I have been an aquarium hobbyist for 25 years. I have been a reef aquarist for about 3 of those years. Over the 25 years, I have had fresh water and salt water tanks. My very first tank was a 5 gallon Metaframe tank by Marineland with guppies. I bred them successfully at about age 12 while my friends and cousin continuously lost their fish as fast as they could buy them. I graduated to a 20 gallon and then my parents wanted a hexagon 40 gallon.

As I got older and went on my own, I had a 100 gallon fresh water tank with oscars. Boy did I love those oscars. They were like puppy dogs. They acted like they were going to breed, but they never did. My first salt water tank was in 1986. It was a 100 gallon that was very successful. It was up for about 3 years.

In 1997, I got my first reef aquarium. The challenge intrigued me and I loved the animals. It is a 100 gallon that has done fairly well. I would consider this my "learning" tank. I have made many mistakes. Little did the aquarium store know, they created a monster. After this tank was up for about 6 months, the planning for the"Ultimate" reef tank was taking shape.

This reef tank is and will be my pride and joy. I love the challenge, creativity and just the sheer beauty of reef aquariums. I am an avid scuba diver and love to come home to this beauty every night. For those who know me, this has been a very LONG LONG process. It seems I have been talking about this project for so long, that I don't remember who I told first (I do, my wife!).

OK...well..this tank was me dream. It was a total of a 3 year project. I started with my 100 as my learning experience...learned allot most important experience....water flow! That is so key. When I began the plans...it was at MACNA IX talked to many people the goals as on my site...was quiet....clean..easy maintenance so..no pumps in the house at all. Hence the two sumps. Since I live on a raised foundation...it acted like a speaker so...I wanted all the noise generating devices outside as for the floor...I live in southern Cal. and it is earthquake country...so I had to consider other things I hired a structural eng. to help. $500 well spent. Basically..the tank..full is about 6000lbs. I had footings poured under the house...not be me :)...and made the structure under the house to support the weight also..the stand is bolted through the floor into the footings. I would consider the most difficult problem was the flow as we all know...powerheads would be useless in a tank that is 8ft long X 36 wide so...I needed to devise the flow situation. I asked many people...and btw..there are few who have ever really "done" it. Many ideas were based on speculation..not proof so...thanks to Larry Jackson...with the motorized ball valve...the plumbing was the biggest challenge.

Because I wanted low maintenance... we don't just "do a water change" with this amount of water volume. So..I planned carefully and for those who visited my site...will see my fine art work...:)... I guess I am the only one who can really read it. Key thing though was that I had experience going into it and knew what I wanted to accomplish the lighting...was easy as for the final setup..I knew I wanted a full sand bed 6" that is why I went with a 30" height 24" tank...with a full sand bed..allowed the 400W MH do be effective to the bottom. The plumbing the refugium...and the quarantine tank took a little thinking..but worked out fine.

The second thing important to me was "automation". I spent a lot of time with Curt of Neptune...even saw his tank for ideas hence the DCm8..was key to the design. I am a hi-tech nut...so the more the merrier the electrical isn't too bad...only a couple of interesting problems. one...the pumps cause a spike in the wires and the power wire of the dcm8 and the Neptune get this spike..and has cause units to burp and even hang another has been with the icecaps as it turns out...I don't think it likes the length of the harness too much longer than delivered. I have a problem with the last bulb getting too hot and shutting in down. I filled and emptied the tank about 4 times with fresh before all the flow bugs were worked out as it turned out...I couldn't run both of the RK2 pumps simultaneously...too much water flow..!! it was like a whirlpool in the tank. second..the sumps couldn't keep up with both pumps. I think I got more flow than I anticipated...total flow now...is about 5500gph at anyone time golden rule...10X or better. I designed for more...but..still got what I wanted total rock is about 1000lbs sand...was mostly a mix of the carib sea..except for the live sand seed most of the rock came from a friend...who had a 220 he was breaking down took all his sand..rock and many animals. I run a calcium reactor with Super Calc Gold in it is a big guy....6" about 20" tall works great...I run out of titration to see what the ca is really at. I don't add anything else total costs....well almost free..:) no..really..total tank..is about 25K the finishing I did not do myself..though I wanted to he did a fine job working through all the special situations my utility bill..over the summer about 100/mo. the chiller was on allot btw....I have a 3/4hp chiller...and it is set for a 0.3 deg variance!! it takes about 20-30 min. to bring it down .3 in the summer now..about 10 min. with the cooler weather.

One interesting unforeseen problem...snails because not all outputs have flow one is actually siphoning while the other is working so...at 1am on the second Saturday it was up...NO FLOW..I panicked!! these were brand new... $500 pumps! key thing..I used all flex...and tru-union ball valves.. made it easy to disconnect the pump.. and the snail was caught behind the impeller! so..the pump shut down... as for the refugium...I have so much caulerpa...it doesn't spin now! anyone want some?? but..there are tons of critters..in the tank..and in the refugium..it is gravity flow and works great.

As for my wife..she really doesn't approve of my hobby she thinks it is a lot of money...for...a HUGE tank in HER living room oh well it is nice...and many people just watch... it is growing well...and I am slowly stocking it up key things I learned...patience be knowledgeable of what you are embarking on when you do this you don't just say..gee I want a big tank and throw it together a person saw my site and said he was doing a 1000 gal..and after talking with him he said..gee I had no idea I was in for so much work.. I asked him...how are you going to clean the 1.5 in plexi front...and he said..uh... big mistake...got to think everything through everything!! that is why it took about 3 years plus..there were delays and many things I had no control over I chose not to go with a plenum....I talked with Bob Goemans allot on this and decided it was too risky..you don't just remove the plenum cause its not working though I did do a cool trick along the bottom..I cut the plastic crates..the ones similar as milk crates 4" thick and placed them along the bottom.. filled them with sand...along with the rest of the tank.. the main rocks sit on those crates..and the rock are not buried in the sand....but rather sit on the crates also...the matrix is key...I put a Iwaki 70 feeding the matrix. This ensures that there is flow behind, in, and between all the rock and minimizes the dead spots also..you will notice that the overflows are "outside" of the tank there are no boxes in the tank that inhibit flow left to right etc. When the pump for the motorized ball valve is running you can see the water flow along the top...bounce off the other side...and return along the bottom when the valve turns...there is a temporary chaotic flow and then it reverses...the fish reverse as well..because of the flow change

At night...the critters are everywhere. When the tank was first up...I told a friend...guess what...I just bought $500 in crabs and snails!! he said what?? so..there are a mixture of janitors...lots of blue legged...red scarlets..snails reef janitors...3 or 4 types of snails...I bought mixtures from 3 different places again...got to think ahead...not just...rock you need cleaners for this beast!! I also run carbon all the time but I didn't buy single canisters of the chemipure I called boyd and said...I need...10 unit socks! so...to get the good pricing..I bought 14 of these guys.. that is equivalent to 144 single chemipure containers we all see in the store it will last me about 1 year...I change them monthly

The skimmer is a EDEPS...ets copy...and is the equiv. of a ets 1000...60" tower with the iwaki 70 on it. I also am running the 1000W heater plug...thank god! when it gets cool...it does a fine job again..if you aren't prepared to do it right.....don't do it so...I think I am way over 30 min..so ....?s

Was there anything surprising when setting up the tank, due to the size, and the initial months of running, other than the obvious?

hmm...I wasn't sure how the flow solution..and the sump was going to work but other than the snail episode..not really..I was very fortunate...I have been waiting for the algae bloom. knock on wood..hasn't happened yet.

How long did it take to fill the tank with water?

lol...that is a good one...well..for the testing..only about 20 min maybe 30...I used a kold-sterile for the final fill and it took maybe 10 min longer...

Did u use all RO:DI water for the big fill?

No...that would have taken...over a week. I have a 80gpd unit but...so that is why I used the kold-sterile.

Were microbubbles ever a problem from all the water movement? If so how did you solve it?

well...I do have a little not sure where they are coming from...but they do dissipate

Where did you buy the motorized ball valve, and app. price?

The motorized ball valve is a "high quality commercial grade" you can't use a cheap one cause is will wear out because of the frequency of rotation. I bought it form Scott Valler at www.valler.com..for about $500.

With 5500gph to much ..I'm curious to what size/type of overflow you have and what size pipe returns water from tank to sump?

There are two overflows...one on each side of the tank each has a 2" return in it they flow down to the 100 gal sump under the tank. I did the calculations for the teeth to support the flow. The "recirculation flow" is about 3300 gph the total flow is 5500..I have 2 closed systems each with an iwaki 70 giving me about 1100 gph

How did you make the spinner thing for the refugium - or what is it ? how does it work..?

The spinner I bought at MACNA X it was made by a co. in Bakersfield...can't remember the name now.

Have you ever thought about adding a wave maker?

hmm...interesting ?...I actually do in a sense there are 2 RK2s...one that exits with 4 3/4" eyeballs..like the jets in spa the other is through the ball valve. the exits of the ball valve is via 2 outputs...1 - 1" pipe and the other a 1.5" pipe there are 2 sets of these..one on each side of the tank the ball valve rotates at a different interval than the RK2s switch also..I will have one Iwaki 70 on 2 sea swirls..though they are not up yet.

How much water is lost to evaporation daily?

ah..good one...about 8 gal/day. I use a dosing pump that is plumbed into the fresh water line. One of the outside tanks is for fresh water only...it has a water level sensor that goes on and off during the day..and the RO/DI replenishes it accordingly the dosing pump just takes what it wants..

What do you mean by the Matrix? Is there water flow in the crates under the rock?

not in the crates...but above the sand level. If you look on the site...under construction near the end..there is a bunch of white pipe that goes left/right/up and down this is all buried by the rock.

Do you have a backup power source?

hmm...no that has been a concern...though power in Los Angeles is quite reliable only problem I have run into is my chiller blowing the circuit during the summer as it turns out...the electric co. had an old transformer on the pole. They replaced it

You have a huge skimmer, use carbon all the time and never add trace elements? How often are water changes performed and how much?

Never done a water change yet...since April...but my plumbing setup will allow me to do a 80 gal change in about 10 min .

Do you recommend using a cold sterile over a RO unit?

well...there is a big debate on that...the kold-sterile does not produce "pure" water like the RO/DI units it does leave many minerals in it. Also, the kold-sterile doesn't waste so much water like the RO/DI I borrowed the Kold Sterile from a friend and had the RO/DI. If I were to buy new again, I would buy the kold-sterile.

How much per month, do you end up having to pay for the electric bill, just from this tank alone?

About 100 over the summer...will see what it is like in the winter.

How do you appease your better half when u walk through the front door holding $500 of critters?

:) well...as for critters....you get a lot for your money!!! lol

I'd like to be the first to thank Scott for speaking tonight. Great talk Scott!