Returning Reefer Tank

[lncc63]

Hi Guys.

First, I'd like to thank whoever put this site together. Such was not around when I was into this quite a few years back, and I'm sure it would have saved me a lot of pain had it been around then. Just the same I look forward to learning from the community and sharing this great hobby.

Having decided about about a month ago to return to the hobby, I was finally able to buy a second hand 200 gallon tank on Sulit a few weeks ago after which I spent a good many hours contemplating what my system would finally be.

After some recollection and reading the posts here and other sites as well, I decided on the system diagrammed below. All units are metric where "Vol" means volume in liters, "FR" means "flow rate" in liters per hour, "P" means "power" in watts:

The target turnover rate is 10-20 times the volume of the main tank per hour. With two RIO 32HF pumps, the system will theoretically do about 15.2 lph @ 1.2m head. This system will have nearly two of everything for redundancy, and includes several failsafes.

This is how the internals will look like:



The overflow system is the "silent failsafe overflow system" described on the website. I've already tested and yes it really is silent - no gurgling drain or dripping faucet sounds. The system I'm implementing actually has 4 standpipes as shown, instead of just 3 on the Bean Animal site, but this is only because I could not find the needed fittings for 1-1/2" pipes.

All covered up, it should look like this:


Am probably about 50% into the construction and will post pictures as soon as I can take some descent pictures.

If anyone is interested in the design files, I'd be happy to share them - just drop me a post. I used the free Google Sketch and Microsoft Excel.

Questions, comments and suggestions are most welcome.

Cheers!

[seth]

Welcome to RP, and welcome back to the hobby.

Looks like a great build, as the planning is meticulous. Impressive sketchup skills as well.

[RonSax]

Wow! Great build! Gonna watch your progress.. keep us updated! Can't wait!

[lncc63]

Thanks for the warm welcome guys.

As promised some photo from my cellphone ...


Here just bought, we removed the heavy scaling with a 24-hour soaking of 3 gal of vinegar in a full tank recirculated with one of the RIO 32 HF return pumps. Was not really sure it would work but it did .

This is the stand that came with the tank which I later had retrofitted:


Here is overflow already installed but pipes still not permanently glued:



Here is the stand nearly refurbished (one of the biofilter tanks showing on the left):

The front posts along with the doors can be detached so the sump can slide in and the post reinstalled.

Yup Sketchup is a great program. I use it a lot whenever I want to visualize something. Aside from the fact that it is free, its user interface makes it easy to learn (I know having tried to learn other 3D modelling applications but failed at all of them). Oh and there are widely available free models one can download and use. The rocks, sand, "macro algae", electrical fixtures I just downloaded. Here are the design files: and the . There aren't many comments in the files to explain things but I'd be happy to answer questions.

Thanks again for viewing.

[Leica]

Mukhang maganda result nito, keep on posting bro. WELCOME TO RP.

[thurrmac]

warm welcome to rp and to the hobby... keep us posted

[obet_carlos]

welcome to RP!
this is a big project! good luck! where are you located?

just a few comments,
1. with your overflow design, even with a high flow rate, detritus would accumulate on the ends of your overflow. and can you hand fit in the space in between the overflow just in case you need to get something na nahulog?

2. you have too many pumps, IMO. this will add a lot of heat and electricity cost. maybe you can design your plumbing so that the "biofilter 2R/L" and chiller would have a single pump only. good luck finding rio hfs smaller than hf10.. also, if "biofilter 2R/L" will be a fuge, it is better that it drains directly to the main tank so that the pods in this filter will not go thru pumps to go to the main tank. this will benefit your tank more..

3. from you sketchup drawing, the drain pipe is in front of your skimmer?


4. make sure you have access to the back part of your tank in case for reasons you still don't know..

from the looks of things, this will be a reef tank, am i right? won't you be using some reactors for GFO, carbon and biopellets? or will you not consider dosing machines?

[potring]

nahilo ako at na nose bleed sa design ng tank na ito ahh sobrang hi-tech hehehe but if ever this one push through it will be a tank to watch out for
btw nice tank design you have.
like they said keep us posted for updates and progress of your project, welcome to RP bro

[Monching]

Isa lang masasabi ko. Pagdating ng araw na pwede ka na maglagay ng livestock. Yun ang pinakamasayang araw mo. Napakarami mong pwedeng ilagay dyan

[lncc63]