Dream Reef

[memnoch]

I'm currently making plans for building a house in the next couple of years. One of the things i strongly desire for my home is a large reef tank. I'm planning on have a large rectangle recessed into the living room wall with the exposed side jutting into my study. I really would appreciate some suggestions on a kick butt setup. I thought of having multiple MH mounted from the ceiling in the study to rest 6-8" over the tank surface. My only experience is with wet/dry filter media, any suggestions on alternative filtration. I'm a big believer in 1.5lbs LR/gallon and intend on using this to prevent clear view from one room to the next. Don't let cost hold you back from designing this Dream Reef for me, i'll worry about that when the time comes

 

[broomer5]

I would include a state of the art kick butt maintenance fish room.
One with multiple sinks, storage, water testing area, and one sweet saltwater mixing station and a drain in the floor.
Wall mounted RO/DI unit.
Mixing station with multiple water holding vessels, all plumbed with pvc pipe and ball valves.
One vessel for storing RO/DI.
One vessel for mixed aged saltwater.
One vessel for mixing saltwater.
One vessel dedicated to RO/DI water auto top off system to display tank sump a few feet away.
All mixing storage vessels with individual mixing pumps and heaters.
Mixing pumps/aeration and transfer pump to my tank sump system and pump from sump back to waste/drain. Never lift a bucket.
Ideally - if you could incorporate your sump with a very large nitrate reducing algae refugium - both located in this "maintenance" area room - and do ALL of your wet work ( aside from in tank cleaning )from this dream room.
Kick butt monstor protein skimmer is desired.
200 -300 gallon tank would be sweet.
MH fixtures and air cooling system above tank with ductwork to vent hot air above tank to outside vent.
VHO/Icecap actinics.
Drilled tank with multiple overflows and return spraybars ALL hidden from view. The only thing you would see in this tank would be rock/inverts and fish. No pipes, no powerheads, nothing but a natural setting. Everything exiting under the tank - and plumming back to the maintenance room.
Access doors to get to all components, finished off in woodworked cabinets.
QT in fish room as well.
Drain in the floor of this fish room for ease of mopping up any leaks or spills.
Small freezer for frozen foods, and possibly a dedicated live food tank to raise pods and other live tasty morsels.
Tank set up with the sweetest live sandbed and tons of live rock.
Corals and fish of your choosing.
From any view of this dream tank - I would not want to see one single piece of maintenance equipment.
Beautiful reef tank.
Hidden efficient, user friendly maintenance area.

 

[byrself]

wow, broomer hit that nail right on the head. sounds like a dream reef to me! i envy you memnoch.

 

[azonic]

And when your done spending $20k on your house, you can come spend it on mine as well

 

[fallen04]

i purchased some land and i am putting a shop and a aquarium next to my house so my wife cant fuss about all my tanks in the house.

 

[slick]

Wow Broomer sounds like you have thought a lot about this. I was going to put my 90g in the wall having the back of the tank in the closet so I could do all my work in there but the old lady wouldn't let me go figure.

 

[ruaround]

Originally posted by broomer5:
[QB]I would include a state of the art kick butt maintenance fish room.
One with multiple sinks, storage, water testing area, and one sweet saltwater mixing station and a drain in the floor.
Wall mounted RO/DI unit.
Mixing station...etc [QB]<hr></blockquote>
Damn broomer, thats what dreams are made of
!!!

 

[byrself]

i like the never lift a bucket statement.

 

[lnarobbins]

man, I was going to ask this same question! the dream tank in my mind is 250g. me and the misses are also going to build our house in about 7 years when my x-mas trees come on line. I'll re-post this question when that time comes... maybe the tank will get bigger in my mind the wife said "any thing I want" I won't repeat the dream that was printed earlear in this. I want it to be a surprise!!!!
you got me thinking
thanx (I think)
alan

 

[putster]

When I have enough money, this is the type of setup I want. Here's a link.
<a href="http://members.lycos.co.uk/roger32/aquarium.html" target="_blank">http://members.lycos.co.uk/roger32/aquarium.html</a>

 

[angief]

Take a look at MR4000.com. His tank is so neat and it's huge. I often sit and dream about having a tank all the way down one wall of the living room but i have to win the lotto for that I think. It's good to have dreams though, cos who knows one day we might just get what we have been dreamin of...

 

[nicenakago]

If you got $$$ to burn I suggest moving to one of the pacific islands. I have a friend on Hawaii that has been in some killer living rooms on the back side of the island. They build the room at the shoreline BELOW the water level... that's right... BELOW! The walls to the ocean are glass.... Talk about low costs on stocking your tank!

 

[demosthenes]

Wow, I went to the first link, plus Mr4000 but wasn't as impressed, but the first link blew me away. Wow, a 6-some thousand gallon tank! 2000 gallons a day filtered out! That tank is da bomb. Everyone should go to the link and look at the first three links from the page. It was awesome!

 

[bluemarlin]

Memnoch,
I am a bit ahead of you. You've got a great idea and I hope you go through with it. Let me offer some encouragement. Five years ago I built my first in wall tank. It was a 120 gallon saltwater that I built in a dividing wall in my basement. One side faced my office and the other faced the unfinished part of the basement. There I had everything I needed. Sink, floor drain, electrical, everything. I built my own stand to support the tank and house the filter/sumps below. I built panels that could be easily slid open to reveil the filters. Once closed they offered sound deafening qualities.
Last Decemeber I moved into a bigger home. I did the same thing immediately except I upgraded to a 180 gallon tank. I drilled holes in it and created an overflow. This I plumbed down and under the tank, through the custom stand I built and into a 55 gallon sump I built. This 55 gallon tank used to be my "big" tank. Now its just the sump. Awesome! Anyway, The sump has a wet/dry area that flows into a holding area where the water is processed through a Berlin SKimmer, the skimmer then pumps the water over the next section of the sump where two 700 gph pumps await to pump it back into the tank. The PVC pipes are plumbed up tot he top of the tank and do extend about 1" into the water. This is to avoid splashing.
Currently, my heaters are in the tank along with two Magnum filter intakes/return tubes. I plan to one day remove them from the tank and put them into the sump. I also painted the back of the tank blue. This is one sharp setup!
Let me know if you have any questions about building it. I'd be glad to help out.

 

[the infamous sea cucumber]

Mr 4000's tank is amazing, and the tank has only been set up for a little while. When that thing has matured it will be unbelievable. I bet i know where he got his inspiration for the ecosystem filter. The LFS in Lansing he said he shops at runs most every salt water tank in their store off of ecosystem filters.

 

[bluemarlin]

Infamous,
Yea, that tank is something else. I thought my 180 was big. HA! What a joke. That guy has it bad for sure. He's a good fella though. I've message him a few times and hes always willing to talk.
East Lansing, huh? You and I are very close to each other. I live in Howell, MI.