Slow day at work? Pipe dreams! Lets have em...

[wade1]

Here is something to get your brain off the ground and rolling (of course, not in the correct direction):

If you had the funding to create an ideal reef tank (not a museum/aquarium style 40,000g thing) in your home what would it look like? Size, shape, features? What equipment would you use? Pretend you were installing this for a local billionaire but he limited you to 10,000g or less... What would you want in it? Any novel methods of filtration you would try?

Lets hear your suggestions....

 

[wade1]

Ok here is my idea....

-15' wide tank, 10' deep, 10' top to bottom depth, but sloping forward so that its a crest of only 3' at the back (~7500g)
-natural lighting (assuming south TX or FL or more tropical where its rather constant, natural lighting is only good under more or less constant conditions IMO) assisted with 1000W MH 6500ks
-permanent rock structure, with understructure of handmade rock and locked into the real live rock above
-solid chunks of rock at crest, with decreasing size as it reaches the deepest part near the front of the tank, a few caves designed for maximal water flow, all the way down to rubble and then to oolitic sand with a sandbed of approx 1' depth
-massive wavemaker with reduced bubble input, surging forward into the reef crest, slight curling of the waves
-starphire glass front, concrete sides and back, viewing from mid-water column height (floor is about level with the bottom of tank)
-school of achilles and naso tangs, a school of anthias and chromis, loaded with small goby species and a couple predator species (smaller, like dwarf lions or small groupers....), numerous harems of various water column feeding wrasses and angels... the idea being to put in harems or other groups of fish that will spawn if conditions are held steady
-well thought out placement of corals with defined ranges... reef crest species, reef front species, lower flow corner area for lagoonal species, non-photosynthetic species in a cave with recirc loop powering water thru episodically
-automated 10% weekly water changes
-behind the scenes filtration: mudbed, approx 2' deep, set on a 6 hour cycle of flooding and clearing (like natural tides), with mangroves toward the landward side embedded in more handmade rock. The depth of the main tank would allow a few hundred gallons of water to be flushed across this regularly...
-massive fergy made skimmer (6 beckett injectors) to catch up with any additional waste not cleared

Ahhhh, the pipe dream lives on!

Wade

 

[leftovers]

The Tank of tanks would be about 9,500gl in a 1/2 hexagon horse shoe configuration.

Dimensions: Tank height is 6' tank depth will be also 6' on all sides. Length varies by the angle you look but the back dimension would be 10' wall joining an 18' joining back to another 10'. Again joints are on 45 degree angle.

The tank would be in a room 32' long by 24', the tanks would present two panes 8' x 5' joining a main pain 14'x5' at 45 degree angles.

The panes would be laminated starphire glass/acrylic combination to get the thickness and strength as well as to prevent scratching and pitting on internal tank wall. There would be two visible joints but so what....they would be invisible after a brief time in the room. If the tank engineer can get away without using them to join the panes then even better.

The rest of the walls would be pressure and moisture treated concrete with several small windows built in at various heights to allow walk behind viewing of hidden areas. Also I would building mouting points to fix man made & live rock to wall.

There would be 1' deep sand bed end to end. Current would be provided by 3/4 hp pumps feeding 3 x3" feeds on random timer across both arms and there would be separate dual rear facing ports at joints also on 3/4hp pump. I would have drop surge from gravity fed 200gl tanks to two submerged 6" openings per side. So each arm would receive constant surges from a total of 4 openings. And if I was really clever i would mount titanium fins, much like radiator openings and have them move up/down to different angles for each surge wave so that there is random current /surge to all areas of arms.

I would have rock slopes and valleys in each arm up the sides. There would be wide sandy open spaces. The main tank would have cavernous reef slope and being 6' deep a nice open sand bed for flats corals.

There would be constant feed of phyto, live brine and rotifers. Would have large refugiums for mysis and pods to grow out in and would periodically surge those as well to move population to main tanks.

Lighting would be provided by both natural and artificial lights. Room would be southern facing and have the new pizeo glass Allowing for natural light and also allowing me to open close the glass for more/less light as it warrented. Artifical lights would be actinic and 1000 or even 2000W MH with the k being 10K or 65K depending on the quality of the lamps I could get.

 

[philakapd]

Wade-

How are you gonna feed your friends inside the tank if it's 10' tall?

Guess you will have a closet containing an extension ladder off to one side.

I also would have feeding problems. Put my tank in a 20'x20' room. I'd make the ceiling out of it. Put a hammock on the floor and let the MH's give me a tan while I watch the fishies from below!

How am I going to feed them....I got it....from the attic!


Take care,
Phil

 

[Anonymous]

If I may be so bold:

I think the "huge tank" thing is not necessarily so desireable. I wouldn't want any wider than say 3', otherwise the reef experience isn't as "intimate" - that is, I like it when I'm able to get right up to the glass & can watch the critters closely. On those huge tanks this isn't so easy.

My ideal tank would be about 3 ft wide & 3-4 ft tall, but would extend around the perimeter of a fishroom in a large U shape - that way I get plenty of tank, but it's more up-close & personal...

 

[wade1]

Feeding issues? I think not. I never target feed anything... I make a mixed particle size homemade food that feeds everything very efficiently. If something did require feeding, then I'd spot feed when SCUBA diving (with an external rig) to clean the glass!

I do agree with Cheese Sammich though... its hard to see some of the smallest life in the larger tank, however, I think the overall experience of being able to watch an entire section of reef would be worth it. If it were a real issue Aquatic Ecosystems sells an underwater camera and 200' of cable for around $850! 8O

Wade

 

[philakapd]

I've also seen on the market the "dolphin II." It is the automated algae scrubber for olympic size swimming pools. It will clean the walls all day long on a single charge.
I like the idea of the SCUBA cleaning system as well.

How about the shape of a dougnut. Put your favorite chair (preferrably w/a swivel) in the center of it and watch in a full 360 view.

 

[fishfarmer]

Think reef with a greenhouse built around it.

I would have mostly natural lighting with MH pendant supplementation. The tanks would be several kiddie pool sized circular containers built off the floor, possibly with side viewing windows. I would want to build chairs/couches around the reefs as well as have a beach with mangroves and coconut palms in my greenhouse as well as other tropical vegetation. The main reef tank aquascaping would be in the shape of a mini atoll. The filtration would be all natural. I would have several lagoonal tanks incorperated into the design. I may even build a water fall into the design to aid in water topoff :mrgreen: . I would have lots of small colorful schooling fish. Since it would mostly be viewed from the top, clams would be a must.

 

[Anonymous]

Since it would mostly be viewed from the top, clams would be a must.

As would calcium supplementation (as per Tullock! ).

 

[fishfarmer]

As would calcium supplementation

That would come via my waterfall/kalk doser. Did I mention I would have lizards crawling around my greenhouse? I'm not sure if I would have parrots though, they can be messy. I don't need them dropping chunks of fruit in my atoll.

 

[Anonymous]

Another idea I once had re a "dream house" - have the house plumbed for saltwater - that is, in every room there's a water outlet & a return, all running to a basement sump system. Then, whenever I want a tank somewhere, I just "plug it in" in that room...

 

[sb_reef]

Hmmmm... I would like to make one shaped like a giant doughnut! Like 4~5 feet tall (viewable area) maybe 3 feet from outer wall to inner wall... I would construct it with a tunnel walk way so people could go up into the middle of it and kick back on a circular couch which lines the inner area. This atrium (if you will) would have a premium sound system and mood lighting to match. The Area in the middle would be 10 feet across, from tank wall to tank wall. I think this circular design would not only be very impressive for viewers, but the fish could swim without ever encountering a wall as long as they follow the path of the tank.

 

[ReefLion]

Ghost, that is a great idea. I'm always thinking about running another set of pipes from my basement sump, but the extra drilling and whatnot is too high a barrier.

Tim

 

[Anonymous]

Ghost, that is a great idea. I'm always thinking about running another set of pipes from my basement sump, but the extra drilling and whatnot is too high a barrier.

Tim

We'll have to devise some sort of standardized tank-plumbing "socketry" which the designer would design in, as they do with electrical, ventilation, etc.

 

[Carpentersreef]

As would calcium supplementation (as per Tullock! ).

Do you really need calcium supplementation with a sandbed that deep, once it has sufficiently matured? I would think that the lower PH in a sandbed that large would provide enough calcium to the inhabitants.

Mitch

 

[Kevin Day]

now for a little more conservative outlook:

my dream tank (and i dont have all the logistics worked out yet for plumbing, lighting, etc. as far as where the wires/plumbing goes but hey, i can dream) would be a large double bow tank in the center of my living room. of course i would need a bigger living room. I'm thinking it would look alot like the oceanic 175 bow but two of them stacked back to back and much larger, somewhere in the neighborhood of 800 gallons, with the overflow drilled straight down the center of the tank. I would stack rock all around it so you wouldn't have to see the overflow from any viewing angle. I would still do the same berlin style reef that has been working for me, and i woulnd't keep anything out of the ordinary in there, but i think a great big double bow is by far the most desirable tank i could possibly have. then i would be able to walk around ALL sides of the tank and see what's going on.

*sigh*