Crispins tank number 3 (cycle faster than lance!)

[crispin]

Its time to fire up my tank again.

This is a tank with a history and a passport!

Tank stats.
1.8m length
65cm water depth over over-flow
60cm width
Total DT volume of around 680l (180 gallon)

Intended mixed reef with heavy fish load.

Equipment
Tank

The glass is 10mm all round with a double layer over the bottom. It is Euro braced right round with a large central brace across the centre at top too. The tank is on a metal stand with polystyrene cushion between tank and stand. The stand is 90cm height allowing one to view the tank while standing and NOT bending and giving me height beneath the tank for a big skimmer. The stand and tank are finished in dark cherry wood with a closed fitting matching lid. The tank was originally designed for all sides viewing and I have kept that look at present, although I may place a backing to it. Unlikely as I intend to use a small office space behind the tank and have the tank as a room divider, thus being able to view the tank from behind as well.
Sump
The sump is a very simple design with three chambers. First chamber is a DSB, second chamber houses an impressive Deltec Ap851 skimmer, which is over rated for the tanks volume, although there is thought to that as well. The water flow comes over a durso stand pipe and is split between Skimmer and first chamber, with roughly 70% going direct to skimmer. A simple ball valve controls this flow. The sump is 1m length X 0.4m width and 0.55 height. An expensive Eheim return feeds the tank with 4500l/hour. This return pump was chosen by its previous owner due to its quiet nature and is largely the reason that having the sump open at the back is possible.

Internal Water flow.
I have four primary pumps for internal water flow. 2 seio M1500 are controlled by a seio controller which is mounted inside the sump area. These two deliver 6000l/h each on max. To limit the visual effects of the pumps in tank I have mounted these against the overflow chamber with magnets. All internal flow pumps will be magnet mounted, sucker mounts are never reliable and I will not male the same mistakes again. Near the return pipe I have a Tunze 6100 (with ‘tunze mod’ of half the protective ribs removed from cover) on a tunze 7094 multi controller giving a max of 1200l/h. The tunze controller only has one pump attached at present and with funds permitting I will switch from seios to tunze controlled pumps (4 possible controllers) and use photo period lights from this controller. I also have a boyo wave maker on controller but for now I am leaveing that and some spare seios out of the equation. The tunze is a very powerful pump and I will guage internal flow based on the amount of flow I get from the pumps in at present.
Lights



Initially I am aiming at setting this tank up as a mixed reef with LPS and Softies. However I enjoy photography and will set my lighting more in accordance with this than I will with the lighting of the corals. I intend to have 2 double ballast 80W T5’s with three white tubes and 1 blue. Supplemented with 4 54W T5 actinics. Bulbs will most likely be geiseman or Ati. Lighting will be DIY for now. With such heavy lighting, the hood will get warm so I will add a fan, although the back is open anyway.



Mechanical Filtration

This is primarily controlled with the AP851 Deltec skimmer. I will be implementing a ‘ more biology less technology’ approach to the filtration of this tank, but the skimmer is my primary defense and will be run 24 hours for the run in period of this tank (estimated 7 months for maturation of biological filtration).
Chemical Filtration

Initially this is handled with rowaphos in a small phosphate reactor, but with time I may include Carx system to this tank
Biological Filtration

This will be the primary filtration of this tank with a mixture of methods employed.
I will start with 150-200kg of LR as the heart and lungs of the filtration.
I will run a small dsb in first chamber of sump.
I will aim at putting 250kg of aragonite into the display tank, with sections that are deep enough for anerobic activity, if not the whole bed.
I will aim at using a small algae turf scrubber as well.
Heating/Cooling

I use 2 300W jager heaters to supplement each other and ummmmm chiller not required in my current location! J
Auto top up and additives/dosing

I have a designated 100l RO reservoir and manually add kalkwasser, although I will use a kalkstirer when I feel its needed, depending on inhabitants. A ATU is a vital piece of equipment, especially to keep the water levels constant and thus the skimmer running at optimal skim-mate production.
I intend to look into different dosing methods such as vodka as a carbon source supplemented by additional bacteria, but that’s a way in the future yet.

[ziyaadb]

Awesome man nice to see the tank finally being setup

[clinton stanford]

wow! that sounds awesome Crispin cant wait to see this build.
good luck man.

[dallasg]

woohoo, been waiting for this!!!
sounds awesome, look forward to some visuals

[crispin]

yeah it is indeed, been close on a year that this tank is in a crate, so getting it filled with RO at the moment, but thats painfully slow. I'm almost tempted to put it outside and let the snow fill her up!

[leslie hempel]

ride on that donkey bud get it going

[crispin]

Originally Posted by clinton stanford

wow! that sounds awesome Crispin cant wait to see this build.
good luck man.

thanks fella i was really lucky in that the prevous owner knew alot about tanks and had it buildt right to start. I benifitted alot from his thoughts back then, and i am really looking forwad to taking this tank on

[crispin]

Originally Posted by dallasg

woohoo, been waiting for this!!!
sounds awesome, look forward to some visuals

i will have to get off my butt and resize the pics of the move, from South Africa to Norway and then into the house, its been a real laugh with a few scarey moments inbetween. The move in to the house from the farm sheds was a story in its own right with a tank ballanced on the forklift of a tractor and taken in through the window. but you should see the whole house build that has had to go on in order for the tank to be able to get in here, and then the tank isnt quite in a place that I want it. But it will do

[dallasg]

Originally Posted by crispin

i will have to get off my butt and resize the pics of the move, from South Africa to Norway and then into the house, its been a real laugh with a few scarey moments inbetween. The move in to the house from the farm sheds was a story in its own right with a tank ballanced on the forklift of a tractor and taken in through the window. but you should see the whole house build that has had to go on in order for the tank to be able to get in here, and then the tank isnt quite in a place that I want it. But it will do

sounds like fun, but now that u filling it, too late to move it hehe

[crispin]

Originally Posted by leslie hempel

ride on that donkey bud get it going

lol I moved the sump in on sunday, redid all the plumbing, installed the controllers and mounted them inside the tank, planned the wiring, put in skimmer and return pumps within two hours

it really is alot easier the second time round

[crispin]

Originally Posted by dallasg

sounds like fun, but now that u filling it, too late to move it hehe

its 1/4 full and i can empty it easily, but if i move it, it will be 40cm forward so that I have a little more room behind the tank, then i can fit in a desk and a small office and work from there. with the tank viewing on all sides i would still have a good view of the reef, so planning and plotting.......

[dallasg]

Originally Posted by crispin

its 1/4 full and i can empty it easily, but if i move it, it will be 40cm forward so that I have a little more room behind the tank, then i can fit in a desk and a small office and work from there. with the tank viewing on all sides i would still have a good view of the reef, so planning and plotting.......

sounds well worth the effort

[ben lloyd]

well done boet!

[Mekaeel]

This sounds lekker bro! Cant wait to see it up and running

[Neil H]

YEAHAAAAA

I have been waiting for this thread

[Jaak]

It's about time!! Well Done fella...

[Kunhardt]

Nice to see you are no longer a reefer without a reef. Sounds like its going to be an awesome system. Can't wait to see it up and running!

[crispin]

Originally Posted by ben lloyd

well done boet!

thanks fella, its taken almost as long as your build and its not even half the size without moving walls!


at least i didnt have to get the non reefer a mx5 to get permision like u did

[crispin]

Originally Posted by Mekaeel

This sounds lekker bro! Cant wait to see it up and running

i am afraid you wont like it much, it will have sand in it, be lps dominated and have clean glass, far cry from the sticks you seem like love

[Warr7207]

Eish, about time