Triple-S Fish Ranch - 1700gal 164” x 48” x 56” SPS peninsula build
 

After almost 2 years of architecture, engineering and construction, my 'new' tank project is finally close enough to reality to start a build thread.

Vision: A see-through wall of ocean, sparsely aquascaped with a mix of pillars and atolls. Corals: mostly SPS, LPS, small selection of softies. Fish: assorted tangs, large schools of chromis and anthias. All equipment located remotely and completely inaudible in the living space.

The S’s of Triple-S are:

Starphire - No more acrylic for me. 8 years of dealing with scratches on our 750gal was about 7 more than I needed to know that glass was the only choice for me.
Silent - The tank must be completely silent as it opens onto a family room/media room with a noise floor target of 21dB.
Slow - Absolutely nothing living goes into the tank until it has been through 2 full months of quarantine.

Setup Details (so far):
Tank: 164” x 48” x 56” FRP & Starphire with external overflow
Fish room: 39’ x 9.5’, roughly, (irregularly shaped)
Sump: 125” x 35” x 44”
Quarantine Tanks: Four 75gal 48" x 18" x 21"
Coral Prop tank: 36” x 36” x 18”
Lighting: 8x Ecoxotic 120W Cannons
Filtration and Flow: TBD

To get the pictures started, the tank delivery...

Tank arrival:
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-a...nk+arrival.jpg

Uncrating:
https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-t...+uncrating.jpg

Hoisting:
https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/--...ank+lift+1.jpg

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-b...ank+lift+2.jpg

And finally, on the stand:
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-p...k+on+stand.jpg

Nice
 

This will turn out really nice, great start.

Wow! That's quite a tank. I can't wait to follow the progress.

Very nice...you know it's gonna be good when heavy equipment is needed!

Wow
Amazing build for sure

Gorgeous home, gorgeous idea! Tagging along.

all I can say is pfffffffffffffffff

Can i ask who built your tank?

It looks to be an epic build

Brya

Tank
 

Tagging along for sure.
it will be amazing

Sump
 

The sump took about 2 months of back and forth email with the (incredibly patient) folks at MRC to design. I'm very pleased with how it turned out.

Full tank shot - bulkheads on bottom are for draining the sump.
https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-H...o/sump-fts.jpg

Drain area. Six 32" filter socks and an overflow lip (not shown) in case the socks ever clog

https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-L...drain+zone.jpg

Reactor, Skimmer, and support tank returns

• Area 1 - Five bulkheads on the right flow through 3 additional 16" filter socks: these won't typically be installed, but when I swap out GFO or Carbon I will temporarily install these socks to pick up fine dust from the media.
• Skimmer Return - the small square opening on the left has a drip plate for a carbon bag. It will be used to strip any residual ozone from the skimmer.
• Unfiltered returns - Left of the skimmer return are 4 1" and two 1/4" fittings are for returns from unfiltered tanks and reactors: refugium, cryptic live rock tank, frag tank, denitrator, calcium reactor, dosing pump returns.

https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-b...eturn+area.jpg

Looking from the drain area (off bottom of image) past the reactor, skimmer, and support tank return areas. Bubble trap and return pumps are at the end:
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-a...hwise+view.jpg

This is going to be fun to watch!

Wow this is really some build!

Thanks everyone for the nice welcome.

Waterdog Products. I'll put up a full post on the tank later. For now I'll just say this is a small tank for them, and I had to politely beg to get them to take on this project.

Wow. Tagged.

wow, speechless.....however, question: it appears that $ are not much of a factor here, and sps' are the top priority. why leds, which have an uneven record with sps', and not MH/t5s to ensure success.

It goes without saying this build is happening in Texas.
Subscribed

Looking forward to watching this develop. Given the obvious planning, I'm sure you have the LED situation well in hand. Other's poor experiences notwithstanding.

tag

And we all know how the saying goes.

Clearly has nothing to do with this build. Mods gotta do something about this.

WoW, this is gonna be cool! What exactly do you mean with TBD? Does that mean 'To be done'? haha ;p

TBD usually means To Be Determined

Clearly you put a LOT of thought into your sump design. Very nice. And yeah, when a crane is involved with unloading the tank, it's an epic build project. LOL. Beautiful home. I wholeheartedly agree with your ideas so far. It sounds like you are walking the same path as Dan's Arizona build. I'm looking forward to your progress.

Thank you, chsub. $ are very much a factor, especially running cost over time. While this is a big project, with enough budget (I hope!) to do things 'right', every bit of equipment will be selected with value as well as performance in mind. Regarding LEDs and SPS, I'm confident enough to try them based on the success Peter nineball has had with his amazing system, AEFW invasion notwithstanding. That said, I am still having electrical and HVAC in the canopy sized to allow for lighting plan B: twelve 1000W Radiums.


Thanks, Mysticalknight. Yes, TBD stands for To Be Determined.

Thank you, techreef! I do hope I got the sump mostly right, though I've already come up with a few things I'd do differently:

• add float switch mounts for auto top-off and run-dry
• make first drain chamber accessible for cleaning

Six 32" filter socks ....???? I'm thinking you meant different diameters. Are they 7" socks?

I can't wait to see more on this build. It looks incredible!

Amazing build, truly epic!