2 sides possibly 3 sides depending on final placement.
I want the whole lot contained within the sump as much as possible.

 

[Fairymary58]

Ok, so it's been a little while since I updated the tank build.
I purchased the skimmer, Robotank circuit board, a Raspberry Pi4, and some second-hand lights- malibu zeal so far.

I also finally brought a flipper for the glass, I dont know why I didnt get one earlier as those things are the bomb. Just used it to clean the 4ft quarantine tank as the glass was messy and man it was so quick and easy.

The skimmer is a seastorch beast 250 and its huge. the pump is also huge. Its a copy of the royal exclusive I believe, but it was within my budget and avalible so I have taken a punt and gone with that. I have attached photos of the skimmer and a picture of it in the box next to hubbys Ducati Panigale 900 for a size comparision.

I

 

[MERKEY]

Great planning and looks to be an amazing build!

 

[Fairymary58]

Great planning and looks to be an amazing build!

Thanks. The tank is on order but wont get here until christmas at the moment but im ok with that.

 

[Fairymary58]

Woohoo, it seems like it's been forever but I have an update. on the tank.
Most of the glass is in with the tank builder, but the front panel is missing. When it came in the builder said there were a few imperfections in the glass the and polished edging of the panel which he wasn't happy with so instead of continuing with the build he has ordered new glass which he hoped would be in before Christmas but alas it was not to be.

The delay means I won't get the tank until late February now but I'm ok with that as I have to work from January 11 to February 8th as a nurse which means shiftwork so I cant organise shipping from interstate or someone to be here when it's delivered during that time. Hopefully, by that time its ready the COVID -19 outbreak in NSW (Sydney) will be resolved otherwise, it might make shipping difficulty and delay the process even more. I've waited over a year now for the tank so another few months won't hurt.

As you can see the baffles aren't your typical baffles, they are designed for water to freely flow through the sump. I have none of the traditional bubble traps that most sumps have as I currently don't have a bubble trap on my 4footer and haven had an issue, I took the bubble trap out because I needed a bigger space for my skimmer and return pump. Its been working out great for me so far and I wanted to utilise the space I have in the new sump.


These are some of the baffles for the sump, with the laser cutouts for water flow.

Here is most of the glass for the tank. It's missing the front panel as there was an imperfection in the glass so the tank builder ordered a new panel.

 

[Sleeping Giant]

Looks great so far, even not put together, just like everything in this hobby, slow and steady. Can't wait to see it out together. Congrats on the new house and aquarium major upgrade.

 

[Fairymary58]

Looks great so far, even not put together, just like everything in this hobby, slow and steady. Can't wait to see it out together. Congrats on the new house and aquarium major upgrade.

The 4 footer is my quarantine tank, I only set it up to help cycle some rock and then I got a few fish (2 clowns and a blue tang) because I got sick of people asking where the fish were. I can't wait for the tank to get here, but it will stay dry for some time as I research what parts I'm going to use and then sort out the plumbing ect

 

[Fairymary58]

So after waiting for the new glass and the tank to be built, we hit another snag. The removalist who meant to bring the tank down from Brisbane turned up for pick up and decided that it was too big and he didn't want to move it at all so drove away without the tank. TO say I was shattered was an understatement, I starting believing I wasn't mean to have a tank, hubby on the other hand was the best ever and decided to hire a trailer and pick the tank up himself. So on Wednesday, we headed to Wagga Wagga for the day to visit our son who is completing basic training in the army with our second car on the trailer. After we had the visit with our son, me and our daughters headed home in the second car while hubby and our youngest son started their 1800km journey to Brisbane.
When they got to QLD they had to stop outside of Brisbane and the manufacturer came to get the trailer load the tank and then return it back to us. Why did they do this I hear you say, well that because the day before we left to get the tank COVID hit Brisbane, and if they went to the factory to get the tank it would have required a 14-day lockdown quarantine when they got home if they were allowed to enter the state.

So after a long journey of about 3600km, I finally have my tank home ready for my dream tank build. Here are some photos of it in its final resting place ready for development.

 

[Sleeping Giant]

So after waiting for the new glass and the tank to be built, we hit another snag. The removalist who meant to bring the tank down from Brisbane turned up for pick up and decided that it was too big and he didn't want to move it at all so drove away without the tank. TO say I was shattered was an understatement, I starting believing I wasn't mean to have a tank, hubby on the other hand was the best ever and decided to hire a trailer and pick the tank up himself. So on Wednesday, we headed to Wagga Wagga for the day to visit our son who is completing basic training in the army with our second car on the trailer. After we had the visit with our son, me and our daughters headed home in the second car while hubby and our youngest son started their 1800km journey to Brisbane.
When they got to QLD they had to stop outside of Brisbane and the manufacturer came to get the trailer load the tank and then return it back to us. Why did they do this I hear you say, well that because the day before we left to get the tank COVID hit Brisbane, and if they went to the factory to get the tank it would have required a 14-day lockdown quarantine when they got home if they were allowed to enter the state.

So after a long journey of about 3600km, I finally have my tank home ready for my dream tank build. Here are some photos of it in its final resting place ready for development.

Oh my gosh, that's a crazy story and a beautiful tank. Can't wait to see more
Glad you and your family were able to visit and pick up at the same time.

 

[Reefing_addiction]

Can’t wait to see it come to life!

 

[Fairymary58]

thanks for the love everyone.
I'm still in the planning and equipment collection stage so it's gonna take a little bit before it gets wet. It's taken me since 2015 when I first starting dreaming of this tank to get to this point so a bit longer isn't going to hurt anyone.

At present, it has LEDZEAL malibu lights to go over the tank. They aren't anything special but they will work to begin the cycling stage when I get there. I decided to go with these at present as I got them cheap from a fellow reefer who was shutting down his tank and I'm still tossing up between a few different brands before I decide on my forever lights. I'm leaning toward the Orphek Atlantics but haven't completely given up on radions just yet. I love the look of the Orpheks but I'm still waiting to see what the other companies will bring out in the future as they seem to be moving away from the puk style light which I'm not the biggest fan of.

I have my rock work from ArtReef rocks and when I have the time I'll begin to put that in the tank. The sand is on order and should have that by the end of next week. I was initially going to go bare bottom but after running my 4footer bare bottom as a quarantine tank for the last 12 months I can now say I prefer the look of sand, it just seems more natural to me.

Hubby has begun work on the Reefpi controller. We brought the kit from Robotank which helped get things together easier and quicker. The Temp and PH probes are working and at some point, we will move the RO to its final resting space in the kitchen to be hooked up permanently pumping RO to the tank top-up container. On that note, if anyone can advise where to buy a solenoid to shut off the RO when the tank is full that would be great as I'm always forgetting it and flooding the place. It would be even better if you have already automated your RO and can tell me how you did it.

 

[Fairymary58]

Ok, so time for a bit of an update.
Over the last few weeks, we have been working on the plumbing and aquascape of the tank.
Lovely fish shop owner Dave has been super awesome and a wealth of knowledge on how to do this as previously I have never hard plumbed anything before. We are still waiting on plumbing supplies to finish the tank, mainly valves but being that we are in lockdown here in Melbourne again that will still be a little bit. At the moment we are just playing with the fittings from the local hardware shop (BUNNINGS) while we fumble our way through how to plumb it, when we have it set up right we will be using Sanking pipes and fitting and hopefully getting a colour scheme going to tie in with the rest of the equipment.

We began to fill the tank about 2 weeks ago with RO water and to say it's been a long journey is an understatement. We still have about a week more to go before the water hits the top of the overflows and we haven't even started on the sump yet. I'm dreading my next water bill as I'm sure having the RO going continuously for 5 weeks isn't going to be cheap.

I haven't had a chance to pick up the return pumps yet, between lockdown, my youngest therapy session, kids after school sports and activities, and working shift work, I just don't seem to have enough hours in the day to manage to drive to the fish shop to get them. I'm at the point where I just might consider paying to have them shipped to me so I can get them rather than wait until I find time to pick them up.

I also need to try and settle on what water flow devices I'm going to use inside the tank as I presently have nothing. I'm considering buying something cheap in the next month to just get the cycle started so I can have the tank moving forward while I'm still making up my mind and saving more money to possibly buy better quality stuff that will be better over the long term.

Anyway here are a few tank shots of where it's sitting at present

 

[Fairymary58]

Sorry forgot to upload the photos.
Ignore the mess, having 4 kids stuck inside for a week makes life messy quickly.