Starting the research process for my next build while I wait for my house to be built. The plan is to do a 72x30x24 tank, predominately LPS with some SPS in the mix, separating the living room from the dining room. I'll be starting over with no prior equipment or livestock as I sold everything off when we sold our previous home a year ago. Hard to keep a reef tank living in an RV haha. I am strongly considering just purchasing an Innovative Marine 200 ext peninsula since it is close to my desired dimensions, however, the biggest problem I have with that is when it comes to flow. I think everyone at this point understands how difficult it is to get proper flow in a long peninsula without powerheads on each end, and no one likes a powerhead on a viewing panel.
I plan to solve that problem by doing a closed loop for flow, which I don't think I can do using the IM 200 ext. I know that brings its own issues, but I think in the end I will be happier with that, and I have some ideas to solve some of those issues. If I go custom on the tank, may plan would be to place an acrylic wall on the end. I would divide that area into 3 separate chambers. The center chamber would have a weir for the overflow, and house the drain plumbing to the sump (Herbie style) and a single return that will get split into each of the outside chambers. The 2 outside chambers would have slotted guards to allow water in, but keep critters out, and contain submersible dc pumps with controllable flow. Most likely some jebao return pumps simply because I have actually had really good experiences with them even though they are cheap. I'd just plan on keep a spare at all times. I may spring for something more expensive, but I really don't see the need to here. I would rewire the pumps to be controllable using the 0-10v ports on an aquarium controller. I did this on my last big build using my apex and it worked out great. I had 4 jebao powerheads controlled by my apex for extremely randomized flow patterns in the tank. Placing the flow pumps inside the main display but separated by the acrylic wall means no bulkheads drilled through the bottom of the tank to leak. I would then place 2 3/4" bulkheads at the bottom of the acrylic on each side, and run pvc from there to the other end of the tank. This way, the pvc will be hidden by the sand bed and rock work. I'll place ball valves on the pipes inside the baffle area where the pumps are so that I can adjust the flow strength individually if needed. I think this would provide me plenty of flow throughout the tank without it all needing to come from one end and try to push all the way across and I wouldn't need large powerheads inside the display.
Things I'm looking for suggestions on:
1. A custom tank builder so I can price this out and decide if the added cost is worth it or not. I am good with woodworking and will be building my own stand.
2. Designing the closed loop system from anyone who actually has experience using them.
3. Aquarium controllers. I've previously used the old reef keeper, and an apex. I liked the apex a lot, and got really comfortable with programming it to meet all of my needs. I was not impressed with the quality of the eb832's though, as I did have some issues there. For that reason alone, I am open to hearing comparisons to the Hydros and the GHL controllers. I like to be able to custom program things to meet my needs rather than needing to live with generic presets even if they do simplify setup.
4. Lighting options. I plan to go led only on this tank. I have previously tried t5's, but we discovered they were causing my wife to have headaches. Switching to led solved that problem, so that will be the route I go on this build. I have no interest in black box led's. I don't necessarily need something really fancy, but the tank will not have a hood, so they need to look decent and most importantly they need to last. I've had black boxes in the past, radion g4's and radion g5's, and ai hydra's. The hydra's were my favorite. With such a large tank, I'd be lying if I didn't say budget is a factor. I don't necessarily have a budget in mind, I just don't want to overspend needlessly. Not a big deal when you only need one or 2 fixtures, but given the length and width of this tank, I know I will need several depending on which one I actually go with so costs start to add up quickly.
5. Skimmer. I'd much prefer something dc and ultra quiet. A drain on the bottom of the cup is a big plus but not required. I had one like that in the past and found it really convenient on several occasions.
6. Return pump/s. I will most likely plan to utilize 2 return pumps plumbed together for redundancy. I did this on my last big build and it worked out great. I want something dc so it is ultra quiet. I ran a pair of sicce syncra silent ac pumps on my last big build and they were the loudest part of the build. I'd like to avoid that. It is important to me that the tank is quiet because of where it is being placed in my home.
Thanks to anyone who took the time to read all of this and make suggestions. I look forward to designing and building this system once the house is finished. I would say right now I am probably a year away from starting this project. I will likely begin building my aquascape and cycling the rock/sand with some live rock in plastic totes sometime next spring so that once everything is purchased and ready, the rock has had time to mature a little bit.
I plan to solve that problem by doing a closed loop for flow, which I don't think I can do using the IM 200 ext. I know that brings its own issues, but I think in the end I will be happier with that, and I have some ideas to solve some of those issues. If I go custom on the tank, may plan would be to place an acrylic wall on the end. I would divide that area into 3 separate chambers. The center chamber would have a weir for the overflow, and house the drain plumbing to the sump (Herbie style) and a single return that will get split into each of the outside chambers. The 2 outside chambers would have slotted guards to allow water in, but keep critters out, and contain submersible dc pumps with controllable flow. Most likely some jebao return pumps simply because I have actually had really good experiences with them even though they are cheap. I'd just plan on keep a spare at all times. I may spring for something more expensive, but I really don't see the need to here. I would rewire the pumps to be controllable using the 0-10v ports on an aquarium controller. I did this on my last big build using my apex and it worked out great. I had 4 jebao powerheads controlled by my apex for extremely randomized flow patterns in the tank. Placing the flow pumps inside the main display but separated by the acrylic wall means no bulkheads drilled through the bottom of the tank to leak. I would then place 2 3/4" bulkheads at the bottom of the acrylic on each side, and run pvc from there to the other end of the tank. This way, the pvc will be hidden by the sand bed and rock work. I'll place ball valves on the pipes inside the baffle area where the pumps are so that I can adjust the flow strength individually if needed. I think this would provide me plenty of flow throughout the tank without it all needing to come from one end and try to push all the way across and I wouldn't need large powerheads inside the display.
Things I'm looking for suggestions on:
1. A custom tank builder so I can price this out and decide if the added cost is worth it or not. I am good with woodworking and will be building my own stand.
2. Designing the closed loop system from anyone who actually has experience using them.
3. Aquarium controllers. I've previously used the old reef keeper, and an apex. I liked the apex a lot, and got really comfortable with programming it to meet all of my needs. I was not impressed with the quality of the eb832's though, as I did have some issues there. For that reason alone, I am open to hearing comparisons to the Hydros and the GHL controllers. I like to be able to custom program things to meet my needs rather than needing to live with generic presets even if they do simplify setup.
4. Lighting options. I plan to go led only on this tank. I have previously tried t5's, but we discovered they were causing my wife to have headaches. Switching to led solved that problem, so that will be the route I go on this build. I have no interest in black box led's. I don't necessarily need something really fancy, but the tank will not have a hood, so they need to look decent and most importantly they need to last. I've had black boxes in the past, radion g4's and radion g5's, and ai hydra's. The hydra's were my favorite. With such a large tank, I'd be lying if I didn't say budget is a factor. I don't necessarily have a budget in mind, I just don't want to overspend needlessly. Not a big deal when you only need one or 2 fixtures, but given the length and width of this tank, I know I will need several depending on which one I actually go with so costs start to add up quickly.
5. Skimmer. I'd much prefer something dc and ultra quiet. A drain on the bottom of the cup is a big plus but not required. I had one like that in the past and found it really convenient on several occasions.
6. Return pump/s. I will most likely plan to utilize 2 return pumps plumbed together for redundancy. I did this on my last big build and it worked out great. I want something dc so it is ultra quiet. I ran a pair of sicce syncra silent ac pumps on my last big build and they were the loudest part of the build. I'd like to avoid that. It is important to me that the tank is quiet because of where it is being placed in my home.
Thanks to anyone who took the time to read all of this and make suggestions. I look forward to designing and building this system once the house is finished. I would say right now I am probably a year away from starting this project. I will likely begin building my aquascape and cycling the rock/sand with some live rock in plastic totes sometime next spring so that once everything is purchased and ready, the rock has had time to mature a little bit.
