The ins and outs of my 20,000 gallon reef tank .

[MLHoenig]

What do you recommend for a noob starting with a 75g tank?

I hope to set up a good Caribbean biotope, but it's gonna take time. I'll be working with my aquarium guy to set up a good sump/fuge but I want to get even more opinions/advice from other well-experienced folks like you; what's a good, easy-to-build under-cabinet design?

Also, where do you recommend as a good source of dry & live rock?

Thanks in advance!

 

[Pigpen]

Some pictures for a 1000 gallon tank that we built a friends house . the tank is 8x4x4 and was built from scratch on site because we could not get a premade tank in his basement . this take has one of my 18 inch skimmers and a calcium reactor on it . tank is almost filled with ro water and ready to go .

 

[Pigpen]

 

[Pigpen]

Feeding my stingrays .

 

[Pigpen]

some of m

y arcos the night before I lost all of them

 

[SpartaReef]

Bill, how much would it cost to hire you to help build a system? say 10' x 3' x 4' ? penninsula... SOmeday it would be great to have your help getting the hardware and componants in place... the aquascaping and stocking I would do myself...

Thanks for considering the questions and being so open and honest with all of us.

 

[beachsidereefer]

subscribed

 

[Pigpen]

It would depend on a million factors . to give you an idea we are doing a 5000 gallon tank and filtration it is is over 100k so far . it is expensive to have it done right plus this systems is fully automated .

 

[Pigpen]

If you have questions about setting up a large system feel free to ask me . I dont really have any idea about smaller systems anymore but anything large I can help you with .on of these days I am going to set up a small tank , 200-300 gallons to get familiar with them again .

 

[SpartaReef]

Yeah Im not sure I would want fully automated... good to know though... Hopefully someday I can achieve it.

 

[SpartaReef]

lol 200-300 g is small lol yeah I guess compared to yours... right now I have a 1g pico... lol

 

[Pigpen]

Some one asked how much water do I evaporate , well it varys but the average is around 300 gallons a week . my sumps are 4000 gallons each so I can eveporate a lot before I have to fill it . even thou everything is automated on the system I stll start the water filling process .

 

[Pigpen]

I was asked what I use for a ca reactor on my system . this is a 10 inch reactor that I build , it holds 100 pounds of media and will burn that up in one month . the controller is another on of my designs . I wanted something that worked perfectly every time and was very accurate to use so I build one from scratch using all industrial components . I do not trust any of the controllers made for aquariums so I started building my own. the Ca reactor controller is interesting as everything is inside of the box . there is a high pressure line to the co2 tank but there is no

regulator on the tank . I built everything out of 316 stainless steel .

 

[Pigpen]

 

[KDawg0623]

Maybe someone has asked this before, and sorry if you have already answered this question. But are you worried that eventually the concrete will settle and possibly crack and leak? Or is there a certain process that you can use to ensure that it doesn't happen? Or some kind of compound you put on it to keep it from happening? Thank you

 

[Resvordog]

Water testing and dosing

How do you monitor your levels of calcium, alkalinity, magnesium, etc.? Do you use the traditional methods of titration testing or do you have it automated somehow? How are you dosing your supplements? I always thought that people with "automated" tanks had very expensive systems that tested their water for those important components and then dosed accordingly, but I haven't found any such devices or monitors that exist. All I see are ORP, pH, salinity, and temperature monitors. I ask because I'm getting really busy with school and work, but I don't want to get rid of my tank. I have a calcium reactor that adds most of the supplements my corals need, but they are growing so rapidly that the reactor can't keep up without lowing my tank's pH too much or just turning the aragonite to mush. The biggest time consumer is changing water and getting the new water to match the tank water as much as possible. If you have any suggestions, I would greatly appreciate the help!

 

[SpartaReef]

Bill, have you considered condesers to recapture the evaporated water, then filter it to reuses it as a means of conserving not only the water but also the cost? Im studying biomimicry and sustainable practices in business and am curious about seawater greenhouses and the sahara project... These are consepts you could easily test in your home given your circumstances....

 

[Pigpen]

I do alot of testing just like everyone else but one nice this is I own a company that sells and services the instruments used in laboratories to analogize samples , we work on things like HPLC, LCMS and all different types of mass spectrometers . it is not financially fesable to own these instruments your self to test you water as some of them cost 200k and up and the maintenance cost would make you cry .

I do not dose anything to my tank expect MG . the calcium reactor does everything else for me . I do not believe in dumping a ton of chemicals into my tank nor do I believe in using any drugs to cure ich . ich is very easy to avoid if you pay attention . all I see when I go to shows now is that everyone sells a chemical for everything . most people do not like my tank because I do not drown it it blue lite to make my corals look better and i like to have some algae growing so my tangs can graze . guess I am weird .

 

[TJ's Reef]

Great information as always Bill, thanks for sharing. And yes, you are weird but I'm right there with you in liking my Reeftank to look and feel just like I'm Snorkeling my favorite Hawaiian Reef not an extra in 'Avatar' and still prefer to design/engineer and fabricate most of my needed components within reason.


Cheers, Todd

 

[JVH]

I have a small tank with small problems and have been debating about an upgrade to a little bigger yet still small (tiny compared to yours, actually almost miniscule in comparison LOL) but I have been having second thoughts about doing an upgrade and after seeing this I am speechless! And amazed! And actually motivate to do my upgrade.
This is so amazing. You must never want to leave your living room! I sit and stare and get lost with my morning coffee and my little tank. I would never leave my house if I had this. I would be so distracted watching the tank I think hours would pass by before I knew it!
It is just beautiful! You must be so proud of what you accomplished. Thank you sharing.
Do you mind if I ask the history of your tanks? What did you start off with and how long have you had it before you upgraded? And what was your next upgrade and how many years till you decided on the masterpiece?
Judith