A ~19,000 Gallon Fish Tank

[nuro]

curiousity question, i apologize if this was already covered i read the thread but may have missed it: i understand the reason for not running the pumps to the ocean water 24/7 but what are the plans for water movement when a water change is not in progress? even at this size i would expect a need for at least some circulation of the water on a close to persistant basis.

 

[nahham]

Originally Posted by nuro
http:///forum/post/3179815
curiousity question, i apologize if this was already covered i read the thread but may have missed it: i understand the reason for not running the pumps to the ocean water 24/7 but what are the plans for water movement when a water change is not in progress? even at this size i would expect a need for at least some circulation of the water on a close to persistant basis.
Thanks for the question. I haven't thought of it seriously and this is why we are starting with fish, sand, and live rock. I kinda had a change of heart and am thinking of running the 2 pumps continuously which should give me around 80,000 g/h rate meaning the water will change 4 times an hour. Do you think this will be enough or should I think of additional ways for water movement?

 

[nahham]

Originally Posted by sean48183
http:///forum/post/3179755
Stunning! I would be in that thing everyday diving around. Plans look awesome. Like the above tank sitting area. Always like looking down at fish on the reef. You have any fish in the fish farm currently? Also what are some of the local fish you get on the reefs there? Have to be some beautiful fish right on the reefs near you.
We do have fish in the fish farm right now.

I apologize for not having the english name for it. We currently have around 200 of those. We also through in whatever we catch but I am not sure those are still alive, the fish in the fish farm is quite aggressive.
As for fish we are planning to keep, I posted earlier some of the photos of fish but I'm hoping I can get some clown fish and similar fishes as well. It all depends on the fish we catch and bring in through various ways.

 

[taznut]

i love the dimensions of this thing... if it was 8 feet tall it would be the size of my apartment...

 

[nuro]

Originally Posted by nahham
http:///forum/post/3185617
Thanks for the question. I haven't thought of it seriously and this is why we are starting with fish, sand, and live rock. I kinda had a change of heart and am thinking of running the 2 pumps continuously which should give me around 80,000 g/h rate meaning the water will change 4 times an hour. Do you think this will be enough or should I think of additional ways for water movement?
i would think this should be sufficient for oxygenating the water as you would be pumping in ocean water, and if you're just planning on fish only the overall flow in the tank would really only need to be enough to prevent any dead spots. running the pumps continuously should also prevent dramatic spikes in the tank temp.

 

[nahham]

Hello all,
Some updates for you.
The sitting area and bridge is very close to being done. The seating area over the aquarium is around 3.5m (~11.5 ft) x 5m (~16.5 ft). The glass should be installed tomorrow. Here are some photos of the progress:

A photo from far far away.

A grand shot showing the full aquarium.

The view from the corner.

The sitting area.

The bridge over the fish farm.
The bad news is that the side of the fish farm couldn't hold the water anymore (we had a leak in it as I mentioned before) and it broke dropping the water level around 2 feet; enough to kill all the fish before I had the time to do anything about it.

 

[sean48183]

Bummer about the fish farm but I bet you had one heck of a fish fry. Plans look great keep us posted.

 

[skate020]

sorry to hear about the fish farm
i bet that set you back a few bucks
look on the bright side tho, the aquarium is really coming together! it looks awsome,
you planning on having any coral lfe in there at all?

 

[nahham]

Hello,
I still don't have pictures but just wanted to tell everyone that the glass is installed. I'm just waiting for the steel lining to be installed before I take photos. Stay tuned

 

[hobrien]

A big old school of Porkfish would be eye catching.

 

[rebelprettyboy]

This is a pretty exciting massive project

 

[dingus890]

This is beyond amazing! Can't wait to see the rest of the progress

 

[nahham]

Hello everyone,
It has been a bit slow. We are contemplating building a refugium next to the tank. We then will have a semi-closed system. Not sure yet though.
Here are some shots of the glass.

A side shot of the the three pieces of glass. Each glass piece is a meter high by ~3.5 meters wide. The thickness is 24mm.

One of the glass pieces.

A shot from inside the tank. The glass guys first put fiberglass on top of the cement and then glue between the fiberglass and the glass pieces.

Another shot from inside the tank.

 

[dingus890]

It's coming along nice!

 

[erifish3]

Very nice indeed

 

[dee77]

im stayin tunned this is sweet

 

[sean48183]

unbelievable! I cannot wait to see this puppy filled.

 

[nahham]

Hello,
As I mentioned before, we are contemplating building a refugium next to the tank to help a bit with the clarify and quality of the water. We are only interested in natural filtration. Here is what we came up with thus far:

.
The far-left side is where the water is returned from the tank. This will house some live rock and live sand. The middle section will also have live sand and live rock. The far-right the return to the tank.
I have a couple of questions I was hoping y'all might help me with:
[list type=decimal][*]Is there a particular size the refugium should be? The current design features a ~3000 gallon one. Is it too small? Too big?
Will this setup help with the water clarify?
[/list type=decimal]

 

[t316]

Well, since I have not had a 3000 + fuge up & running in the past week, or EVER....No, I don't think I can help a whole lot with that one

. You might want to contact some public aquariums to get some tips.
Coming along nicely...

 

[beth]

A refuguium would definitely be a good addition, particularly if you choose wisely with contents.
What are you doing for water movement? Will you be using a skimmer of any kind? Skimmers are in keeping with a natural filtration system, since it simulates the foam action cleaning process of the ocean.
What is the pollution content of the sea water nearby that I assume you'll be using?