800 Gallon Built in Reef Aquarium Project

[cklayko2000]

Where to start... I have maintained a personal reef aquarium for the last 10yrs, sizes ranging from 20g to current 150g. My parents have always been envious, well now it's my turn to be envious of their reef. They have asked me to help design and build a 800 gallon reef in their new home. I'll take pictures as it comes along, I anticipate the project will be finished by end of year. Below is the bill of materials we are running with. Wish us luck!

QUANITY DESCRIPTION
1 800 Gallon 2-Sided 120Lx36Wx36"H
Bottom and end fiberglass molded
Manufactured by WaterDog Products, INC.
8 400watt 20,000K Metal Halide Light Pendant System
8 Power Compact Blue Actinic 65watt Lights
1 Sump Filtration Unit (72"L x 30"W x 18"H)
2 Euro reef Protein Skimmer CS400
1 External Dolphin Amp Master 6500GPH for Main Pump Return
2 300 watt Heater
4 Diatom Bag
100 Live Sand 20lb Bags
1000 Live Cured Live Rock
4 65 watt power compact for refugium
8 4" Cooling Fans
2 1" Sea Swirl
2 External Dolphin Amp Master 3500 Closed Loop Circulation Pump 1.3amps / 2" In and Out
1 Plumbing (Sch 80 pvc, Sch 80 Valves, hoses, parts, glue, bulkheads, etc.)
1 Neptune Controller
16 Bags of BioSea Salt
2 200GPD R/O Filter Unit for Main Sump Top Off Directly Feeding Float Valve to Sump
2 Kent Float Valve ( 1 for main sump / 1 for water storage tank)
1 Water Tank for water changes 36"L x 24"W x 24"H / 1"plexi glass
1 Mag2400 Pump ( for mixing water )
1 Mag 24 pump for chiller 2400gph
1 2Hp Pacific Coast Chiller CH PC C 1200 220Volt
1 Korallin Calcium Reactor 3002model

 

[trido]

Looks like fun. I hope they have the pump room well isolated form the living quarters of the house. IME mag 24s are NOISY.

 

[AF Founder]

Where to start... I have maintained a personal reef aquarium for the last 10yrs, sizes ranging from 20g to current 150g. My parents have always been envious, well now it's my turn to be envious of their reef. They have asked me to help design and build a 800 gallon reef in their new home. I'll take pictures as it comes along, I anticipate the project will be finished by end of year. Below is the bill of materials we are running with. Wish us luck!

QUANITY DESCRIPTION
1 800 Gallon 2-Sided 120Lx36Wx36"H
Bottom and end fiberglass molded
Manufactured by WaterDog Products, INC.
8 400watt 20,000K Metal Halide Light Pendant System
8 Power Compact Blue Actinic 65watt Lights
1 Sump Filtration Unit (72"L x 30"W x 18"H)
2 Euro reef Protein Skimmer CS400
1 External Dolphin Amp Master 6500GPH for Main Pump Return
2 300 watt Heater
4 Diatom Bag
100 Live Sand 20lb Bags
1000 Live Cured Live Rock
4 65 watt power compact for refugium
8 4" Cooling Fans
2 1" Sea Swirl
2 External Dolphin Amp Master 3500 Closed Loop Circulation Pump 1.3amps / 2" In and Out
1 Plumbing (Sch 80 pvc, Sch 80 Valves, hoses, parts, glue, bulkheads, etc.)
1 Neptune Controller
16 Bags of BioSea Salt
2 200GPD R/O Filter Unit for Main Sump Top Off Directly Feeding Float Valve to Sump
2 Kent Float Valve ( 1 for main sump / 1 for water storage tank)
1 Water Tank for water changes 36"L x 24"W x 24"H / 1"plexi glass
1 Mag2400 Pump ( for mixing water )
1 Mag 24 pump for chiller 2400gph
1 2Hp Pacific Coast Chiller CH PC C 1200 220Volt
1 Korallin Calcium Reactor 3002model

If I were you I would use 10K bulbs, not 20K. Much better PAR. I would also check out the company Ocean Motions for water circulation devices.

 

[bleedingthought]

Man, if only my parents asked me to do that. Sounds like a ton of fun. It's like all the benefits without spending the money!

 

[mr_X]

i'm still waiting for my OM 4 way
i ordered it a week ago. still no tracking number either :?
might be better to order it from a middle man vendor who has it in stock :wink:

 

[Anonymous]

Wow! This is going to be a funky thread. Are you doing their maintenance?

 

[pcardone]

if your using power compacts also, the 10k is the way to go.

 

[cklayko2000]

I'll be conducting minimal maintenance checks they will most likely outsource the majority of this.

 

[TheJGMProject]

dude...i live in milpitas, can I see it when it's done?!!! :lol: man that's a huge tank!

 

[blackcloudmedia]

God I hate threads like this.....your going to seriously sit here and make me wait to see it....the anticipation sucks....I want to see it completed now!!!!! lol

Anyways thats awesome...good thing their rich though. THats a big power bill. And we know how cali is about its power.

 

[cklayko2000]

ahhh forgot to mention - solar power -> no electric bill..

Anyone using a LED lighting setup? Thinking about using LED's instead of MH's, any feedback?

 

[cklayko2000]

ahhh forgot to mention - solar power -> no electric bill..

Anyone using a LED lighting setup? Thinking about using LED's instead of MH's, any feedback?

 

[mr_X]

they say the LED's, like the solaris fixture, are awesome. post your experience!

 

[Anonymous]

ahhh forgot to mention - solar power -> no electric bill..

You sure about that? Looking at your lights alone that's 3.2 kW of power (ideally most likely more if not electronic ballasts), this is larger than many people's solar panels setups, and only runs during daylight hours. Parents are in San Jose so I know they have air conditioning as well, this will eat up quite a bit more of the juice.

I'm not saying solar panels won't help take a portion of the electricity cost away, but you probably shouldn't anticipate them powering the whole tank along with household items.

 

[mothra]

Sounds like a huge project (I'm setting up a 360g right now, and that's been quite a bit of work). What kind of system is it going to be? Mainly SPS, LPS, Softies? Not trying to bash at all, but I think you could save your parents some juice if you consider some options:

- Switch to 250w 10k lights instead of 400w 20k. Supplement them with the PC (or better yet, T5's). 5x 400w in lumenarc III's would do a good job too.
- Look at Sequence pumps vs. the others you mentioned they're a lot more efficient.
- Consider other skimmers such as Orca, H&S, Deltec, or Tunze Master DOC. They're all more energy friendly, and I think you'll be a little undersized with the 2 ER's anyway (real world ratings are usually less than published for all skimmers).


Have you calculated how many KWH everything is going to use as planned?