480 Gal Project
 

Hi

Just wanted to share my tank with you its not done yet but it should not take to long to complete.

Here are the specs so far


Tank 120''x30''x30''
Skimmer Bubble King SM250
Power heads 5x Vortech WMP40
Dual overflows with 1.5'' herbi drains


http://i281.photobucket.com/albums/k...quarium045.jpg

I am still very unsure on lighting for this tank. I would like to use t5 but not sure if the tank is to deep. Help in this area would be great. The sump is going to be 84''x30''x18'' glass with 4 chambers one for filter socks, skimmer, refiugium and return pump. I would like the tank to have a lot of open space for fish to swim. Not to sure on sand or bare bottem have had both and they have there ups and downs. As fare as coral it will be a mixed reef with 70% sps and 30% softies and lps.

Thanks Chris

Wow, looks like it's going to be a great tank!

Some pics of my 280g


http://i281.photobucket.com/albums/k...quarium050.jpg






http://i281.photobucket.com/albums/k...quarium051.jpg


Thanks Chris

Not too long....ha..ha.. I love it! It took me a year to build mine. What was I doing all that time? I'm along for the build 'cause I like watching another monster go together.

Nice sturdy stand there.

Thanks a lot i watched your build from the begining and learned a lot from you thanks for all the work you put in to keeping us all updated. I only wish my tank will be as nice as yours.

Chris

wow that stand is a beauty. What'd the steel beams set you back and where did you get them?

The steel beams are from varsteel 5''x5'' and there are 4 of them under the tank. they were about 700.00 for all of them i think i only needed 3 but you have to by them in 20' lenghts.
Chris

That's going to be one kick *** tank! Your 280 is not too shabby either :p That's an insane amount of xenia!

I like that you are going with the vortechs, I really enjoy mine. How are you planning the placement of 5? Two on each end on in the middle?

Thanks yes it is a lot of xenia its one of the few things my angles dont eat and it spreds like a weed. For now there will be 2 vortechs on each end and on on the back with plans to add 2 more on the back i hope this will work. I really like the new vortechs with the wave driver they do a great job in my 280.
chris

nice tank tagging along. Can't wait to see your equipment list.
Kevin

Man !!! That's a long tank. Wicked!!

pls keep the build pictures coming

Cool I'm excited to watch this build thread.

Pics pics pics

J

Wow.... Awesome! Please do keep us updated :)

Holy...thats all holy
My wife says never!!!:(

Looks great tagging along as well

So here are some my new toys. This is just the start of all the stuff i need and i will be adding to this over the next few weeks. I still have no ideas on lighting so if anyone can help that would be great. I would like my lights to look nice becouse the tank will be open top with the window behind it. I have also been thinking about zeovit for this tank so anyone with a large tank running zeo i would love to here what you think.

Chris

http://i281.photobucket.com/albums/k...quarium055.jpg

Im tagging along....this stuff is so exciting.....

I think for lighting you are going to have to determine what you are going to keep.. Halides are nice, but there are a lot of reefers going to big t5 set-ups..Actinics are a must IMO and moonlights are nice as well.
I am tagging along as well

So I just wanted to share my way of hopefully controling humidity in are house now that the new tank is here. Its a life breath HRV thats sucks air out of the tank room and adds new air straight in to are furnace.
I think this should do the trick last winter the 280g made all of are windows fog up whenever it was colder then -10C

Chris

http://i281.photobucket.com/albums/k...4/DSC07673.jpg

http://i281.photobucket.com/albums/k...4/DSC07674.jpg

http://i281.photobucket.com/albums/k...4/DSC07676.jpg

http://i281.photobucket.com/albums/k...4/DSC07677.jpg

Very cool. I just vented directly outside, which wastes all that heat along with the humidity. I would probably not get as much value out of that as you will in Calgary.

One of the better arguments AGAINST metal halide is dealing with the heat they put off. With the HRV, you'll be able to use this to heat your house. Very efficient.

I have a Lifebreath - the next size up from the one you've got. It made the difference between foggy windows and dry windows. It was so bad for me that they were fogging up anything below 0, and below -10 they were so wet in the morning that it looked like someone had taken a garden hose to them. The HRV put an immediate stop to it.

You'll be happy with yours.

Thats great to here i had mine installed after the cold weather. I used the same guys as you i think Airpro?

Chris

Same guys. Think they've now had several Canreef customers now. :lol: That's awesome, I was really happy with the work they did, wouldn't hesitate to recommend them to anyone.

I had mine done in the spring too, so I had to wait over the summer to see if it would have an effect. I was so worried I would find out it wasn't enough or something. But luckily, it was enough. :)

Here's a coincidence for you. I had some air conditioning guys over because I'm installing a heat pump on the house. One of the guys happens to be a "fish guy" and wanted a tank tour. When he looked at my ventilation, he says..."you should consider adding an HRV" because he was impressed by all the hot air I was blowing out of the house.

So...I'm going to talk with them about the idea.

You know one other good thing with the HRV that we have noticed is that the air in the house is much fresher and cleaner then before.

Chris

Wow, that tank has so much potential. Can't wait to see it going. Just a note on the Vortechs: I had four vortechs in a 180G tank once and your flow would be amazing if you could evenly distribute them across the back wall. However, if you're considering a sand bottom then you'll find it won't be able to withstand the wicked flow the vortechs put out across thirty inches back to front. You may want to consider either a crushed coral/gravel bottom or bare bottom. I like the crushed coral bottom because it still looks natural and won't blow around like sand bottoms. One thing I loved about the vortechs isn't just the output but how much flow you noticed being sucked into the vortechs. If you had them mounted on the back wall pointing at the front wall you should get a really strong, constant, circular cycle. Your corals would love you. Good luck.

So i have some thoughts on lights but need some help. I was thinking of going with 5 lumen max 3 reflectors with 250w galaxy ballasts or 2 four foot 8 bulb tek lights 8x54watts. What do you guys think?

Chris

What are the dimensions of the lumenmax3 reflectors?

If it was me, I'd be doing a mixture of both halide and T5's. Go with 4 of 5 halides flanked with T5's on the side. I think the 80w T5's are 60" so you should be able to go with 2 80W per length, and at least one row on each side of the reflectors (depending on the dimensions of the reflector and how much space you have left over, maybe 2 rows of T5's on each side {so 4 rows in total}). Or with the 30" depth you could run 24" T5's, perpendicular, between the reflectors. And you could more or less run as many as you wanted that way..

The reflectors are 11''x11'' with 250w bulb. I was trying not to have to make a custom fixture for the lights. thats why i would like to use one or the other. Maybe i could find a good combo light for it that is what i have on my 280g.

Chris

Oh ... hmmm, OK then. Guess that changes the advice then! :lol:

Hard to say then. The T5s-only option will give you unparalled options for mixing and matching bulbs to your taste. I don't see why an 8 lamps fixture wouldn't be more than enough for 30" of tank height..

But halides do a bang up job too. 5 lumenmax reflectors over that tank would be incredibly sharp.

:neutral: Flip a coin I guess. Sorry I'm not much help, I'd be agonizing over the choice as well. :lol:

My Teks put out more heat than my Halides 6 bulb vs 250 watt. I've heard people running the Ati power modules that they are quite quite hot. That is the t5 lighting system to go with i think. Awesome looking and peforming. IIn the hotter months you can drop your photoperiod down and run the actinics or swith the bulb placements...little more user flexible i think going the t5 route.i have both and the loss of shimmer is not that big a deal. Although if i run just the two outside bulbs on the tek i get shimmer :)

Of course, if shimmer is a really big deal you should pick up one of these bad boys:
http://www.aquariumobsessed.com/mm5/...gory_Code=SFWM

Check it out, I bet you'd get shimmer with just regular old normal output fluorescents with this thing:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=y5wW0sL_CFk

Another option is the Tunze wavebox, I know you're going with Vortechs but you could slap one on that tank supplementally and get a double wave happening (I think you need at least 8' of tank length to pull it off).

Although I guess the Vortechs could probably pull it off too if they were tuned just right?

I like that wavemaker thing. I bet I could build a smaller one for my tank. Looks like a reciprocating paddle

Thanks for the advice guys i am really haveing a hard time with this becouse it will affect the look so much. I should make up my mind soon i hope. I was also thinking of running a red dragon for my return do any of you have one? was it worth it? do you like it?

Thanks a lot Chris

New sump
 

Well I finally have some new pics to show you guys. My new sump was just delivered and I can’t wait to get started plumbing now. The dimensions are 96''long 30''wide and 18''tall this should add a lot of volume to my system. I would like to have it up and running before the New Year.


http://i281.photobucket.com/albums/k...quarium102.jpg

http://i281.photobucket.com/albums/k...quarium103.jpg

http://i281.photobucket.com/albums/k...quarium104.jpg

i cant tell from the pictures but is your tank rimless? cant wait too what else your going to do with this monster. keep us updated with lots of PICS.

For the HRV to work do you absolutely need a humid air intake near the tank like you do? Mine tank is in my livingroom and that seems pretty impossible to do in my case.

Humid air sinks to the ground I think so maybe the intake could be behind the tank next to my cold air return?

WOW I shutter to think of what that weighs dry,such a small contact point with the block you'd best be hoping that slab is at least 5'' thick with lots of rebar. Jesus that got to be 8000lbs without a footing I think you should call an engineer or at least do a core sample to see how thick the concrete is.
P.S that tank looks and will look incredible

your tank
 

Nice tank!!!
IF you don't mind me asking, where did you get that tank from and how much was it for the tank alone?