Getting out…doors

[Ben’r]

So it has been about 5 years since I have kept a reef, around that time we sold our house and the wife said no more tanks in the house… what do you do? Well for starters, you don’t keep a tank IN the house. Adapt and overcome!

It started with this base on our north facing (Southern Hemisphere) patch of grass next to our deck. It’s built on a 1.2° grade falling away from the house, while we decided what to do with the area.

Got all the timber and one weekend I extended the deck out, colour will eventually fade to match our existing.

All filled and beginning the cycle. The reason I built this on a 1.2° slope is that top viewing pane is completely sealed, the only access in is through that taller box at the back which hold water another cm or so higher, all bubbles rise back to the box.

I live in New Zealand, a temperate climate.
The water temperature was hitting 30-31°C in our spring days where outside temperatures were between 10-18°, I knew that both a chiller and shade cloth will be required. Never underestimate the power of the sun! The shade cloth gets it down to 28-29°C, so now I’m just waiting on a few parts to get the chiller running. Since filling, the heaters have not come on once. At night I place and insulated cover on top, there’s also insulation surrounding the entire tank/pond? Those side panels can lift up to view through sides if needed.
So the things that need work - Chiller online, a prettier way to do the shade cloth, smaller RODI barrel and tidy up & insulate the tubing/plumbing.
Equipment:
1200x800x450 custom thing.
Super Reef Octopus 2000 EXT
Tunze 6105
Tunze 6095
Teco TK1000H Chiller/Heater
Bubble Magus 2100L/H pump
Reefbreeders ATO
Inkbird Temp controller w/ eheim jagers (until teco installed)
Nice and simple, wanting a few montipora cap’s, acro’s and just let them grow out.
-Credit goes out to Vitor Pestana, for doing something similar in Portugal a while back and reaching out when I had questions.

 

[shwareefer]

Pretty cool and original and determined lol. Natural sunlight only?

 

[rishma]

So cool. I’ve always dreamed of an outdoor reef pond. Something about growing corals with sunlight would be rewarding. Cannot wait to see this progress.

 

[Ben’r]

Pretty cool and original and determined lol. Natural sunlight only?

Yup only the sun, this spot gets year round sunlight to varying degrees, I may just have to change shade cloth % depending on the season. I’ve also run out of electrical points and wouldn’t want to waterproof a fixture. This also means no dosers, reactors or anything else that requires a power point.

 

[shwareefer]

Yup only the sun, this spot gets year round sunlight to varying degrees, I may just have to change shade cloth % depending on the season. I’ve also run out of electrical points and wouldn’t want to waterproof a fixture. This also means no dosers, reactors or anything else that requires a power point.

I love it. I'd probably grow some mangroves into actual trees with that setup - maybe a side tank.

 

[Ben’r]

So cool. I’ve always dreamed of an outdoor reef pond. Something about growing corals with sunlight would be rewarding. Cannot wait to see this progress.

Thanks, it’s something I’ve always wanted to do but had to shelter it from the elements as much as possible - this seemed like the best idea to me!

 

[Ben’r]

I love it. I'd probably grow some mangroves into actual trees with that setup - maybe a side tank.

A seperate refuge or sump was something I definitely considered but space was limited, I would have to run plumbing across a pathway to our gate and I know the wife would not be happy, I could tell how annoyed she was at the size of the glass tank when it arrived!

 

[Ben’r]

Cycle coming to an end, chiller is a must! On a nice spring day it easily hits 30-31°. Shade cloth drops it 1-2° but not enough on its own.

Just need to figure out what to do with the front of the chiller enclosure to protect it some more.

Finally got the right colour dimmer! This weekend has been overcast and rainy and the temps held stable at 25.5° without the heater or chiller coming on.

 

[Auquanut]

Brilliant and beautiful. Will you get enough natural light for the corals you intend to keep? LPS? SPS?

 

[flagg37]

Are you concerned about being able to reach inside for maintenance? That bottom front corner seems like it would be a real pain to reach.

Have you checked the pH? I’m curious about the amount of gas exchange since the exposed surface area seems somewhat small. It won’t have the same problem most of the rest of us deal with with having too much co2 in the ambient air.

 

[Karen00]

Wow!! This is amazing! I'm following along to see how this goes. Taking care of a saltwater tank indoors can be challenging... Taking care of one outdoors is at a different level entirely!

 

[Ben’r]

Brilliant and beautiful. Will you get enough natural light for the corals you intend to keep? LPS? SPS?

Should do, will mainly be keeping Monti caps, and a few acro’s. There’s only a piece of glass between the sunlight and inside, no ripples or anything, so it might just be a case of playing around with shade cloth percentages.

 

[Ben’r]

Are you concerned about being able to reach inside for maintenance? That bottom front corner seems like it would be a real pain to reach.

Have you checked the pH? I’m curious about the amount of gas exchange since the exposed surface area seems somewhat small. It won’t have the same problem most of the rest of us deal with with having too much co2 in the ambient air.

I can just reach everywhere, just, but this will also keep me from tinkering around inside, which has always been my downfall when I kept reefs in the past.
Haven’t actually checked ph so far, no tester/meter, you forget just how much you need when you get back in to the hobby after getting rid of pretty much everything. I have an oversized skimmer pulling massive air, fingers crossed but it is something I need to check.

 

[Ben’r]

Wow!! This is amazing! I'm following along to see how this goes. Taking care of a saltwater tank indoors can be challenging... Taking care of one outdoors is at a different level entirely!

What I’ve noticed is everything takes longer compared to the normal tank inside, set-up, adjusting, even the small things from what I remember. Hopefully it all pays off!

 

[flagg37]

One huge advantage is to not have to worry about getting some water spilled.

Plus, you get free top off water when it rains. Hopefully not too much though.

 

[Ben’r]

One huge advantage is to not have to worry about getting some water spilled.

Plus, you get free top off water when it rains. Hopefully not too much though.

Yep that’s definitely a bonus! No rain gets in at all, that part has been tested with a hose and over the past few days weather. I’ve used shower door seals to create a flashing type thing for the lids.

 

[Ben’r]

So think tank, I need some help, I’ve been building an enclosure to protect the chiller, problem is I just can’t get it right. I want something minimalist that’s not too distracting or takes away the look of the deck/pond/house.
It started like this

Just a roof & bare timber frame.
Then to this

Added polycarbonate to protect front, black acrylic grill type thing on the left.
Then I knocked this up

Which I personally feel looks terrible!
I’m thinking how it started, paint the bare timber a black like the house but what to put on the front?!

 

[blaxsun]

I'd frame it in timber, paint it black to match the house then run horizontal slats on the sides (with cutouts for plumbing).

The first image but in black plus this (slats also in black timber). Rather than mounting the slats directly to the frame, I'd mount them to a sub frame that can just latch into place such that you can lift the panels off for maintenance.

 

[Ben’r]

I'd frame it in timber, paint it black to match the house then run horizontal slats on the sides (with cutouts for plumbing).

The first image but in black plus this (slats also in black timber). Rather than mounting the slats directly to the frame, I'd mount them to a sub frame that can just latch into place such that you can lift the panels off for maintenance.

Something like that would be perfect! Thanks

 

[ChaosAquaculture]

ive always thought that a "saltwater pond" would be super cool - kali