I am the lucky owner of a 1000 gallon in-wall aquarium through the purchase of its house and for the past 6 years have been running a large frontosa freshwater tank. Unfortunately during a recent and significant winter snap in the south I lost all of my fish (and learned that I need more automation to prevent such an incident again). I am currently in the process of completely breaking down everything for a deep clean, and it seemed an appropriate time to consider transitioning to a saltwater tank.
About me: I have only ever cared for 1 aquarium in my lifetime, this 1000 gallon one. No prior experience before jumping headfirst into it. It was an empty eyesore that I turned into something I was quite proud of. When I first began I, rightfully so, deemed a saltwater tank too complicated for an absolute beginner to jump into at such a large scale. But with plenty of time and research my first tank was a success. In some ways the large tank may have made things easier as there were no quick swings in water parameters at such a large volume. I understand that changing to saltwater is much more complex compared to the tank I have been running.
I am hoping that with plenty of time and planning I can create another successful tank. I expect the planning stage to take months to gather the appropriate materials and gear and to spread out the cost of doing so over time. By posting here I am hoping to receive advice that will help move this in the proper direction. I also have a lot of material and gear that cannot be reused but I am hoping some may be.
The tank:
The acrylic is 1.25 inches thick and measures 8 feet long x 4 feet deep x 5 feet high. Three overflow weirs empty down the back of tank with three returns drilled into the bottom of each (one 2-inch and two ¾ inch pipes). Two 2-inch return pipes feed water back to the tank which empties into the top of the aquarium.
The tank is accessible through an aquarium maintenance room behind it. Unfortunately space is pretty tight in there. I have about 26.5" x 25.5" of room to the side of the tank. I have looked at adding a sump below the main tank but the supporting beams would prevent placing anything of significant size under it and there is very little room to crawl under there to service it anyways. There is hot and cold water plumbed to the maintenance room in the form of a laundry washer hook up and there is a drain on the floor as well.
For filtration, I currently have a 50-gallon drum acting as a DIY sump. It normally sits half-full with the remainder of the space available for overflow should I lose power or need to turn off the pumps. It is plumbed to empty into the floor drain in a controlled manner. For mechanical filtration the water passes through a 5-gallon bucket-sized pain strainer mesh disposable bags and then into quilt batting. The water is then pumped through an Ultima 1000 filter for biological filtration and then back to the tank. I’m not sure that the stand-alone ultima filter is even compatible with salt water and may have to go.
Is there anything with my freshwater filtration system that can remain or does it need a complete overhaul? The relatively tight space here makes it a little tough to design around.
I have space along the backwall of my maintenance room where I typically house two small quarantine tanks. I suppose I could take that space and place your typical sump there instead and plumb it back to the main tank from there. I would just lose my quarantine tanks.
I currently have the incoming water passing through a 2-stage filter and know I will have to add on or convert to RO/DI.
Thanks for reading. As I said above, I am currently in the process of breaking down the aquarium to clean it up. The current sand and rockwork has to go in place for salt-water appropriate replacements. I know a lot of planning will be required to convert such a large tank to the more complex salt water but I am excited at the prospect of doing so. I look forward to some good advice. Thank you.
About me: I have only ever cared for 1 aquarium in my lifetime, this 1000 gallon one. No prior experience before jumping headfirst into it. It was an empty eyesore that I turned into something I was quite proud of. When I first began I, rightfully so, deemed a saltwater tank too complicated for an absolute beginner to jump into at such a large scale. But with plenty of time and research my first tank was a success. In some ways the large tank may have made things easier as there were no quick swings in water parameters at such a large volume. I understand that changing to saltwater is much more complex compared to the tank I have been running.
I am hoping that with plenty of time and planning I can create another successful tank. I expect the planning stage to take months to gather the appropriate materials and gear and to spread out the cost of doing so over time. By posting here I am hoping to receive advice that will help move this in the proper direction. I also have a lot of material and gear that cannot be reused but I am hoping some may be.
The tank:
The acrylic is 1.25 inches thick and measures 8 feet long x 4 feet deep x 5 feet high. Three overflow weirs empty down the back of tank with three returns drilled into the bottom of each (one 2-inch and two ¾ inch pipes). Two 2-inch return pipes feed water back to the tank which empties into the top of the aquarium.
The tank is accessible through an aquarium maintenance room behind it. Unfortunately space is pretty tight in there. I have about 26.5" x 25.5" of room to the side of the tank. I have looked at adding a sump below the main tank but the supporting beams would prevent placing anything of significant size under it and there is very little room to crawl under there to service it anyways. There is hot and cold water plumbed to the maintenance room in the form of a laundry washer hook up and there is a drain on the floor as well.
For filtration, I currently have a 50-gallon drum acting as a DIY sump. It normally sits half-full with the remainder of the space available for overflow should I lose power or need to turn off the pumps. It is plumbed to empty into the floor drain in a controlled manner. For mechanical filtration the water passes through a 5-gallon bucket-sized pain strainer mesh disposable bags and then into quilt batting. The water is then pumped through an Ultima 1000 filter for biological filtration and then back to the tank. I’m not sure that the stand-alone ultima filter is even compatible with salt water and may have to go.
Is there anything with my freshwater filtration system that can remain or does it need a complete overhaul? The relatively tight space here makes it a little tough to design around.
I have space along the backwall of my maintenance room where I typically house two small quarantine tanks. I suppose I could take that space and place your typical sump there instead and plumb it back to the main tank from there. I would just lose my quarantine tanks.
I currently have the incoming water passing through a 2-stage filter and know I will have to add on or convert to RO/DI.
Thanks for reading. As I said above, I am currently in the process of breaking down the aquarium to clean it up. The current sand and rockwork has to go in place for salt-water appropriate replacements. I know a lot of planning will be required to convert such a large tank to the more complex salt water but I am excited at the prospect of doing so. I look forward to some good advice. Thank you.
