Hypothetical reef tank

[Der_Iron_Chef]

Catherine, I think the practical applications in a show tank would just require a little more planning. What if you made/ordered/had a tall tank, and built a stand so that only the top 2/3 of it showed (the gyre portion would be under the display area, hidden by the stand). Hmmm, not sure if this is making sense to anyone other than me!

[michika]

Originally Posted by Der_Iron_Chef

Catherine, I think the practical applications in a show tank would just require a little more planning. What if you made/ordered/had a tall tank, and built a stand so that only the top 2/3 of it showed (the gyre portion would be under the display area, hidden by the stand). Hmmm, not sure if this is making sense to anyone other than me!

It makes tons of sense to me. Unfortunately I can't really do a tall tank at this moment with this potential upgrade. However, I now really want to try to build a gyre frag tank!

[mr_alberta]

A calfo manifold on your tank would be pretty cool assuming you had a way of hiding all the plumbing (i.e. under a canopy). Using one of your PS4 pumps and having a 4 port manifold would be pretty sweet. I see you have a SCWD too which you can use if you wanted.

Gyre tanks...well, while the concept is interesting, they look kind of....gross to me Not my cup of tea.

[michika]

I like the idea of the calfo manifold, but how would I go about designing it? Do you know where I can get more information on them? Any examples of built tanks?

[Der_Iron_Chef]

Have you read this, Catherine?

[michika]

Originally Posted by Der_Iron_Chef

Have you read this, Catherine?

That was the article that got me started at looking at the Calfo manifolds! Do you know where I can find more examples, or tank journals where people have used this? I guess I'm looking for ideas.

[Der_Iron_Chef]

There's a little discussion and a few photos in this thread.

There are some photos in this guy's photo gallery, too.

Then....this. That's all I could find on short notice

[michika]

Lol!! I was just reading the first thread you posted. Thanks for the other link and photos!

Does anyone know what keeps the manifold from dipping under its own weight in the front of the system? How do people support the manifold in the tank?

[Delphinus]

Originally Posted by mr_alberta

Gyre tanks...well, while the concept is interesting, they look kind of....gross to me Not my cup of tea.

Probably better suited to a backroom frag growout, true. I *did* say my suggestion was a bit "out there." Having said though I think the less aesthetic aspects are merely a design challenge that should set the creativity neurons firing. I'm hoping to do a show level gyre tank for gorgonians at some point, but, ah well, since I'm basically a one-armed man for the foreseeable future it ain't happenin' anytime soon.

Catherine, the Calfo manifold is probably the way to go. Unfortunately, they're kind of ugly too, unless you have a canopy to hide the piping. The idea is that you have a pipe with various output points that you can hang locline (or whatever) from and thus tweak your flow patterns without bulky pumps in the viewable areas of the tank. I imagine a google search should yield some good examples of setups but I can't think of any offhand.

[michika]

Since my tank isn't really supposed to be in my apartment it will have both a canopy and stand, as well as a set of doors to cover the tank itself. In short everything can be hidden away to look like a cabinet or something.

I was thinking I woud make the water level even with the 1ft mark, and then maybe keep the glass taller, 15" or so. The canopy level could then come down, cover the extra 3" of space and then the manifold as well.

I still worry about how to keep the whole structure up and how to prevent it from bowing or dipping in the front. I'm also now trying to figure out how to make it asethetically pleasing while ensuring I have a crazy amount of flow.