My 1000 Ga built-in tank

[Sea Turtle]

Free Willy!!! :lol: :lol: :lol:

 

[Anonymous]

Ack! Now that's a true mermaid shot... with sailors of old seeing the manatee and thinking they were mermaids....

that said not to detract from your tank but it looks like a pretty nice view in the reflection.

 

[Ben1]

Lol that dude looks like he is going to be stuck in there.

 

[Anonymous]

Ack! Now that's a true mermaid shot... with sailors of old seeing the manatee and thinking they were mermaids....

that said not to detract from your tank but it looks like a pretty nice view in the reflection.

SFSU, I'm sure you have seen the pics of the view (?)- in my renovation thread down under. I'll post a link just now....in case you missed it....LOL

Edit: Link with some view pics, start at page 1....post1642170.html#p1642170

 

[Anonymous]

Lol that dude looks like he is going to be stuck in there.

LOL, I can assure you, he made it out, and quite easily too! All of which is good news for the more lighter framed of us who need to be able to get in there at some stage.

 

[Sea Turtle]

I guess he could provide airation. :lol:

 

[Anonymous]

You must have one big-assed sump to handle that much displaced water. That guy has got to displace, what 100 gallons?

Louey

 

[bfessler]

We had an interesting discussion on flow at the Wasatch Mountain Reef Fest Saturday. Much too much info to post here but to make a long story short it was suggested that creating a laminar flow in one direction through the tank can create a massive amount of flow with relatively small input. They showed video of a 500G tank set up peninsula style and the only pumps for circulation were 2 rows of 4 vortech's, one down the front and back side. The pumps on the front would run for 2+ hours and then they would alternate to the back for 2+ hours. There were several island groupings of rock in the tank and the tank is visible form 3 sides. Powered only by the Vortechs, the flow around the entire tank was at 20 cm per second. Essentially the current created a huge whirlpool or gyro motion to the water column. Flow was equally strong at the opposite side from the vortec's. When the current impacted the rock structures it creates the turbulence in the flow and the overall appearance was not like a whirlpool at all. It took about 15 minutes for the water's gyration to reverse when the pumps alternated.

The whole point of the demonstration was that you don't need big power hungry pumps to create adequate flow even in large systems. A few well placed pumps or power heads and inertia is all that was required.

I'm not sure what it would take to take 1/2 of your returns and point them in one direction and the other half in the opposite direction then alternate between them but it may be worth the effort. You could test it by simply rotating all your returns in one direction and running the pumps for an hour then sprinkle in some food and watch the currents. Just a thought.

 

[bfessler]

That's an incredible tank. I've been following the build but this is my first post.

Looking at the returns against the front glass its not clear how much room was left between the return and the glass. Is there enough room to get a mag float through there? It appears from the photos that these returns are visible from the front glass and if so you will want an easy way to clean the algae from between the returns and the glass.

I can't wait to see the completed reef.

Burt

That would be one hell of a mag float. 8O

I hadn't thought about the size of a magnet needed to hold the float to the glass but how do you keep the glass clean on a tank that size. Going diving every day would get to be a PITA after a while.

 

[Anonymous]

I think I know the tank you're talking about.

I am curious though, how do they get them to only be on for 2 hours, special hardware? Or do they physically turn them off every 2 hours.

 

[Anonymous]

We had an interesting discussion on flow at the Wasatch Mountain Reef Fest Saturday. Much too much info to post here but to make a long story short it was suggested that creating a laminar flow in one direction through the tank can create a massive amount of flow with relatively small input. They showed video of a 500G tank set up peninsula style and the only pumps for circulation were 2 rows of 4 vortech's, one down the front and back side. The pumps on the front would run for 2+ hours and then they would alternate to the back for 2+ hours. There were several island groupings of rock in the tank and the tank is visible form 3 sides. Powered only by the Vortechs, the flow around the entire tank was at 20 cm per second. Essentially the current created a huge whirlpool or gyro motion to the water column. Flow was equally strong at the opposite side from the vortec's. When the current impacted the rock structures it creates the turbulence in the flow and the overall appearance was not like a whirlpool at all. It took about 15 minutes for the water's gyration to reverse when the pumps alternated.

The whole point of the demonstration was that you don't need big power hungry pumps to create adequate flow even in large systems. A few well placed pumps or power heads and inertia is all that was required.

I'm not sure what it would take to take 1/2 of your returns and point them in one direction and the other half in the opposite direction then alternate between them but it may be worth the effort. You could test it by simply rotating all your returns in one direction and running the pumps for an hour then sprinkle in some food and watch the currents. Just a thought.

Sounds like you heard Jake Adam's talk and saw Steve H's tank (the 1200g, not 500g, peninsula tank). Tons of flow in that tank, and some insane critters as well

Start a thread on the conference, I'd love to hear how it went.

This is Steve's old 600g prior to the upgrade to the 1200g tank. His new tank is the one with all the Vortec's.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vfeZe51DA0Y

This is his new tank:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zh6Cz_H8 ... re=related

 

[bfessler]

Your absolutely right. I am working in LA today so I didn't have my notes with me. After a full day of lectures on various topics its hard to keep track and the details all are running together in my head. When I get back to Utah I'll go ahead and start a thread about the Reef Fest.

I guess that makes the point of a lot of flow from a smallish pump even more pertinent.

Thanks for the correction.

 

[bfessler]

I think I know the tank you're talking about.

I am curious though, how do they get them to only be on for 2 hours, special hardware? Or do they physically turn them off every 2 hours.

All you need is a controller like the ReefKeeper or Apex. You can control individual outlets with timers set to what ever schedule you wish. The only limitation is the number of outlet modules you connect to the controller. I have a RKL on my Nano and it makes automating tasks super simple. I use it mainly for timer settings and temperature, haven't gotten into the advanced controls and probes yet but the unit comes with a temp probe that will shut off the outlet my heater is plugged into if the heater sticks in the on position and the tank starts to overheat. A friend of mine is really into the automation and has streaming video of his tank as well as all the probes monitoring water quality in the tank. The thing even e-mails him if something gets out of range.

 

[Anonymous]

I'm pretty sure Steve uses a light timer from Chavut. Mike, the one Jake spoke about during his many trips to the Bay Area is the one Just in case I emailed both Steve and Jake.

 

[Anonymous]

Ah so the vortechs are turned off completely if it's a Chauvet timer used, wonder what that does to the pumps themselves I know it's not a rapid on/off as some have but still!

I know there have been some mods done to the Vortechs to allow you to remote control them, but that's not an out of the box ability they have. I really wish they sold non-wireless vortechs ($75 cheaper!) and let the aftermarket provide the controlling on them.

 

[Anonymous]

Ah so the vortechs are turned off completely if it's a Chauvet timer used, wonder what that does to the pumps themselves I know it's not a rapid on/off as some have but still!

I know there have been some mods done to the Vortechs to allow you to remote control them, but that's not an out of the box ability they have. I really wish they sold non-wireless vortechs ($75 cheaper!) and let the aftermarket provide the controlling on them.

They could not do that without releasing the programming they use, which is the heart of the system (as per pers. communication with Tim and Co). To keep others from copying their design they keep it close to their chests. Their a bunch of very smart and professional guys I must say

 

[Anonymous]

Well I dunno, that one mod that allows you to use an aquasurf to control them didn't seem to need any programming, simply let the module control the 0-10v (or whatever it is) voltage instead of a potentiometer.

 

[Anonymous]

Well I dunno, that one mod that allows you to use an aquasurf to control them didn't seem to need any programming, simply let the module control the 0-10v (or whatever it is) voltage instead of a potentiometer.

I thought AS only worked with Tunze? This is the first I have heard anything about Vortechs being done that way. Linky?

 

[Anonymous]

AS was designed for Tunzes yes, but there was a modification done before/around the time when the wireless module was released, you literally had to hack/wire the controller of the vortech, not sure if you need the original non-wiredless controller though.

Just google: aquasurf vortech

 

[Anonymous]

AS was designed for Tunzes yes, but there was a modification done before/around the time when the wireless module was released, you literally had to hack/wire the controller of the vortech, not sure if you need the original non-wiredless controller though.

Just google: aquasurf vortech

Damn you.. you stole my line (just google it)