1,000 Gallon Coral Prop System |Tips and Help Needed!

[marcoss]

HOPING I CAN GET MORE TRACTION ON THIS WEBSITE


Hello!

Thanks for taking the time to read this. Hopefully you enjoy this build, although, it may be slower than either of us want due to time restrictions, purchasing, and cycling.

That said, I'm building out four (with more down the road) fiber glass troughs/tanks to hold additional corals. I currently have a 96".48".12" system, but have outgrown it, hence, I'll be shutting it down to add the following:

4x 40".90".16" troughs (roughly 230G each)
1/2 horsepower return pump
Skimmer Undecided
Calcium Reactor
Substrate - Debating Crushed Coral or Sand
4x ATI 48"

I plan on having all four tanks on the same system/sump, so I plan on Daisy-chaining them, per se.

I plan on using the return pump to act as the only flow, versus having power heads. . And I plan on using light movers to save on lighting needs/cut down on heat.

Below is what three of the units will look like side-by-side.

You can kind of tell, but there are holes drilled on each side. I plan on using two holes, per tank, to create a sort of water bridge between all tanks. I plan on having the return water come up on the bottom of all of the tanks, and the overflows on the side of the tank. Does that make sense?

I think these tanks are going to be a pain in the butt to plumb, but I want to keep things as simple as possible.

I'm thinking I may putt these tanks on racks, that way I can have the light mover hanging in there. Or I plan on putting them on bricks, and suspending the lights from the super tall ceiling. But I'm afraid the mover may sway too much if suspended.

More images to come!

 

[marcoss]

 

[marcoss]

So, I had mentioned connecting the tanks all together. I plan on doing it on these two points on each tank:

I imagine this should work since the water should equalize itself out. Anyone think it's a bad idea?

Thank you!

 

[Roryf96]

Was thinking of doing something myself at some point. Will be following this one! What size sump are you looking at?

 

[marcoss]

Was thinking of doing something myself at some point. Will be following this one! What size sump are you looking at?

Hi, I'm not super sure on the sump. I am trying to keep cots low, so I may just use a large Rubbermaid tub, and call it good. I am leaning towards a 150G tub, to hold tons of live rock and ceramic blocks. Doing it with these tubs is the way to go; low costs and easy to drill.

 

[Roryf96]

Hi, I'm not super sure on the sump. I am trying to keep cots low, so I may just use a large Rubbermaid tub, and call it good. I am leaning towards a 150G tub, to hold tons of live rock and ceramic blocks. Doing it with these tubs is the way to go; low costs and easy to drill.

Sounds good. I'll be putting in a monster refugium too if I decided to make it

 

[singedop]

would those tray ever get rusty? look nice to me. Curious where u buy them at such a good size

 

[Robthorn]

Wondering what fiberglass tanks those are as well. Where can I get one?

 

[FL_Reefer]

Following! Looking forward to seeing this come together

 

[marcoss]

Sorry for the delays! I have been out of town on vacation, but am back to deal with this monster project. The more I look at it, the more intimidated I am by all the plumbing. I have gotten plumbing quotes, and they are just far too much!

would those tray ever get rusty? look nice to me. Curious where u buy them at such a good size

No- they will not get rush since there is not any metal to them. They are 100% cast in fiberglass. They grow coraline on them like normal but are very durable.

Wondering what fiberglass tanks those are as well. Where can I get one?

I wish I knew! I got them from someone that used them for worms (like the kind you fish with). I have another from Pentair Aquatics which is nice, but the blue color makes it impossible to photograph in with my novice skills.

Following! Looking forward to seeing this come together

Thank you! Me too! Haha.

 

[marcoss]

I cannot believe it has been a month since I started this! Life got in the way, I took a trip, etc.

I have not done much, but I am starting to place these tanks on bricks. I plan on just having an 8'x4' piece of plywood to sit on top of the bricks. The tanks are fiberglass and strong as hell, so I am not worried about any bowing or them not being perfectly level. You would be surprised how much abuse this troughs can take.

Well, here is an image of where I am at so far. As you can, almost no progress as that only took about an hour. I hope to have more next week. Thanks for following!



By the way, here is a picture of the first through I had. I quickly outgrew it, and my wife hated it in the offices (which I agree with since it looks like crap), so I got kicked out and am in the shop with the new tanks. But this is what I am doing, but with more. PS. It'll be just as ghetto but away from the public.

 

[naptalene]

What lighting are you gonna run?
What are you thinking wrt the light tracks?

I'm trying to figure this stuff out too

 

[NeptuneGarden]

Instead of overflowing from one tank to the other over the top, connect the tanks bottom to bottom with a large pipe. pump water into first tank and it will balance itself out with the next tank in line.

 

[marcoss]

What lighting are you gonna run?
What are you thinking wrt the light tracks?

I'm trying to figure this stuff out too

Hey! I'm thinking of running 10 T5 ATI fixtures on moving light rails. I thought about doing Kessil lighting, but I am really impressed with the power of a T5. More so, the winters will get cold in the shop, so having that extra heat from the T5 will certainly help. Decreasing T5 temp is easy since we have large fans and 300G RODI to pull from with the crazy evaporation.

I plan on using the light movers sold by Gualala Robotics. A ton of gross houses use them, and they can easily hold the weight of the light, and work perfectly on the short run I will have them on.

Thanks for following!

Instead of overflowing from one tank to the other over the top, connect the tanks bottom to bottom with a large pipe. pump water into first tank and it will balance itself out with the next tank in line.

Howdy!

You think that is all it will take? I figured on doing it from the sides, but the bottom seems to make sense too. My only worry is on the bottom, the pipe will need to go down a few inches, before it can go over, and then back up a few inches to to the next tank. I guess the first tank, with a couple of hundred gallons, would have enough weight to push water through the pipe and back up.

Thanks for the tip and thanks for following!

 

[rock_lobster]

I personally wouldnt hook them all together because then you risk disease or pests spreading across your entire system. I would do at least 2 completely separate systems.

 

[marcoss]

I personally wouldnt hook them all together because then you risk disease or pests spreading across your entire system. I would do at least 2 completely separate systems.

Hi! Thank you for the feedback! I debated that, but I am not sure I want to set up a couple of different sumps, skimmers, etc. I have debated doing three by themselves though. The fist one would be a staging area and the others would be once they have passed my inspection.

Thanks again!

 

[NeptuneGarden]

You think that is all it will take? I figured on doing it from the sides, but the bottom seems to make sense too. My only worry is on the bottom, the pipe will need to go down a few inches, before it can go over, and then back up a few inches to to the next tank. I guess the first tank, with a couple of hundred gallons, would have enough weight to push water through the pipe and back up.

Thanks for the tip and thanks for following!

that is all it takes. Everything will automatically balance out through gravity siphon effect. You will have some friction loss and slight differences in water level from tank to tank, but it's minimal. Look up "friction loss gravity flow" for calculators. This is how the Koi pond guys set up their filters. Every thing at the same level and draining out the bottom and let gravity do the work.

I would run the cross over pipes all the way to floor and then make a small platform to stand on and protect them. You can walk between tanks without anything in the way.

Make sure to use lots of union couplers and ball valves so you can break it down and drain everything easy too. Using long sweeps for your turns helps out a lot with friction loss of gravity flow systems as well.

 

[naptalene]

I was wondering about cleaning the pipes if you went under

Can you clarify the lighting.... 10x T5 units or 10xT5 bulbs that travel?

 

[luke33]

So, I had mentioned connecting the tanks all together. I plan on doing it on these two points on each tank:

I imagine this should work since the water should equalize itself out. Anyone think it's a bad idea?

Thank you!

I don't think you need to drill them on the sides and connect them like that, don't see any advantage. Its not a bad idea, just not necessary imo : )

 

[marcoss]

Hello all that follow! Bad news, I am not working on this project any longer. As you may have seen, I had these in a small portion of my shop. I have had to abandon this idea to make room for more important inventory. I may do a smaller system, a glass 96x48x12 system, but we shall see.

Thanks to those that followed !

that is all it takes. Everything will automatically balance out through gravity siphon effect. You will have some friction loss and slight differences in water level from tank to tank, but it's minimal. Look up "friction loss gravity flow" for calculators. This is how the Koi pond guys set up their filters. Every thing at the same level and draining out the bottom and let gravity do the work.

I would run the cross over pipes all the way to floor and then make a small platform to stand on and protect them. You can walk between tanks without anything in the way.

Make sure to use lots of union couplers and ball valves so you can break it down and drain everything easy too. Using long sweeps for your turns helps out a lot with friction loss of gravity flow systems as well.

Great point! I totally see what you are saying. I actually never thought about the ponds, but I see how that would apply to anything and water. Thanks again for all the suggestions. I will certainly apply them when I tackle this again!

I was wondering about cleaning the pipes if you went under

Can you clarify the lighting.... 10x T5 units or 10xT5 bulbs that travel?

Neptune addressed the cleaning part, slightly above. Makes perfect sense on all the unions so I can get in there and scrub out some pieces! I meant I would have a single ATI fixture that has 10 bulbs. I planned on using a light mover, per tank, to move the light up and down.