ReefWaters' 220 Sun Room Reef

[ReefWaters]

I started my first reef tank when I was 15. It was a mixed reef with a ton of live rock, VHO lighting, and a wet dry tower. It did okay for a while but was never anything special. I broke it down when I went off to college but never lost the bug. I started reading everything I could find (a little after the fact ), and started looking at Reef Central and Reef Keeping Magazine almost every day. I finally felt that I had enough knowledge to get back into the game so I started up a 50 gallon cube four years ago and designed it to be sps dominated. Here's the thread to my 50 cube. This tank was always meant to be a “practice tank” for something bigger and nicer. Which leads us to this thread….

I’ve been working on this project for almost a year now. Its been going really slowly so I haven’t wanted to start a thread. Its finally nearing completion so I figured I would start posting some pics. But I will warn you, its probably going to be a few more months before any water goes in the system. I still have a lot to do and I have very little time lately because of work. That’s actually a good thing though. Okay, enough chat

The Basics

Display - 220 gallons
- 60 x 48 x 20
- External Overflow
- Made by Aquarium Obsessed

Refugium
- ~ 90 Gallons
- 60 x 20 x 18
- This will be located higher than the display tank and the prop tank and will drain directly into these two tanks.
- 2 x 250 watt MH in Luminarc reflectors, IceCap ballasts
- 6 or 8, 60 inch, 140 watt VHO’s on IceCap ballasts

Propagation Tank
- ~ 60 Gallons
- 60 x 20 x 13
- 2 x 175 watt MH on Reef Fanatic electronic ballasts.
- 2 x 48 inch, 110 watt VHO actinics

Primary Sump
- 40 Gallons

Water Change Sump
- 55 Gallons
- This tank will run parallel to the main sump. I will be able to cut it off, change the water, and turn it back on, slowly adding the new water back into the system and avoiding having to mix trash cans full of new water.

Secondary Sump
- 20 Long
- This sump will have much easier access than the main sump. All of my probes will be located in this sump, as well as the reactor supplies and effluents, and the skimmer supply and drain.

Skimmer
- Deltec AP702
- Feed pump – PanWorld 100PX
Ca Reactor - Barr Aquatics CR 1200
Kalk Reactor - Precision Marine KR620
Display Return Pump – Iwaki MD 40RLT
Prop Tank/Fuge Return Pump – PanWorld 100PX
Circulation - All circulation in the display will be provided by EcoTech Marine VorTech Propeller Pumps. I’ll probably start with the two I have and add two more in time.

Control – Im going to start out using the AquaController Jr that is running my 50 cube. I am planning on upgrading the computer to the AC III or III Pro.

Temperature Control – I am going to have several heaters throughout the different tanks of the system. The fish room air temperature will be controlled by a 12400 BTU mini split air conditioner. I’m hoping (crossing my fingers) that the A/C will be able to keep the tanks temperature from going too high and will keep me from having to buy a chiller. The mini split is a heater as well.

[ReefWaters]

Well, that’s enough of that. Now for what everyone has skimmed over my babbling to get to….the pictures.

Ive always dreamed of having an in-wall tank. The only place in my house that would allow this, was the wall between my living room and my sun room. This actually turned out to be perfect. First off though, the sun room had to be gutted and completely remodeled. I replaced all the windows, insulated the walls, and replaced the sheetrock.



I took the opportunity to add a floor drain and a utility sink to the room. As well as 3 new circuits and plenty of outlets.





And why redo just one room….when you can over extend yourself and redo the rest of the house….

[ReefWaters]

The sun room was an addition to the original house. It was originally just a screen porch. Sometime, I think in the 60’s, the porch was framed in and windows were added. I had to remove a window and completely reframe the wall in order to create the tank opening.

From the living room.




From the fish room.






Plumbing for the mini split air conditioner. Above the display tank.


The finished product from the living room.

[ReefWaters]

The tank arrived last Tuesday. I had procrastinated on finishing the stand, so it sat in my driveway all last week while I built and painted the stand.


Moving day! Sunday, August 28, 2007.

[ReefWaters]

Here’s a SketchUp of the fish room layout. Ive already figured out the plumbing but there is very little chance that Im going to draw it in. It just takes too long. This helped me a lot to get the feel for the room….before I started handing out credit card numbers.

[jnarowe]

WOw...it's taking a while but the results are stellar. What a sweet tank! and the viewing room is really nice. I like the color a lot. Well, the brown anyway!

It's interesting that you put the AC unit right over the tank. I wonder how that will work and if there will be any conflicts with equipment and heat etc.

So nice to have a floor drain...that's one thing i am missing in my tank room.

[fishdoc11]

Wow! That's a bunch of work!
Congrats on getting to this point....it looks very nice
Very nice size/layout on the tank as well.
Chris

[clamdigr]

Looks great! Can't wait to see this progress. I like the size of the tank and the external overflow is cool. The view from the family looks first class.

[ReefWaters]

Thanks guys. I started thinking about this tank probably 2 and half years ago. I physically started working on it a year ago. Im glad to see it shows.

The A/C has louvers and a flap to direct the air flow. You cant see it, but there is also a 52 inch outdoor fan in the center of the room. Im hoping there will be a no problem with air flow in the room.

[Lunchbucket]

DANG NICE BUILD! Can't wait to see it finish up!

I'm "working" (haven't done crap) on my 170gal cube (48x48x20") too. I think it will be like yours a LONG time in the making

Lunchbucket

[hawaiianwargod]

That's a heck of a project! I love it!!! Very impressive I should say!

[melev]

You are doing a beautiful job, and I love the look of that tank. Nice colors, new flooring... you'll love this setup once it is up and running.

You may find the need for a drip tray under the A/C unit, to catch salt creep mainly. I'm not familiar with that particular type of unit though.

Your sketch-up is sweet. I need to take the time to take a look at that at some point.

[thirschmann]

Nicely done bud, glad to see you used that sketchup advice well, very nice.

You pulled a 180 on the viewing room, it looks really nice man, congrats on a job well done thus far.

And of course that tank looks AWESOME. Can't wait to get mine as its almost the same size. Looking forward to what comes next, keep us posted.

[Bax]

The depth of the tank will be very nice from the viewing side! Really great build!

[BeanAnimal]

That looks wonderful. I am glad evreything is coming together.

[Wazzel]

You may want to consider putting some cross bracing on your stand. Structurally it is not a good idea to not have cross bracing when supporting somthing heavy.

Nice work.

[i2ik]

I can already see that your tank will be a wicked one! Good job on it! Looking foward for any updates

[adddo]

Wow, very nice job sofar, cant wait to see more progress on this one! Good job and keep updating us!

[ReefWaters]

Thank you again everyone! I REALLY appreciate the props.

The only big thing standing in my way right now is what to use for my fuge and prop tanks. They are both going on the white, aluminum, powder coated rack, behind the display. The fuge will be on top, and the prop tank in the middle. I cant seem to find a standard tank with a 60" length (the length of the stand). The stand is also 20 inches wide, which is not standard. I am debating on whether I want to build my own tanks, or order them custom. Any thoughts? Either way, I need to get off the pot.

Once these are in place, its just a matter of putting it all together, filling it, and moving everything over from the cube.

[jnarowe]

If you have the time, build them yourself. If not, find a starving acrylic guy!

[russ49merc]

I like the a/c unit above the tank I use those in server rooms but very good idea.

[trueblackpercula]

very nice please keep posting. Man thats a lot of work but it will be worth it.
Michael

[ReefWaters]

Here's the plumbing layout. I've never run a secondary sump the way I'm trying to do it. I don't believe there are any missing components or problems with the design though. The only tank that should change its water level due to evaporation is the main sump. Every other tank should fill to its respective overflow.

Please let me know if anyone has any questions or see any problems with the design.

[jnarowe]

Looks good. Why don't you gravity feed the skimmer from the display? Then you could cut out a feed pump right?

Your drawing is nice for sure but why the secondary sump as a separate unit? Seems like you have an extra return pump when you don't need it. I have two sumps as well. The display overflows into the inbound sump and skimmer. Then the water travels through two valved lines to the outbound sump, while the skimmer also feeds to the outbound sump. Then the return pump goes to a manifold that feeds 4 lines to the display, 1 line to my reactors, and 1 line to the fuge, which overflows into the display.

Because I have used flexible PVC, I can take either sump offline for an extended period for replacement, cleaning etc. without stopping the water processing flow. Just some thoughts for you to consider.

[melev]

The only thing that stands out to me now as well as before is the 40g main sump. I think it is too small.

Try to determine the surface area of every vessel, assuming each one will drain only 1" worth of water. Will the main sump hold all that water in the event of a power outage? If it will, then you're set.

If it was me, I would make the main sump huge. Just eliminate the water change vessel. Turn off the external pumps and let all the water collect in that main sump. Pump it out and replace it with new ly aged saltwater. It shouldn't take more than 20 minutes, then restart the pumps.