My New Tank: By Mike Paletta
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SPR1968
No, it wasn’t expensive dear....
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That is a great article Mike and I’m very excited for you and I’m definitely following your build thread.
Im fascinated by the size and scale of some of the tanks in the USA, 300, 500 and 1200 gallons seem huge. I’ve got 175 gallons and that’s big!
Is there a reason the 1200 gallon became a problem or is there a point in size you think maintenance jumps to ‘hard work’ levels?
Anyway I enjoyed the article and looking forward to pictures....
Im fascinated by the size and scale of some of the tanks in the USA, 300, 500 and 1200 gallons seem huge. I’ve got 175 gallons and that’s big!
Is there a reason the 1200 gallon became a problem or is there a point in size you think maintenance jumps to ‘hard work’ levels?
Anyway I enjoyed the article and looking forward to pictures....
Javier Leon
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I believe you made the right choice in selecting Exotic Aquariums, I have seen their quality work and finish of the tanks, as a customer of them I can certainly guarantee the work my self.
About your sump high, honestly you said it yourself, we are not getting any younger so I believe that sump high should be 36” cause when you have to be 10 minutes down there it seems like an entire day crawling under a house. My advice and for sure you have more knowledge, experience and years in advance than me, is that higher sump less back pains. Good Luck Mike and sure you won’t be disappointed with Exotic doing your tank.
About your sump high, honestly you said it yourself, we are not getting any younger so I believe that sump high should be 36” cause when you have to be 10 minutes down there it seems like an entire day crawling under a house. My advice and for sure you have more knowledge, experience and years in advance than me, is that higher sump less back pains. Good Luck Mike and sure you won’t be disappointed with Exotic doing your tank.
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Thanks for publishing this Mike. We are in the process of building a new house so we are planning for a new tank as well. Believe it or not my wife LOVES the idea of a 500 gallon tank of this size! Already have plans to have the fish room in the garage behind the tank. So we will be following this closely.
Surprised you did not list a refugium. Guess you might be planning for the Paxbellum reactor.
Surprised you did not list a refugium. Guess you might be planning for the Paxbellum reactor.
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Hello Mike Paletta,
Like a new member here, and new in the reefing (enough exp with FW fish, butonly 6-7 months with Salt W), I see your conception and plan well good. you are on the right plan about the high, about most of the stuff, just I have one simple question: What about to do the tank with much less hassle on it ? (if you ask later probably I'll be able to find the threads and the videos) What about big enough tank, with enough bio load in it, which will be able to self maintain most of the stuff (w/o the need of skimmer, and most of the reactors) by it self. Like some people (including me) make SW or FW (it's much easier with FW tank), with only sump or refugium, and they don't have to do almost anything there, no cleaning, no need of water change etc ....
Simply: after you finish the project, you will have to have only: fill with RO/DI water because of the evaporation, dosing with dosers (daily biases the stront and etc ..., check time by time the water parameter, and if need only to adjust the dosers), feed the fish and the corals (the conception feeding 4 times per day instead of randomly 2-3 times is really better for fast and good growing with less dirt after because most of the food will be managed properly by fish/coral, so less waste and polluting the water). If you do use the scimmer, after year and half - 2,you will be able to reduce the time ON with 2-3 hours (so will need no more than 8-10 hrs) I'm sure, after 4-5 years if you still keep the same system, 100% there will be no need of skimmer xD
How abut the sump ? How many "separators" baffles will be there and what will be in each chamber If you can draw us and the sum picture (top + front) will be great xD?
Soo many ideas etc..., just for less hassle, power/energy, need of maintenance, time etc , but I'm not going forward, just because don't have all that exp by my self on the SW tank.
Regards: SHNICI - Georgi
Like a new member here, and new in the reefing (enough exp with FW fish, butonly 6-7 months with Salt W), I see your conception and plan well good. you are on the right plan about the high, about most of the stuff, just I have one simple question: What about to do the tank with much less hassle on it ? (if you ask later probably I'll be able to find the threads and the videos) What about big enough tank, with enough bio load in it, which will be able to self maintain most of the stuff (w/o the need of skimmer, and most of the reactors) by it self. Like some people (including me) make SW or FW (it's much easier with FW tank), with only sump or refugium, and they don't have to do almost anything there, no cleaning, no need of water change etc ....
Simply: after you finish the project, you will have to have only: fill with RO/DI water because of the evaporation, dosing with dosers (daily biases the stront and etc ..., check time by time the water parameter, and if need only to adjust the dosers), feed the fish and the corals (the conception feeding 4 times per day instead of randomly 2-3 times is really better for fast and good growing with less dirt after because most of the food will be managed properly by fish/coral, so less waste and polluting the water). If you do use the scimmer, after year and half - 2,you will be able to reduce the time ON with 2-3 hours (so will need no more than 8-10 hrs) I'm sure, after 4-5 years if you still keep the same system, 100% there will be no need of skimmer xD
How abut the sump ? How many "separators" baffles will be there and what will be in each chamber If you can draw us and the sum picture (top + front) will be great xD?
Soo many ideas etc..., just for less hassle, power/energy, need of maintenance, time etc , but I'm not going forward, just because don't have all that exp by my self on the SW tank.
Regards: SHNICI - Georgi
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Hey Mike,
great article and thank you for sharing your thoughts and objections. You know my tank and I still have it only setup temporarily and it needs a final move, and my temporary design did gave a lot of ideas for my final "easy to maintain desire" tank and system arrangement. Getting older, or more mature (lol), makes some maintenance tasks pretty harsh over time so the drive to do these on time is much better if things are easier.
Here some fuel for thought and maybe it will find your interest:
Waste water system hooked to APEX
I have a simple Booster pump in use and multiple RODI tubes from the tank through the walls to my Water supply and house drain in a powder room, nicely hidden.
That will actually allow remotely water removal for different ideas, either simple water removal out of the system, Salinty control system or whatever function it can be used for. Anyways the function to simply press a button and remove slowly water out of the tank system is nice!
Other tubes I use to feed/drain the RODI system near the tank.
Silicone hose for drain installation ;-)
I found it so easy to use large diameter silicone hose for interconnections of plumbing in the drain system.
Dirt and calcification buildup is simply removed by squeezing the hose once a while. Also you can see through the lines to see if anything is stuck which you may have had at well before for sure. Also the silicone last much longer and remains soft, compared to other materials for tubing. Less chance to pop off after years.
Another great improvement is that vibrations and resonances from equipment are extremely reduced! No more humming piping in the system.
I also used the silicone tubing for the return installation back to the tank simply because routing is easier, and there is less pressure drop since there are not that much elbows in the pipe system anymore.
Since I'm recovering from Harvey and do make a lot of built in's and kitchen upgrades by myself, I found the Ikea Kitchen drawer light bars running on DC power via Transformers very useful. LED fixtures with a warm light in multiple lengths can be accommodated in all sort of corners and they have even an automatic detector to turn the light on when you have them in a dark stand and you open the door. If light is needed for certain dark corners in your build, that seems the way to go ;-)
Those I will definitely use in my new Stand/Skirt for my 300.
I'm still struggling how to arrange my Powermodule so I can roll it off the canopy or a pull out drawer type arrangement that will allow easier bulb changes without taking the fixture off the tank. Have not found a good idea for that.
Just some quick things that come to my mind when thinking about the final built that allows easy maintenance.
Love the idea with the door test to make sure the tank fits!
My 300DD tank did fit well so far though the door, but the stand was too wide, which caused some mods on the door frame, lol.
Looking forward to your built!
-Andre
great article and thank you for sharing your thoughts and objections. You know my tank and I still have it only setup temporarily and it needs a final move, and my temporary design did gave a lot of ideas for my final "easy to maintain desire" tank and system arrangement. Getting older, or more mature (lol), makes some maintenance tasks pretty harsh over time so the drive to do these on time is much better if things are easier.
Here some fuel for thought and maybe it will find your interest:
Waste water system hooked to APEX
I have a simple Booster pump in use and multiple RODI tubes from the tank through the walls to my Water supply and house drain in a powder room, nicely hidden.
That will actually allow remotely water removal for different ideas, either simple water removal out of the system, Salinty control system or whatever function it can be used for. Anyways the function to simply press a button and remove slowly water out of the tank system is nice!
Other tubes I use to feed/drain the RODI system near the tank.
Silicone hose for drain installation ;-)
I found it so easy to use large diameter silicone hose for interconnections of plumbing in the drain system.
Dirt and calcification buildup is simply removed by squeezing the hose once a while. Also you can see through the lines to see if anything is stuck which you may have had at well before for sure. Also the silicone last much longer and remains soft, compared to other materials for tubing. Less chance to pop off after years.
Another great improvement is that vibrations and resonances from equipment are extremely reduced! No more humming piping in the system.
I also used the silicone tubing for the return installation back to the tank simply because routing is easier, and there is less pressure drop since there are not that much elbows in the pipe system anymore.
Since I'm recovering from Harvey and do make a lot of built in's and kitchen upgrades by myself, I found the Ikea Kitchen drawer light bars running on DC power via Transformers very useful. LED fixtures with a warm light in multiple lengths can be accommodated in all sort of corners and they have even an automatic detector to turn the light on when you have them in a dark stand and you open the door. If light is needed for certain dark corners in your build, that seems the way to go ;-)
Those I will definitely use in my new Stand/Skirt for my 300.
I'm still struggling how to arrange my Powermodule so I can roll it off the canopy or a pull out drawer type arrangement that will allow easier bulb changes without taking the fixture off the tank. Have not found a good idea for that.
Just some quick things that come to my mind when thinking about the final built that allows easy maintenance.
Love the idea with the door test to make sure the tank fits!
My 300DD tank did fit well so far though the door, but the stand was too wide, which caused some mods on the door frame, lol.
Looking forward to your built!
-Andre
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Thanks Mike - great post and this provides great additional information.
The recent video with Rico on YouTube is awesome and everyone should watch it who likes this article.
Georgi, Mike has also done a heap of YouTube videos through American Reef. There is one where he goes through a bunch of equipment that he uses to save time. Mike can correct me if I have something wrong but from watching his videos once the tank is established Mike doesn't have much to do. He has connected up all the RODI stuff etc. and his Calcium Reactor is a special type that uses larger chunks of media that takes a long time to dissolve is super simple to clean (I think he has cleaned it once in a year). He feeds often and has a lot of fish. He has always experimented but does have a method and strategy to most things especially with ways he can save time
That is what I learned in those videos at least
The recent video with Rico on YouTube is awesome and everyone should watch it who likes this article.
Georgi, Mike has also done a heap of YouTube videos through American Reef. There is one where he goes through a bunch of equipment that he uses to save time. Mike can correct me if I have something wrong but from watching his videos once the tank is established Mike doesn't have much to do. He has connected up all the RODI stuff etc. and his Calcium Reactor is a special type that uses larger chunks of media that takes a long time to dissolve is super simple to clean (I think he has cleaned it once in a year). He feeds often and has a lot of fish. He has always experimented but does have a method and strategy to most things especially with ways he can save time
That is what I learned in those videos at least 
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@Sunny Goold I watch the video Dude, it's good one xD
Just like I say in my post, after reading the main thread twice, I still think there will be much work on the new tank, even after he set it up..., for sure it will nice one, but my minds are all about more natural working SW tank, + enough sand bed, to be able to build up enough microfauna and bio cultures in there, had to watch 2 other fish tank while ago, and both of them (different reefers), wasn't doing anything else instead of giving food and fill the tank with RO/DI water, for ages this tanks (over 10 and over 15 years) are working w/o reactors, w/o skimmers etc..., the one just fill twice a year the bottles with chemicals and that's it.
Like I say for FW system it's easy to be build that, for SW more harder, and need different type of planing..., but after 6-9 months the system can be complete stable and can be nice up and running SW tank which will need only to refill some stuff time by time (RO/DI water, the dosing bottles, the auto feeder etc ..)
that's the way I'm looking for good enough reef tank.
Regards: SHNICI - Georgi
Just like I say in my post, after reading the main thread twice, I still think there will be much work on the new tank, even after he set it up..., for sure it will nice one, but my minds are all about more natural working SW tank, + enough sand bed, to be able to build up enough microfauna and bio cultures in there, had to watch 2 other fish tank while ago, and both of them (different reefers), wasn't doing anything else instead of giving food and fill the tank with RO/DI water, for ages this tanks (over 10 and over 15 years) are working w/o reactors, w/o skimmers etc..., the one just fill twice a year the bottles with chemicals and that's it.
Like I say for FW system it's easy to be build that, for SW more harder, and need different type of planing..., but after 6-9 months the system can be complete stable and can be nice up and running SW tank which will need only to refill some stuff time by time (RO/DI water, the dosing bottles, the auto feeder etc ..)
that's the way I'm looking for good enough reef tank.
Regards: SHNICI - Georgi
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Do someone hear back something about Mike build ? Some updates @Mike Paletta ?
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Great write up and it's always interesting to see how the masters plan their builds. Look forward to seeing this tank mature.
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He has designed this system ahead of time to be immune to old tank syndrome, key terms abound in his setup details that come from his article. This is the ideal possible aquarium design I couldn't be more impressed
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