About Flashback Fridays: Every Friday, Advanced Aquarist will repost a blog article from this week one year ago. With all the content we publish, we want to share the timeless and interesting articles for our new readers as well as regulars who may have missed the origin

A n    I n d o o r    T r o p i c a l    T h u n d e r s t o r m !

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Aquarium: 120″ x 80″ x 24″ (950 gallons) | 200 x 300 x 60 cm (3600 liters)
Lighting: 12 x 100 watt LED (equivalent 12 x 250 Watt HQI)

This is probably the most elaborate LFS tank you will ever see.  The folks at HPAquaristik recently uploaded a series of short videos of their new main reef display.  Suffice it to say, I am in awe of the thought that went into the storm-simulation system of their massive system.

The LED lighting system (minus rain system)

We’re not just talking about random cloud cover simulation using LED lighting (ho-hum application these days).  We’re talking about a full blown storm simulation system, with beautifully simulated ambient lights and “lightning strikes”… and actual rainfall!  Freshwater is fed into an irrigation system suspended over the tank;  Each day, a simulated thunder and rain storm showers the main display with freshwater for a couple of minutes.  This is without a doubt the most elaborate evaporation top-off system I know.

It’s far from my place to offer constructive criticism on this awesome system, but integrating pump programs with the lighting system could create an even more spectacular simulated storm.

Unless you’re a serious malcontent, there’s no way these videos do not inspire you:

A full walk-around of the 950 gallon (3,600 liter) reef display

Simulated thunderstorm, complete with rainfall!

Above-the-tank view of the simulated rainstorm

A short video demonstrating simulated cloud cover