LUNATIC FRINGE-Duel 500g tanks, 1600g total

[FuzzyZipperbaum]

Lunatic Fringe is the song I sing to myself when I am in the middle of this....

The project will be a 20 foot wall with a 500g tank on each end and a TV in the middle separating the tanks.

The "Garnet" tank will be SPS mixed. The "Gold' tank will be an angel FOWLR dominated tank.

The two biggest decisions I made were glass vs acrylic and whether or not to plumb both tanks together or seperate.

My biggest worries were getting this project done while maintaining a TYPE A job with long hours and 200 days a year travel while keeping a wife (whom is dramtacilly better looking than I am) and 2 young kids happy. There was also a slight worry on the weight of the project and how to support that weight.


Tanks: 2 tanks. 94x30x40w built by Coral Corral in Tampa Florida.

Fish Room: The tanks will be on the second floor. The fish room is going to be under the tanks on the first floor. The room will end up being 18'x 8'. I installed a beam and a load bearing wall.

Filtration: Direct feed to skimmers, to sump, through filter socks, then through a mangrove forrest, intercepted by carbon, phosphate and calcium reactors and sent back up to the 2nd floor after hitting some UV. Sump will be 72"x24"x24"

Skimmer: I am going to have 1 large skimmer on the Garnet tank and 2 moderate size on the Gold tank. I like the idea of experimenting with this concept.

Return Pumps: Probably going with Reeflo Barracudas. I thought about abyzz as I found out how to order them but I am not sure about what comes out the other end after 13' of vertical head. I dont know how much more plumbing I will have so I dont want to risk it.

Water movement: I plan on having a closed loop with 2 inlets, 4 outlits powered by abyzz pumps. I will have a PH on the side shooting down the length of the back. I will also build in 2 power heads into the overflow.

Overflow box: Will be at the side of each tank on the outside. I will use the bean animal design.

Rock: 1500 pounds of Zipperbaum premium rock.

Lights: Going LED... still researching....

CO2: Still researching

[owenspackman]

sounds like you've got your hands full, might be a slow build! but sounds ambitious and exciting! good luck, looking forward to seeing how it evolves!

[FuzzyZipperbaum]

Notes:

Being an insomniac and a research geek. I have spend COUNTLESS hours on this forum. Dont get me wrong, I have cheated once or twice and read other forums but it was mainly following information. I have read almost every large build on this site that was done in the last 5 years and certain classic threads numerous times. I have some ideas that are original or stuff I thought of and saw later and others I have gotten from here. If I remember where I got the idea I will always reference it. Interesting I remember most of your pic icons before I remember the name of the thread....

I also have no problem if people want to reference information or other threads on this site...there are so many great threads that come to mind....I love the captain threads in the newbies area for instance....Ill attach it later....

Ill answer when I can and post pics as I go. I am a few months in and have the rock cooking, the tank should be finished in a few weeks as will the fish room. I will post pics when I get back home later in the week. The only question I will not answer is overall cost.... My goal is to be done in 4 months...then of course the real journey begins.

[owenspackman]

Originally Posted by FuzzyZipperbaum

Notes:Ill answer when I can and post pics as I go.

this is what we're all waiting for!

[FuzzyZipperbaum]

The tanks:

Glass vs acrylic: I went back and forth on this for months and months. I read countless threads and articles. I did the famous pro and con on each and after all that time....I still was divided. Cost was never an issue. In the end... I went acrylic for two main reasons. First I have a 3 story house on the water. It seems this house will never stop settling and acrylic would hold up better IF and I highlight IF some big settling happens. The other and the one that pushed me to acrylic was getting a glass tank into my house would be a major hassle and I was looking to delete as many hassles as I could.

The only way to get a glass tank into my house would be to use a crane to get it to the second floor, thread it though a balcony of concrete rails, under an arch to specially made heavy duty built carts, over an outdoor patio, into double doors, ...take out a dining room table....roll back out another set of double doors onto the back patio.....then over brick pavers trough corner sliding doors on the other side to the tank location.

I can move the acrylic tanks with 3 or 4 people and some leverage....and the elevator doesn't hurt either!!! I put a thousand pound safe on the third floor of my house using 3 people, basic science, baseballs and the elevator....

If I went with glass I was going with Miracles in Canada...talked to the owner...great help and knowledgable. I went with Coral Corral in Tampa after viewing the two jumbo tanks they have in their store....the mixed reef is out of this world by the way... If all things are equal I would also rather give business to the local guys if I can....Dont get me wrong...if the numbers are not close....going mail order...but if they are close or even slightly higher I would rather keep the business local. We are lucky in Tampa as we have some very good stores here....I like two in particular but I do visit around 5 on any given weekend.

I will post some ruff ups later but the tanks have full overflows on the outside and on one end of the tank...

Since I love both reefs and angels I decided I should have the best of both worlds and since those worlds would collide (a Queen angel will destroy a beautiful reef in a few days)....I decided to just put the tanks next together and keep them separate.

[muttley000]

This sounds like an awesome project, tagging along for ideas!

[Newbie Aquarist]

Great guys at CC. Pierre, Shawn, and Mark are cool people. Can't wait to see this happen. I wish I had a two story but better prefer a basement.

[phk36]

Wow can't wait to see this. I have kept off doing a reef because I love Angles so much, best of both worlds.

[Poriferan]

This sounds Excellent. I will be here for the show and to hopefully get some ideas.

I assume you are not plumbing these together, from the separate skimmer reference.

[FuzzyZipperbaum]

Originally Posted by Newbie Aquarist

Great guys at CC. Pierre, Shawn, and Mark are cool people. Can't wait to see this happen. I wish I had a two story but better prefer a basement.

Well at the rate sink holes open around our area...you could get that basement any day!

[FuzzyZipperbaum]

Originally Posted by Poriferan

This sounds Excellent. I will be here for the show and to hopefully get some ideas.

I assume you are not plumbing these together, from the separate skimmer reference.

I went back and forth on this one....by plumbing them together it is slightly less
maintenance...certainly cheaper and a larger more stable body of water.

However, reading jawsee's recent posts...and some others...I just think I can have a back up so to speak if I keep them separate if something goes wrong with one of them. It also allows me to do some different experiments of sorts on filtration, lighting, etc....it also allows me greater flexibility in the future.

[K AVEYARD]

I am putting a 300 gal bow front 10 ft long glass and a 300 6 ft on the same system. I decided on one system for the stability of chem. over a large volume of water. cost does not end up any cheaper and any media must be based on the whole system rather than just one tank. reef needs better water than fwlr but ease of maintenance I think was my end deciding factor. sump im working on now is 200 gals plus and I am working on the best layout poss. to offer best chemistry.

[FuzzyZipperbaum]

Originally Posted by K AVEYARD

I am putting a 300 gal bow front 10 ft long glass and a 300 6 ft on the same system. I decided on one system for the stability of chem. over a large volume of water. cost does not end up any cheaper and any media must be based on the whole system rather than just one tank. reef needs better water than fwlr but ease of maintenance I think was my end deciding factor. sump im working on now is 200 gals plus and I am working on the best layout poss. to offer best chemistry.

I would agree that once they are up and running the cost are the same...but at least for me it is approximately $3500 more to separate them.... As a small example... Instead of 1 Barracuda and 1 UV that could be split to the tanks...I now need 2 which is $700....throw in all the extra plumbing, sump, duplicate pumps for canisters.... you also have economies of scale in 1 tank. For me the cost of the skimmer for a combined tank is $1400 but buying two of the model right below it costs me $1900...etc....

[FuzzyZipperbaum]

http://i95.photobucket.com/albums/l1...ps4a1adf9b.jpg

YES...they are ugly but it would take me all night to do these is Google sketch up... anyway this is the stand I am building in the morning and a rough up of what I am trying to do....

I will try and get pics up tomorrow night of all the construction UNDERNEATH the tank and the fish room in progress.

[FuzzyZipperbaum]

Sorry..this is the end game in 5th grade drawling's

[Newbie Aquarist]

The sketch is all about understanding rather than trying to be pretty. If you seen Sanjay's sketch for his tank it makes yours look like it was done in Google Sketchup.

[FuzzyZipperbaum]

I spent 4 hours on the stand today. I am using Rocket Engineers designed on steroids. By the way... a theme should develop as I build this.... anyone saying "that looks overbuilt" on ANYTHING I will take as a complement. I always laugh when I see the term overbuilt like it is a bad term.... I want every airplane I am on and every 1500 gallon system in my house overbuilt.



http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1169964

This is the beginning of the DIY tank thread....

[FuzzyZipperbaum]

I built a 1200 sq foot movie theater in my house so I should know the drill. Do all the research on the project you are about to build....multiply the time you truly believe it will take by 2. Then add another 20%.







Normally you would build the top rectangle, then the bottom and connect the two. However, some problems with that method on this build....first, because of the size it has to be built on site. Second, the floor is off about 1.5 inches over the 20 feet and last, I don't have an army to help me with this...

So I started by putting the primed and painted (for moisture control) LVL directly on the wall...balls dead level. I connected the bottom plate against the wall...then the legs and then built around it....finished the bottom...then started to connect the rest of the legs. On the left side the leg was close to 1.3 inches longer then the one on the other end...but it is level all the way around. I am going to finish tomorrow.....maybe.

[FuzzyZipperbaum]

amazing how bad the back wall was from being level...I can put my hand down the gap....but it was covered by a 20 foot entertainment unit so I never noticed it before.





I used both wood glue and gorilla glue depending on need. Gorilla glue expands...






The BEST screws I have ever used...comes with a star bit...drives into wood like it cant wait to be there....

[erics3000]

Tagging Along.. What are you doing about Ventilation?

[ArmanS]

Exciting build! Are you building the entire cabinet system or just the frame?

[bpcardona]

I like the idea of having the TV in the middle, but have you thought about the glare this might cause? Might be hard to appreciate all 1080 pixels with bright LEDs shining at you.

Just a thought.....

[Poriferan]

Originally Posted by bpcardona

I like the idea of having the TV in the middle, but have you thought about the glare this might cause? Might be hard to appreciate all 1080 pixels with bright LEDs shining at you.

Just a thought.....

I was thinking the same. One solution might be blackout blinds on a remote. They could be lowered when the TV is being used.

[Snook65]

I'll be following this thread with great interest. Only problem I see so far is the "Gold" and "Garnet". Go Gators!

[FuzzyZipperbaum]

Originally Posted by erics3000

Tagging Along.. What are you doing about Ventilation?

If I have learned one thing about where I live it is the damage that moisture can cause. I will not have a problem with the sump since the tank will be drained straight to the first floor and I will have a mini split down there. I am going to have both hoods set up to be tight and use negative pressure to exaust both of them straight out of the hoods to an inline fan that will either go straight out the back wall or down into the fish room and then striaght out the wall. I dont want to just vent it to the fish room because it would then have to be pulled out again....