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King's Landing Aquarium

h20player101

h20player101

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I just recently closed on a house, and there is a 900+ sqft living room just dying for a large tank. My initial thoughts are in the 14x5x3 or 8x8x3 dimensions for the size of the tank that will be viewable on three sides. There is an extra room roughly 18x18 to use as a fish room next to the living room. This is at least a year from being fully realized, my contractor said if the choice is between the roof and the fish tank, go with the roof. I am not sure I like him. :)

I am looking for any ideas to start this ball rolling. I already have two 240 tanks that I am going to use as a seagrass tank, and a refugium. The two 150 gallon rubbermaid horse troughs I have on my current system are going to be a large sump to help with overflow and water changes. I have another 150 oceanic that is going to be stacked on top of smaller tanks for a complete quarantine system. The fish room is more likely then not going to be setup before I even have the tank as a place to put fish when I breakdown the existing system. Also, I want to be able to add fish in order to minimize fighting and territorial issues. Because we are replacing the entire roof, I am putting in new wiring on a dedicated circuit for the room, raise all of the outlets to at least 5' high, installing an active skylight with exhaust fan & blinds, and a drain. We are going to try and drill holes through a cement wall (debatable) to a storage area to hold RO & mixed salt water in two 225 gallon towers. There is going to be a 55 gallon NPS tank plumped into the system where I can feed that tank and benefit the whole system (like ChingChai’s).

I want to keep mechanical filtration to a minimum, I currently have a Deltec on a 500 gallon system, but I think it would need to be bigger. If I have to, I can use 2 existing BRS carbon & GFO large reactors. I think I am dropping the UV.

I will be using an Apex to control everything, with non-controllable backups. I am uncomfortable relying entirely on the controller and wonder what portions of the system you absolutely wouldn’t have relying on the Apex.

I am not sure about the flow. Closed loop is out, Murphy and I are too good of friends. This is a question better addressed once the system is up and the rockwork is in. Suggestions?

Lighting…....dear god. I currently have 9 AI Sol Blues, not sure if I am going to use these on the display tank or in the fish room. I will being using LED’s, just not sure which ones. At least the quality is improving and I can wait to purchase. The goal is to install an electric motor in the roof to lift the top.

The display tank is going to be mixed reef, the footprint allows boomies of different shapes and sizes. I am kicking out the gold flakes, might add another Angel if it won’t pick on softies. The goal is to get at least pairs of each type of fish to see the interactions. I love pistol shrimp and shrimp gobies, so there will be sand.

I am open to any and all suggestions, and I will be getting pictures of where it is going and the fish room over the next few months as everything is torn out. I am really interested in any suggestions concerning construction and what I should add now with the roof off.

Thanks in advance!
 
Jealous!!! Sounds like SO MUCH FUN!

I like all of your idea's. You might consider the Tunze "Master Stream" for flow on that bad boy!

http://www.tunze.com/149.html?&L=1&C=US&user_tunzeprod_pi1%5Bpredid%5D=-infoxunter019
 
Parker, right?
Whoa. I knew you were into bigger tanks but damn.

Sounds like you're on it. I would just say access is "king". Some big welded stands like some of those tanks you're referring to. Bigger tubes = fewer members = more access.
 
I forgot about the stand! Need recommendations...

Erin: I am off Edgewood in Redwood City, bought a house in a short sale for a great deal. If things go well enough, should be able to be part of a tank tour in about a year.
 
Congrat's Parker on the new house and new tank build. We've gone over a few things via pm, but I also would consider adding a large utility sink and water proofing the walls in the fish room (via appropiate paint or fiberglass reinforced panels). I would hire Johnny (Jestersix) to do the aquascaping...I would love to see what he could do with a tank that size. Look into Tropic Eden Reef Flakes for sand...great stuff. I think a mixture of Tunze and Vortech pumps would do the trick for flow.

The peninsula tank tour is going to be awesome !
 
gimmito said:
Congrat's Parker on the new house and new tank build. We've gone over a few things via pm, but I also would consider adding a large utility sink and water proofing the walls in the fish room (via appropiate paint or fiberglass reinforced panels). I would hire Johnny (Jestersix) to do the aquascaping...I would love to see what he could do with a tank that size. Look into Tropic Eden Reef Flakes for sand...great stuff. I think a mixture of Tunze and Vortech pumps would do the trick for flow.

The peninsula tank tour is going to be awesome !
Click to expand...

I think we are going to have the top 5" or so of the tank covered by the canopy so we can think about throwing tunzes in there. I am debating a way to create a dry box for my MP40's, I have too many of them to not use them but the tank thickness would be a no go. I love Vortechs, and may end up getting the 60's, I just would like to use as much from the existing setup as possible.

I had planned on sealing the room with paint, but what is this fiberglass reinforced panels you speak of? Sounds like it is a more permanent solution, which is what I am going for.

Jim, the Tropic Eden Reef Flakes are a little larger then what I currently have. I would think it is better when handling flow, but I do want to make sure there is no problems for wrasse and gobies, I just love them too much to forgo. Thanks for letting me pick your brain, be prepared to be annoyed by me once I am moved in. :)

Aquascaping is almost the entire reason for the size of the tank, especially the length x width. It is a dream to get as many different parts of a natural reef (crest, slope, drop-off) in the display, and use the fish room to replicate as much of the ocean as possible (seagrass, macro-algae, NPS, mangroves). I might try some of those things in the display, but taking it slow is going to be the motto the whole build.
 
Parker,

Dry boxes are the way to go in your application...you can hide a lot of wires and whatnot. I agree... Use as much gear that you already have !

Rebarber is the place where I bought my fiberglass reinforced panels. They are in South San Francisco (talk to John the owner).

Tropic Eden makes sugar size sand as well as larger grains (to keep sand from flying around the tank). I mixed various sizes for my wrasses.

A sea grass tank sounds too cool. Russ at Gulf Coast Eco systems is the man.

http://live-plants.com/contactinfo.htm

+1 on a generator !

Beware starting a "slow tank thread" ! :p
 
Jim, I got the idea when you ordered yours from them and checked out their site. I forgot where, but someone went through all the different part of the ocean and what we use for mechanical filtration as a replacement (skimmers=foam fraction on beaches). I want to replicate that, which means you need many different kind of species that typically aren't anywhere near each other and might be aggressive. The problem I have in my existing setup is pruning in the fuge, quick growers overcome slower ones and I didn't not plan the fuge to have full access. Also, I have a pair of the original AI sols over my refugium and I think that the light spectrum is terrible for macros. I have read on the ATS threads (won't be using) that a lot of the standard reef lights do not have the right spectrum for hair algae, which is good for the tank, bad for the ATS/fuge. I was thinking of throwing Kessil LED grow lights for the fuge & seagrass tanks. Thoughts?

Also, I would like to focus on macros that I can feed to the tank. My current 300g is going to become a fish only tank at the new house, and I want to use the nutrient exports as food for healthier fish, healthier tank, and healthier wallet! Which macros have you had the most success with fish eating? I will have Chateo in the one of the tanks, but really do not like that I keep drying and throwing away pounds of that stuff.
 
It's a matter of getting down there these days, very busy with work. It's a nice program, be great if you could bring in other types. Chaeto is about as hardy & useful as it gets though.

Probably better I haven't been down basis the pics Neptune has been posting, never could get a enough store credit from chaeto to get everything I'd want. :)
 
h20player101 said:
Jim, I got the idea when you ordered yours from them and checked out their site. I forgot where, but someone went through all the different part of the ocean and what we use for mechanical filtration as a replacement (skimmers=foam fraction on beaches). I want to replicate that, which means you need many different kind of species that typically aren't anywhere near each other and might be aggressive. The problem I have in my existing setup is pruning in the fuge, quick growers overcome slower ones and I didn't not plan the fuge to have full access. Also, I have a pair of the original AI sols over my refugium and I think that the light spectrum is terrible for macros. I have read on the ATS threads (won't be using) that a lot of the standard reef lights do not have the right spectrum for hair algae, which is good for the tank, bad for the ATS/fuge. I was thinking of throwing Kessil LED grow lights for the fuge & seagrass tanks. Thoughts?

Also, I would like to focus on macros that I can feed to the tank. My current 300g is going to become a fish only tank at the new house, and I want to use the nutrient exports as food for healthier fish, healthier tank, and healthier wallet! Which macros have you had the most success with fish eating? I will have Chateo in the one of the tanks, but really do not like that I keep drying and throwing away pounds of that stuff.
Click to expand...

I tried the red macro algae pack that Gulf Coast ecosystem sells. Halymenia definately takes over and needs to be separate from other macros. Gracilaria, Laurencia, & Botryocladia can do well together. Tangs go crazy over Gracilaria ! The red macros need moderate flow and a lot of atinics. I've been very happy w/my Aquatic Life T5 HO fixture and use half Giesemman 10k daylight and half atinics . I'm not sure about the Kessils having the correct spectrum. I've found you can't mix sea grass and red macro in my 40 gallon fuge, sea grass needs a lot of flow and more intense lighting. Russ at GCE recommended using CaribSea Eco-complete as a base (2-3") and topping it off with something like CaribSea Aragonite sand (2-3").
 
I've seen kessils growing FW plants with success, so I would assume it would be an option at least. But no personal experience.
I did however run a kessil magenta over my mangroves for a little while and they popped the leaves out. Turned my garage purple though.
PM kessilman for suggestions.

You should go solatube for fuge and mangrove lighting!
 
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