introducing my 870gal tank (pics ahead)

[RalfP]

Hi all,

this is Ralf from Germany, Hamburg introducing my 870gal in-wall tank.
Finding this group, dedicated to the slightly bigger tanks and reading about your
great setups and beautiful tanks its only fair to show you mine in return.

Thanks for your great work here, i love to read about how things are done on the
other side of our beloved ocean.

After the (hopefully) following images i'll attach a list of the equip. i use.
Basically its a Berlin method tank, Ca/Mg/KH is done by "Balling"-method i.e. adding
chemicals by dosingpump (MgCl2/CaCl2/NaHCO3/NaCl free-Seawater).

Well, time to get out of the dark now:

















The 870 USgal (gross) reef is running with the following devices:

Size: about 9.8 x 4.3 x 2.8 ft. frontglas made of VSG Optiwhite glas Silicone joints covered with glasbars

- V2A-steel stand
- 4 * 400 Watt HQI Giesemann System 400 (Megachrome)
- 4 * Lumimaster T5 (each 2*Aquascience special + 2*Osram Blue 54 Watt)
- 5 * Lumimaster T5 (each 2*Aquascience special + 2*Osram Blue 24 Watt)
= 2944 Watt max. at high noon switched in 5 groups
- 120 USgal filtersump
- 12 m3/h Red Dragon with antichalk mod. as sumppump
- 2 * 14m3/h Red Dragon with antichalk mod. as currentpumps outside the tank
- 2 * 20m3/h Tunze Streams changeing every 6 hours with nightslowdown
- 2 * 12m3/h Tunze Streams with nightslowdown
- 2 * Tunze Wavebox with nightslowdown
- Tunze currentpumps with 2 * 2,2 kVA UPSs
- skimmer Bubbleking 500 (580 - 1320 USgal )
- IKS-Aquastar measuring for safety
- Grotech dosing with 11 channels (Ca/Mg/2*KH/2*NaCl free Saltwater/2*Reefwater (Balling method) + Sr/I/traceelements)
- osmosis with ion exchanger (autom. rinsing/level 400 USgal container in cellar)
- waterlevel in sump maintained by IKS (refill) with SP4800 hose pump (Grotech)
- mech. prefilter in outlet shaft, finefilter in sump
- Rowa ?flowbed-filter? as phosphatabsorber/Aktivcarbon etc.
- UV sterilizer from Deltec with 4 * 34 watts
- temperaturecontrol via splitlevel aircon in tankroom
- 1/2 of sump is algaefilter (Caulerpa) lighted only at night
- 50 USgal (one rainbarrel) waterchange a week
- Axis 2100 cam

[crzy4reefs]

[welcome]

wow what a magnificiant tank and set up you have, your fish and coral are amazing.

[E-A-G-L-E-S]

awesome reef, impressive equipment list! i wish i had some red dragon pumps

"TOTM" material - IMO

- Grotech dosing with 11 channels (Ca/Mg/2*KH/2*NaCl free Saltwater/2*Reefwater (Balling method) + Sr/I/traceelements
...??

....and more pictures would be great, thanks for sharing

[yoboyjdizz]

So beautiful! man looks like i need to go back to the drawing board my 280 just an't going to cut it anymore.

[j_beau_13]

holy crap... BEAUTIFUL!!!

[jgsensor]

All I can say it WOW! That is a truely beautiful tank.

[RalfP]

Thanks for your kind replies so far,

Matt,
i use Grotech dosing pumps for supply of liquid chemicals.
Basically its a controller with 3 peristaltic? hose-pump (squeeze-pump?) included.
You can add a max. of 2 modules with up to 4 additional pumps each (which is 11 in total).
You can than simply program them independently with how many milliliters a day and in how many portions they should pump. (Unfortunately for large reefs they support only up to 2 liters (0.53gal) a day so i have to use 2 channels for my NaHCO3 dosage).
http://www.grotech.de/ENGLISH/index.php?c=1&s=teciiing is the vendor-site.

I use the 11 channels for:
1 - CaCl2 solution for Ca support
2 - MgCl2 solution for Mg support
3+4 - NaHCO3 solution for KH support
5+6 - NaCl free Salt solution to prevent Ion displacements
'cause Ca/Mg/NaHCO3 support also puts NaCl in, which'll have to be compensated
7+8 - remove of tankwater (which than is replaced by ro/di water by level controller)
'cause above additions will raise salt concentration
9 - Strontium/Barium solution
10 - Iodine solution
11 - Traceelements from QFI

and of course i will be glad to take aktual pics of the techroom later
(its 1 am here in the moment and therefore dark in tank and techroom ;-)

Best,
Ralf

[E-A-G-L-E-S]

thanks for clearing that up for me

can't wait until tomorrow

[seaguy7]

That is a stunning setup. How long has it been up and running?

-Greg

[Lunchbucket]

NICE!! love the aquascaping

Lunchbucket

[vishboy]

Beautiful.

[White Tiger]

How do you clean that tank??????????????

[Adrianto29]

awesome ..... greaaaaaat
should become TOTM soon

[dalbrecht]

Beautiful tank, I really like the construction surrounding the tank. I'm assuming the rectangular panels are some type of door to provide access?

[Alphabet]

Awesome tank, great rock work!! JUST AWESOME!! I agree TOTM. More pics..

[clutch]

Very nice tank......

[RalfP]

Hi again,

thanks for your warm welcome and overwhelming judgement.

@Greg
the tank is running for nearly a year now, some coral/fish are a lot older
'cause this isn't my first tank.
Well i have to confess that some critters have been bought already bigger.
The 19" diameter Braincoral and 15" Tridacna derasa for instance.

@lunchbucket, alphabet
you're too kind.
The reef is completely built of LR.
It mainly consists of pylons made of drilled LR plates, put on PVC pipes.

@white tiger
as it is a in wall tank with its own room behind (see following pics) i can
easily access it from both sides. There is a frame on the tank which allows
me to put a plank on it and lie myself down on it if i really have to.
The lighthood can be lifted with a winch (taken from a sailboat supplier).
But i don't do cleaning other than cleaning the windows every 3 days.
About 200 snails, 150 hermits, 2 sea cucumbers, 3 sand cleaning starfishes,
a Amblygobius phalaena and other fishes are doin' the rock- and sandcleaning.
The return pipes of the external current pumps are behind the reef so no
detritus shows up there.

@dalbrecht
you're right, the large pannels above the tank are to be lifted.
I attached a pic to show it.

I hope i did not overlook a question.

Well, here are some pictures "behind the scenes":

One of the pannels for frontaccess lifted:


The tankroom, sump with skimmer to the right, one of the PVC-pannels which
hides the tankroom from being seen from the frontside is removed.


Sump with skimmer and Caulerpa (cover removed):


Electr. setup, fuses, clocks for lampswitching etc.:


The previously mentioned 11 channel dosing pump and the "winch" for lighthood-lifting:


The lifted lighthood (made of V2A-steel)


A view from the back into the tank (removed pannel), which no visitor normally sees ;-)


The sink in the tankroom (with mask for coral placement)
(unfortunately you can reach the button of the tank either by hand or gripper,
but then you could't see what you're doin' anymore.
So one will have to put on the diving-mask and put the head into the water.)


A room in the cellar where i store 400 gal ro/di water, salt, spare parts etc.
and do my saltwater mixup. With switches in the tankroom i can switch
pumps for saltwater or ro/di water in this room to be able to see what happens
to the tank when pumps are on.


T(h)anks for viewing,
Ralf

[eidillitih]

man, that is nice. I love the fish room. Can't waite to get mine, I'll make sure I steal some ideas from ya.

[Reef Man]

Do you have pictures when you start to setup this tank?
Beautiful !!!

[boris MAC]

Were is the overflow box situated, because of two waveboxes?
And ..yes.. awesome

[RalfP]

Eidillitih,
feel free to do so... and don't forget to install pumps&pipes for your waterchanges if you have the choice. It pays off a lot (at least because you'll really do the frequent changes if its that easy ;-))

ReefMan,
is there anything you're particulary interested in?
It hurts so much to show those ugly old pics that i'll only attach some if you don't ask for more ;-)

boris MAC,
i attached a pic with the empty tank to this post.
The grey box at the left are two overflowboxes in one.
The left one in it is equipped with two pipes leading into the sump, one at the bottom
for normal overflow with a ball-valve in it to dam up the water so you cant hear the waves
and the other pipe ending a little above tankwater level for safety (if first is closed for some reason).
The right one has 4 drillings two for sucking-in the water for the external red dragon
current pumps and 2 for return into the tank.
I would always recommend dam-up able overflows if using waveboxes to reduce sound-output.

Here are the pics:

Theres a hole in the wall (and the old door is gone):


The V2A steel stand:


The frontglas is being lifted and later glued:


The tank itself with half finished lighthood and installed waveboxes and some streams:


The overflows from back side:


The first coral (a montipora)



best,
Ralf

[boris MAC]

I would always recommend dam-up able overflows if using waveboxes to reduce sound-output.

I wish you could describe me this, I do not speak English very well , so do not understand this profi terms

thanks

[RalfP]

@boris MAC
i am sorry, maybe thats a problem I created, because I don't speak English well either :-).

What i wanted to say is that i would recommend the following overflow setup when using waveboxes:

Use 2 drillings in the tank and therefore 2 pipes in the overflow leaving the tank.
(1) One pipe ends/starts at the bottom of the overflow box.
(2) One pipe ends/starts at the top of the overflow box.
So the water will flow through pipe number one because its on the bottom and
pipe number two is not in use.
After pipe 1 leaves the tank there is a valve to reduce the throughput of water a little
(adjustable).
You now close the valve a little so the water rises in the overflow shaft near to the top but
not (or only a little) flowing through pipe 2.
No water is FALLING into the overflowbox (because its full of water) and no (or only a little)
sound is to be heard.
If pipe 1 or the valve is closed because a snail or something is getting in there, its still no
problem, because the water then flows through pipe 2.
Thanks for asking,
Ralf

[boris MAC]

Greta Ralf, thanks for your time, btw great web presentation...so much to look and read this days

[IsThisNameTaken?]

Wow Ralf, this is incredible! Thanks for sharing.