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As some of you already know, I was able to raise enough support to buy a new tank to replace the 240 that is in our marine lab/classroom. The old acrylic tank has become very scratched and has a structural crack on the top. (all repairable but the same problems are likely to come back and are so noticeable in a reef tank. )
I contracted Miracles in Glass (based in Canada) for the build. I wanted something a bit wider and a bit taller to give us enough room to have a nice display but still run some experiments etc.
The tank we settled on is a custom order tank that is 8' x 3' wide x 30" tall and is set up to be a penninsula style tank as the 240 was. Built of 3/4" starfire glass on the three viewable sides. Euro- style bracing on top. By the on-line calculator considering the wall thickness rather than going by outside demensions that gives me a tank volume of 412 gal. The build-in overflow has three 1.5 inch drain holes.
I plan to use a dirso (spelled wrong but am ok with that) style muffling system to keep the gurgle to a minimum.
I am going to keep my dart pump to power the closed loop which will have two 1.5 inch drains and 10 return lines (1"). Flow will be controled by an ocean motion four way device. I know that some people are very critical of this unit for being prone to getting clogged up but since I am bare bottom and not using fresh live rock I don't think I will have nearly as much sediment around to give me trouble.
I will re-use the 240 but will turn it into a very densely planted mangrove tank. The aim is to have 100-200 trees in the 8 foot run. and thus be a pretty good vegitative filter. And look really cool. Plus this can then become the home for sponge, epiphyte algae and small fish breeding programs.
the display tank will drain, in part, to the mangrove tank and part directly to the sump. I have not settled on what tank to use as the sump. I am thinking between 75 and 125 but not sure. I do intend to light a section of the sump and use it as a frag grow out station (not for damaged or qts of course)
I will use the same baracuda pump as the return pump and will continue to tee off of it to feed the Orca 250 skimmer (rated to 900gal) Additionally, I will use a second tee to drain off overflow to allow the pump to run at full power but not swamp the tank if the three drains can not keep up. I may add a small ozone generator to the skimmer as the tank matures and increases the bio load. or swap the skimmer for a larger rating demending on demand. Up for debate if you care to chime in...
I will continue to use the controled tunze powerheads to create additional flow (12,000 gal/ hour) . With the current controller system I can slave an additonal four pumps if needed as the coral mass becomes thicker and it slows the flow of the tank down
Cal/Alk will be boosted by Geo 618's. If needed I can add an additional reactor body to either or both to increase their output
Lighting will continue for now with the three 400 m/h. I plan to add extra t-5 lighting later next fall. Not sure if there is real value in adding any sort of moon light type of device but its not out of the question at this point
I welcome input or criticism on the tank. A fair number of things are set in stone as they are already present, so you may argue about them but not likely to change at least until later in the fall when we can do another fund raiser
I have no clue as to a total water volume right now since I will not be filling the 240 more than about 1/2 way up to avoid damaging the repaired top, have not settled on a sump size, and will not know how far from the top I will set the water level in the display tank. I am guessing around 550-650 which should give us a nice stable environment to work with.
tank should be here Around the second or third week of June and I will post pics at that point
wish us luck!
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