North Dakota Mini-Ocean

[Elliott]

nope, reef crytals, even put an anemone with clowns in after 3 weeks, all still doing fine, no livestock problems.

however, I did add "reef stew" from our LFS a few times, loaded with amphopods, copopods, etc. also, all 500 lbs live rock was fully cured from other reefer's tanks

[Reefaquariumnut]

Glad to hear the continued success!! It does help out the live rock was fully cured too

[spazz]

Originally posted by Reefaquariumnut
My wife is almost more excited about this project than I am...weird!!

i am glad to hear she is excited about this. i was hoping that she would be. she did an unbelievable job of designing that house. i was hoping the designs we came up with would fit here ideas for the bar area.

Originally posted by Reefaquariumnut


Scott - Should I start buying corals and housing them in my 150 gallon tank? Or was that just for fish holding? Either way I need a new sump/protien skimmer system for that tank. I am going to get my stand guy to come over tomorrow and get him started on those two stands.

not yet. you should concentrate on the main equiptment needed to get the Q tanks/frag tanks up and runnng. then all the rock from the 150 can be housed in half of that system. the other half of the system can be used for houseing new corals. then the 150 can be taken down and move into place so you can start to buy fish for the system.
we can also get one of the sumps for the main tank built right away to house the rest of the rock in incase you have to treat corals in the Q tanks. once the main tank is hooked up and the dry rock is in the tank we can fill the main tank with salt water and hook that into the sump that already has the live rock in it. this wll alow the current live rock to seed the new dry rock.

Originally posted by Reefaquariumnut


I am going to order the equipment list we spoke about yesturday next week and get the air exchanger installed in the next week as well.

Once I get the two tanks from you I think things will speed up.

Let me know if you need anything from me.

make sure to order all the items you will need to get the 2 frag/Q tanks up and running. i forgot to mention heaters for these systems.
i have an aquacontroller 2 that i can bring up and put on the 2 frag tanks temperarorly until you have the other system there and on line. this will prevent a crash due to a programing glitch. then we can turn over the frag system to the computer system you are going to buy later on.
also we never discussed any type of moonlighting for the main display. you should do some research on larger led moon lights for the main tank and the sea horse tank.

some body here might have some recomendations for moon lights that would work good for that large of a tank.

[Reefaquariumnut]

Scott, just so we are on the same page I need to get 2 - protien skimmers, 2 - T5 light bars, 4 - Tunze nanos (2 for each tank), and 2 - sump return pumps (not sure which size?)...I can buy a controller as well (won't I need two of these anyway?)...If there is anything else let me know.

[Reefaquariumnut]

Almost forgot, I have a couple extra heaters I can use too.

[Reefaquariumnut]

Scott - Then you will provide the two tanks, sumps, and overflows, correct?

[spazz]

Originally posted by Reefaquariumnut
Scott, just so we are on the same page I need to get 2 - protien skimmers, 2 - T5 light bars, 4 - Tunze nanos (2 for each tank), and 2 - sump return pumps (not sure which size?)...I can buy a controller as well (won't I need two of these anyway?)...If there is anything else let me know.

yes that is what you would need to keep them 2 tanks seperate from eack other. (2 - protien skimmers, 2 - T5 light bars, 4 - Tunze nanos) that way you can house corals in either tank and keep them seperate from eack other. one for Q tank and the other for sps. or to house softies and sps to keep them seperate from each other.

its good you have the heaters. you wont need them then. its up to you when you want to purchase the controller. there is alot of equiptment to purchase and it will be a big bill to swallow if you were to buy all of it at once. i knoticed that you have a tree in the yard but its not a money tree.
i would do some research on the different controllers to find the one that best fits your needs. the only reason i mentioned the aquacontroller is the tunze controller that can be added to the unit.
maybe some one can chime in if there is a better controller that can also control the tunze streams. i have not done enough research in that area to know all of them and what they are able to do.

Scott - Then you will provide the two tanks, sumps, and overflows, correct?

yep

[jnarowe]

check out http://www.aquariumcontrollers.com/

[Reefaquariumnut]

Scott - Which return pumps should i buy for the sump back to the tank?

Oh you didn't see the money tree I had in the back yard?!?! It was just starting to get ripe with "cool" $100 bills

Thanks for the comparison chart JN!! I will do some research.

[Reefaquariumnut]

I meant the small tanks return pumps...

[Reefaquariumnut]

I did some checking and I think 2 - Reeflo snapper pumps might work for the small tanks.

Just so I don't make a mistake when talking to my stand contractor...I have dimensions of 42" wide and 18" deep. The first tank platform I have at 24". The second, I am not sure if its 34" above that platform or 34" from the floor (so 10" above the first tank?)...Also, you mentioned that each tank will have an external overflow on the tank that will feed the sump. Where on the tank will we mount those and also do we need to make space for that? I just want to make sure all the bases are covered before I give the stand guy a set of plans.

[spazz]

Originally posted by Reefaquariumnut
I did some checking and I think 2 - Reeflo snapper pumps might work for the small tanks.

Just so I don't make a mistake when talking to my stand contractor...I have dimensions of 42" wide and 18" deep. The first tank platform I have at 24". The second, I am not sure if its 34" above that platform or 34" from the floor (so 10" above the first tank?)...Also, you mentioned that each tank will have an external overflow on the tank that will feed the sump. Where on the tank will we mount those and also do we need to make space for that? I just want to make sure all the bases are covered before I give the stand guy a set of plans.

you dont need alot of flow from the sump to the tank. so i would say an eheim 1260 would be fine. you will need some good circulation in the tanks though. that is why i recomended the tunze nano's or the hydor pumps for circulation.

if you can feed all the water from the tank intothe skmmer you will have alot cleaner water. that is why i woud recomend the smaller feed pumps. 400-600 gallons an houre is plenty of flow to a skimmer that is that small.

[Bax]

The small tank behind the bar sounds cool! Watching my fish and enjoying an adult beverage are some of my favorite things

[Reefaquariumnut]

Scott - What about the tank stand dimensions? did that sound right in my previous post?

[Reefaquariumnut]

Couple updates:

The HVAC contractor suggested I use a Venmar Air-Exchanger in the tank room. It has an internal filter and a poly-core which will work perfect for the conditions. I will add a 2 kW in-line heater to warm the air from the outside during the winter/fall months. I also have central air in the room for the summer months.

Also, I think I will use a couple DAS EX-1 skimmers for my two frag/quarentine tanks. I wanted a recirculating skimmer that would hand a good sized bioload for 75 gallons. The consensus seemed to think the DAS would be the best choice.

Next, I will have some cabinents with uppers made and installed in the next month. I am thinking of 6' of work-top space with a deep sink. I will also have a mini fridge installed under the countertop.

Lastly, I have my tank stand guy coming back to make a couple more stands. I will have him make stands for the hospital, frag, quarentine, and seahorse tanks.

The air exchanger will be installed around the 1st of the year and Scott will hopefully have my two frag/quarentine tanks done soon thereafter. The cabinents will be around the 1st of Feb.

[jnarowe]

DAS work well, you will not be disappointed. SOmetimes you need to mod them for flow, and/or choke the air, if you can believe that. Set up properly it will look like a milk jug.

[Ken Sellick]

I would add a humidistat to the tank room as a controller for the air exchanger.

Do you have plans for a back-up generator? With a system this nice it would be a shame to not have that in the design.

[Reefaquariumnut]

There will be a humidistat as well a temp control in the tank room. I do have plans to put a generator in the mechanical room to run the bare essentials (pumps, skimmer, T5 lights) if the power fails to those circuits.

[Reefaquariumnut]

One thing I forgot to mention...I will have negative pressure tank room. Will help to keep all the "stuff" in that room stay there.

[Reefaquariumnut]

Since I've had some lull time with the tank I have done numerous hours of research on an equipment list. I would like to hear some suggestions on the equipment list below.

Lets make this list based on what you think will work BEST for this particular system...Lets take money out of the equation and go for best performace/value for the application. Basically if you think the performance is worth the money (no matter how much) suggest it.

Suggestions for any/all would be greatly appreciated!

Closed Loop Pump -

Main tank Circulation Pump -

Main tank return oscillator/water director/eductor (Sea Swirl, WavySea, etc) -

Powerheads -

Lighting -

Protein Skimmer - Volcano!! This one is set in stone.

Carbon filtration -

Phosphate Reactor -

Calcium Reactor/Effulent Chamber -

Kalk Reactor -

UV Sterilizer -

Ozonizer -

RO/DI unit -

Float Switch -

Dosing Pump -

Controller -

Chiller -

Heater -

Misc/Other Suggestions -

[jnarowe]

Closed Loop Pump - Sequence

Main tank Circulation Pump - Sequence

Main tank return oscillator/water director/eductor (Sea Swirl, WavySea, etc) - If any, WavySeas, but you proobably won't need it.

Powerheads - Hidden Tunze

Lighting - Ushio SE 20K MH

Protein Skimmer - Volcano!! This one is set in stone.

Carbon filtration - * Ask Scott to build you an all-in-one.

Phosphate Reactor - *

Calcium Reactor/Effulent Chamber - *

Kalk Reactor - Deltec

UV Sterilizer - Aqua Ultraviolet Viper

Ozonizer -

RO/DI unit - SpectraPure

Float Switch - SpectraPure

Dosing Pump - SpectraPure

Controller - http://www.aquariumcontrollers.com/

Chiller -

Heater - Medussa/Aqua Logic

[Reeftoker]

Reefaquariumnut
Sent you a PM

[Lunchbucket]

jnarowe - NICE list man. I'd have to agree pretty much but if it were me I'd put an OM 4 way or 8way on your CL. I like the random flow they produce.

Lunchbucket

[jnarowe]

LB: OM's are fairly good for smaller tanks, but present some problems for larger ones. We have to really run a lot of flow and generally speaking don't want to be worrying about failures. The OM line does have some issues well documented, and for a tank this size, he is really going to have to step up from that level. I would guess his in-tank flow target to be somewhere between 25,000 and 35,000 gph.

[Elliott]

OM's cannot handle back pressure, like that produced when using eductors to increase flow, I have tried, the drum won't turn. They do well as long as there is no restriction to outflow at the ends, otherwise they will handle a hammerhead without a problem.