Puget Sound Cold Saltwater Tank Design

[lfiedler]

I'm setting up a local puget sound tank. I'm planning on keeping the temperature at about 52 degrees. I bought the whole setup from a marine bioligist!! - but not sure how be plumbed it all up. It's a 65 gallon tank, 15 gallon sump, 1200 gph mag drive pump, and a delta star DS-4 1/3 HP chiller.

I'm wondering if I can plumb / tee together both dourso standpipes into the chiller, or if I should have some values (as in the picture) to reduce the flow.

What do you guys think of the the plumbing in the pic? What would you change?

Cheers,
Lars

 

[Herefishyfishy]

I would be using only one return pump to minimize heat

 

[Curtswearing]

How many GPH are your Durso standpipes rated for?

 

[dnjan]

If you have enough flow in your tank to wash detritus out of the tank through the overflows, do you want that detritus going directly into the chiller?
I would think it would be better to have a return pump in your sump that sends the water through the chiller and then back to the main tank.

 

[lfiedler]

I think you're right about having the chiller on the pump out side. This way the water is clean. And on the delta star, the in opening is on the bottom, while the out is on top, I think they designed it to be flowing into the tank. This way I won't have to tee together the standpipes.

I just hope the pump isn't too powerful since the max gph of the chiller is 1200.

 

[dnjan]

I would guess that the 1200gph rating for the pump is at a fairly small head. The headloss through the chiller, plus the return piping, plus the actual lift height will reduce the flow to significantly below 1200 gph.

 

[lfiedler]

Thanks for all the feedback. Here's an updated diagram w/ the chiller on the intake side. I've also been thinking about adding some small carlson surge devices. I'm hoping this will simulate waves since a lot of the things in the tank will be from tidepools.

 

[pan-d-man]

Lars, have you had the system up and running yet? I have been running an 80 gallon cold water Pacific NW aquarium for almost a year now. I continue to experiment. I have had many different species of fish, inverts, plants, corals...some with great success. My biggest challenge is keeping the water cold enough. I bought a 3/4hp chiller and it works it's butt off to keep the water cold. I have insulated parts of the un-exposed parts of the tank but still feel it should not be so hard to maintain 52*F. I have also had issues with condensation in the summer months. I am thinking the best thing to do is to make the tank thermo-pane by adding another layer of glass to the sides that are un-insulated. I love the tank and would not give up. I have had many reef keepers and other fans and even some who know nothing oggle over the display. Have you run into any others on this forum that share this style interest?

 

[dnjan]

I believe that an acrylic tank would be more efficient in insulating a cold-water tank from room heat. If planning for a coldwater tank from the start, it would be possible to specify an acrylic tank with thicker sides/bottom.

 

[edwing206]

For a coldwater tank, it has to be acrylic and I believe 1" or thicker to keep he tank from sweating.
Steve Weast has a couple AMAZING coldwater reefs. Check them out.
http://oregonreef.com/sub_coldwater.htm

 

[lfiedler]

The chiller is only 1/3 hp, but I think the delta star's were made for coldwater tanks. What kind of chiller do you have? The guy that had the setup before me had no probs keeping it cool, so hopefully I will have the same. The entire sump is ensulated, so that might help.

 

[edwing206]

Per Steve Weast's advice, use schedule 80 plumbing for EVERYTHING. It keeps the plumbing from sweating even on the hottest of summer days(Well, in Seattle anyways).
And insulating the plumbing will help keep the tank cool. Also, since most of the creatures that you typically place in coldwater tanks are non-photosynthetic you don't need too much lighting. T5's will suffice.
Have you read the link I posted to Steve's systems? I really learned a lot. And his tanks are just amazing.

 

[pan-d-man]

Chiller

The chiller is only 1/3 hp, but I think the delta star's were made for coldwater tanks. What kind of chiller do you have? The guy that had the setup before me had no probs keeping it cool, so hopefully I will have the same. The entire sump is ensulated, so that might help.

I have a Polar from ebay. A titanium coil so it should last good. I keep it clean to be efficient. My 20 gallon sump is fully insulated with 1.5" rigid foam. I have a small 1100gph pump that just circulates the chilled water in the sump. My 3300 pump transfers the sump water to the aquarium. I do not use any mechanical filters. Currently I have bio balls but I plan to ditch these since the substrate has had sufficient time to setablish it's own bacteria base. I am hesitant to add any type of filter to prevent the plankton from being filtered out. I live only a mile from the straights here so I do a 30 gallon replacment about once a month or so. It was once a week for the first several weeks. I do not have any problems with amonia, nitrate or nitrit levels. I have a healthy stock of hermit crabs, some purple shoure crabs and several muscles and barnacles. These all do a great job of keeping things pretty clean. I have three other pumps in the aquarium that alternate every 15 minutes to keep ditritus from collecting anywhere and it keeps the eel grass healthier. Many of the areas I collect from also have fairly strong water movement so everything seems to enjoy it.

Pass along your experiences when you get her up and running. I can give you some suggestions for good stock to begin with. Some adjust immediately and some fight it for weeks before settling in.

 

[apollothesun]

I have a Polar from ebay. A titanium coil so it should last good. I keep it clean to be efficient. My 20 gallon sump is fully insulated with 1.5" rigid foam. I have a small 1100gph pump that just circulates the chilled water in the sump. My 3300 pump transfers the sump water to the aquarium. I do not use any mechanical filters. Currently I have bio balls but I plan to ditch these since the substrate has had sufficient time to setablish it's own bacteria base. I am hesitant to add any type of filter to prevent the plankton from being filtered out. I live only a mile from the straights here so I do a 30 gallon replacment about once a month or so. It was once a week for the first several weeks. I do not have any problems with amonia, nitrate or nitrit levels. I have a healthy stock of hermit crabs, some purple shoure crabs and several muscles and barnacles. These all do a great job of keeping things pretty clean. I have three other pumps in the aquarium that alternate every 15 minutes to keep ditritus from collecting anywhere and it keeps the eel grass healthier. Many of the areas I collect from also have fairly strong water movement so everything seems to enjoy it.

Pass along your experiences when you get her up and running. I can give you some suggestions for good stock to begin with. Some adjust immediately and some fight it for weeks before settling in.

any pics of your setup?

 

[epiphanus]

Thanks for all the feedback. Here's an updated diagram w/ the chiller on the intake side. I've also been thinking about adding some small carlson surge devices. I'm hoping this will simulate waves since a lot of the things in the tank will be from tidepools.

Sweet..! That should look great, especially an oversized one that brings down huge surges like we see in the PNW rocky shores (dropping somewhat below the uppermost rockwork). I always thought some surfgrass would look awesome periodically waving in the strong water water movement/hanging off of emersed rocks. You are lucky to have some truly beautiful creatures at your disposal right there in the Strait.

 

[beoks]

yes please post some pics im very interested in this. i dive a lot in sound and have always considered this but just never taked the plung

 

[mmn_usn]

http://www.thereeftank.com/forums/f6/updated-cold-water-reef-pics-73323.html

thread on another site that has a cold water setup

 

[pan-d-man]

Pictures

any pics of your setup?

We got snowed in today so I decided to tackle the task of getting some pictures. I am not really set up to take good pictures, it is much harder than one would think. This is my first attempt to upload pictures so I hope it works...

 

[pan-d-man]

Pictures

any pics of your setup?

Here is a batch of close ups. The upload is not too bad once you get the pics reduced to the right size...

 

[pan-d-man]

Pictures

any pics of your setup?

and a few more...