Planning Phase
Before I get into the actual tank builds, I thought I'd share some of my initial plans. As I mentioned in a previous post, my better half wanted a 6m reef tank (you can see in below house plan, between lounge and dining room) but paying for it was prohibitive. So with a much smaller budget I built a test room (location on same house plan below) and some tanks. The great thing about this was that I was able to try the different types of glass versus acrylic, grow lights vs metal halide vs LED vs T5/8's, different flow rates, different filtration methods, etc, etc, etc.
I'd been running a small 100litre al-in-one reef tank for a few years now, so I knew I had to make improvements over that; especially ease of access to everything, width of tank so that I could clean the glass/acrylic around the live rocks and the big one was to use less electricity. However, I had to maintain some of the benefits like minimal evaporation, ability to start/stop individual components (like slowing powerheads for cleaning), closed system, etc)
After Id decided where to do this test room (which is about 4m long and 2m wide), I had to work out sizes of the tanks and their placements. Initially I really wanted to do a 4m x 1m tank but that wouldn't meet my objectives. Then I wanted to create multiple tanks with water bridges linking them but when I read about the difficulties of keeping predator tanks (reduced selection of cuc) I knew it had to be a minimum of two tanks.
Once I'd settled on tank sizes, I called around to get prices for sheets of glass and acrylic (there are several online calculators to help with required widths) but after finding out that to be cost effective I needed to buy whole sheets and maximise my tank sizes based on sheet sizes, I had to revise my plans.
Initial cut plans based on 2.4m x 1.2m sheets
Next rendition of cut plans still based on 2.4m x 1.2m sheets and also initial sump/refuge designs
After I found my preferred supplier I revised my cut plans to meet their sheet sizes (first one is acrylic then glass)
My second last cut lists for acrylic build display tank
My second last cut list for glass build display tank
After placing the orders for the sheets of glass and acrylic I had to continue practicing cutting glass and acrylic. That took a very long time as I'm definitely not a natural. Then it was onto selecting materials to join the glass and acrylic. Everyone on the web said to use weld on #4 for acrylic but it was almost impossible to find (so I used weld on #3). There were so many options for silicones though but I couldn't pass up GE SCS1200 (however I did use Selleys Aquarium Silicone for my sump/refuge).
My top three silicones were:
Next it was time to start choosing gear, but I got stuck on lights for quite a while. Who knew there was so much to know? I wanted to match the sun for my daylights and the moon for night light but after researching, I found that corals need more of certain light spectrums that others and need different kelvin temperatures for different plant cycles.
After finding the exact measurements I wanted I had to find products that matched those specifications. At the same time, I had to be conscious of the heat generated by my lights selection, on going costs, water proofing, water depth penetration, etc, etc.
My final selection was a mixture of lighting. I purchased LED moonlight from the states, four plant grow lights from a Melbourne supplier and surprisingly I also purchased outdoor LED spotlights from China. After finally selecting my ideal lighting, it was time for the fun stuff...choosing gear.
The above list was just my starting list. It got quite large after that. I ended up purchasing a Bubble Magus external skimmer only to find out weeks later that there is no stock anywhere in the world but luckily Reef Octopus was just about to release a new external skimmer for tanks my size (oversized of course), so the I had to wait for that. I also decided not to go with canister filtration (Ill show you why in a post after the actual tank builds). I also went with a TECO 20 chiller rated for aquariums 2000 litres. I was souring ebay, the reefuge market place and several other places for the best products at the best prices. This took many hours but Im very happy with the results until...........
I forgot to take into consideration the water in the actual pipes, which meant I needed a bigger sump/refugium :(
Back to square one!
I'd been running a small 100litre al-in-one reef tank for a few years now, so I knew I had to make improvements over that; especially ease of access to everything, width of tank so that I could clean the glass/acrylic around the live rocks and the big one was to use less electricity. However, I had to maintain some of the benefits like minimal evaporation, ability to start/stop individual components (like slowing powerheads for cleaning), closed system, etc)
After Id decided where to do this test room (which is about 4m long and 2m wide), I had to work out sizes of the tanks and their placements. Initially I really wanted to do a 4m x 1m tank but that wouldn't meet my objectives. Then I wanted to create multiple tanks with water bridges linking them but when I read about the difficulties of keeping predator tanks (reduced selection of cuc) I knew it had to be a minimum of two tanks.
Once I'd settled on tank sizes, I called around to get prices for sheets of glass and acrylic (there are several online calculators to help with required widths) but after finding out that to be cost effective I needed to buy whole sheets and maximise my tank sizes based on sheet sizes, I had to revise my plans.
Initial cut plans based on 2.4m x 1.2m sheets
Next rendition of cut plans still based on 2.4m x 1.2m sheets and also initial sump/refuge designs
After I found my preferred supplier I revised my cut plans to meet their sheet sizes (first one is acrylic then glass)
My second last cut lists for acrylic build display tank
My second last cut list for glass build display tank
After placing the orders for the sheets of glass and acrylic I had to continue practicing cutting glass and acrylic. That took a very long time as I'm definitely not a natural. Then it was onto selecting materials to join the glass and acrylic. Everyone on the web said to use weld on #4 for acrylic but it was almost impossible to find (so I used weld on #3). There were so many options for silicones though but I couldn't pass up GE SCS1200 (however I did use Selleys Aquarium Silicone for my sump/refuge).
My top three silicones were:
Next it was time to start choosing gear, but I got stuck on lights for quite a while. Who knew there was so much to know? I wanted to match the sun for my daylights and the moon for night light but after researching, I found that corals need more of certain light spectrums that others and need different kelvin temperatures for different plant cycles.
After finding the exact measurements I wanted I had to find products that matched those specifications. At the same time, I had to be conscious of the heat generated by my lights selection, on going costs, water proofing, water depth penetration, etc, etc.
My final selection was a mixture of lighting. I purchased LED moonlight from the states, four plant grow lights from a Melbourne supplier and surprisingly I also purchased outdoor LED spotlights from China. After finally selecting my ideal lighting, it was time for the fun stuff...choosing gear.
The above list was just my starting list. It got quite large after that. I ended up purchasing a Bubble Magus external skimmer only to find out weeks later that there is no stock anywhere in the world but luckily Reef Octopus was just about to release a new external skimmer for tanks my size (oversized of course), so the I had to wait for that. I also decided not to go with canister filtration (Ill show you why in a post after the actual tank builds). I also went with a TECO 20 chiller rated for aquariums 2000 litres. I was souring ebay, the reefuge market place and several other places for the best products at the best prices. This took many hours but Im very happy with the results until...........
I forgot to take into consideration the water in the actual pipes, which meant I needed a bigger sump/refugium :(
Back to square one!
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