Chris' 180+ Reef tank

[hockeyhead019]

I was gonna ask what kind of covering substance you needed to put on there for the foam to be safe for use in the tank

Chris that's a habit of mine as well haha the doodling on the notebook during boring meetings haha

[chrisfraser05]

Chris that's a habit of mine as well haha the doodling on the notebook during boring meetings haha

I'm really bad for doing it lol


The foam itself is actually safe for the water. the reason people seal it with the epoxy is that an excitable grazing fish, such as a tang, will pull the foam off bit by bit when grazing for algae and the bits will end up floating in the tank.

Once you seal it with the epoxy it hardens solid avoiding it breaking up.

Doesn't need to be 100% covered, just where fish will pick at. No worries if you can't reach all areas of the foam in other words.

[ScottishFish]

I really fancy giving the foam thing a go, since you are one of few scots users what foam and epoxy would you recommend?

Also does the foam not tend to float? Would you need to anchor it?

[ILuvMyGoldBarb]

The foam does float. You have to use the spray foam and put it on the "egg crate" light covers. Typically it requires the use of silicone to fit it, however I do know of people who fit it very close to the height of the back of the tank, and then use braces under the substrate to hold it against the back.

[hockeyhead019]

I've seen people use eggcrate as the skeleton and then base that to a pvc structure which they put some LR on and bury into the sand bed... I think that's the best design I've seen so far

[chrisfraser05]

Right.... At long last here is an update!

So I collected the tank and got it home. The more I looked at it the more I decided the stand is no use to me and that the tank needs a reseal, if only for piece of mind.
So, to the drawing board!

I am planning making the stand myself, I am not experianced at wood work so it should be fun lol

So I've got a rough design in my head about the stand but will keep it close to my chest while I work through it, I am however going to make sure it is done to the highest standard with a few special touches!

Next I was thinking about how I will maintain the tank long term. I get really annoyed moving the lights about and lifting perspex panels to do main inside the tank.
I've decided to build an enclosed top and mount the lights in it then go braceless so I can get in easy!

To go braceless I've spoken to a local steel fabricators and I'm getting a frame made for round the top out of angled steel welded at the corners.
Once the tank is resealed this should simply slip ontop and mean I can get access along the full 6 1/2 foot with no obstructions.

Aquascape wise I am going to do the foam background and also making artificial rock structure to put my sps on at the right hand edge of the tank.
I've got portland cement to collect tomorrow and oyster shells and coral sand set asside for it.
I've made a chickenwire and plastic structure that I will clad in fake rock cement as the base (removing it when set) and will make a few branching pieces to press into the foam to hold corals.

I plan to incorporate a wave box into the background hidden in the foam but removable for maint.

The lighting will be 2 6 bulb 24w T5ho units on the right above the SPS and a 6 bulb 54w T5ho unit over the rest of the tank where my softies/lps will be.

This however will get superceded later with a DIY LED unit.

Pumps wise I will be looking at using New wave power heads, probibally only 2 or maybe 3 if I have to. These are designed to work in conjunction with a new wave module which pulses the pumps for random flow... However they will be controlled by............

My last little trick with this project is going to be an industrial PLC setup which will control everything from the lights, heating, pumps, auto topup, wave box, fans etc etc etc.

This should take me a little while and cost a pretty little penny to do however I think the end result is going to be amazing and well worth the wait!

Here are a few pics anyway.




This is my old 4 foot tank sitting next to it lol


The stand, now a workbench!

[chrisfraser05]

Heres my current 3 footer looking a little unkempt at the moment,



I've removed some of my aiptasia infested rock into another tank where I am farming them lol

I removed some of my corals onto a frag rack to try and culture them ready for the new tank and save them from the aips

[chrisfraser05]

last but not least, here is where the rock has gone...






The reason I am encouraging aiptasia (feels so wrong) in this tank is that I will be receiving 6 bergia nudibranches next week or the week after and plan on breeding them to help other reefers out.

I had some before, I only got 2. I added them straight into the reef tank and never saw them again.

I believe they were eaten by my fish. This time I will make sure I have enough incase I loose some to fish in the main tank, I could even rotate my rock through a third small tank with bergias in it if need be.

Should be interesting to see if I can get them up to a good amount of numbers. May also pay for some of the stuff on the new tank long term lol

[ILuvMyGoldBarb]

This however will get superceded later with a DIY LED unit.

Why not just save the money and go straight to the LED setup? Unless you already have the fixtures you need. lol

However they will be controlled by............

My last little trick with this project is going to be an industrial PLC setup which will control everything from the lights, heating, pumps, auto topup, wave box, fans etc etc etc.

Not sure I understand this either. An Apex will do this quite well and is designed to be used with LEDs and all the other mentioned aquarium equipment. Why not go with an Apex?

[chrisfraser05]

Why not just save the money and go straight to the LED setup? Unless you already have the fixtures you need. lol

yea I already have them, the 2x 2 foot ones on my current reef and the 4foot over the aiptasia breeding tank.

Not sure I understand this either. An Apex will do this quite well and is designed to be used with LEDs and all the other mentioned aquarium equipment. Why not go with an Apex?

All the tank controllers I've looked at so far have either not had the full functionality I've been looking for, not had enough flexibillity or have been massively expensive.
I'm looking at a compact PLC system which has 32 digital in and outputs plus 8 analogue in/outs. I will write the software myself to run the tank in modes of my choosing and have plenty future upgradabillity.
Should be able to get the whole automation done for less than $200us.
Just checked and to do the same with Apex is about $1000!!!! Nice to be able to connect to it wirelessly but wholely not worth the extra $800 imo lol