50 Gallon Waterfall Lagooooon
 

I've always absolutely loved the Konolua Volcano tank. My brother walked by me one day while I was looking at the website for this tank (http://www.konolua.com/RSS/Volcano_Tank/Volcano_Tank.html) and he said "I want that". And let me tell you... so do I! So with joint funding and my skills, I'm putting one together. Tank is in my kitchen, and the sump/mixing station will be housed in the closets behind the wall. Since my job will be leaving me two weeks in Huston at a time starting in January, the brother ok’d looking after it now that he is getting into the hobby! Wooo whoooo! Even though I don’t get to start up my dream SPS system that I wanted to, this little guy will have to do until I’m home permanently.

The inspiration behind the build:

http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c3...a/IMG_0890.jpg

DETAILS:



Tank:

50 Gallon shallow tank - 44"L X 22"W X 12"H - Eurobraced, painted blue background, center overflow with 2 X 1” holes for a herbie drain, 1 X ¾” return, and 1 X 1” random hole on right side that will be plugged with a bulkhead.


Stand:

Custom built stand – 2X4’s in the typical overbuilt form. The bottom of the stand has a sheet of plywood that is completely sealed with black liquid rubber in case of plumbing leaks. I will have custom skins made soon.


Sump Closet and Mixing Station:


Sump –

Custom 60 Gallon: 42L X 20W X 18H ish..– 3 compartments

20 Gallon 1st stage drain/skimmer/water change tank 24”L X 18”W X 12”H

Mixing station –

2 X large Rubbermaid Brutes
BRS 6 stage Chloramines deluxe RO unit
Mag 24 mixing/transport pump.

Equipment:


Skimmer – Bubble Magus Curve 7
Flow – 2 X MP10WES
Return Pump – Danner Mag 12
Heater – 1 X 300W Jager, 1 X 175W Jager
2 X TLF media reactors

Lighting:


Custom LED build –
Aluminum U-channel heat sinks
16 Bridgelux 3W LED strips (6 LED’s per strip) -
8 RB and 8 10K
2 power supplies
2 controllers that dim LED’s, control timing, and control fans when it reaches a specified temperature

Everything is looking awesome :D Tagging alone with an awesome built :)

I've been waiting for you to start this build - tre cool

:pop2:

Has my full attention!


Sent Via The Pirate Ship...

This is a cool idea!

looks like an amazing build. I do think you need to broaden your spectrum with your lighting. you are going to need to add some 420nm and 650nm leds or add a couple of t5s to help fill the gap. What are you planning on keeping in regards to live stock?

Looks great but honestly I'd scrape off the blue Krylon and put black. 1) Black looks better and makes colours pop more, and 2) It would match the overflow. One of my biggest regrets with my current tank was that I went blue instead of black (one day I'll change it but it's far easier before it's set up than after).

This is looking fantistic! You have obviously been at this tank for a while already. I'm looking forward to folowing along.

WAO!! This is already looking awesome!! Looking forward to see it shape up into an awesome setup!!

atta boy mike , looks great i was wondering when this was gonna get posted lol

if you decide to go black i could snag you some vinyl and come over and throw it on with you , its easy peasy japanesy!!


ps the volcanoe tank is one of the biggest inspirations in reefing i have and love that tank:)

I was thinking that. But the overflow will be completely covered by the rock structure. So I might leave it for now. I want to upgrade to a rimless starfire eventually, so this tank will be scrap.

The blues are actually 420nm. The others are 10K. It has a great look as far as color because each color is dimable, so I can mix it as needed. As far as growth, I can't see this being 'not enough' considering there is 96 X 3W LED's. Thats more than enough. Modular LED sells kits for 6 foot tanks that have 128 X 3W LED's, so I think i'll be ok on the 50 gallon. I also have some red and green LED's to mount into the canopy when it is finished to add other color spectrums.

Stock will be mostly softies with some birdsnest SPS and monti's.

The 'gap' in the LED rack is to accomodate the tall rock structure that will be out of the water. I don't want direct light on it, as I think that would cause algae problems.

I still might do the 2 X 250W Halide pendants. Not sure yet. I'll try the LED's for now and see how they do.

Gonna throw some baking soda and vinegar in that volcano too? :lol: (ahhh, elementry school!)

Looks good so far.. Curious to see how you like that Curve 7 skimmer.

I must have miss read your original post. I didn't realize you had that many LEDs. I that case you are more then covered for par. You also made a good call on the 420nm LEDs as the 10k has a good spike in the 460nm range already. I look forward to seeing it when it's complete.

Yeah i'm very curious to see how it will perform. I'm hoping it will blow my mind! lol.

Yah that way too elementary school and no fun! I heard mentos + soda (a little red color with it) makes it look much better :D

@Mike: When are you going to post some more pics? Can't wait to see new pics :D

Now ya'll got me thinking about changing the background color lol. I just really don't want to razor blade all that. It's tough sometimes. I wish there was just a solvent I could rub on it and it would magically come off in one swipe!

I think nail polish remover should work.

A little bit of water and a razor blade and maybe 10 minutes of elbow grease .. yeah, I can see that being a drag. :p

My excuse for my 280g is not the removal .. it's more the putting-back-on now that I have running tanks in the tank room. I'd rather not spray at all actually, which limits the choice to something roll on, or a removable background. Totally doable and there's no excuse that I don't do it other than as a purely cosmetic issue it takes a lower priority than a couple other projects on the go...

Do it!!!

In all seriousness .. blue is fine of course. I just wish I had done black on mine from the get-go. Don't know why I didn't consider it. I had black background tanks well before and knew that I liked it better but for some reason I was bent on blue for this one. Took me a few months into it when I realized that black would have made a better choice but by then it was too late.

So anyhow yeah I suggest doing it now if you think there's a chance you'd like it better. But if you like blue just stay with it for now .. :)

Need some input on the color of the closets. I finally mudded the holes in the walls after I removed the shleves and hangers. Should I go all white? Or keep the walls the original beige color and do all of the shelving white?

Thoughts?

I'd got all white, but then I'm a bit colour biased :-)

http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c3...ps22ffc084.jpg

Here is what the color looks like at the moment.

it looks a little dark in there. White will help brighten the space :-) But then so will the lights that you cram in there.

I would suggest cutting some 2x6 verticals to size to slip under the ends of your rails. My bad if you already mentioned you would.

Yeah it will have a bunch more support added when I'm done painting/mudding. I left them like that so that I could get them in the closet, and then move them around for now to paint.

Yeah I think I will go white. Unless someone else has some other ideas!

There will be a couple smaller light fixtures going in the closets with switches so that I can see what i'm doing in there lol.

^this guy quits the hobby, then thinks he can start telling people how to do their builds? Sheesh! Some people.

^^^^ I know right!!! :lol:

I really wish that I could afford to fully cover the walls in FRP panelling, but thats just a little too expensive right now.

Kilz Premium FTW. Waterproof as heck and comes in Kien White too.

Where does one get this paint???

I used the stuff in my tank room, got mine at Home Depot or Rona or one of those places...

I know i'm late seeing this thread; but this inspiration tank looks so bad ass!!! I love it. It reminds me of our coral tables we had at Progressive Reef, with live rock and mangroves too. LOve it, can't wait to see what you come up with. Cheers Ronnie:pop2::pop2:

I'll try Home Depot tonight! I'm getting excited. So excited that I wish the frikin closets and racks/shelves would just finish themselves so I can get to plumbing the dang thing.

Quick update.

Got the closets painted with white Kilz Premium. Stuff looks good!

Got the sump shelf levelled and bolted up to the studs in the closet. Took the sump and threw it up there to see how it would look. Still need to paint the plywood and screw it into place.

Started to mock up the mixing station. Plumbing is going to be easier than I thought, and I can use some of the existing plubing which is nice.

http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c3...aterCloset.jpg

Skimmer isn't going in there... just put it in for fun lol

http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c3...SumpCloset.jpg

Here is my paint inspired layout of how things are going to look:

http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c3...nkLayout-1.png

Looking really good so far! Your sink even has a cute little ptrap lol.

I'm guessing doors will go across the sump closet... how are you going to deal with all the humidity in there?

Pretty cool! I have two recommendations :mrgreen:

1. Install small overflow box in skimmer tank and go with a straight Herbie instead of the durso. It will be quieter but more importantly eliminate the air bubbles at the sock so less issues relating to salt creep and humidity. You're already putting in the two drains, so really super minor change with a decent benefit.

2. Emergency overflows in your Brute containers that tie into the drain for your laundry sink. Just encase those manual floats get stuck or leak.
Also consider an the same thing for your main sump.

Yes, the doors will be installed back on the closet. I am installing a large exhaust fan that will suck the air out and zip it down and out a dryer vent. I so badly wish I could afford a HRV, but thats not in the cards. I'm also running a de-humidifier in the room outside the closets.


Killer suggestions. I actually have a smaller overflow thats already together that will fit perfectly into the skimmer tank! I'll silicone that into place tonight.

The mixing station will have emergency drains put in as well. Just got to figure out the best way to do it. Probably just a 3/4" bulkhead leading to the sink. The sump is a different story... I have no idea if it is tempered or not.

Does anyone know how to tell if glass is tempered? I'd love to be able to drill the sump to have an emergency drain.