The bridge on the rocks of the background looks a bit artificial to me, you could break that by adding some more rock to break the straight line. Other than that it’s amazing!
Fish swim view of the rock stack so far
Thanks! Yes, I still need to dial in the rock but I ran out and still have a few thousand pounds live in the holding systems that I want to use at some point. I plan on adding the final overflow box then building up the stack to integrate with it helping to hide it. Great feedback!
It shows how big it really is (thats an 8' long 240 gallon with the koi in it to the right). I can't wait to sit and watch it when there are some fish in there! My wife wants to paint it "concrete color", leave it more natural, and keep the texture. Still trying to get her to let me finish it with stacked slate or something like that...
I like the idea of starting the cycle asap. I do need to still test the top seams so I will seal in the drain holes on the back wall this week, then fill it to the active water height. If all goes well I will then add salt and get going!!
Thanks for checking it out! I am pretty excited to see that water in there... it's a lot of water!!Wow! So cool, best of luck with everything. Following with my jaw on the floor in envy
I just filled it with house water (unfiltered-280ppm TDS) which took two days using a cold water 3/8" sink feed for my old fish room sink. I think I will just leave that water in place till I can test the top seams with the overflow or even just add 3" - 90's that will let me get up to the active water height of the tank while I wait for the final overflow to get here.
I remember watching that guy and thinking... I'm going to do that someday!! LOL!!
Man, you’re not messing around with the humidity.I have a multi-layered system in place for humidity control. I added a few pictures to show what I have going on. I have a total of 4 humidity monitors in the basement that are spread out except for the 2 pictured as one is primarily for CO2 monitoring but also measures humidity. The primary and secondary sumps are covered with custom cut covers which minimize and contain much of the moisture generated from all the water movement in these tanks. From the picture you can see the humidity generated by water flowing into the sump with the clear top is high enough to cause condensation to the point where it drips back into the tank constantly. The 700 gallon refugium and 400 gallon tanks have canopies in place which help contain much of the humidity generated by these tanks along with a duct that sucks air out of these canopies when the dehumidifier is running. The entire ceiling of my fish room is covered in 4mil plastic sheeting to prevent moisture from absorbing into the structure of the house. Your house is like a giant sponge so preventing this moisture from being absorbed into the house is key because just like a sponge once the house can no longer absorb moisture it will condense just like it did for Mr.4000 and then the mold starts growing. Finally I have a whole house dehumidifier Aprilaire 1850 rated for a 5200sqft home well beyond the entire size of my home but this is only for the fish room and the display aquarium humidity control. I set the dehumidifier to 45% and it kicks on every hour or two and tests the air before starting a cycle to reach the setpoint. It has been running a lot less in the winter time with the air being drier but it runs most of the day during the summer. I have not implemented this step yet but eventually the fish room and the display aquarium canopy will be under a negative pressure from the dehumidifier and/or exhaust fans to further contain humidity within these areas so it cannot naturally flow into the rest of my home. I am also likely going to add an HRV which will help with humidity control during certain times of the year but is more for lowering CO2 levels in the house to help raise my pH. I will add if this is not enough I will be adding additional systems as needed.
Did I understand you correctly that you are planning on using the 280 TDS tap water that you’re leak testing the tank with for your actual tank water? You’re just going to filter it a bit and add salt?Thanks! Yes, I still need to dial in the rock but I ran out and still have a few thousand pounds live in the holding systems that I want to use at some point. I plan on adding the final overflow box then building up the stack to integrate with it helping to hide it. Great feedback!
It shows how big it really is (thats an 8' long 240 gallon with the koi in it to the right). I can't wait to sit and watch it when there are some fish in there! My wife wants to paint it "concrete color", leave it more natural, and keep the texture. Still trying to get her to let me finish it with stacked slate or something like that...
I like the idea of starting the cycle asap. I do need to still test the top seams so I will seal in the drain holes on the back wall this week, then fill it to the active water height. If all goes well I will then add salt and get going!!
Thanks for checking it out! I am pretty excited to see that water in there... it's a lot of water!!
I just filled it with house water (unfiltered-280ppm TDS) which took two days using a cold water 3/8" sink feed for my old fish room sink. I think I will just leave that water in place till I can test the top seams with the overflow or even just add 3" - 90's that will let me get up to the active water height of the tank while I wait for the final overflow to get here.
I will leave it for a few weeks, filter out the fines to drop the TDS then add salt and get going. Probably do fish only for a few months till I feel good about all the seams and the cycle (easier to catch the fish and fix anything then mess with corals and fish) then slowly add softies, then a few months later LPS then a few months after that SPS.
Water is cool now but I will be bringing it up to temp here in the next week or so. I have an undersized heater and two internal Mag 24's adding a little heat but still waiting on my Heat Exchanger, Sump, Skimmer, UV and all my other big equipment to be finished by Aquarium Engineering (going on 10 months).
Super stoked to have it at this stage!!
If I can filter it down to 0 TDS, so filter it a lot
, then yes I like that idea of not wasting that water... if not then I will be watering the lawn for weeks LOL then I will refill it with new 0 TDS water, add salt and get going. A story I thought you and all other large tank owners might find interesting. I was doing my M.Sc. degree down at Auburn and in 2017 managed to meet the head of research at the Georgia aquarium during one of our graduate seminars. He was gracious enough to invite me up to the aquarium for a behind the scenes tour of the aquarium when I was next in Atlanta (wonderful person and wonderful experience). While I was chatting with him in the whale shark exhibit I asked him how they deal with the loss of water to evaporation and he told me that they only lost approximately 1-2% of the water that was evaporated. I asked how and he said they had a "system" for it but wouldn't elaborate further when I asked how. I regret not pushing him further on it, I would love to understand how to do that so a system like yours (or Alex's) could be almost self sustaining in regards to top off water. I've been pondering how it could be done ever since.
That is a great story!! Thanks for sharing!! If you ever figure it out please do share LOL
I wonder if they have a way of letting it condense and then dripping back into the system.
www.expresswater.com
