DIY Concrete Aquarium 5,000 gallon - Anderson Family Reef

[McPuff]

Right now 20ml of each and increasing that over time...

LOL, It's a loose effort to be exact on my portions at this point... I use the cheapest stuff I can find!! I always joke around saying one for me and one for the tank but I'm more of a Mtn Dew drinker so the tank gets it all! LOL

Even cheap vodka might be healthier than Mt Dew. :0)

 

[shakygator]

Right now 20ml of each and increasing that over time...

I was up to 70ml/day on my 200g volume system to get nitrates down, and it took something months to kick in. I started low too and increased weekly. I was dosing vinegar. I know vodka is stronger carbon source. I'm thinking you might need a lot more with your volume.

 

[GBRsouth]

I think he's dosing enough vodka. I already saw a video of his fish bumping into the tank wall! He's already got them well tanked!

 

[dca22anderson]

Even cheap vodka might be healthier than Mt Dew. :0)

LOL! You are probably correct!

I was up to 70ml/day on my 200g volume system to get nitrates down, and it took something months to kick in. I started low too and increased weekly. I was dosing vinegar. I know vodka is stronger carbon source. I'm thinking you might need a lot more with your volume.

I started at 50ml of vodka and 50ml of vinegar and the water got cloudy the next day so I backed off a bit. I'm sure I will be up there soon with a lot more ml's going in!!

I think he's dosing enough vodka. I already saw a video of his fish bumping into the tank wall! He's already got them well tanked!

Good point! That 2" acrylic panel is super clear (that video of the tang swimming into it when I first put them in) I'm working on giving them a "real reason" to bump into things...

 

[dca22anderson]

Fish front view… Cycling the beast

 

[dca22anderson]

Top down little feed…

 

[Bpp124987]

Moar biguns

 

[Sltloser]

Looking good! It's awesome to see how much the fish enjoy the space. What's the next project for you, build out the sump?

 

[dca22anderson]

Looking good! It's awesome to see how much the fish enjoy the space. What's the next project for you, build out the sump?

Thank you! I agree, they show some natural swimming behaviors I didn't see in past tanks. Super fun to watch them use all the space in there!!

Yes, Still trying to get a response from Bill Wann and Aquarium Engineering for the sump and big skimmer (to start). I don't want to do double work any more than I have already done so I wait.

I have been however thinking about moving the fish and corals over to the big tank (nitrates in the big tank are measuring better than the water in the holding system) to free up the 500 gallon bin that I could turn into the sump. It's not ideal but would work. Challenge is that thing is full of corals so they would have to go into the big tank while I move the sumps around and plumb them all together as sumps. This would give me a 500 gallon and two 200 gallon bins all serving as the sumps for the big tank. I may drop one of the 200 gallon bins to save some space. The 240 is connected to the 500 gallon so the 240 would also need to come down and get moved into its long term location to serve as the fish QT/Hospital tank. All the corals and fish in the 240 would also need to go into the big tank while I move everything around.

The Ideal footprint for the planned sump would be 6'x6'x3.5' and sit right behind the tank. If I end up using the 500 it's 8'x4'x2' and would have to go in the other room. The 6'x6'x3.5' sump I would build out of concrete block and rebar and I would form it to be perfect for the space. This would take about a month to do with cure times for the concrete, epoxy and silicone.

The 500 would be plug and play for the most part but would take up a ton of space in the fish room because of the way it would have to sit to allow us to walk around it without drains and returns in the way.

Just some thoughts about next steps. LOL!!

 

[Sltloser]

Yikes, that seems like a lot of work/moving and stress of organisms. Doesn't quite seem like it's worth it for all of that.

One thought that could be easier than all of that moving. What if you lifted one of the 200 gallon tanks above the current one you have to double the sump volume and give you a space to create a refugium to help with nutrient export? In this scenario I'm assuming the 200 gallon bins are the same size (not sure if they are) and you have enough room between the overflow 90s that you could lift a tank above and not have to mess with any of the plumbing of the pumps/overflow. You might even be able to offset the top sump just enough to plumb the top tank straight into the bottom one. If that wouldn't work, you could drill through the bottom and use standpipes to dictate the water height in the top sump.

 

[dca22anderson]

Yikes, that seems like a lot of work/moving and stress of organisms. Doesn't quite seem like it's worth it for all of that.

One thought that could be easier than all of that moving. What if you lifted one of the 200 gallon tanks above the current one you have to double the sump volume and give you a space to create a refugium to help with nutrient export? In this scenario I'm assuming the 200 gallon bins are the same size (not sure if they are) and you have enough room between the overflow 90s that you could lift a tank above and not have to mess with any of the plumbing of the pumps/overflow. You might even be able to offset the top sump just enough to plumb the top tank straight into the bottom one. If that wouldn't work, you could drill through the bottom and use standpipes to dictate the water height in the top sump.

Thank you for your input. I totally agree with it being a lot of work and stress on all involved (including me )

I do like the refugium idea and the stacked up idea too... I have done a few stacked tanks in the past and that is a great use of space.

I'll do a drawing to scale today to see what might work out best. The sump volume I need is when the power shuts off being able to catch all the drain water coming back from the tank. (I'll have holes drilled in the returns to break the back siphon once the corals go in)

I do like keeping the 200 bin for a refuge...

 

[Mschmidt]

I saw one way valves at home Depot yesterday, around the sump pump area. Not sure if the sizes could handle your flow rate or materials would work for marine usage though. But they could solve the power shut off issue.

 

[dca22anderson]

I saw one way valves at home Depot yesterday, around the sump pump area. Not sure if the sizes could handle your flow rate or materials would work for marine usage though. But they could solve the power shut off issue.

Thank you.

So far the two Hammerhead Golds, when the power shuts off, are contained in the 200 bin but I run the water level super shallow to allow for the run off and it fills just to the top.

I’ll need to dial it in better once I finalize the flow/sump… right now the returns hover just out of the water (pulling some air) so there is no reverse siphon.

I like to dial in the system so I’m not relying on any check valves (have had those fail with small snails in the past) so I end up drilling holes in the return pipes at the water level so the siphon breaks when the power shuts off…

Still some work to do on this but it’s coming up soon.

 

[Mschmidt]

Forgot about snails. They can be problematic.

 

[dca22anderson]

This would be the layout if I tied into the 500 gallon for the sump in the fish room…

 

[Pico bam]

This is the type of thread that keeps you up at night wondering whats going to happen next... looking better all the time!

 

[Bpp124987]

This would be the layout if I tied into the 500 gallon for the sump in the fish room…

this is in a different room, not behind the tank?

 

[748S911]

a

This would be the layout if I tied into the 500 gallon for the sump in the fish room…

Your sump is almost the size of my display lol!

 

[dca22anderson]

this is in a different room, not behind the tank?

Yes the it would be in the fish room next to the back of the tank…

a

Your sump is almost the size of my display lol!

LOL, that’s a great sized display!!

 

[Sltloser]

Thank you for your input. I totally agree with it being a lot of work and stress on all involved (including me )

I do like the refugium idea and the stacked up idea too... I have done a few stacked tanks in the past and that is a great use of space.

I'll do a drawing to scale today to see what might work out best. The sump volume I need is when the power shuts off being able to catch all the drain water coming back from the tank. (I'll have holes drilled in the returns to break the back siphon once the corals go in)

I do like keeping the 200 bin for a refuge...

Ahhh I see, I misinterpreted the need for more sump volume. I was thinking it was for more filtration. Have you calculated where you'd like the height to be in the tank and how much water you need to be able to hold if the power goes out?

Depending on how much that is the 500 gallon might have to be run at half it's height or you could have a satellite bin that is attached to the sump via an emergency drain (or 2) to handle all the water.