400 Gal sunroom reef

[jesseb]

OK - some pictures of the 400 Gal sunroom reef - I can't thank mojo enough for the help.

Tank from front: 400 Gal glass tank - starfire front. 8' l x 32" w x 30 " h. Around 450 - 475 lbs of rock. No substrate on tank bottom.

Tank from back. Couple of things to give you some idea around size – the top of the tank is about 6’ 5” from the floor behind the tank. All 1-½” plumbing. You’re looking at two separate circulation systems – one which is a closed loop and has a motorized ball valve that changes water direction in the tank every 10 or so minutes. The other collects water from the overflow box, passes it through a sump where the ecosystem helps remove water pollutants, then pushes back to tank through a slotted spray bar across most of the back bottom. Actual water flow into/through tank is around 6500 -7000 Gals per hour – because of eductors I’m using, increases the turbulence in the tank about 3 – 4x fold, the effective flow rate through the tank is likely around 15000 gph.

 

[jesseb]

and more

This is the sump. It’s about 150 Gal acrylic – probably 100 Gal of water in it. The sump is set up as an Ecosystem Aquarium system - it has several chambers. the one you see with rock will ultimately have an acrylic sponge box in it (live sponge – requires little to no light and passive water flow). I’ll also be putting in a euroreef protein skimmer and my deltec calcium reactor they’ll sit on the spongebox. The sump is on wheels, so I can pull it out to work on things under the tank or in the back of the sump.

Pumps. This is the return pump from the sump to the tank - ampmaster 3700. The yellow pump is a Blueline 40 HD-X (I think) pushes about 1200 gph through the 1000W heater (the red fireplug) then back into the sump. Pumps are on separate circuits – if any one pump goes down, there is no real impact on the tank circulation – other than a less water flow.

 

[jesseb]

Stand

Stand is built from 8 x 16 cinder block (concrete filled) and 8' long, 4" steel I beams. The tank sits on 1/2" pressure treated plywood, and a piece of 1/2 foam. The cement slab under the tank stand is about 10 - 12"

 

[jesseb]

Tank overflow is an external wier. 2 1-1/2" outputs go to the sump. You can see the return coming over the far side of the tank.

You can also see one side of the close loop behind the rock. 2 eductors up top, 1 eductor blowing down. The tank has a lot of turbulence - I don't see anything settle.

 

[bigdave]

WOW! That is a great job love how it is in the sunroom. Please keep the pics coming looking forward to see you progress. Dave

 

[bc_slc]

great looking tank. Would love to see some action shots of the educators in action. What do you plan on keeping as far as livestock?

Mat

 

[jesseb]

I'll see what I can do on live eductor action. I just see lots of turbulence on the surface, and occasionally little whirlpools about. You can see some of it on the side shot.

I've got a bunch of green chromis and squamapinnis anthias in it right now - a few corals - a couple of acro frags and some anthelia - they are my guinea pigs. I need to get light on the tank to seriously put corals in - it's getting nice light - but I can't count on it here in the northwest

It'll be mostly sps and lps, with clams. Fishwise it will be mostly schooling fish - I'll end up with a lot of anthias I'm sure... some small angels, tangs.. usual indo reef culprits...

 

[bc_slc]

what are you planning for lights? Enclosed canopy or suspended light system? With the room being as it is, I think a couple of well placed, tastefully done pendants would look sweet.

 

[bradreef]

nice tank. You have a lot of work ahead filling that thing with coral.

 

[CarlaW]

We are definitly going to be looking forward to some progression pics. It will be interesting to see what happens with the tank being in a sunroom. I really like the way the plumbing is done. Nice clean job!!!!

 

[jesseb]

what are you planning for lights? Enclosed canopy or suspended light system? With the room being as it is, I think a couple of well placed, tastefully done pendants would look sweet.

Definitely suspended lights - probably just 2 or 3 250W or 400W 10K - pendants. The room (even on dark, cloudy days) is probably 3 or 4 times brighter than any other room in the house.

I'm guessing I see things pretty much the way you do

 

[jesseb]

Sun Shots

Here's a few shots of the tank in the sunlight.. it's getting enough that I'll likely not put lights on it until september.

Corals I put in there are attaching and starting to color up. Clams come tomorrow!

 

[Tarasco]

Amazing set up. Make sure and keep us updated.

 

[Scooterman]

That is just Wicked Cool man!

 

[esmith]

That is awesome...this will really cut down on your electricity requirements, at least for 4 - 6 months of the year .

Do you plan of having any SPS in this tank? It will be interesting to see how they grow & color up under the sunlight you are getting in there.

Keep us posted.

-Eliyah

 

[jesseb]

Thanks much folks.

I've had a few pieces of acro in the tank for about a month. They've already attached to the rock and are coloring (darkening to purple or dark blue I think) The tank will be sps, lps, clams and fish pretty much.

 

[CarlaW]

All I can say is wow, I mean WOW.
That is really impressive, can't wait to see some more pics in a couple of months. That should really tell what is gonna be goin on in there in the future.

 

[Vtec Si]

WOW nice tank! I also like the aquascape.

Martin

 

[Zephrant]

Jesse- Very nice setup, I really like the steel beam setup. I have a few questions:
Did you have the deflection calculations on beams? What was the max deflection in the center?
It looks like you painted it with an epoxy paint, did it work out well?
I am guessing that the sunroom room is separate from the main house?
Do you plan to heat the room in the winter?
Any humidity problems on the windows?

I'll be very interested in your growth rates with natural sun only. I've been thinking about doing something like your setup for some time, but am concerned that here in the PNW there may not be enough power savings from the sun to counter the heating costs in the winter time.

I'm not so concerned with my own growth rates, but use that as a measure of the overall health of the system.

Thanks for posting-

Zeph

 

[Elmo18]

Wow, this is a nice setup

Awesome Jesse !

- Elmo