New Build in France. 300gals 1200L. Peninsula with basement fish room

[carri10]

Hiya.

I’m starting planning for a potential new tank in my new house in Strasbourg, France. It’s going to be approx. 1.5-1.8m long x 100cm wide x 70cm deep. Peninsula style in between two open space rooms.

I know peninsula style gives some challenges in flow and considering using a wave box for standing wave in combination with powerheads

The plan is to have a mixed reef. I’ll use the aquascape to create zones of high light/flow and lower light/flow for SPS and LPS respectively. Not at all sure on fish and inverts yet.

Sandy bottom.

I’ll have a basement sump/fish room with filtration, sump etc.

First question is

Does anyone have any recommendations for a good custom tank manufacture in EU? I live in Strasbourg, France, right on the border with Germany.

Second

For sump. It’ll be in a basement fish room, so I will use food safe plastic containers with bulkheads. For the initial filtration, with this size tank, is it worth using a filter roller, or should I buy bulk floss. I am looking to design maintenance as automatic or as minimum as possible. Obviously, a filter roller is automatic, but is it cost prohibitive at this scale (1200L DT and about 300L Sump)? If I use floss are there any systems that would be recommended, or do I just direct the flow over it in a basic way?

I’ve got a lot more questions on the engineering side at the moment, but ask them as I get more into the project.

Thanks all

 

[Gumbies R Us]

Hiya.

I’m starting planning for a potential new tank in my new house in Strasbourg, France. It’s going to be approx. 1.5-1.8m long x 100cm wide x 70cm deep. Peninsula style in between two open space rooms.

I know peninsula style gives some challenges in flow and considering using a wave box for standing wave in combination with powerheads

The plan is to have a mixed reef. I’ll use the aquascape to create zones of high light/flow and lower light/flow for SPS and LPS respectively. Not at all sure on fish and inverts yet.

Sandy bottom.

I’ll have a basement sump/fish room with filtration, sump etc.

First question is

Does anyone have any recommendations for a good custom tank manufacture in EU? I live in Strasbourg, France, right on the border with Germany.

Second

For sump. It’ll be in a basement fish room, so I will use food safe plastic containers with bulkheads. For the initial filtration, with this size tank, is it worth using a filter roller, or should I buy bulk floss. I am looking to design maintenance as automatic or as minimum as possible. Obviously, a filter roller is automatic, but is it cost prohibitive at this scale (1200L DT and about 300L Sump)? If I use floss are there any systems that would be recommended, or do I just direct the flow over it in a basic way?

I’ve got a lot more questions on the engineering side at the moment, but ask them as I get more into the project.

Thanks all

Best of luck with the new tank!

 

[carri10]

Thanks. A lot to figure out!
looking to get my sump designed first as we redo the house. Any views on the initial filtration, auto roller or bulk floss, would be great!
Thanks
Ian.

 

[Devaji]

I think royal exclusive is right there in Germany. I would reach out I bet they can design a killer sump. I bet its alot cheaper than the stuff they ship to the US.

for return pump look in to abyzz when i was going to do a basement fish room that the pump I was goona go with. not cheap but I do hear great thinking about them.

I believe another German company and prob. could do a pkg deal with the sump.

good luck! peninsula tanks are the best!

 

[carri10]

Right. Big question coming up.


I've received a quote for aquarium/sump/kit etc. of about 13,000Eur. A lot can be done to trim this, optimize cost etc., BUT....

As the thread says, this is my first reef tank.

Am I insane for starting out with a 1000L, approx 250gal tank?
I'm going big, because of water stability, wanting to start with the tank I'd end with, (rather than upgrading every few years) and because it fits a perfect place in between two open space in the house.

I'm willing to put money down to automate and I have space in the basement for a large fish room, so water management, quarantine etc can be purpose built for success.

I've ran a planted CO2 softwater Amanzon biotope tank before, so am not a complete newbie. I am able to start slow (e.g. do a 6 months cure of my rock and use live rock to avoid too much uglies), I love researching and have a science background, but is this 250gal idea biting off more than is reasonable to chew?

What are you guys thoughts on this?

Thanks

 

[squidarcher]

If you can, why not? I would say to not start with automation but build the system with it in mind. First hand experience is everything here, so don't bite off more than you can chew.

 

[carri10]

Thanks. Appreciate the input. Do you think automation would add too much complexity, failure points or costs? Which did you think?

 

[carri10]

So, things are starting to move.
DT ordered, 180cmx100cmx75cm, with hood (65cm effective height) (270US gallons)
Remote sump 90cmx75cmx30cm effective (53 gallons)

Aquascape done - using 25% live rock and currently in my future salt make up tank, on a diet of a shrimp a week and water changes every 2 weeks.

RO system, RO tank and salt tank in place.
Going with external return pump - Iwaki MD100
Internal flow looking like 2 x Maxspect gyre XF350 (20kl/hr) at far end of peninsula (I have a hood, so they are hidden) and 2 of either Jebao SOW20 or Tunze 3+. Might mount these last two on an Oceanmotion swivel.

Thinking of going GHL Profilux + doser (AWC) and KH Director

Now starting to gather the full kit list, fish ideas and corals (mixed).

Tank arrives at end March - planning to do
1) a tap water run, going through all possible steps to check leak and functions of the piping, ATO etc. etc
2) fill DT with sand (live) and aquascape, salt water in entire system and run in dark for a month to allow stability
3) turn on lights (slowly) with some CUC over a couple of weeks
4) add some coral and fish once I can prove things are relatively stable.

 

[Devaji]

Hell yes. as a fellow peninsula lover you are going to love it.
that sump seems a bit small for that size of thank. I have a 75 gal. on a 200 DT ( gal.)
but I am sure it designed well. you can always add a remote "display fuge" full of macros - I would do that just cuz its cool

what skimmer are you going with? I also am a big fan of algae turf scrubbers ( ATS) there are may way to filter a tank. all have there pros and cons.

if you're in the market for skimmers look into lifereef skimmers you have the space you you can do a tall one to get more filtration. not sure they ship over the pond or not, but worth looking into.

oh I love the dino on skis profile pic!

 

[carri10]

Thanks!
I'm also a bit worried about the size of the sump, but there are some space and logistical challenges.
My tank builder assures me it will be okay.
I had wanted to put a filter/skimmer section, a cryptic refugium,, a algae refugium and the pump return section in the sump.
Reading your post gives me a great idea however. I was going to have an algae refugium to remove NO3 PO4 etc and supply some extra ecosystem, I do believe strongly in the need for a diverse ecosystem.
However, I can delete the algae refugium and have a much bigger cryptic refugium and then use an algae scrubber on a loop.

I'll get the NO3/PO4 etc removal from the algae scrubber and can have a much larger cryptic for a more diverse ecosystem.

I think this will work better.

 

[carri10]

A few updates.

Here are some pictures of the tank in production.

It is 1 m 80 cm long, 90 cm wide, and about 70 cm tall with the cover.

 

[carri10]

The tank itself weighs over 250 kg. The company we used assured me that five people would be enough to get it into the house. Apparently they had equipment to help.
If you want to learn from my experience, do you not trust anybody in the advice they give you.
We did manage to get the tank into the house, but my Lord was tricky to do. There was a hour long pause as we considered whether the whole project was impossible or not.
Eventually, with some massive straining we got it in. Here it is in place.

For those looking to learn from my experience, the length and the width do not really impact the size of the tank relative to the room as much as the height does. When just the stand was in, the tank looked actually quite small compared to the room. Adding the extra height of the tank made the whole assembly dominate the room.
Personally, I would’ve made the tank slightly shorter, maybe 10 cm less high. This wouldn’t of changed the viewing angles too much but would’ve changed how much dominates the room.

Time spent planning in ridiculous detail is time worth spent for a project this big.

 

[Devaji]

The tank itself weighs over 250 kg. The company we used assured me that five people would be enough to get it into the house. Apparently they had equipment to help.
If you want to learn from my experience, do you not trust anybody in the advice they give you.
We did manage to get the tank into the house, but my Lord was tricky to do. There was a hour long pause as we considered whether the whole project was impossible or not.
Eventually, with some massive straining we got it in. Here it is in place.

For those looking to learn from my experience, the length and the width do not really impact the size of the tank relative to the room as much as the height does. When just the stand was in, the tank looked actually quite small compared to the room. Adding the extra height of the tank made the whole assembly dominate the room.
Personally, I would’ve made the tank slightly shorter, maybe 10 cm less high. This wouldn’t of changed the viewing angles too much but would’ve changed how much dominates the room.

Time spent planning in ridiculous detail is time worth spent for a project this big.

thank came out amazing. I am a huge fan of peninsula tanks myself.
my other half would love the canopy better not show her this. haha

great job man!

 

[carri10]

Plumbing.
Again for any of you who want to learn from my experience, sticking all the plumbing stuff together is easy, but measuring it all out is not. When you read online that you should not have any tension on PVC pipes when you glue them, that really does mean no tension. Do not think that a little pressure on the pipe, or a little bend of the pipe to get it to fit in the fitting will be okay. It will not. It will leak. So take your time to measure, cut, measure again and make sure that everything is perfect before getting into the gluing.

One thing I should’ve done is insist on technical drawings from the supplier. This would’ve avoided a lot of the complications on the plumbing side when the tank arrived. I should not have agreed for any manufacture until I received the technical drawings and fully signed off. You can see the pictures below that the connection between the tank to the remote sump is not a simple straight connection. This is a result of never having seen exactly where the bulkhead were to be drilled.
Bulkheads. They will leak. The advice to put silicon sealant around the gaskets and allowing it to cure is golden. I don’t think I’ll ever install the bulkhead without doing this from now on. Bulkheads are a real pain in the neck.