si_sphinx Posted July 8, 2013 Report Share Posted July 8, 2013 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. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alanmin4304 Posted July 8, 2013 Report Share Posted July 8, 2013 When I built my fish house I included a floor drain so I could siphon with a hose into that. Also had a silt trap outside to catch any gravel/sand. Makes it easier to water change. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hamstar99 Posted July 8, 2013 Report Share Posted July 8, 2013 Yep. it would be a good idea to have a floor drain or waste pipe coming out of the wall for water changes and also a tap so you can top your tanks up direct. no hoses. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sophia Posted July 8, 2013 Report Share Posted July 8, 2013 !drool: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David R Posted July 8, 2013 Report Share Posted July 8, 2013 +1 on having a floor drain, even though this is going to be a salt tank by the looks of it. If you plumbed it right you could take the closed-loop system off line, open a dump valve to empty it, transfer the RO water across and add salt mix, run a circulating pump for a few hours to mix and pre-heat it, then put it back on-line and you would have performed a 200L water change without having to even touch a hose or bucket! I'd also think about having the closed loop and RO containers made our of glass or acrylic. A couple of 100x50x45cm glass tanks wouldn't be much more than food-grade plastic IMO and being able to see what is going on inside them would be very handy. What are you going to do for ventilating the room? I'd say you would want some sort of externally vented extractor fan running on a timer. If you're running a reef (or cold water) tank it would be a good investment to put a heatpump in that room too, as you'd probably be able to get away with not having a chiller. I love planning stuff like this, it looks like a great set up, hopefully you get to put it into action! ps. a 200L water change is only ~7% on a tank that size, you sure you don't want to make those containers a little bigger? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phantom Posted July 8, 2013 Report Share Posted July 8, 2013 I am so jealous right now. Looks awesome. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jennifer Posted July 8, 2013 Report Share Posted July 8, 2013 It looks fantastic. With that setup, how much harder would it be to have a floor to ceiling tank? :bggrn: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hovmoller Posted July 8, 2013 Report Share Posted July 8, 2013 Nicely done... although I am a bit disapointed that you haven't moddeled any fish into the tank yet :sml1: You can get several species of fish as 3ds files if you search online Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
calculator Posted July 8, 2013 Report Share Posted July 8, 2013 Nice tank, what you putting in it? Are you worried that you will see through the tank into your fish room and that would make it look less nice? (i.e. seeinging into the fish room from living area might not look so good.) or do you have some sort of background of somthing else to block from seeing right through the tank? Also you designed your living room facing in the wrong direction, the couches seem to be facing away from the tank, but I am sure that is just a mistake.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
si_sphinx Posted July 8, 2013 Author Report Share Posted July 8, 2013 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. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
amtiskaw Posted July 8, 2013 Report Share Posted July 8, 2013 I know you're not gay or single, and neither am I, but will you marry me? :slfg: You've gotta be the most committed fish keeper in NZ I reckon! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
henward Posted July 8, 2013 Report Share Posted July 8, 2013 love the diagrams Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
si_sphinx Posted July 9, 2013 Author Report Share Posted July 9, 2013 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. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
camtang Posted July 9, 2013 Report Share Posted July 9, 2013 Why no windows? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
livingart Posted July 9, 2013 Report Share Posted July 9, 2013 Why no windows? With a tank like that who needs to look outside Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phantom Posted July 9, 2013 Report Share Posted July 9, 2013 Why have windows in a filtration room? Just an extra place to lose heat and it will never look that good. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
camtang Posted July 9, 2013 Report Share Posted July 9, 2013 I don't think there is a comparision to having the abilty to open a window to get some air in. With a heat pump and extractor fan I would like to have that option. The windows will have to be DG by law and there is options for thermal heart window from and argon filled glass so heat loss would be rather minimum I would think Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phantom Posted July 9, 2013 Report Share Posted July 9, 2013 Why not just open the door when you want to do that? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
camtang Posted July 9, 2013 Report Share Posted July 9, 2013 internal or external door? Internal will pose the same problem, external not so much. But an extrenal door has a bigger opening so would potential lose more heat than a window Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
si_sphinx Posted July 9, 2013 Author Report Share Posted July 9, 2013 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. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sophia Posted July 9, 2013 Report Share Posted July 9, 2013 how about a skylight? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
si_sphinx Posted July 9, 2013 Author Report Share Posted July 9, 2013 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? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David R Posted July 9, 2013 Report Share Posted July 9, 2013 The feed back to the sump and skimmer would be by gravity? not sure if this would work. Comments anyone? Nothing wrong with that, but it can be noisy if sucking in air, and don't under-estimate the size of pipe you'll need to handle the flow. How come you want to have the tank that stores the salt water for water changes running as part of the system? Are you going to use NSW or salt mix, or both? I understand you'll need RO water of topping up evaporation (and diluting the NSW if you use it), and if you're using salt mix for the water changes you'll want to be able to accumulate enough RO for a 10-20% water change and have somewhere to pre-mix and heat the water, but why run that extra 1000L of volume to heat/treat/dose/move just for the sake of it? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
si_sphinx Posted July 9, 2013 Author Report Share Posted July 9, 2013 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? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
si_sphinx Posted July 9, 2013 Author Report Share Posted July 9, 2013 Is there anyone in NZ that designs and installs private or commercial aquarium systems? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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