Lake Terrace 380 DT + 180 sump + 100 surge

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Karimwassef

Premium Member
Hey everyone. I've been building this beast for 18 months now (from a glimmer in my eye) so it's about time to publish some.

I'm in Garland by the way.

This is an in-wall 34" deep x 27" high x 96" wide starphire glass tank with the body in my garage and the front face in the house.

It's on a frame of 2x4s and a 3/4" plywood base.

The sump is a DIY plywood and epoxy with acrylic windows and baffles. It's 2' x 2' x 6'

I have a platform over the tank holding a 100 gal Rubbermaid container with two 2" outlets connected to DIY 2" PVC valves operated by linear actuators to create a two path surge. It's controlled by my Apex and has been running nearly continuously for about a year. The two outlets are on opposite corners to allow for cross flow too (sometimes).

Also made a DIY alternating flow diverter that plumbs the return pump flow through two outlets on opposite corners if the tank. The valve aperture is circular so the outputs are two out of phase sine waves. So four outlets at four corners total.

I built a DIY 10' tall 6" diameter skimmer with dual air injected penductors and a dedicated 6000gph pump to drive it. Planning on turning the surge and monster skimmer off at night.

Lighting is 3x 400W MH pendants with 10k. Two are Ushio mogul and one is a two pin. Also build a DIY LED fixture 4" wide x 8' long with 200W RB, 200W ~UV (410nm) and 50W cool white with 7 x 3" fans on the heatsink side.

Also have a raised platform with a 100gal Rubbermaid ATO tank with a DIY kalkwasser reactor on the outlet.

The surge requires a side sump to absorb the 30-60 gal surges, so I added a 75 gal Rubbermaid that doubles as a saltwater mixing/adding station.

I also built my own concrete rock shelves, ledges and forms to keep it all off the tank bottom.

Made a DIY 2 output doser for vinegar and trace

More to come with pics.
 
Hey Matt.

There's one large 100 gal surge over the DT. The valves open to release a surge up to 30 gals at a time from each. The surge is a more natural and cost effective solution to creating beneficial flow (IMO).

Having 60 gals surge into my 380 gal DT creates significant action that is hard to duplicate with pumps. This only works because I have an end to end weir overflow (8' long) and 4 x 2" lines to the sump and a large side sump to absorb the volume.

Does that help?
 
The second raised container is RO/DI for saltwater mixing and ATO.

The third container on the ground is the side-sump/mixing station.
 
Here's a video of the diverter in test

http://s1062.photobucket.com/user/karimwassef/media/106BF396-F986-4E27-B986-66CEBB1C0305-827-0000013EFC853B4A_zpsc78786c6.mp4.html

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Thanks pj. Sand should be here by the weekend and getting some rubble to start the coralline buildup from a local buddy.

Coralline shaving donations welcome. :D . I'd like some color diversity and with the light I have blasting this tank, I'm looking for plate growths. LOL
 
Also have an outside plumbed 1hp chiller.

The surge is bubble and noise free since it's actuated and permanently submerged. The tank's overflow into the sump isn't - that's a work on progress.

Still have plans for a calcium reactor and an outside mangrove greenhouse.

I've also put in titanium tubing underground I my backyard to experiment with geothermal cooling.

I tinker a lot.
 
Other threads :

First build thread - http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2229274&page=10
Concrete ledges - http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2391044&page=10
 
Lots of learning. My setup seems coral friendly, but very fish and anemone unfriendly. With all the rocks suspended off the sand, strong MH and LED UV and high surge flow, the fish are constantly stressed. All have died or committed suicide by jumping out.

I just added a small juvenile sailfin to eat my hair algae and the surge is so intense that it struggles to avoid getting thrown against the rocks... He's alone in the tank but still seems stressed.

I'll be building some fish habitats in the back space.

I got a rose bubbletip and the flow threw him all around. He would attach for minutes and then release and fly all over the sand floor. It just turned into a very small ball and disappeared. :( that's $80 that lasted 3 days.

No coralline yet. But all the parameters are good pH 8.1-8.3, 9dKH, 440 Ca.

My snails, crabs and shrimp are growing/molting pretty regularly.

Lots of cocepods and my macro scrubber is up and running.
 
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