Thoughts on an outdoor tank for growing frags

[tinctorus]

Hi, I was bored today and got to thinking about building a plywood tank to be used as a growout tank for corals as well as being a frag tank, Obviously the inside of the wood would be coated in either epoxy OR something like a rubber pond liner

I was thinking of keeping it on the back patio at my house, it gets sunlight obviously but not to the point that I would need a chiller as long as the tank is of large enough size...I was thinking of somewhere in the 200-300 gallon range, I have an olf hot tub that we no longer use so I was going to repurpose the pump from the hot tub in order to provide circulation for the tank, for filtration I would build another wooden tank in the 50 gallon range that will be used as a refugium

I know that the pump from the hot tub works fine as it was just replaced about 2 years ago but it has only been turned on 2 times since I installed it 2 years ago "it's obvious we never use the hot tub LOL"

I didnt plan on doing any type of supplemental lighting since it would get sunlight obviously

This would be the first time I have done something like this so I would really appreciate any and ALL advice as to how to go about this and any potential problems that you guys may forsee either right away or in the future...

My main reason for wanting to do this is 3 fold

1) I am going to be resetting up my 65 gallon reef and I dont want to stock it with tiny frags so I figured I would let them grow out in this setup

2) I would like to help other local reefers as well as trade other locals for frags that I dont have

3) I want to add some more corals to m main reef tank which at the momen is a RSM130D

Once again any help and or suggestions would be greatly appreciated

 

[Young Frankenstein]

I was thinking of that for a while, following this thread, My only consern is if it will increase tem summer time.

 

[Pappy]

This is a cool idea! Will there be enough light/or too much light?


Mike D "like the beastie boys" Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Steelerfan747]

While most think 200-300g is a lot it should be highly susceptible to exterior temps which means it will fluctuate drastically without a chiller. Plus unless you put it in direct sun light you won't have sufficient light for good growth. Sorry, good idea though

 

[pumarjr]

i believe this is how ORA's tanks are setup, the are in a type of reef green house.

 

[Steelerfan747]

i believe this is how ORA's tanks are setup, the are in a type of reef green house.

Yes but I think they run some sort of temp control

 

[allabout]

Would be definitely cool to see it done. The other thing, besides temp swings, is salinity swings? Wouldn't a really good rain mess up your parameters pretty significantly? Maybe a fairly inexpensive greenhouse would work better, give you better control over the elements. Would love to see something like that set up though!

 

[Reef Breeders Verified Sponsor]

+1 on the rain, if you want an outdoor tank, you may as well go commercial. Unless you have thousands of dollars to throw around, you may as well just set up a tank indoors.

 

[pickupman66]

FWIW, I have a 150 gallon sump on my 180 tank. we keep the house at 74, and I have LED lighting so no added heat from the lights. The sump is in my insulated garage and contains about 50 gallons of water total. the garage door faces East. lately we have outside highs in the 90's and my garage does get quite warm but not much more so than the outdoors. My chiller runs thru 5 or 6 cycles of 2 hours each in a 24 hour period.

 

[stylaster]

why not just use the hot tube? Might have to replace a few metal plumbing parts with plastic, but hey its got built in water jets for current...

 

[returnofsid]

I did this for one summer, with mixed results. I used a 100 gallon stock tank, outside, in an area that gets sun about 7 hours. I had the ability to shade it, if necessary, and it WILL become necessary. You gotta realize, no matter how much artificial light we pump into our tanks, it doesn't even come close to natural sunlight, even on an overcast day. Your main concerns will be temperature control. I ran a heater, which would kick on during the odd cool evening. I also ran a fan, pretty much continuously, to blow air across the surface, helping with cooling. IMO, the fan is almost mandatory.

My main issues were algae. You'll find that it's very difficult to control algae when you have less control over light. I did have a few fish in the stock tank as well, to help control algae. Corals grew great though the colors weren't as good as they were under artificial light. Evaporation amounts will fluctuate more, depending on humidity from day to day.

If you do decide to experiment with this, I would caution you to be wary of how much sunlight the area gets. Don't put the tank in an area that gets sunlight all day. Also, if you use something such as a stock tank, either wrap it in reflective insulation or paint the outside of it a light color. Otherwise, the black color will attract massive amounts of heat.

I plan to do this again this summer. The main reason I do it is; at our home, we host a huge BBQ/Frag Swap, which is our club's biggest yearly meeting. We typically have 50-60 members in attendance. During this event, everyone puts their corals in the stock tank. Once all corals are in the stock tank, I add an Interceptor tablet and a good double dose of Salifert Flatworm Exit. This is just to reduce the chances of anyone trading cooties. Since I set up this stock tank for the yearly club meeting, I just set it up about a month early and let it run until outside temperatures are too cold to keep the water warm enough. It's been a fun experiment.

 

[Rockadile]

I would think one big issue would be outside contamination. Be it natural such as bird droppings or something or man made such as pesticides.

 

[tinctorus]

This is the area that I am going to be putting it in, I already have something planned to keep the rain water out so that I dont get salinity swings up the wazoo

Obviously that stupid *** hot tub is coming out, I am going to use a large commercial pump and run all of my plumbing underneath the deck but the tank itself is going to be above ground, I will also have a 2" ball valve at the bottom of the tank to make water changes simple

 

[tinctorus]

why not just use the hot tube? Might have to replace a few metal plumbing parts with plastic, but hey its got built in water jets for current...

I had thought about that however the hot tub has a leak in it and drains down a solid 10 inches in the course of a day, if it wasnt for that I would have done exactly that since it is already there and I would'nt have had to build anything

 

[tinctorus]

I did this for one summer, with mixed results. I used a 100 gallon stock tank, outside, in an area that gets sun about 7 hours. I had the ability to shade it, if necessary, and it WILL become necessary. You gotta realize, no matter how much artificial light we pump into our tanks, it doesn't even come close to natural sunlight, even on an overcast day. Your main concerns will be temperature control. I ran a heater, which would kick on during the odd cool evening. I also ran a fan, pretty much continuously, to blow air across the surface, helping with cooling. IMO, the fan is almost mandatory.

My main issues were algae. You'll find that it's very difficult to control algae when you have less control over light. I did have a few fish in the stock tank as well, to help control algae. Corals grew great though the colors weren't as good as they were under artificial light. Evaporation amounts will fluctuate more, depending on humidity from day to day.

If you do decide to experiment with this, I would caution you to be wary of how much sunlight the area gets. Don't put the tank in an area that gets sunlight all day. Also, if you use something such as a stock tank, either wrap it in reflective insulation or paint the outside of it a light color. Otherwise, the black color will attract massive amounts of heat.

I plan to do this again this summer. The main reason I do it is; at our home, we host a huge BBQ/Frag Swap, which is our club's biggest yearly meeting. We typically have 50-60 members in attendance. During this event, everyone puts their corals in the stock tank. Once all corals are in the stock tank, I add an Interceptor tablet and a good double dose of Salifert Flatworm Exit. This is just to reduce the chances of anyone trading cooties. Since I set up this stock tank for the yearly club meeting, I just set it up about a month early and let it run until outside temperatures are too cold to keep the water warm enough. It's been a fun experiment.

I had planned on using a white epoxy so that it doesnt absorb heat, As you can see from the pictures though its not going to get blasted with sun during the entire day, The pictures I just posted were literally just taken and that is the MOST sun that area gets even at high noon, Plus as I stated I will have a piece of eggcrate about teh tank as well as replacing the top of the patio with corrugated plastic similar to what they use for cheap hurricane shutters

My dad supprisngly was the one who suggested that I do this since he wants the 65 gallon turned back into a reef tank instead of just a FOWLR setup, He said this way I can make some money selling corals AND I can help the hobby with sustainable corals as opposed to wild corals since he has seen the destruction first hand that people have done to the living reef's from when he was a diver for N.O.A.A

 

[tinctorus]

I would think one big issue would be outside contamination. Be it natural such as bird droppings or something or man made such as pesticides.

Outside contamination wont be an issue since
1) we dont use ANY type of pesticides on our yard or garden
2) the patio is screened in and no birds can obviously get in, The dog's currently drink out of the hot tub when its hot outside and they ar ethirsty but I'm sure after they realize it's saltwater they wont try drinking from it again LOL

 

[mainereefer]

I would say try a small tank in a window. if you can keep it all under control go to the next level

 

[Young Frankenstein]

Not only they will grow. In todays FMAS meeting thats all they talked about. Restoring the reefs by growing corals in aquariums outdoors. Basically you need 40% sunlight block and to control temperature to 77 deg. I would say definitely Yes !!!

Here is who grows corals outdoors.
Keri O’Neil
Position: Research Assistant, Nova Southeastern University Oceanographic Center
Laboratory: Coral Histology/Land Based Nursery
Education: B.S. University of Maryland (Biology)
Research: My work is primarily focused on the maintenance and monitoring of our land-based coral nursery, a 2500 gallon aquaculture system where we are culturing fragments of Acropora cervicornis and other stony coral species found in Broward County. One of my current projects is a comparison of growth and survival in offshore and land-based coral nurseries. I am also interested in coral reproduction and larval studies, including using aquaculture techniques to increase settlement and survival rates of sexually produced coral larvae in situations where natural recruitment may be low.



Read more http://www.fmas1955.org/wordpress/

 

[Young Frankenstein]

The museum where the meeting was held also grows corals outdoors, the space was closed but took some photos anyway Thure the glass. In the left fish tanks and in the back 4" pvc with mangroves growing.

 

[Pappy]

There's a guy that runs a aquaculture facility in fort pierce in a metal warehouse...he runs his pipes about 4-6 ft under ground to help control temp. Is this something that facility was maybe doing. I don't know the temp gets brutal in fl. Have a chiller to be safe!


Mike D "like the beastie boys" Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk