Reefs.org Forums

[Len]

Tackett's 's official thread:
Use this thread to document updates to your Nano Reef Buildoff project.
Please note: this thread is reserved for the entitled registered member only. Open discussion about ideas or specific entries should be posted in the Nano Reefs forum or the General Reef Discussion forum.

[Tackett]

This is the first entry in regard to the 20 gallon reef aquarium I am going to set up for the Reefs.org buildoff. First I will begin by putting down my ideas, and we will see how close I got with the final outcome.

1. A ten to twenty gallon tank. I have a spare 29 but I don’t want to use it because I want to use it as a sump for my 55, so that rules it out. I hate rectangular tanks so much and I would hate to have to use one for this contest. So I think I will make an attempt at finding a cubish shaped tank. I may wind up getting a custom acrylic tank built for this purpose from envision.

2. Water flow. I will handle this with a closed loop. I will run the loop by having 2 holes drilled in the overflow area, up from the bottom of the tank, to two ~1500gph pumps seperatley. Pump 1 return will be routed to 4 seperate 1" holes drilled right into the tank side. A SQWD will alternate between the top and bottom holes. The same will apply to the other side of the tank, driven by pump 2. These pumps will be on 7-8 hour cycles switching sides. This should help with pump maintainence as well.

3. Filtration. This will be accomplished in the tank with the use of live sand and live rock. Dividing the overflow up with a bulkhead may not be a bad idea, if there is room, to provide a place for chaetomorphia to grow to create a mini-type refugium since the area will be under the lighting anyway.

4. Protien skimmer. Will probably be a hang on skimmer of some type placed in the overflow area, or no skimmer at all depending on what size the tank actually winds up being. Ten gallons I probably wont even worry about it, but getting closer to 20 I wouldnt mind having one.

5. Lighting. There are two ways I would like to handle this, first way would be to buy a pendant HQI 150 watt lamp, which is the most feasable route. The second way would be to build a canopy. The canopy would be equipped with lights by taking apart the 96w satellite, and 110w all glass powercompact lights that I have laying around. Or better yet a retrofit HQI halide and incorporate both, but I don’t see this happening due to budget reasons.

6. Placement: Where I am possibly going to put this thing in my place is still a mystery to me. But who cares!

7. Hiding the under workings: This will only be two pumps with some pvc, however, I still would like them hidden. I could build a stand, but I have never done it before, and true, there is a first time for everything, but we will see.

I think that about does it, here goes nothing!


More updates to come, including rough schematics.

[Tackett]

Whoops. Forgot to say.

I have finally decided on the tank to have built. I am going to contact envision soon to get a quote.

AFAIK and according to my calculations:

19"x19"x12" will be approximatley 19 gallons. I chose a shallow tank so I will be able to get away with a little bit lower wattage lighting.

[Tackett]

Here are some of my calculations for the new tank.. This is all assuming 1/2 thck sides, which Im not sure I want to do. I cant really find a solid way of calculating the thickness of acrylic, though Im sure that envision would do it for me, I would still like to have if for my CAD schematic.


Water Type..............................Saltwater
Material................................Acrylic
Tank Overhead Shape.....................Rectangular
Length..................................19.00 in.
Width...................................19.00 in.
Height..................................12.00 in.
Wall-thickness..........................0.50 in.
Volume..................................18.75 gal (US)
Tank Material Weight....................33.79 lbf
Water Volume............................17.76 gal (US)
Water Weight............................150.86 lbf
Substrate Type..........................Sand
Average Substrate Depth.................1.00 in.
Substrate Weight........................19.23 lbf
Approximate Total Weight................203.87 lbf
Room Air Temperature....................70.00 °F
Water Temperature.......................78.00 °F
Heating Capability Required.............20.89 W
Approx. Total Fish Length...............7.52 in.
Mass Required for 1 PPM.................68.43 i

[Tackett]

Ive also been kicking around the notion of making this tank barebottom, but I dont particuraly like barebottoms, so I am going to try to keep the sand depth to a minimum, maybe an inch or less.

[Tackett]

alright update time.

These are the schematics that I am going to send to envision for a quote.

If anyone sees any problem with them, let me know.

[Tackett]

well crap. Envision said they were looking at 12-14 week production time. So that rules this whole big idea totally out. I dont really know what to do now. Ill have to do some thinking.

CRAP!