Best Practices And Procedures for Avoiding Large Tank Crashes and Disasters?

[robf]

Dennis,

Good point. It's all a trade off. We have developed a strict protocol for minimizing the opportunities for pests to be introduced. Along with your point, we are wanted lots of open space and wanted to keep the rock off the bottom of the tank. Currently very little rock is touching and the concrete allows us to make spacious formations that rise up from the bottom of the tank yet are stable enough to handle the high flow. I'm not happy with the sump performance so we are re-engineering it to better handle the pumps. Here is a sketch.

Rob

 

[fragmatic]

I had not seen this post before for some amazing reason. Being a retired machine design engineer, viewing these posts has been party time! Nice work.

Years ago built a dune buggy, and some seriously custom street rod parts for me, for the company, on company time, with company money, facilities, materials, and machine tools. This was during a slow spell and we had done about everything we could think of to fix up the building and equipment and needed more for the crew to do. It was an aircraft parts manufacturing facility. We kept every one employed and made it through to the next big contract in good spirits and used the buggy build to build team work and teach additional skills to the newer employees. One of the biggest gains was in the relationship between engineering and the shop. Also when the work load came back we had gained huge benefits from the fact our employees new we had their backs, and from the improved skill level of the newer crew members. ....... I get it!

I'm looking forward to more posts on the project, keep them coming.

 

[robf]

Thanks Fragmatic. I do have to say this project has grown in scope and cost. That said it's been fun for many at the company to figure out how to solve each problem. Having a fabrication shop makes it so much easier to accomplish the extreme complexity surrounding these systems. We hope to have a real show piece that we can demonstrate to our customers the extent of our capabilities. We have already received compliments from visitors.

 

[naldopr]

killer set up guys. got me with those fake fish :bigsmile:

 

[robf]

killer set up guys. got me with those fake fish :bigsmile:

The paper ones are way easier to keep. Though one of the engineers turned one upside down to see if we'd notice.

 

[dennis5546]

Rob

Do you have a estimated completion date? Actually no reef tan is ever complete. Have you decided what type of fish and corals are going in the tank?

 

[robf]

I'm still waiting on the new sump. Ken Lane, my area acrylic expert and friend, is cutting the panels on his CNC today. After its completed it should fit precisely in the same space occupied by the original sump. All the systems have been tested for leaks. I have one more rinse to do with RO/DI water and at this time I'll fire up the chiller and the UV sterilizer to make sure they are functioning.

I drilled a hole to install a Vertex Mocean3500 in the center of the real bracing. I've decided to plump it to the return line from the loop feeding chiller, cube tank, and UV sterilizer. I have a small re-plum job to to here. I get a good amount of flow from this return so the Mocean should really produce a nice random flow throughout the tank. The MP60's really rock this tank as well. I put them in Nutrient Transport Mode and it made a pretty good standing wave. I still have to tune the wave pattern in. In addition, I need to glue the acrylic blue background to the inside sides of the tank. The rear acryllic piece is simply velcroed to the rear of the tank so if I need to see something back there its very easy.

The water changing system works great as does the auto top off though I need to lengthen the wires to the Renew system. I should have the system cycling by next month. Then it's going to be a long slow amount of time before its ready. Nothing good ever happens fast with a reef tank.

Here are some pics of the water changing / top off and Mocean install....

 

[dennis5546]

If I get back to peoria I would like to see this system in person. Your system may be out of my price range but give me some ideas on improving mine.

Dennis

 

[robf]

Anytime Dennis! I'd love to have you look at it. Your always welcome.

 

[reef4beer]

definitely following

 

[zoechance]

Taylor i would love to know what kind of back up battery you have for the main pump?!? I run an MP40 so I can get that back up battery. Hard for me to find something for the main pump.

 

[robf]

Taylor i would love to know what kind of back up battery you have for the main pump?!? I run an MP40 so I can get that back up battery. Hard for me to find something for the main pump.

Here is a video on Ecotech's battery backup system: Vortech Battery Backup for mp60 mp40 mp10 - YouTube Sounds like you get 36 hours for the MP40 with this system.

 

[zoechance]

Hi
yes I know about the Vortech back up batteries. sorry for the confusion, I meant a back up battery for my main Return pump in my sump. Any commercial backup batteries anyone can recommend? power failures are my worse fears....

 

[robf]

Hi
yes I know about the Vortech back up batteries. sorry for the confusion, I meant a back up battery for my main Return pump in my sump. Any commercial backup batteries anyone can recommend? power failures are my worse fears....

Is it a DC pump? I don't know of DC return pumps. Also you will need some way to run your heater. I have a generator for this kind of failure. Sorry if I'm missing something here.

 

[robf]

I have a 75 gallon tank dedicated to growing coral fragments. System is stand alone. What kind of biological filtration does it required to get this tank ready? How do you best set it up and when can I put specimens in? I want to ensure I get the filtration right. I'm thinking it will need some fish for the corals to be healthy. From this tank I can observe colonies for disease and pests and can select for size, growth rate and color. I hope this will help me decide exactly what I want to go into my display. The system will be completely sterile on start-up. Never tried this before. Lighting planned is a 7 bulb T5 with 3 switches. System will have berlin style sump, skimmer, UV Sterilizer, Chiller and 2 Reactors. Haven't built the sump yet. Any help is much appreciated.

 

[robf]

Here's another design element. Vacuuming my sump is done without losing water....I put a hose barb on my return line and oriented it so I can hook my Lee's gravel vac directly to it. The water from the return is directed into the sock. I can vacuum as long as I desire without losing any saltwater. Debris ends up in my sock. Very clean. I'll post a picture tomorrow.

 

[mcarroll]

Lotsa good ideas to take in so far.

The only thing "interesting" I can think of that's a commonly overlooked item is your sump.

Somewhere I read that the ideal is to have a sump that is 100% the size of the display(s). Consider that the norm is sometimes not even 1/4 the display size and more often than not it's over engineered and holds very little water - especially in what ends up as the return chamber.

I would advocate trading in 100% of the engineering found in most sumps for the largest, most simple sump your space can accommodate. A plain, rectangular tank is an ideal. Further, one that's relatively low and wide will be better overall than a tall one. (Think of the proportions of a 30 breeder or typical swimming pool for examples.). You will maximize your flexibility in use of the sump this way as well as the amount of water in will hold among many other benefits.

-Matt


Sent Via the R2R Forum APP

 

[robf]

Thanks Matt. Your comments made me chuckle thinking about my first tank and the crazy complicated 6 stage sump/refugium. Algae grew in chambers I couldn't get my hand in to clean. It was simply awful. I did grow some amazing cyno strains. Lol

 

[mcarroll]

Hi
[...]I meant a back up battery for my main Return pump in my sump. Any commercial backup batteries anyone can recommend? power failures are my worse fears....

Don't overpay for a backup system. At most, spend on one or two computer UPS's.

Better (and maybe cheaper) than that would be to get a high-power inverter like this and hook that up to a deep cycle (preferred) or marine battery like this. (Car batteries are built differently and won't last long in a backup role, BTW.) Keep the battery on a trickle charger like this until it's needed. There are lots of ways to get more sophisticated with this and higher and lower end versions of all the equipment. Size it all intelligently according to your needs.

A rig like this, using an inverter, can power any device that uses regular AC power. You can even just keep the inverter around and hook it up to your car battery (car becomes your generator) when the power is out....just have a long, heavy duty extension cord to run power to the tank. You'll run fewer devices this way, but it's the smallest investment and simplest fix to implement.

Obviously you need to be there during the outage to hook any of this up - automated systems are a little trickier - but where else will you be during a power outage?

If you have cause to worry about extended outages, a giant reef may not be a sound investment as heating or cooling (depends on the season) eventually becomes a big problem in an extended outage. However, a generator or eco-friendly equivalent would be a must if you choose to build one anyway in this circumstance.

FWIW, Tunze offers a DC return pump now in the 1073.050. In addition, they offer a so-called "Safety Connector" (6105.50) for all their DC pumps that facilitates simultaneous connection of any DC backup power source. Direct wire of a solar panel/array is even a possibility.

Hope this helps! (Sorry if it's too off topic.)

-Matt

 

[dennis5546]

Most Reefers will use a frag tank to grow frags from the trimming back their colonies in the display tank for sale, trade or growing out new frags for the display tank. To speed up acclimation of new frags in the frag tank, it best to have the same water parameters and lighting in both the display tank and frag tank. To accomplish this most people will plum the frag tank in the sump of the display tank. This also saves money and time by only having to only maintain water conditions in one tank and avoid a second sump, pump, skimmer, heater, etc. If you use Halides in the display tank then I recommend Halides in the frag tank. A change in lighting can cause your corals stress. I have seen standalone frag tanks and one plumed into the display tanks both having pros and cons. I see more cons for a standalone frag tank. Standalone tanks increase costs both short term and long term.

Dennis