High Tide Aquatics

Mike's newest disaster...

So what is a "Deep Dimension" tank? Well they were tanks that gave people that extra depth in a "standard" tank that simply did not exist, most standard tanks were at most 24" deep (front to back) these are 36" deep. Now I can tell from personal experience that this extra depth really opens up a new dimension of aquascaping.

The tank has what's called "Corner-flo" overflows, they're basically quarter rounds in the two back corners (on my tank), each comes with 2 holes drilled in the bottom for 1" bulkheads. I think they also help pull water from lower in the tank as well as at the surface, but mine is still wrapped up so I can't really tell exactly what they're doing. They do supply plumbing too, however what they basically have is 1 pipe for the overflow (with a 1.5" U fitting) and 1 pipe for return plumbing to shoot out the back of the overflow. Now I'm still on the fence as to whether or not I like/want these overflows, they are fairly bulky, but with the overall tank size might be doable, I really wanted a thin one along the backwall (Module Marine was my first choice, but damnit they close their shop down so often), but I may just live with these because then that's one less thing I have to screw around with. I almost definitely will not use the plumbing as is though and the return will become an emergency drain instead, would love a Beananimal but there's no way to actually do it with only 2 holes unless I somehow connected the overflows together across the backwall, which is an option too.

The top has a high density poly frame with a single cross brace (that's very beefy) right in the center, a single cross brace does make me quite happy, and essentially have a 2'x3' section on each side to light up might be a bit easier. Still on the fence over how I want to do this though. Metal halides are damn tempting, because I have all the equipment, but LEDs are such the "in thing" that I may be swayed in that direction too, I just wish there were more reviews/testing out there on LEDs other than Kessil and Radion fixtures though, do I go with Maxspect Etheral fixtures on the cheap side or do I go with GHL Mitrax on the expensive side? Dunno because no one f*cking has done indepth reviews on them! (Looking at you BRS!).

Overall these decisions though do not need to be made now, so for now I can get work done, and plan on where to put the tank first.
 
sfsuphysics said:
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Can Peter and I come up and swim with the fishes?
 
Yeah, I recall the guy saying he had a 300DD, he never mentioned it on his post.
I was wondering when you'd resume on this journal, Mark and Peter' garage tanks have a 21 page journal so far.
In the cube we'll use both bulkheads as drain I guess you could do the same, sort of a Bean Animal+1 extra drain but almost four feet apart.
I like Gusty's return, using Seaswirl units over the rim.
What I like about the dimensions of the tank is volume where space is limited as in my case. A 200DD would have been a tight squeeze, doable and if I had taken a proper ehicle, maybe we would have driven back to SF with three tanks!
I'd go halides, the coverage of a couple Lumenarcs, bet can't be rivaled by LED's
 
Mark: Unless you both are rather small then no, the lagoon tank is "only" about 6 feet by 5 feet, but I have gotten my feet wet in it before when I had to move things around :D

Mario: Yeah, I tend to be overly wordy with my posts, so I figure that I would have 4-5 times the number of posts so far :D Plus I really dislike long threads with no action in it, and I feel like a hypocrite even for starting this.

I looked on line to see what the overflows look like, and it may be possible to get a quartered section of ABS along the back top of the tank to physically connect the two overflows. But we'll have to see when I have a stand to put the tank on first. But it was an idea. I do have a seaswirl too so definitely thinking about that direction. As for the halides, we'll see, I have a couple lumenarcs, heck when cleaning out the space I also found a crap ton of 4' long t5 reflectors too, I love the ability to change color on the fly and ramping up the intensity of LEDs though. I'll have to see though.
 
So here in lies the problem, part of my vision was to have a longer tank, and then building in as an "in wall" setup, of course I would need to build the walls around it and have an isolated "fish room" effectively behind it, as a 4 foot tank that doesn't really seem like a terribly good idea anymore as it would really look odd to have a large area that's been "blocked off".

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So here's the space that's available. D is the door, W is windows, the Ex is the current location of the exhaust, although that could move to the side wall. The room is effectively 25' x 15' with a post more or less in the middle, the right side is where my fish/relaxation area is, the left side is for laundry and that probably is non-negotiable :D Now I have been thinking of blocking off a 7' section from the window wall to the post and putting the tank in there, in fact I could get a little creative and have a 3 side viewable (with overflows hidden) area and possibly a work space behind it OR simply have access from 3 sides and call it a day. But here's the kicker, I need a 2nd tank in here, I have a 40g breeder that I'm going to transfer all my rose bubble tips to, they are not quite in the invasive weed category yet but given time I'm sure they would be and I want no part of them in a reef, but I do like them so sticking them in a separate tank with the clowns makes sense, heck I could put all sorts of fish people tend to shy away from like damsel fish in there, but the question is where the heck do I put that? Do I make it close enough to plumb into big tank, or do I place it somewhere else and just treat it like an All In One.

Oh well, as soon as the area is cleaned out and plywood is on the floor, then I can get a better visual to how to get this all done.
 
I like your idea of connecting the overflows. You could even do it as a coast to coast. That would allow you to set it up as a Bean Animal.


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Yeah looking at the overflows I think I'm going to have to do something like that I think, the way the boxes are set up it has a notch out point on both sides of the quarter circle for plumbing to come out and the actual overflow area is rather small, granted it somehow pulls from beneath the water line too, but I'm not too sure I get how it does it or if it will be useful. So if I use the notches for plumbing instead as a direction for water to flow by connecting an overflow "bar" across the top to connect the two boxes it would give a tremendous amount of additional surface skim, hell I might even get modular marine to make me just one half of their boxes that are "laser cut" (basically the teeth look nice, and they actually have a gradual slope to them.

Of course I still don't know what I'm going to do for flow, I really like those Rossmont movers, so might get another, I have an MP60W, as well as a multitude of MP40 parts (none are Quiet Drive though), I was tempted to get a Maxspect Gyre but not sure how that would do on this tank... oh well, too much thinking not enough work getting done :D
 
Damn Matt (sorry for the late reply as I did not see a reply to this thread) looks like you have a near perfect condition Marineland DD 200 tank too :D That said, going to pass on it as I'm looking more as an "in-wall" setup so any furniture niceities would be wasted. I appreciate the offer though.
 
Ok new post in the "Damnit Mike when are you going to going to get water in it already!" chronicle, more of a thinking out loud type of thing so I don't forget things later, feel free to comment or just grumble and go onto the next thread :D

Tank Location
Wife actually suggest it in the back corner so that it would block the window (window would be in the "fish room" area) which I wasn't really into even though that would give it the greatest amount of space behind/besides the tank, so think I'll do that. It means the tank is only viewable on 2 sides (ignore the fishroom sides) but I think that's really ok for this tank. I figure 2 feet from the wall gives me enough space to walk behind and crouch down to get under the tank, the extra "L" bit for being the corner is a bonus. Unfortunately I don't think putting a sink in there is in the cards as that would require quite a bit of plumbing re-organizing and the size alone makes it a bit restrictive unless I can find a really small sink I can put in an 8" area or so, other options is a drain in the floor (unsure what flooring I'll have back there too), or a sink outside the window so if I need to drain anything from the tank I can just open the window and stick the hose out there.

Stand
Been going over the pros/cons to various stands that caught my eye
Wood - Pro- cheapest, easiest for me to build, most amount of leeway for "whoops cut that wrong", it's strength I know. Con: I am getting tired of wood, more bulky, a bit more prep work for protecting it against humidity/creep/etc.
Steel - Pro- Strong, less bulky than wood, more open space inside, I probably have enough scrap from an 8x3 to have a better one, Con- I'm not a welder, prep work galore (paint is chipped off and quite a bit of rust unsure how deep), making it level from what I gather you can weld it and then it could rack out of level in one plane or another, would need to remove a door frame since I was planning on a 36" tall stand (but not set in stone), unknown additional cost to get it prepped/powder coated since it obviously rusts.
8020 Aluminum - Pro- ERMAHGERD ERECTOR SET FOR BIG KIDS!!!!!, can assemble right on site so size is not a concern, very modular to attach things too after the fact. Con- Pricey, just ran some numbers of the lengths of aluminum that's about $300 alone the fittings would add 50-100% more cost, not sure if I'm willing to drop $500 on a stand when I could build a wood one for maybe a tenth of that cost, unknown strength, not sure how thick I would need to make it strong enough, very few builds out there that use it.

Electrical
So electrical needs to move for the new location which is fine, there's going to be a couple outlets in the fishroom area proper, however the 2 - 20amp circuits I had for the old tank need to move. Unfortunately the distance from the walls makes them impossible to have on the walls for stuff in the tank since any cords stretched to them would negate the whole "work space" part of the tank. My primary idea is to bring them up under the floor directly into the stand. I'm thinking the sump should be near the back part of the stand, then I can wall off the front as a "dry area" so that electrical won't get splashed on or have to deal with higher humidity levels. The problem is the size of the tank, it's nearly 3 feet front to back, then another 3 feet from where the electrical outlet would be to the top of the tank, and then any distance down into the tank for something like a pump, most pumps have 2 meter long cords only which is not doable, with Vortech pumps it would be less of a problem, but I don't want to pigeon hole myself by restricting what pumps I can use. But if I can make a shelf above the sump that's "dry" it might be fine. Also worried about lighting, I would rather having electrical from lights stay above the tank but unsure how to work that in, I can't exactly borrow from the room's lights since everytime I turn the switch off the tank lights would also go off, more thinking (or just run a separate electrical cable but I'm running out of junction box spots in that auxillary box.

Here's the newest idea
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Mike do have room in main panel to add a dual 40 amp breaker? If you do you can a add a sub panel to down stair from main panel for your fish room. Just need to check your current loads on your two existing power legs.
 
Dudley, this is my sub-panel I'm talking about, it's a 60amp sub. Unfortunately the laundry, my workshop, a downstairs freezer, the room plugs and room lights all run off it, which leaves 2 slots open.
 
Yanno I don't know, I don't recall seeing the stabs that could accept the cheater breakers though. Worse case scenario though is I use some PVC conduit and bring a branch of one of the circuits up the back end of the tank to the ceiling area and install a box there.
 
Take a picture of panel or look for panel label or model on sub panel. Have u check the loads? With washer /dryer on and everything else on?. Should make sure loads are balanced. I can try to see they slim breaker for you panel or maybe changing out sub panel to unit that accepts slim breakers.
 
Yeah actually not that large of a draw on the washer/dryer combo, the dryer is gas and the washer doesn't have any steaming or anything, so the only power is cranking the motor, wanna say 500watts. The tank breakers are on separate legs, and everything else is really minor, not like I have more than 1 power tool running at a time. But I'll test the load just for your sake Dudley :D

This is the panel I have, and looking at the compatible breakers it does seem that i can use the dual switch ones.
http://www.homedepot.com/p/Square-D...er-with-Cover-No-Door-HOM612L100FCP/100149777
 
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For stand : Wood + Steel, bolted, no welding.
Use steel rectangular tubes for the horizontal structural elements just under the tank.
Use wood for everything else.
Bolt steel to wood.
You get more space under the tank, and less chance of droop/warp, due to steel.
But you get the cost/simplicity of wood for the rest.
 
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