Go Big OR Go Home! Construction of a 1000 gallon System!!

bstone · #1 10/22/2005, 09:15 PM

Well, I always went by the philosophy of "Go Big OR Go Home"!

I have decided to do just that with my new tank. The whole system will be approximately 1000 gallons. With a main display tank at L-120, W-48, H-30. I will have 3 sumps, one for equipment, one for coral propagation, and one refugium. The tank has been planned and designed for the last year with help from some good, and experienced friends in the business. The tank will be an in-wall, with a very "large" fish room. The tank is going in my family room wall that is two stories tall. So, it will look awesome with the design I have planned.

I decided to get my tank from Derek at Miracles Aquariums, and what a pleasure it has been so far dealing with them. I have complete confidence in the quality tank I will be getting from them. The tank is already under construction, and Derek has sent me some pictures. It should be ready in a few weeks.

I have already started construction on the new fish room and tank stand. I torn down all the drywall and ran my own electrical. So, I have added all the 120 and 240 volt outlets that I could possible need. I have also designed a stand that will hold the 4 tons of weight. The stand was designed and engineered to withstand the weight, and then some!! And, yes I am on a slab. I plan on going with the same lay-out of stand/plywood/self-leveling cement/and stro-foam. I have done this in the past with my current tank with great success. I have enclosed a few pictures for viewing.

JumboShrimp · #2 10/22/2005, 10:38 PM

looking good.... gotta flollow this one!

Bigred · #3 10/22/2005, 11:06 PM

Looking good. Miracle Aquariums does good work. Mine is 76"Lx48"Dx25"T and came out great. Hope you have lots of help to lift that bad boy. I used 10 people on mine.

tabndust · #4 10/22/2005, 11:11 PM

taggin along

Lordhelmet · #5 10/23/2005, 12:30 AM

i'll be watching this one.

Kent E · #6 10/23/2005, 01:00 AM

That stand is rediculously overbuilt and completely awesome at the same time

massman · #7 10/23/2005, 02:50 AM

Personally I think a steel stand (pvc coated) with 6 legs would've have been the way to go.
No warping issues in time, and would have allowed you to use the space underneath.
Having said that, the stand looks pretty good though!

If that bottom pic is of your external overflows, than you certainly do live by your philosophy!
Might be worthwhile attaching a platform around the back and sides of your tank that you can walk on, and reach into the tank from. 18"wide is all you need, and saves having to move a ladder each time.

Is that 1" glass?

dgasmd · #8 10/23/2005, 08:27 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by bstone

Dude, that stand can duble as a cargo plane landing pad!! I am sure it has more structural integrity than the house you are going to ahve the tank in

Good work!

sadsak · #9 10/23/2005, 09:21 AM

wow ..........that stand is heavy duty

shaw · #10 10/23/2005, 09:46 AM

can't wait to see how this develops

bstone · #11 10/23/2005, 09:52 AM

massman
I thought about having a metal stand built. But, with the uneven cement and there is a header on the front legs that is about 1" higher then the rest of the cement. The metal stand would of been uneven and it would of had to been wedged to make level. Also, space really isn't a concern, plus I really don't like stuff under the tank; hard to get too. I wanted something to distribute the weight over a large area. Derek recommended a 4x4 every 2 feet, I also believe this to be a good way to distribute the weight over a large area.
I am planning on making a walkway on all 3 sides for easy access to the tank. The lights will be retractable and will be on a rail so that I can push them back to work on the tank.

Bigred How hard was it to lift the tank. Derek is delivering mine, so I can use his glass suction cups. I plan on 7 guys, 2 on each side and 3 in the back.

BigReef · #12 10/23/2005, 10:46 AM

You are going to need some SERIOUS flow for that bad boy! What are your plans?

Can't wait to see it in person!

Tim

nbd13 · #13 10/23/2005, 11:09 AM

what type of tank are you going for? SPS, reef, FOWLR?

Nick

dgasmd · #14 10/23/2005, 11:38 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by bstone
Derek is delivering mine, so I can use his glass suction cups. I plan on 7 guys, 2 on each side and 3 in the back.

I have a tank of the same dimensions you have and it is 3/4" all around. I can only tell you for sure that 7 guys is not going to be enough. It is not so much the dead weight of the tank, but the bulk of the size. I would personally get 9-10 people. I tried with 8 for mine. These were construction workers and movers and they tried lifting it for a few seconds. Another simpler and better route was chosen.

bstone · #15 10/23/2005, 11:49 AM

BigReef

I did close loops on my current tank and I see some disadvantages with them compared to Tunze Streams. Therefore, I am going with no closed loops and about 6 - 8 tunze streams. I will also have 5 1" sea swirls for sump return. I feel that this will give me more then enough flow.

nbd13

It will be a reef tank with mainly SPS, a lot of fish. I already have most of my fish in my current tank. I plan on adding a few more tangs, wrasses, and some other anthias.

dgasmd

That is what I was afraid of! I guess I will need more people. All the muscle that will be needed is to lift it about 1 - 2 feet up and then over to the stand. So, minimal lifting is the key here. I will be putting out an request for any "big" reefers in my area to come and give a hand. Ofcourse free beer and pizza!!

Large Polyp Dave · #16 10/23/2005, 04:50 PM

good idea on the tunze for flow.

CL's are over-rated on really large tank. the amount of electricity to run all the pumps on a CL is scary

and then bulkhead riddle bottom panels are even more scary =)

how many viewable sides will that tank have?
what kind of lighting do you have in mind so far?

bstone · #17 10/23/2005, 05:19 PM

Large Polyp Dave

Thanks for the comments. I agree with the Tunze Streams over CL.

Since the tank is in-wall it will only be viewable from the front. The sides and back panel will be in black.

The lighting will be: 5 luminarc III reflectors with XM 10k 400 watt bulbs, and then Actinic lights along the front and back.

tomasz · #18 10/23/2005, 07:14 PM

Bstone how are you going to get the sides and back in black? Also I just moved my tank which is 96*42*30T and I had 10 people to move it. It was no problem what so ever I think I would be fine with 8 people. Good luck with this.

bstone · #19 10/23/2005, 07:44 PM

tomasz

The builder is somehow making the sides and back panel in black. I don't know how they do that with glass!

massman · #20 10/23/2005, 08:16 PM

Fair enough about the stand, although every single one of my metal stands have always been built with adjustable feet. (I would put them on the wooden ones too!)

There is a solution that is available that is mixed in with paint allowing it to stick to glass beautifully.
It's pretty popular here not for tanks but for feature walls, kitchen splashbacks, countertops etc etc.

dgasmd · #21 10/23/2005, 08:20 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by bstone
tomasz

The builder is somehow making the sides and back panel in black. I don't know how they do that with glass!

A couple of guesses on this.

1. They will just paint it over with black paint

2. They wll use a black thick film over the glass itself.

I have seen it done both ways and honestly looking from the inside of the tank you can tell which is which.

sixxer · #22 10/23/2005, 09:00 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by massman
Fair enough about the stand, although every single one of my metal stands have always been built with adjustable feet. (I would put them on the wooden ones too!)

There is a solution that is available that is mixed in with paint allowing it to stick to glass beautifully.
It's pretty popular here not for tanks but for feature walls, kitchen splashbacks, countertops etc etc.

massman:

I would be curious to see how you would go about installing adjustable feet on a wood stand. I have thought about doing this, however I feel with the wood stand that their is a chance the feet could eventually "Sink" into the wood causing the tank to become unlevel.

Any suggestions? Especially on something this big.

massman · #23 10/23/2005, 09:39 PM

I have seen this done with the feet bolted onto metal end caps on the base of the legs.
The end caps were fitted by stirrups that ran up about 4" on all 4 sides of the legs with 3 screws on each of the stirrups.

Can you follow my crappy description?

sixxer · #24 10/24/2005, 08:46 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by massman
I have seen this done with the feet bolted onto metal end caps on the base of the legs.
The end caps were fitted by stirrups that ran up about 4" on all 4 sides of the legs with 3 screws on each of the stirrups.

Can you follow my crappy description?

Yes, thanks for the info. (Sorry to hi-jack the thread temporarily)

Keep the pics. coming

bstone:

Do you plan on going BB, DSB, or Shallow sand-bed?

Also curious where the sump will sit in relation to the main display tank?

Thanks

bstone · #25 10/24/2005, 03:50 PM

sixxer

I plan on a shallow sand bed, and then one of my sumps will have a deep sand bed. The sumps will be on the other side of the room. I will post some pictures that shows the rest of the room in a few days. The chiller will be outside, therefore I will have to drill holes in the brick for the tubing.