New plywood prop system

[alti]

Figured id share some pics of the construction of my new prop system. This is a plywood framed tank divided into 3 sections. Comes out to a total of about 1000 gallons. Each section will be slightly shallower than the other and water will be pumped into the first section and overflow into the following sections.

 

[inkblue]

can i Ask what this is foR? is it a perSonaL aquarium in someOne's houSe or is it for puBlic disPlay :scratch:

hopE to see more progression piCs...

:thanks: :fish:

 

[masterswimmer]

Looks interesting. Better get those hip waders out :biggrin: Reaching those little frags in the middle of that prop system is gonna be a ***** of a 'reach'.

swimmer

 

[DonCisco]

either that.... or go nuts and install a hoist system so you can pretend to be Tom Cruise in mission impossible....picking those pesky frags. :smile:

 

[cali_reef]

How humid is that basement with all that water? do you have a site with the corals you are proping?

 

[charile1]

How humid is that basement with all that water? do you have a site with the corals you are proping?

www.altisreef.com

 

[alti]

Im expanding the coral farm and this is the first of 3 new tank we will be building in the next few months.

It is gonna be a pain to reach into the center. Its not as bad as it looks, but im gonna need a small step ladder t get to the farthest frags. Ill probably leave fresh cut mother colonies that need time to regrow in the middle. that way i only have to mess with them every few months. Im adding a brace every 4' and there is a place when i can kneel on the wall on all corners and where all the seperating walls are. This way i can get on top of the tank and support myself on the brace.

The have not had any serious humidity issues yet since the basment is about 10,000 sq feet. My dehu normally removes about 15-20 gal per day out of the air and im only evaporating 6-10 gallons daily, so i know im not adding any more humidity than i am removing. Im going to add a big air vent to remove moist air once we can find the right place to mount it. this should be enough to handle all this new water.

 

[scarf_ace1981]

i've been to alti's and he has some nice stuff. great guy and is very knowledgable.

can't wait to come by and check the new addition once it's up and running. thanks for sharing alti.

 

[jhale]

very nice
I love to see people like yourself expanding the hobby.

Can you give us any details on the equipment that you'll be using?
That looks like a scary amount of area you have to light.
Will you be using a gaint CA reactor or dosing 2 part?
what will be used for flow? Closed loops or powerheads?

 

[alti]

Im not sure of what im going to use yet. Coral farming is alot different than general reefkeeping. I have to make sure i use the least ammount of energy possible and maximize the growing area. We are going to start off with bare minimums in terms of lighting and flow and adjust from there.

This will be an all softie system so im going to start off using 2 , 250 or 400 watt halides per section. We built a nice 3' reflector today and it spreads the light perfectly. If the outer edge of the tank needs more light we can add supplimental lighting as called for. At these extremely shallow depths halides are very efficient even when spread out this far apart.

As for flow im going to start off using a 3600gph return pump. The reason we made it into 3 sections was to try to use as much gravity as possible to reduce the need for too many pumps. The first section is 3" taller than the second and the second is 3" taller than the last. The water will be all be pumped into the 1st secion and overflow into the following 2 sections. The drains are all located in the last section and will be returned to the sump located under the first section by means of an angled pipe. Im theory the same 3600 GPH pumped into the first section will have no choice but to flow into the next section and so forth. So each section will have 3600 GPH flowing through it. I am also going to add a spraybar across the bottom of each section that is teed off the return. I will probably turn this on for an hour or so each day to flush any waste off the bottom. IF more current is needed i will add a closed loop to these spray bars or add some airlifts.

No need for a reactor on this one. I use 2 part to buffer my makeup and topoff water so that should be enough to grow corraline on the plugs and rocks.

Im going to build so big counter current air driven skimmers. Much cheaper to build and use far less energy than any of the other types. IME there is no better skimmers, as long as you have the room for a tall skimmer and dont mind changing airstones.

 

[leoskee]

Change the missing pic Rob. lol

 

[alti]

Havnt made a ton of progress, but i have water in it and will probably have salt it this week. All i need to do is finish the lights and skimmers and its ready to stock.

 

[masterswimmer]

Looks great.
What are you using for dehumidification in that space?
How are you heating the water?
Can you show pix of the footbridge you'll need to reach the center :biggrin: ?
How many gallons total do you have there?

Impressive setup.
Russ

 

[alti]

Thanks Russ,
I have a Dehumidifier that has been removing more water than my current setup evaporates, but m sure its not going to keep up with this one. We are going to install some fans that will be pumping the air outside.

Heat has always been an issue for me since im in a basement that stays cool all year round. The 2 mag 36 return pumps im using are energy hogs, but they produce a ton of heat. Im probably gonna need 4-6 300 watt heaters on top of that in the coldest months. From april-october i probably wont need anything more than the pumps themselves.

Believe it or not, i can reach almost all the way to the middle. A small step stool is all i need.

Its roughly 1000 gallons. Not too much considering the ammount of growing space i have.

 

[jhale]

what will the corals be sitting on?

will you have snails to deal with any algae build up?

 

[alti]

were trying a few different ways of supporting the corals. Im going to use the plastic winndow screening for xenia, GSP and anthellia. I will build a pvc frame and attatch the screening to that. Im going to spread apart cuttings and wait till the grow over the screen. When the screen is covered i can easilly cut off small pieces and mount them to plugs. The plugs are going to be placed on eggcrate or in soda crates. The soda crates float and fit perfectly in the tank, but im worried they will hinder the flow too much. My biggest problem right now if finding the time to make the 4000 frag plugs i need to fill the system. They will be acting as my biological filter so i want to fill the tank with them and use as necessary.

Im gonna have to have a ton of critters to clean this. 500 turbos 40 emerald and 6-9 foxfaces should do the trick. I have a 200 gal refuge so hopefully it will keep the nuisance algae in check.

 

[scarf_ace1981]

keeps getting better and better. alti, you sticking w/ the 20ks or are you trying different bulbs for this set up?

 

[alti]

20k is only for coloring up frags. The par is only half as strong as the 10k so i will have all 10k on this one.

 

[alti]

Finally got the salt in and the sump and fuge finished

 

[crox99]

Any new pics of the progress?