1500ltr system - Downunder. Pun intended

[ilawis]

Hi everyone!

I'm starting my first saltwater tank so probably going to need a bit of advice (understatement!)
I've had a lot of freshwater tanks in the past but saltwater is a new beast and I'm excited.

Soooo tank specs: (sorry about it being in metric)
3300 wide
780 tall
760 deep
And sump below stand (this design I really need some help with!)
There are 2 quartiene tanks 1 that is in the same water as the main tank and 1 that is completely separate but located under the main display
I've added some photos that show the location of the tank in my house (sitting on concrete slab)
The stand and the current plan for sump design.
Because of not knowing enough about sump design it's a loose design at the moment I'm planning on having removable baffles
The string Line in the photo is the front face of the tank and will be able to be seen from both sides

So let me know what you think and any help is going to be good help.

 

[Everything Aquatics]

Wow that’s a big first tank

 

[Ulm_nano_diybudgetreef]

That is massive, it's more than 500g, explains the steel I-beam stand!!!

Well, I can tell you, that u shouldn't have any water stability issues ))

Not sure about a QT in the sump, haven't seen it done before. Typically you should keep water separate and tank should be far enough to avoid contamination.

 

[kput]

^ What he said. The QT tanks shouldn't share the same water as your system, and due to aerosol transmission and the potential for water splashing around, you don't want the QT systems within 10' of your display. Especially something as large as 500 gallons.

 

[dbowman5]

If i suggest that your use of 'quarantine' is actually 'time out' which is a great idea.
if there are behavior issues or vulnerabilities, like breeding having an area other than the refugium to place livestock that is tied into the tank is brilliant.

 

[Ulm_nano_diybudgetreef]

Whoops, just realised the thread title says 516gal... it's late in Melbourne

 

[Ulm_nano_diybudgetreef]

If i suggest that your use of 'quarantine' is actually 'time out' which is a great idea.

That's a great use for it, even as a frag tank, considering the amount of space available.

 

[ilawis]

Yes just to clarify my use of "Quarantine" is a bit loose there
So I have 2 "Quarantine tanks" or more correctly described as a "time out" tank as part of the sump and a second tank as a actual "quarantine" tank tho the actual quarantine tank is located under the display tank at this stage that tank will be 500mm W X 500mm L X 350mm H (I am height restricted under the display)

Unfortunately I can't change the location of these tanks as I don't have room for elsewhere.
This is the first time I've heard about aerosol transmission but if it is a issue I'm sure I can separate the tank from the sump with a divider but it would only prevent splashing not actual air it would just have to be a risk I have to take

 

[kput]

Yes just to clarify my use of "Quarantine" is a bit loose there
So I have 2 "Quarantine tanks" or more correctly described as a "time out" tank as part of the sump and a second tank as a actual "quarantine" tank tho the actual quarantine tank is located under the display tank at this stage that tank will be 500mm W X 500mm L X 350mm H (I am height restricted under the display)

Unfortunately I can't change the location of these tanks as I don't have room for elsewhere.
This is the first time I've heard about aerosol transmission but if it is a issue I'm sure I can separate the tank from the sump with a divider but it would only prevent splashing not actual air it would just have to be a risk I have to take

Aerosol tranmission is definitely a problem that has been proven to exist. I've heard of a few people in the hobby mention it being a possible cause for ich/velvet getting into their system., but if you don't have another area to use a QT tank then there's not much you can do -shrug-

Just be extra vigilant when purchasing your livestock so you don't risk getting into your display on accident.

 

[fishguy242]

nice build ,following along

 

[Devaji]

epic! is this tank going to be fish only or a full on reef?

 

[dbowman5]

a wrinkle that i have found useful is to screen the outfall of your time out. when the pump is off and you have drain down the weirs become submerged and fauna will try to move between sections, only problematic if they go from time out to the pump section.

 

[ilawis]

epic! is this tank going to be fish only or a full on reef?

Full on Reef!!

 

[ilawis]

a wrinkle that i have found useful is to screen the outfall of your time out. when the pump is off and you have drain down the weirs become submerged and fauna will try to move between sections, only problematic if they go from time out to the pump section.

Yea I'm planning on screening all the sections just to be safe

 

[ilawis]

Aerosol tranmission is definitely a problem that has been proven to exist. I've heard of a few people in the hobby mention it being a possible cause for ich/velvet getting into their system., but if you don't have another area to use a QT tank then there's not much you can do -shrug-

Just be extra vigilant when purchasing your livestock so you don't risk getting into your display on accident.

That's something I haven't got my head around yet is ich the same in saltwater as fresh? In freshwater (FW) ich is present in the drinking water supply (tho even 90% of FW hobbyists don't know that and so keep thinking they get it from their LFS) so my point being could it be that people get it by washing components in FW and then stressed fish get it also can ich be controlled by temp change the same as in FW?

 

[El_Guapo13]

That is one huge first tank. Following.

 

[NashobaTek]

Looking like a awesome build!
Welcome to the team

 

[kput]

That's something I haven't got my head around yet is ich the same in saltwater as fresh? In freshwater (FW) ich is present in the drinking water supply (tho even 90% of FW hobbyists don't know that and so keep thinking they get it from their LFS) so my point being could it be that people get it by washing components in FW and then stressed fish get it also can ich be controlled by temp change the same as in FW?

Ich in FW and SW have some similarities, but they are different.
Ich in Saltwater can be eradicated, in freshwater it is believed to always be present.

The lifecycle of ich in SW is such that you can eradicate by having items in a fishless environment for 76 days (coral, invert, live rock QT), or via copper medication, or tank transfer methods.

This is a good read for more info, but there is tons of information about this on this forum.

Ich! Eradication vs. Management

BummersReef submitted a new Article: Ich! Eradication vs. Management (The following article was originally posted as a discussion thread on Reef2Reef by Humblefish. But it is so helpful and well done, R2R staff has turned it into an article) The purpose of this article is to discuss the pros...

www.reef2reef.com

Also

HIGH - Fish Disease Treatment and Diagnosis Stickies

My Current QT Process Ratios for Dosing Copper Power Uronema - Eradicate or Ignore? Hybrid TTM to treat all parasites! PSA: PRIME safe to use with COPPER POWER Medications to keep on hand Fallow periods: Going Fishless Difficult Fish to QT guide Ich eradication vs. Ich...

www.reef2reef.com

 

[ilawis]

So current procurement of this tank is one of my LFS is going to be building the glass for the tanks and the associated plumbing there is a 6-8 week delay for them to provide it to me but they are waiting on me to confirm sizes for the sump.
The stand I'll be making myself but there is about 2 day delay for arrival of the 200ub22.3 I beams it's made out of.
Now unfortunately most of my local fish stores only deal with freshwater so for saltwater advice and supplies the nearest is 35 mins away so I'm unsure at the moment about sizes of components until I have time to go there beginning of next week.
So the step I need to get resolved is size of areas in sump.
Sump size is currently 2400mm long 550 wide 350 deep
My overflows are 2x 50mm pipes one on each end of the tank (couple of interesting ideas from the LFS about that but I'll get to it in a future post)
So first section is 3-4 filter socks followed by scrubbers (are scrubbers recommended/not recommended in a SW tank? ) Should this be Bio balls as well? The next part would be the skimmer - I vaguely remember someone a few years ago saying you should only have 1 skimmer because of you have 2, 1 works hard and dies early and the other does next to nothing, the problem for me is because the sump is below the main display I'm height restricted
Next section is the refugium I haven't seen anywhere a recommendation for sizing this I do remember seeing some with shrimp and other small snails and fish - I would like to have the critters in there and have a removable baffles to the time out section
Final section is the pump return
I know usually the calcium reactor usually feeds back into the skimmer section but do you still do that with a refugium?
The other part is the UV sterilizer is there a preference between submersible and inline? I'm currently looking at inline

What are your thoughts?

 

[fishguy242]

i would vote inline uv