Tina's Mega Bommies

[TigerIssey]

Reet if you read the present journal you will know I have been given the go ahead for a 6ft tank.

This is going to be a mega build, I am in no rush, which is a good job as the other half has to decorate and put a solid wood floor down after strengthening the joists. The stand will also have some form of box section strengthening that will be bolted into our stone wall (3 ft thick).

Andrew is building the stand, it will be from a wooden frame and will be clad in 18mm MFC which he will get from work. The unit doors will be the matching colour Kitchen or bedroom doors on soft closure hinges. There will be a seperate unit at the side for an auto top off reservoir and electrics store with somewhere for me to keep utensils and test kits.

So I am presuming you would like to see my plans.

Here is a rough sketch. The 1 drain from the tank will drain into the seahorse refugium but instead of being drilled at the side for this as in the picture, I will make a square pipework frame with pipework corners and drill holes into the piping to make a spray bar. This should cut down on noise and provide the all of the little flow the sea horses actually need. The second drain will go into the section of the sump that the protein skimmer is in. The first section of the sump on the right will drain into the sump tank on the left via pipework behind the sea horse tank. The sea horse section will not have a door on this will be open to view. The second sump section will have some chaeto lit on a reverse cycle to keep pH stable.


Anyhow look at the piccie

The two returns will be powered by a 3500 lph pump and circulation in the tank will come from a Vortech MP40W. Which may or may not be supplemented by the pumps I have now. I may not set it up with the vortech, may need to wait, depends how long things take to get that stage.

I am going to build the sump tanks myself after seeing Big C's build. I think I could do it. I will be able to get them just how I want them then.

I have bought the one remaining 39W twin PC controller left at Maidenhead in Blackpool today, they were gobsmacked by my plans.

It is an ambitious project, but hey, thats me.

Let me know what you think, any questions just ask.

 

[garry_boyd3]

It looks great, can't wait to see how it comes "alive" over the coming months.

 

[Anguilla82]

wow, some big plans going on here
looks good to me.
what lighting you going to go for?

just one thing. Have a real good think about other equipment you may need (phosphate reactor, nitrate reactor, calcium reactor etc etc etc) and make sure you've allocated space to put them. even if you don't initially get them you may in the long term decide you need one, and it would be a shame if you didn't have the space to do it.

its gonna be an amazing tank and i am very very very jealous!

 

[TigerIssey]

That is a very good point Rob, I want to make this tank and sump so that it can be upgraded, by this I mean that there will eventually be reactors for everything. I am planning to make room for this in the right hand sump tank. As the tank itself will be 24" in depth from front to back, plus a little extra as the stand will not have a back on it, I have plenty of room to make quite a large sump . The length will probably be 18" on that one but can be 24 " front to back. There should be plenty of room as the only equipment in there initially will be the protein skimmer and a container for phosphate remover and carbon. Will probably upgrade those to reactors first. The live rock rubble section can be quite narrow but run front to back again, leaving the majority of that sump for reactors.

The sump on the left can probably then fit some things in if necessary as again it will probably have the same footprint.

For lighting, I have kept the height of the tank to 18" as it gives me a little more choice. Initially I will run with T5 PC's, I will then get some Aquarays to run aswell as the T5's. I really like their shimmer. I know you can get this from Halides, I just don't want to go down the Halide route, I think the future is LED's, therefore, I will try supplementing T5's with LED's for now. It would cost a fortune initially to go full aquaray, perhaps I could start picking up the odd one second hand now they have been out for a bit and people are realising they need way more strips than they think. They are regularly on ebay now.

I have twin 55w on the tank now, have picked up a twin 39w today and will continue to search for some extra controllers, hopefully then I will have enough. Another couple of 39 or 55 would probably do me with aquarays to give some blue. I am still pndering which tubes to go with.

I could run 55's in the centre and 39's on the outsides and have the same lighting as I have now in the middle and slightly less at the edges for lower light corals. I am considering different levels as this could help with coral placement. Will see really what I can get hold of.

 

[Anguilla82]

i would consider Teeing off of the return pump to run at the very least your phosphate reactor (could also run one for carbon in line as well) as this will save you having to have an extra pump to run.
Its only a small thing but every little helps.

Also i heard the other day that TMC are due to release their next LED lighting units hopefully this autumn. They are gonna be in arrays rather than strips and will have much better light output than those currently available.
They are also hoping to be competitively priced against halides, unlike the strips currently, (unless u go second hand).

Just another option that might be worth considering, as i guess this project is a long term one rather than short term?

the problem with the PCs are that the ballasts are being phased out due to changes in European electrical laws i think. it makes getting replacements very difficult. might be ok in the short term but i think u are right to try and go for LEDs as soon as possible (personally i prefer halides but i may change my mind if the new LEDs do turn out to be as good as my source says!)

 

[seffieuk]

Oh my word, bl**dy amazing - I can't wait to see it come alive I want to know every little detail including the new floor

Tina, take a look at the title of this new thread - there's a typo

Seffie x

 

[TigerIssey]

i would consider Teeing off of the return pump to run at the very least your phosphate reactor (could also run one for carbon in line as well) as this will save you having to have an extra pump to run.
Its only a small thing but every little helps.

That is actually how I have it in this tank now, will probably do the same until I get the reactors to replace them, you are right there, forgot to put that on the picture.

Also i heard the other day that TMC are due to release their next LED lighting units hopefully this autumn. They are gonna be in arrays rather than strips and will have much better light output than those currently available.
They are also hoping to be competitively priced against halides, unlike the strips currently, (unless u go second hand).

That is really very interesting, I may even wait on the aquarays to see what these new lights are like before deciding.

Just another option that might be worth considering, as i guess this project is a long term one rather than short term?

Definately. Will start off with the main display, the two end sumps, (possibly the sea horse tank without occupants, depends on if I have enough glass to make it) and the return pipework. May get the Vortech aswell. Everything else will be added over time. Just want to get the additional rock cycled before moving my present occupants over into that tank. Then I will move one Bommie at a time and do a little drilling whilst I am at it. Will frag any corals that need it too.

I will start off the with the power compacts and my T8 blue tubes I think first. Wait on LEDs for later.
You are right about the ballasts, although I knew this anyway. I still like them and will stick with them as long as is possible, I was very lucky to get the last ballast that Maidenhead had today, going to Midlands at weekend (funeral unfortunately monday) I am going to a few of my old aquatic haunts on Sunday, Andrew is taking me in Wheelchair as I will have had surgery on my arm on Friday. Going to see if there are any left anywhere down there. The bulbs are still being produced, you just cannot get any more ballasts because of the IP60 regulations for lights and water that have made life difficult in bathrooms for the last few yrs.

Oh my word, bl**dy amazing - I can't wait to see it come alive I want to know every little detail including the new floor

You will certainly know every detail by the time I have finished. What is more, we already have the wood for the flooring (bought it 3 1/2 yrs ago, it has been underneath the pool table acclimatising to the room for 3 yrs now). I can actually take a photo of it for you as we have laid the exact same flooring in our spare bedroom. I will of course take the obligatory decoration shots too but the underneath of our floorboards will not be pretty after 260 yrs (to be fair, I think it was derelict at some point in the 1970's so they may not be that old). I do also have a swatch of wallpaper for the 2 end walls (the ones not vaulted) I can show you and the vaulted walls will be painted in Dulux Natural Hessian, which again, we already have. We just need to get the 55g to moms, pack my cut glass away, sort out the units and the desk and burn old paperwork, then Andrew can start. I will probably do some sorting out after my op.

Once all that is ready, the scaffolding needs erecting and painting can begin.

 

[TigerIssey]

Tina, take a look at the title of this new thread - there's a typo

Sorted, Thanks Seffie, my fingers sometimes work to fast and in the wrong order.


As requested Seffie, details of everything, including the wallpaper and Hard wood flooring.

The Wallpaper for the two end walls, feature wallpaper, one wall has a window, the other french doors.

EDIT - The colour of the flowers is Aubergine, has not come out too well in the photo.

The Hard Wood Flooring, just need to get the underlay for this. Will go down after the rest of the decorating is done and Andrew has lifted the floorboards to do the bits he needs to.

My mums carer has a son that does not start at college until September, he is going to come and labour and do a bit of painting, when you see the pictures of the room, you will understand why Andrew needs help.

 

[doktor doris]

Wow, what alot of hassle having to mess with the floor!

Iam so glad I live in a 2nd floor flat, and my floors are foot thick concrete.

Your plams sound amazing, I will be watching your progress closely.

good luck

doris

 

[ben1987]

go away for 5 mins and this happens...

 

[TigerIssey]

I know Ben, I could not believe he said I could have it, and it was his idea.

I put up the obligatory protestations, the bottom lip quivered at having to get rid of one tank, that was when he said that if I got rid of both I could have a huge marine tank. Well that was when my mind started going into planning overdrive.

 

[TigerIssey]

As it appears I am getting very serious about my reef tanks now and I want to make absolutely sure I am doing everything spot on I made a purchase today.

I would say it will be a brilliant read too, but will ultimately be a bible. I had some Amazon loyalty points left over from when halifax and amazon worked together on the Amazon Credit Card. I used these against the purchase, good job really as it is huge reference book.

My New Bible

You can see the index if you do a google search. It looks immense. Well over 600 pages of Reef Aquaria. Got it on delivery for tomorrow, just hop it comes before I go to the hospital for my operation on my arm.

 

[bagu]

haha this is going to be amazing!

 

[TigerIssey]

The best thing is I have only just worked out the amount of water I am going to need

The Display tank will be 508 litres, 112 UK (imp) gallons 135 US gallons. The sumps will probably work out to about 200 - 300 litres.

 

[ben1987]

what fish are going in it then? surely you have an idea of something you fancy?