400 Gal sunroom reef

[Skimmy]

now all u need are some solar tubes with magnifying lenses in them! :lol:

 

[jesseb]

Thanks for the compliments

Zephrant -

No idea on deflection calculations - I didn't do any calculations - but have heard of others using similar, and just went with it. I wanted to have a wide open space underneath the tank for the sump and to be able to roll it in and out for sump maintenance - couldn't think of a better approach - 4" seemed the right amount.

Painting was some number of coats of primer (three I think, followed by a comparable number of coats of enamel paint, not epoxy).

Sunroom is actually attached to the house, although I have exterior french doors which close the room off from the house. I also put in 4 windows (usually leaving several slightly ope) as well as a sliding glass/screen patio door as well as, and a 110 CFM bathroom exhaust fan which runs pretty much full time (more for humidity than heat). I fully expect I'll have to put an air conditioner in the room for at least part of the summer. I put (extended) two heating ducts from the house heating system into the room, as well as put a small $35 ceramic heater from home depot in. The room bleeds heat in the winter (all that acrylic doesn't hold alot of heat), but, expecially with the ceramic heater, the room was quite comfortable all of this past winter.

Only time I've seen humidty on the windows has been on really cold nights (sub 35ish), mostly without the ceramic heater on and with the ceramic heater running, it has has generally dried up pretty quick (and the windows cracked open a bit). Beyond that, i've been surprised how nice and easy it has been.

I don't have a direct response on growth rate right now, other than that it is growing. I'll keeep an eye on it will try and shoot reports. I'm adding a bunch more SPS in the next few weeks. I also added 3 maxima clams two weeks ago (thank you Barry!) and they seem very happy and everything seems to be getting a good amount of sunlight (I'll add lights next fall unless i see a need sooner).

I actually decided to go with out lights for now (I'll add some in Septemberish) because I was being impatient (after a year of patience, it ran out ) and it looked like there was so much sun hitting the tank, I figured I'd experiment. I plan on running an apogee on the tank in the next couple weeks as well to see what the PAR is in the room and tank, i'll post what I find after that.

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

 

[snobanker]

Puleeease, some of you people are so easily impressed....some guy builds a little sunroom, puts in a 400 gallon clear box, fills it with water, builds a rock stand around it and everyone is impressed JK of course...that is amazing. I really want to add a sunroom onto my house too and would love to move my 180 out there....thats a sweet set up you got there, nice work.

 

[jesseb]

I thought I'd throw in a couple of closeups of a few of the tank denizens... these were taken in the sun.

I've taken a few [UN-scientific light measurements on the tank - 1:30 pm today (very sunny) - using the apogee meter - set for sunlight:

Out of doors: 1955 PAR
Inside sunroom: 750 PAR
6": deep in tank: 360 PAR
18" deep in tan: 340 PAR
24" deep in tank: 320 PAR

The critters are a rose a. millepora, a pincoushion urchin, and a torch coral.

 

[Maxx]

Jessie,
I'm assuming these readings are w/o supplemental lighting and is from sunlight only? That would explain the minimal differences in PAR readings between depths in your tank. Assuming those valuesare just from natural sunlight, they're pretty decent so you really shouldnt need to run much (if any) supplemental lighting...

Nick

 

[jesseb]

Mojo Frog Spawn....

For those of you entertained watching me move the infamous MOJOFROGSPAWN at the PSAS BBQ a few weeks back, here's a few photos of it in it's new home - and for those of you coming on the PSAS tank tour this weekend (July 16) a little teaser for you....

 

[CarlaW]

Heck, I wondered who's butt was hanging out of the tank!!!

Nice froggie

 

[Forestal]

wonderful tank, just love the look of real sun

 

[jesseb]

Sorry Maxx about the delayed response.. you are right - it is without supplemental lighting and is sunlight.

I've actually been toying with putting up a couple of supplementary 250K's. Coral's are doing well, but not coloring up. We haven't had enough consistent sunlight - and you can sure tell the difference in the corals when they are in the sunlight.

Another interesting thing I need to keep an eye on with the sunlight is the beams. Those big wooden beams (I guess their 4 x 4 or so) do cast pretty large shadows - which move throughout the day. Question is whether they cast shadows in any one spot for too long. I haven't spent nearly enough time in the sunroom when it's been bright and sunny to have figured some of that out.

Jessie,
I'm assuming these readings are w/o supplemental lighting and is from sunlight only? That would explain the minimal differences in PAR readings between depths in your tank. Assuming those valuesare just from natural sunlight, they're pretty decent so you really shouldnt need to run much (if any) supplemental lighting...

Nick

 

[-=dieseldave=-]

Sweet setup Jesseb.

 

[Lunchbucket]

very very cool set up. so where are the pics of the clams?

keep us informed!

this set up would NOT work where i am at. 80below w/ windchill in the winter...that would NOT be possible to keep it warm

Lunchbucket

 

[Krish]

Jesseb, I've been coming back and forth looking at your tank for a while now and haven't even complimented you on how good it looks (where's my manners). That's because it's ugly (LOL) Just kidding. It looks great and I love your idea of using natural sunlight for it. What could be better than a little bit of nature.

 

[jesseb]

I'm sorry it's been a while since I posted anything.. summer busyness, broken camera and a rebuild of the sunroom have slowed things down a bit. I'll try to get some updated photos over the weekend.

A brief update: Sunroom has had problems, and required a rebuild. We had some bad wood on the beams, so I made them replace it all. It's now almost done, and doesn't appear to leak - much better. We covered the tank when they were working, and ran the lights at night.. screwed everythings' cycle up a bit, but they got over it.

Tank is rocking. Seeing lots of sponge starting to grow around the tank, fantastic extension on the corals, good coloration, fish are growing noticeably (the hippo tangs have gotten huge by inches). The bad news is I've had to add lights... it did well really well for about two months over the summer, but the cedars around here are simply taking too much of the sunlight... everything was doing ok with 5 -6+ hours of sunlight a day on the tank.. it's now down to (at least if/when the sun is out again) to only a couple of hours - 2 -3ish... everything slowed down and lower corals started losing some coloration. Clams unfortunately nuked prtty quickly after the sunlight dropped.. it was what made me realize I needed the lights.

I've added 2 Luminarc reflectors each suspended over one of the rock bommies in the the tank, with 250W, 10K mogul halides, running on Icecap Electronic ballasts that I had. Lights are about 12 inches above the tank.. I might lower a bit more, and might consider converting them to either 250WDE or 400W - I'm going to let it ride through the winter and see how it goes. I think its around 135 PAR I'm getting down at around 10 inches.. I need to remeasure lower depths.

I've also added the spongebox into the sump and cycle a Euro-reef CS-6 for a couple of weeks out of the month.

Observations:

Couple of things I'll likely change after the winter...

Bigger, higher head pressure pump on the closed loop. Despite all of the current, I'm getting more settling on the rocks than I want.. most of it is from the urchins, but they are keeping the algae pretty well under control. I'm certain the Dolphin 4700 isn't pushing enough head pressure to drive the eductors optimally. When I do the change, I'll likely also add 2 more eductors to each side for a total of 5 per side.

Lighting - I'll let the current 250Ks run over the winter, but suspect I'll lower them a bit, and maybe even add 400s. I like the look of the tank right now, but suspect in the dark of seattle winter I'll decide I want it brighter... but for now we'll wait.

Other than that, I'm really quite happy with the design, can't say I can think of anything major I'd change.

I'll get some more photos real soon.

 

[Krish]

Thanks for the updat Jesseb! Sorry to hear about the rennovations you needed to make, but I'm glad everything worked out. I'll be looking out for your updated pictures!

 

[Lunchbucket]

thanks for the update...but we need a pic

Lunchbucket

 

[jesseb]

Krish75 - thanks for the concerns, but no worries for me - I've never had a tank yet that didn't deserve some renovation at some juncture. I built this one expecting it, so it'll be far less painful than if I had actually thought I got it all right - since I almost provisioned for it

By popular request, here are a few more pictures that I took within the last week. the shots were taken at night, and you can see the Luminarc's in all of their glory. I will be putting a fascia on them to finish them, but have to get some time to go get it.

Enjoy and thanks!

 

[CarlaW]

Good stuff!!! I see Mike's old Froggie is doin well. I still remember the hassle that was getting that thing out of there. Keep up the good work.

 

[Krish]

Thanks for posting the pictures...I really love your rock work with all of the crevices. I'm thinking on a similar setup, but I'm just trying to decide if I'm keeping the rock backwall I have or removing it all togther. Thanks for posting once again...The tank looks great!

 

[jesseb]

Good stuff!!! I see Mike's old Froggie is doin well. I still remember the hassle that was getting that thing out of there. Keep up the good work.

Yeah, sure was fun getting it.. but well worth it. That Froggie is pretty damn happy... I'm already thinking about how I'd open up more room for it when it gets a bit bigger

I wish I could take credit.. but the tank sort of run's itself.. I just feed it ;-)

 

[donalddonald]

good sunroom,good tank

i also running a outdoor tank with natural sunlight, and hope to hear and see more from your's !
good job, and good luck !