adding a *lot* of extra water volume

[pompeyjohn]

Anyone plumbed one of these in?

I have a 40gallon all in one tank in the living room. My thinking was to drill the tank, and run some pex through the crawl space to connect to this in the garage.

It is a stupid idea isn't it?

 

[cracker]

Do You mean full of saltwater plumbed to the tank? If so, I,d be concerned with water temps. Mine as well get a bigger tank! Bigger is better Ah in some cases.

 

[Flippers4pups]

I agree with @cracker on temps. Flow through it could be a issue as well, but extra volume is always a good thing.

 

[pompeyjohn]

Thanks chaps. Unfortunately I am space limited in the living room. The widest tank I can do is 30".

My two biggest concerns with this approach were temperature and return head pressure. I looked into inline heaters - but they are expensive! I guess I'll just have to keep the garage frag system separate

So now I am thinking about how to use one of these IBC totes in a garage system.

If I dont cut the top off and keep it as-is. Then that would cut down the evaporation rate. The problem there though is that I'd need to drill the sides of it for return/drain lines. Also it would be awkward to get a heater in, and keep the water moving around to avoid stagnation. Chopping the lid off it means more evaporation, but it would be easier to work with.

Then I'd have two other tanks above it.
One to act as a traditional sump - housing a skimmer, etc.
frag tank

thoughts?

(thanks for reading my crazy rambings)

 

[erk]

Is the idea here to just add increased water volume to hopefully stabilize the system? If so, I think that is a bad idea. You can achieve a stable system with a relatively small amount of water. You just dose less of your additives. If it was me, I would use the tote as a sump. Cut the top off and fill with rock and place a huge skimmer in it. This increases your bioload capacity. A tank with just water allows only minimal bacteria growth, effectively doing nothing. I'd also plumb everything to it, even the indoor tank. Will need to use a chiller and heaters to keep the temperature from varying wildly.

 

[Skydvr]

They typically already have a drain. If you are cutting the top off, you can easily add a riser on the inside to not suck junk up from the bottom. It is set up pretty well for connecting an external pump to minimize adding heat during the warmer months. Or just use the drain for rapid water changes that helps pull muck from the bottom of the tank.

It is plastic, drilling won't be difficult. You don't necessarily need to drill for the drains into the tote. With the cage, you can use cable ties to secure the plumbing to the exterior and just dump into the top. I'm sure you wouldn't be too concerned about water splashing noise in the garage, for the most part.

If you cut the top off, you can add tabs to the side and just rest the top back on the tank to help minimize evaporation, though removing it during summer and running a fan will help cool everything down, but you will have much higher humidity in the garage.

 

[ReeferBob]

How many gallons is that? It could cost a LOT of money to heat. Not to mention your increased water changes (volume).

 

[George Lopez]

I say Rubbermaid toat sump filled with rocks and macro. A 250 gallon toat is great for transporting but you would have to chop It all up to get anything out of it besides water volume with no filtration.

 

[laverda]

Is the idea here to just add increased water volume to hopefully stabilize the system? If so, I think that is a bad idea. You can achieve a stable system with a relatively small amount of water. You just dose less of your additives. If it was me, I would use the tote as a sump. Cut the top off and fill with rock and place a huge skimmer in it. This increases your bioload capacity. A tank with just water allows only minimal bacteria growth, effectively doing nothing. I'd also plumb everything to it, even the indoor tank. Will need to use a chiller and heaters to keep the temperature from varying wildly.

I have to agree. That much extra water alone serves no purpose the tote can easily be your sump with frags in it as well. Just incorporate some legs to support egg create or possibly glue some supports to the sides. I would cut it down to the height you want, remove the plastic, make sure the fram has no rust give, it a good coat of protective paint. Then reinstall the liner, install plumbing, add cross braces if needed, fill it with water and use spray foam to insulate it and cover the steal frame to keep it from rusting. I would probably paint the outside to look like rock myself or you could finish it with wood or what ever you desired.

 

[radiata]

I think just adding to your system's volume isn't such a bad idea ~ a smaller amount of water will crash more quickly than a larger amount. But, you will need more heater capacity, and need to add additional supplements to keep your parameters where you want them.

 

[Mark Derail]

Anyone plumbed one of these in?

I have a 40gallon all in one tank in the living room. My thinking was to drill the tank, and run some pex through the crawl space to connect to this in the garage.

It is a stupid idea isn't it?

Makes for a great Red Neck Hot Tub. Plumb it with copper piping around a small wood stove and a sump pump.
Also a large bubbler and airstone to use a tickler.

 

[Redleg]

This would probably work best for use in a mixing station. Get a couple. One for ro/di water and one for saltwater.

 

[Anthony1958]

A few years ago I was looking into doing aquaponics.

http://daphman.com/aquaponic-gardening/

 

[pompeyjohn]

A few years ago I was looking into doing aquaponics.
http://daphman.com/aquaponic-gardening/

Yep, that is how I was made aware of these as well. A member on my local reef forum mentioned they are used in aquaponics.

I am not concerned about adding extra biological filtration to my system. I am happy with the amount of biological filtration I have at present. This would be purely for acting as a ballast. The increased water volume would help keep the rest of the system stable.

But, you will need more heater capacity, and need to add additional supplements to keep your parameters where you want them.

The heater capacity is my biggest concern right now. Why would I need to add additional supplements. The amount of supplements required by the coral would not be changed. Testing is a concern because I dont really understand fluid dynamics enough to know how uniform the depletion of an element is across the entire body of water.

Makes for a great Red Neck Hot Tub. Plumb it with copper piping around a small wood stove and a sump pump. Also a large bubbler and airstone to use a tickler.

Genius. Have you seen the folks that are using actual old hot tubs for coral grow out? I have a tub I never use..... but I would like to stay married!

 

[Greybeard]

Unfortunately I am space limited in the living room. The widest tank I can do is 30".

30 inch width doesn't limit you to a 40g display. A 30" x 30" x 30" would give you a bit more than 100 gallons... Shorten that to 24" height, and you're still more than doubling your display.

Adding a liquid tote? How you gonna clean it? Can't use it as a sump, it's sealed... heating it would be expensive... if it's in the garage, cooling it could be too. 10% water changes on your 40 gallon display goes from 4 gallons to over 30 gallons... I've got some experience with these, I have customers that use them all the time. In my experience, given time, they leak I can't see many positive aspects for this.

 

[pompeyjohn]

Sadly @Greybeard the 30" width is pretty limiting. I dont have 30" depth, and there is not enough space under the tank to do a sump. In theory I could fit a 70 cube, cap the drain, and use the overflow as sump. I just measured and the space is 32" wide, and 23" deep. I could go as high as I like it this area though. I have my eye on a 50g IM fusion lagoon, but that is $600+ for just ten more gallons. That's a whole different issue though.

Why would the liquid tote need to be cleaned? I am not trying to be argumentative. Genuinely curious. Would tank detritus really be an issue? Your experience that they leak is listened to loud and clear. Thank you. That is enough to steer me away. I do think the idea of a remote ballast has merit though and think further discussion on the topic is worthwhile.

 

[Redleg]

If you could squeeze out an extra inch a 60 gal cube might work for you.

 

[pompeyjohn]

23" front to back would be flush to the back wall with no space for cables. Anything deeper would overhang. It is a frustratingly sized area, but the best place in the house for the tank.

 

[Skydvr]

Everything isn't going to scale up linearly just by adding additional water volume.

If the inhabitants in the display do not change and the feeding habits do not change, the amount of pollutants are diluted and will build up slower. This will allow for longer times between water changes or increasing the percentage slightly but maintaining the same frequency. Over time, the smaller more frequent changes may require a periodic large water change to reset if the system doesn't keep up, depending on the frequency and size, but that all depends on the current schedule

Supplement use is dependent upon usage by the organisms in the tank. With a larger volume, it will take longer for the organisms to deplete those levels, resulting in more stability in the levels and either less frequent dosing, or maintaining a similar dosing regimen and seeing less fluctuation between doses.

All the reasons people give trying to steer others away from nano and pico tanks apply to scaling up larger systems too. But in this case it also reduces the max load on the system as the display size is limited in comparison to total system volume. The drawbacks due to the location are the energy usage and potential contamination from vehicle exhaust.