si_sphinx

A few new additions. 6 anthias 1 clam 1 acan 1 gold head sleeper goby 1 purple stag coral 1 Orange Florida Ric (I have this in a container of coral rubble to get it to attach to a rock) Some quick photos... Bangaii Female is getting fatter too. Yes, I know I need to clean the back of the tank.

haha yes :lol: I am happy with an extractor fan and heat pump. I will probably use the heat pump to heat the room to 22-24degs and in tank heaters to increase it the further few degs to prevent any fluctuations. Although I would imagine this much water wouldn't fluctuate too much. Would I need a dehumidifier? how much moisture would accumulate in the room from evaporation or would the extractor vent take care of that? And would the extractor remove heat from the room? Or is that not to worry about with an external air source heat pump bringing in warm fresh air. Just trying to get my head around how it is going to work.

I understand your thinking and I use to do the same on my freshwater tank. But with marine, the saltwater is a bit more precious. I can't just turn on a tap and replace the water. I have to go and collect it. Also the water movement in the tank will circulate so often that I would say a certain amount of the new water going in would be drain straight back out and be wasted. I don't mind having to have the extra tank to condition the water. It will still have to be done if I have one or two of them. I would most likely have the water conditioning a week before it is required anyway. Or as soon as a water change is done I can fill the conditioning tank straight back up to slowly heat up and it can sit there until the next water change is needed. Freshwater would be so much easier.

Is there anyone in NZ that designs and installs private or commercial aquarium systems?

All water changes will be NSW. The first 1000ltr tank (closest to the tank) is for closed loop system. Like you said earlier. Close valves. Dump that 1000ltrs. And refill it with the water that is pre-conditioned in the tank beside it. Open valve, water change done. The second 1000ltr tank is for pre-conditioning the NSW before it is used for a water change. Bringing it up to temperature, matching pH,Mg,Ca,kH. Yes RODI water will be in the blue drum and used for ATO. Having the 1st tank for the closed loop system makes easier for water changes. Meaning the water level will never go down in the Main tank or sump from draining for water changes. And the Main tank system and sump can stay going uninterrupted. Make sense?

I thought about a skylight too but think that could be a good place for condensation and mold to grow and potentially hard to keep clean. I have redrawn the correct closed loop plumbing to the pump. The feed back to the sump and skimmer would be by gravity? not sure if this would work. Comments anyone? 2/1000 ltr tanks added making the system 3600ltrs. This would allow for a 27% water change and possibly wouldn't have to be so often. Blue 200ltr auto top off drum added beside wash tub. I had to remove 3 quarantine tanks to make room for the drum. I am going to have to work out a good routine to collect NSW for this system and storing it. Maybe another 5000ltr drum out the back of the house which would give me 6 months of water change water. Livingart, How do you collect and store your water for all your tanks?

No window because the room is not located against any external walls. Also you can't include an external door as ventilation, it has to be a window. Stupid I know. It would probably be good to have a window but I think an extract fan would be more efficient at replacing the air.

Haha thanks guys. I have changed to two 1000ltr water tanks. $710 each. I need to add in an auto top off system now. Would be good to have it a 200 ltr tank maybe.

wow a lot of replies already. This will be a marine reef tank. Yes there is a drain from the tank,sump,water barrels to discharge into the wash tub waste pipe. There will be a floor drain in the center of the room for any spills. There will be a removable backing to the back of the tank to stop being able to see right through but also allow for maintenance. Hmmmm 7% water change. I didn't think about that. Will have to look at something bigger then. Maybe a 1000ltr closed loop barrel instead? I was thinking of using a Heat pump to heat the room and extractor fan will be required by law for ventilation since it won't have any windows. I have thought about the closed loop a bit more last night and I don't think it will work the way I have it drawn. I think I have stuffed up the drawing a bit too. It shows the pump taking water from the barrel and feeding the skimmer and sump. But how does the water get to the barrel? haha whoops. The closed loop pump should take water from the sump, put it through the barrel, then feed the skimmer, deep sand bed and discharge back into the sump. This would require the barrel to be airtight like a big canister filter. If the power goes off then it may flood the sump and skimmer since the barrel sits higher. I don't really want to use non-return valves because they restrict flow and are very expensive. So I need to create a siphon break in the return line some how. Any Ideas? Unless the siphon will just suck water through from the sump and not flood at all? But I still think there is potential for a flood in the skimmer. Green Pipes: water supply to closed loop barrel from sump. Light Blue Pipes: Water from closed loop barrel through return pump and back to DSB and sump. Dark Blue Pipes: Drains from display tank, sump and closed loop barrel. White Pipes: Water supply to skimmer and back to sump. Yellow Pipes: Return line from sump to display tank.

I have always thought, 'One day I am going to have a tank big enough to build a house around'. And now it might just become a reality. So I have drawn up my house with an in-wall tank and dedicated fish room behind. Main tank will be 2.8m long x 1.2m wide x 0.7 high. 2000ltrs Sump will be 2.2 long x 0.7 wide x 0.5 high. 600ltrs Closed loop system will be 200ltrs Whole system will roughly be 2800ltrs I have also drawn the fishroom in detail showing all plumbing etc. Here are a few of the earlier images explaining a little And the latest additions. Added skimmer and pumps.

Needs some orange spotlights for night lighting effect instead of tannins in the water. I like how there is heaps of open water where the fish can dig in the sand. If they were african cichlids in there I wonder if you would get the crater breeding nests that they make. Looking awesome :thup:

Not sure when this is going to happen. Hopefully within the next few years. I thought about the tank in the lounge but that room is more for home theater/ movies or future 'Kids stay in there so you don't annoy me out here' room :sml2: I would go with PVC pipes as well. And I would say no to metal pipes. Corrosion being the main reason. And I would imagine pvc will be easier to modify or add to for any changes needed. Everything going into new houses is mainly uPVC for drains and polybutylene or similar for water supply. Not so much metal anymore. I think Hansen fittings are more expensive but is easier to put together and modify with all the screw connections etc.

Ok What if I add a half height wall with breakfast bar. Can watch tv or spin around and watch the tank. The wall would also block my view of it from the couch so I have to get up to see it. Thanks, This house will be built in Nelson area. So you could come visit when it happens. It is going to be fun moving my current setup up there.

Way ahead of you there :thup:

That is just designed on paper so far. It has been designed for marine but can easily be used exactly the same with freshwater. It looks high tech but isnt really. Just pipes everywhere so everything is just open/close valves and turn on/off pumps for water changes. Definitely need a sink/wash tub. makes things a lot easier. And think about preventing condensation and mould build up. If there isn't enough airflow behind things in a high humidity room then mould will grow there. i.e don't put things hard up against walls. hard plumb as much as possible. dragging hoses everywhere is a pain. Do it right from the start. YES, have one big Display Tank. bigger the better. you will regret it if you don't. as for the power outlets. Think about how many plugs will be required for each tank and how far those cords reach or just multiboxes everywhere. Looking forward to seeing photos of your build

This is my proposed fish room set up I have designed to build my house around in the next few years, Fingers crossed. House is still in the design stage. Of coarse the fish room was planned out first :thup: These are older images and I have changed the design now. Main tank is deeper (front to back) and sump is 400mm longer.

Why don't you push it back against the next glass partition? I know it will reduce the area of foam it will go through but will still work.

No I only kept 2 of the bits of rock that were in there. The rest are in a cold bucket of freshwater outside. I couldn't find a use for them.

Thanks are0, I am feeding the bangaiis up to see if I can get them to breed. ATO tank installed. RODI water with added Magnesium. Reservoir with float switch and pump hooked up to kalk stirrer. Infrared and secondary fail safe back up sensors in sump Also noticed my cleaner shrimp is in berry. A bit hard to see in the pics but she just looks bigger with all the eggs under her tail. Here she is cleaning them under her tail

Thanks gals :bggrn: Just made the ATO tank, leak test tomorrow before it goes in the stand. 35 x 35 x 55 = 60ltrs. It is going to be much easier to keep water topped off than continuous refilling of the 20ltr container every 10-14 days that I'm doing at the moment. This new tank will also run a kalkwasser stirrer so won't need to dose that so often either. Here is a pic of some new corals. I'll get more and a FTS in the morning when everything looks its best.

Last time I collected NSW down here (Invercargill): Ca - 420ppm Mg - 1170ppm kH - 143ppm / 8dkH Salanity - 1.025 to 1.028 (sometimes I don't even have to add RODI water). All at good levels except for the Magnesium which doesn't take much to bring it a little higher.

Got a few more fish and corals over the weekend and will be making a few changes to the layout of the rocks around the overflow in the next few days so will post pictures when done. Still haven't sorted ATO reservoir tank either :facepalm:

NO substrate so I could keep it clean easier. Plants were either tied to rock/wood, lead weights or just floated moss. I used overflow comb to keep everything in there.