What I'd do differently next time.
 

Have not been around for awhile and I am now in the middle of developing my basement ... have made space for another BIG tank :wink:

So since I have been away from the hobby I thought I would see what people would do differently if they had the chance to start over :smile:

*I* would maybe like to one day have a ... you know .. a plan, or something. Not sort of hodge-podge add this add that and try to figure out how to solve this there problem and ... etc. etc. and so on. :)

Hey BTW welcome back dude :)

Hey Tony ... been awhile :lol: ... how are those cleaner shrimp doing ? :razz: :wink: :lol:

I've been thinking about plumbing replacement over time. A commercial aquarium has to have a plan for reaming out the pipes, which tend to have things grow in them over time.

It isn't likely that there is a "next time" for me...but if I was to do it again I would put more thought into plumbing so that sections/valves are more easily replaced/cleaned.

Welcome back Steve!

Hey Brad ... Thanks !

Hi Steve, I'm gearing up for a new tank in the 65g inwall.

I've been going through pictures of my nine years in the hobby, and I am going to:

a) get fiji rock
b) limit fish
c) enjoy

:lol: :mrgreen:

Hey, welcome back.

I would say that if I had to re-do things, I would ask more questions on forums than just trust my LFS and I would think more carefully about my aquascaping since it directly affects my ability to stock the tank.

Hey Deb ... owning these living systems is a journey of discovery I find :wink:

I would set up a hospital tank before I set up the main tank to protect the main tank from aptasia, and ich to name a few self-created problems.

If I could do it again I would start with a much bigger tank (at least 400 or 500 gal) and go straight to 400 watt MH's. I would also build a fish room first.

Depending on the look you want, maybe a PVC structure for aquascaping your rock.

I would think real long & hard about whether or not this is the best "black hole" for all my money to get gravitationally pulled into:razz:

Actually, over the years, I've run the gamut (woohoo, first time using this word) from total KISS to fairly high-tech reef setups. Its been interesting & educational to find that it is possible to be successful & have nice tanks using many approaches, from the ultra low-tech to the easier, but more expensive high tech tanks.

If I had to start up a new tank, I would want to get a 30" or 36" wide tank to have a more open sandbed. I know that this would have the drawback of making it hard to reach the stuff in the back though. Still, a wider tank would be soooo sweet, evn though I'm very happy with my current 210g setup.

Anthony

1. I would have a single overflow with Herbie's silent overflow system.

2. I would feed the pipe from the overflow directly into the protein skimmer.

3. I would not buy any fish that require frozen food, due to nutrient issues.

4. I would have redundancy: two return pumps in case one failed, two heaters, basically take some steps to avoid a tank catastrophe.

5. LED lighting.

So here is the planned space ... it is 12 ft long and 4'2" wide ( in the middle of the basement to the right side ) ... to the left is the stairwell ... farthest away is the home theater/bed/bath and closest is the gym ... I have my old sink and refugium planned for the far right area

So that leaves me just enough space for a 96"W X 42"W X 31"H :wink: ... it will be viewable from the gym side as a inwall ... I was originally going to have it viewable from both the gym and theater but in retrospect it would be too bright for the theater as it is a front projection screen.

I figure dual overflows ... I used to have a Dual Beckett and could probably still fire it up but more inclined to go with a large needlewheel ( or 2 :biggrin: ) ... still have 4 X 400W MH light hood ( may want to scale back on these as my electricity bill used to be outrageous :eek: ), VHO actinic/daylights. calcium reactor, eductors for a closed loop and DIY denitrator

So all I have to do first is finish the basement ... then I get my tank :mrgreen:





http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e3..._neer/bsmt.jpg

Here is a overhead shot ... gotta love sketchup :wink:

http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e3...neer/bsmt2.jpg

Here is a overhead shot ... gotta love sketchup :wink:

http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e3...neer/bsmt2.jpg

You gonna do all that and only see it from the gym?? Holy fitness, Batman ! :lol:

Leave it open on the theatre side...I think closing that off is a HUGE mistake. If you are concerned about light entering the theatre room, you could rig up some sort of shutter or curtain system to block it off.

I would also recommend access to the tank from both sides, even if you choose not to view it from the theatre.

Are you planning to house the entire filtration setup under the tank? Think hard about access to all the components.

I would have went with no sand just HDPE/Starboard. This is my biggest regret in setting up my 180g.

Pretty much no choice as far as only viewing from the gym ... the only time we will be in the theater will be to watch the projector and the time of day will almost always coincide with when the lights on the tank are on. Initially I really wanted for it to be viewable from both sides but acoustic treatment planned for the theater would negate that as a possibility. On the other hand I will have 4 feet to the side where the sink is and I plan to have access on the gym side above and below the tank.

Our in wall faces to our home theater which is also front projection.
(a Sony VPL-HS51, Brightness:1200 ANSI lumen's, Contrast:6000:1)
The tank lights have a four stage dusk that starts at about movie time in the evening. We always planned to have a curtain for it but haven't needed it.
Just curious how do you know what acoustic treatment your room needs before everything is set up and you know how it sounds? We wanted our room to be more multi-function than dedicated theater so we just tried to keep a mix of hard and soft surfaces.

What I'd do differently next time? Not too much, better ventilation for the lights, R/O output lines roughed in, more room around the back sides of the tank. Even with having to do some demo to get a 36" wide tank down the stairs it turned out pretty good.

Best things we did? Structured wiring, access to the back side of all the home theater electronics, combining a fish room and hobby room, roughed in water lines for R/O D/I, laundry sink, lots of blocking to attach equipment to walls and ceiling.

I would keep the tank shallow (24-30"). My tank is 48" deep and I need to go swimming to reach the back corners. Also be careful for overheating if you add 4 x 400 MH lights. Prefare for lots of fans, air circulation and possibly a chiller. Hopefully being in the basement will also help prefent heating problems. Also consider using LED lighting.
Good luck and keep us updated.

Just curious how do you know what acoustic treatment your room needs before everything is set up and you know how it sounds?

@ Brian ... maybe this will help

http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e3...neer/bsmt3.jpg

proggy available here ... http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=822273

it is a first reflection program where you can input the room size, screen size, speaker size & location, seating height etc etc ... when you run the program it spits out your first reflection points in the room ... the green rectangles are the ear height locations for the chairs ... 2 rows of 4 chairs with the back row on a 17" riser

The problem is that the tank would be right where the first reflection point for the right speaker :sad:

The theater room will be a dedicated theater and the gym side will be more of a multi-functional room ... it will also have a projector for the kids to watch TV and play PS3 and Wii but I am not as concerned for lighting on that side as I am for the theater side :wink:

@ Shane ... the advice for air circulation is well noted ... my 4 X 400W MH hood is from my old 330G tank in my last house and it DID generate quite a bit of heat ... I had a 6" fan that I rigged up from Princess auto and it did a pretty good job. Because this tank will be in a more enclosed space I planned to rig up a exhaust fan to a humidistat ... also all the walls will be aquaboard or equivalent waterproof drywall with a epoxy coated paint ... seperate dedicated circuits for electrical for the tank, theater and gym

At one point I did consider LED but from what I have read we are still about 2 years away from PAR that is inline or better than that of MH. ( and the solaris hoods are stupid expensive :eek: )

One thing I did consider is that there was a european tank that I saw a while back that was run exclusively with T5's and it was absolutely beautiful ... I may consider going that way and supplement with a couple low power MH ( maybe 175W ) to add the " shimmer " as I dont think I could own a SW tank and not see that shimmer effect on the sand.

Well there is the rub so to speak ... when I had my 330G setup I had a 2 ft space running behind it with a flip down walkway at the height of the bottom of the tank so I could flip it up and then gain access to the sump/skimmer etc etc and then flip it back down and stand on it for easy access into the tank :wink:

I will have to figure out a efficient use of space under the tank for sump/skimmer (s) etc and also figure out a way to gain access to the top of the tank

For the top of the tank I am thinking of like a mechanics dolly that I can flip down and it slide across the top of the tank on rails ... I can then lay on top and easily reach down into the tank ... I think they make them now in a hard plastic which would be great for a salt water environment

The old tank had the lights on a manual pully using aircraft wire to raise and lower the light hood ... maybe a motorized version would work :)

My 330G was only 2 ft wide ( 8 ft long mind you :mrgreen: ) ... but I hear ya about having a sandbed and some swimming room for the fish up front ... what I found was that after I stacked enough rock to aquascape it to the way I liked it there was really only about 6 or 8 inches of sand left at the front ... as a result I did not put as much rock in the middle to try to make it more open ( so that I had a little over a foot of open sandbed in the middle ) ... well guess where my large green BTA decided to call home ? ... yup you guessed it ... right in the middle with his foot attached under a rock overhang about 6" off the sand ... well when he " stretched out " the other fish had to be careful not to get stung ... if you have ever had a rabbitfish you will know they are not the smartest fish in the tank and would regularly brush up against that anemone and get a good welt :rolleyes: ... but with a 42" wide tank I will be able to do some cool aquascaping and at the same time not make it look so crowded in there ... maybe open up the rockwork ... we will see :biggrin:

Funny thing is that when I had my 330G I did play around with trying to build a pvc structure but could not make it work where I would not be able to see at least some part of the pvc ( which really bugged me ) so I tore it out and just tried to stack the rock in as open a architecture as possible

Cool program, I haven't been to AVS in a while.
Are you doing multichannel or 2?
So what do you have to do, diffuser panels cuz of parallel walls?

It will be a 7.1 system ... the first reflection program is dedicated to the front 3 channels that you see in that pic

As to wall treatment ... what I intend to do first is to add 1" duct liner insulation ( linacoustic or equivalent ) on those first reflection points ... side wall and ceiling

The front wall will as well be treated the front corners for bass traps

After that is done I will use a SPL meter to test the rest of the room

the idea is to treat all the walls for either first reflection or soft bass trap and then cover with a acoustically transparent material.

Something like this ...

http://www.reedzone.com/finished1.jpg

How much are you charging for admission to your movies?

:lol:

That's a gorgeous room to shoot for, good luck on your build.
I found a deal on the Radio Shack SPL on ebay and the Avia and DVE setup disks as well. You (and Transformers) have me inspired to decide on a HD-DVD player. :biggrin:
Back to the tank though I wish I had a floor drain closer to my tank for piece of mind.

There is a deal on the Xbox HD DVD player at toyz r us I think for 179 ... plus if you search on the web there is a coupon for up to 5 free HD DVD's with it ... it uses a USB port and the drivers are readily available on the internet

as to the floor drain ... that is one thing I did not plan for ... I roughed in for the sink but cant remember why I did not get a drain too :confused: