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Discussion in 'Waterloo / Cedar Falls Area' started by JS, Aug 25, 2017.

  1. JS

    14
    Clutier, IA
    Ratings:
    +6 / 0 / -0
    Good morning everyone,

    I'm returning to the hobby after a few years of dry floors. Currently in the planning and buying process and looking to connect with other local reefers to bounce ideas off of and talk me out of some of my more unrealistic experiments. I hope everyone has a great Friday.
     
  2. mrelaz

    137
    Waterloo, IA
    Ratings:
    +20 / 0 / -0
    What kind of set up? Mixed, lps, sps, softies?

    Be nice to have another reefer in the area.


    Sent from my iPhone via App
     
  3. Bud Loves Bacon Website Team Board of Directors Leadership Team GIRS Member Vendor

    West Des Moines, IA
    Ratings:
    +1,814 / 14 / -0
    Welcome back!! Fall Fest is in a few months in Williamsburg/Amana, there will be lots of corals and equipment there.

    I took your account out of "inactive" status :)
     
  4. DangerJ Well-Known ReefKeeper

    894
    Des Moines, IA
    Ratings:
    +322 / 4 / -0
    Welcome back!
     
  5. JS

    14
    Clutier, IA
    Ratings:
    +6 / 0 / -0
    Appreciate the responses. I have an idea for a chambered system consisting to five tanks plumbed together. I'm trying to figure out how to mitigate the failure points of something like this since more holes and bulkheads provide more chances of leaking. It would allow for a main display of sps, and a couple of smaller displays to put some softies, non photo, and a couple non reef safe fish. In theory it can work by pumping the return into two of the tanks, then letting two or three paths between the subsequent tanks equalize the water level. The main display would have the overlow back to the sump. One thing goes wrong in the chain and stuff starts getting wet. So, the equalizing paths would have to be drilled high enough that if a failure resulted, the majority of the water would stay in the systems. Safety drains would have to be drilled in each tank and plumbed into an overflow container that can handle the total water volume in my sump if the equalizing paths were all plugged somehow. The picture in my head has a horseshoe shaped tank stand around a dividing wall, a 120 on the end cap, and two 40 breeders on each side of the dividing wall. Big sump, lots of leak detection, maybe contoured stand top with recessed drain if bulkhead started to leak to direct the water away from floors.

    The design goal is larger water volume for higher stability, while keeping the cost of replacement tanks down if there's an emergency and modular if one or more has to be removed from the system. Higher system biodiversity without forcing incompatible species into the same living space and risking animal health and chance at thriving. Also, I believe this would help keep maintenance more consistent. Several smaller tanks may be easier to keep clean since I can split up the work through the week and the profiles of the tanks I'm looking at should prevent a lot of time on a stool trying to reach around rockwork.

    I'm perfectly willing to be talked into a single larger tank though, since this seems risky.
     
  6. That seems really risky to me. I would rather have separate systems. With your vision one thing goes wrong with one tank they all suffer. Only real gain from that I see is you do 1 water change on 1 tank instead of multiple tanks.
     
  7. Bud Loves Bacon Website Team Board of Directors Leadership Team GIRS Member Vendor

    West Des Moines, IA
    Ratings:
    +1,814 / 14 / -0
  8. Chief Reef Well-Known ReefKeeper GIRS Member

    445
    Cedar Rapids
    Ratings:
    +123 / 0 / -0
    I think this would be doable but it needs to be put on paper a few times over to make sure you arrange it correctly. I love the ambition and the logical explanations as to why you would set it up this way.
    One thing I would add about the modular design is to also make it a modular setup for equipment. We are in a very exciting and innovative time for pumps, lights, and tons of other nifty gadgets. Making equipment easily accessible and interchangeable with different brands is something I regret not doing on my last build.
    It would be cool to see this planned out and set up on this site, so keep us posted on your plans please!!
     
  9. Roman Experienced Reefkeeper

    Cedar Rapids, IA
    Ratings:
    +321 / 3 / -0
    If it were me I would have each tank drain into one common sump that can handle the amount of water that would drain back from the tanks if there was a power outage pump failure etc. I would get a return pump large enough to supply each tank and put a ball on each one of them in case you have to service or quarantine an individual tank that you can turn that tank off from the rest of them. I had two 93 gallon cubes plumbed together into a common sump and that is how I did it and it worked real well. In doing so I came to realize that although they were plumbed together into a common sump they were two totally different ecosystems within each tank.
     
  10. Bud Loves Bacon Website Team Board of Directors Leadership Team GIRS Member Vendor

    West Des Moines, IA
    Ratings:
    +1,814 / 14 / -0
    I think I misunderstood/misread your post @JS@JS, I thought you were doing chambered sumps, but instead it sounds like you are thinking of having one main display tank drain into secondary display tanks (frag tanks, etc) correct?

    If each system that was sub to another had a 3-pipe BeanAnimal type overflow, this would mitigate your overflow risk on the secondary tanks pretty well. Synergy Reef Ghost overflow, that type of thing.
     
  11. JS

    14
    Clutier, IA
    Ratings:
    +6 / 0 / -0
    Yep, it definitely is susceptible to a domino effect, right now everything is in concept phase. The attached design has the two 40s on either side of my living room dividing wall and that 120 sitting at the end. Two cabinets on the inside corner would protect electronic head end equipment and be a handy place to stash my external skimmer and sump.

    Another possible path is a 4x4 tank away from the wall so you have 4 viewing angles. That's going to require some holes in the floor, a couple of gasket Hoffman boxes to keep the electrical safe, and a plan to patch those holes if I move out of my house. Right now my basement is largely unfinished so running whatever I need isn't a big deal. I think safety is going to require a 2-3" supply and return pipe under the floor with frequent cleanout access to get rid of the gunk and extract that turbo snail that made its way into the pipe as a strapping young lad and grew to a sewer monster while inside.

    A couple of things that will go on any system regardless of orientation is a controller, ro/di unit (mine was sold a few years ago), and a good amount of cycled rock. So, I'm putting my money into the infrastructure first, then looking at exactly how I want to put all of this together. In the past I've also lost about $1,000 in fish from only doing a six week quarantine and medicate cycle. I'd like to push that up to 3 months. Can't completely eliminate everything, but everyone knows it's a bad feeling watching that crash happen. I also have a 120g 6ft tank that is on a stand at the foot of a big tub I put in my bathroom. This is suppose to be a "display refugium", and will be set up to develop a more mature food supply and nutrient export. So, I've got a white before I start tossing corals in water and can do a bit of planning and looking for advice on different ideas. If anyone knows how to make chaeto look good, I'm all ears, because right now I'm pretty sure it's going to look like a green tangled mess or a tumbleweed of destruction unless I figure out some clever way of containing it without partitions or a bunch of eyesores in the tank. If all else fails I'll just keep chaeto in a reactor and do some slower growing macros in that 120 with the main purpose of keeping a large supply of micro-fauna growing and making it into the main display.
     

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