2000g system, 7x6x5 foot tank

[mizimmer90]

I still don't understand the everyday maintaince all of you are doing on your tanks that takes so much time though. I would like to know more about that.

 

[Jamie814]

Me and @VintageReefer were working on it, most light can't read the elements most people want without a reagent. And the sensors that we can use are 1k a piece. Permanent reagentless solution yet expensive to cost 1k just for 1 element to test. These sensors aren't as mass produced yet to bring the cost down. I could make a NO3 + salinity+ ph+ temp for 500 though. Due to the NO3 sensor being very cheap. Incase anyone is intrested it's an ISE sensor.

So the tester you thought you were going to build is not possible without very high cost or the use of reagents...This is the point, proper planning is key. Don't let your excitement for these things cloud your reality.

 

[RWReefer]

You really need to reach out to polo. He will tell you the maintenance his very large team does every day on his various tanks. Honestly this whole plan is very naive, which you being a kid no one really faults you for that part. But theres so much that goes into the building and care of a system that big when its up and running that you really need to consider and youre not despite everyone else telling you that you will have

His parents need to reach out to polo. They are the ones who are going to have to take care of it, or pay someone to take care of it. This kid has the best of all worlds. He gets to build and stock the tank with his parents money, and then be absolved of all maintenance and expenses to keep it going.

You got the winning formula kid, don’t let the moment pass you by!

 

[littlefoxx]

Do they have an account on here? Or an email? I would love to reach out.

Instagram.

Honestly it's the easiest year, I have no homework for some reason. Taking all APs and honors so I don't know what's up with that but I get your point. I don't have a job currently. I am still debating playing lacrosse again this year in the spring, I don't know if I'll enjoy it again. My family has 3 people who do labor building houses and construction for us. And I asked my dad if he minds if the help me build wood post and silicone the glass together for one day. He said as long as I tell him a week before thats fine. The tank will be built in the house. I still don't understand the everyday maintaince all of you are doing on your tanks that takes so much time though. I would like to know more about that.

Okay have you ever built a tank? Lifted glass? Siliconed? Built a tank? Doesnt seem like it. Construction is nothing like building fish tanks. My cousin is in construction and has been for longer than youve been alive. He would never in a million years say that cause he helps build things he knows enough to build a tank. And yes, he is in the hobby too before you ask. the upkeep you seem to be confused about for some reason (it confuses me why youre confused) is maintaining equipment. Cleaning it. Fixing it when it breaks. Maintaining the sump equipment. Electrical. Water changes. Basic ongoing reef care magnified and on steroids. Not to mention scraping the glass every day

 

[jayden kolonne]

His parents need to reach out to polo. They are the ones who are going to have to take care of it, or pay someone to take care of it. This kid has the best of all worlds. He gets to build and stock the tank with his parents money, and then be absolved of all maintenance and expenses to keep it going.

You got the winning formula kid, don’t let the moment pass you by!

Got it.

 

[jayden kolonne]

Instagram.

Okay have you ever built a tank? Lifted glass? Siliconed? Built a tank? Doesnt seem like it. Construction is nothing like building fish tanks. My cousin is in construction and has been for longer than youve been alive. He would never in a million years say that cause he helps build things he knows enough to build a tank. And yes, he is in the hobby too before you ask. the upkeep you seem to be confused about for some reason (it confuses me why youre confused) is maintaining equipment. Cleaning it. Fixing it when it breaks. Maintaining the sump equipment. Electrical. Water changes. Basic ongoing reef care magnified and on steroids. Not to mention scraping the glass every day

I've never built a tank before, which is why I'm starting with building the pumps, which are 220g and 3 of those, then I will move on to the main display putting all 3 walls and base, then I will aquascape and then put front glass on, then plumb, then fill with regular water, run for a week, drain tank, fill with rodi, add salt, add bacteria while qting fish and then add fish. Very simple but the everything can be simplified. Just think simple. It's all second year chemistry. Also you cousin works with his/her hands all day. They know more about fail safes than anyone on the planet, (them and engineers). For maintance, all waste is pumped to the drain in the sump room, 165g of rodi and 165g of saltwater ready to do 20g a day for a water change. Everything in this hobby is a motor or a light. There is no other thing in this hobby, its simple to replace, also with two main pumps and 4 wave makers the tank will run fine if something goes down. What other maintance are you guys doing to your tanks? I don't understand. Please list what other problems you have had with your tank this weekend/ week/ month, this is helping getting prepared.

 

[jayden kolonne]

That's an aquarium not polo reef, probably 100kgs

 

[AquaNanoNZ]

So what current maintenance do you currently do on your tank?
You will also likely need a whole room for equipment, another room for water storage etc

 

[RockRash]

Let me tell you a story of 18 year old me and my 50k dollar blunder. When I was 14 I wanted a mustang particularly my dad's 67 mustang it had been sitting for years but I wanted that car. So the next few years we rebuilt the 289 to a pretty stout 347 stroker converted it to disk brakes re painted it and freshened up the interior, new chrome etc.. I went on all through high school working on old cars buying fixing them up selling them. After high school I wasted no time and found myself working in a Custom car shop I worked my way up over the next few years and I figured this is it I found my career. My grandpa died during that time and I ended up inheriting 30k I transferred that money straight to the Snap-on truck plus another 25k on credit over the next year. Long story short the shop ended up closing following the 2008 recession and it was tough finding a job. I ended up in a completely different field and now own a well pump repair business. If I invested that money instead of spending it on tools I never use ( well maybe once every few months on a oil change) I could probably retire 15 years earlier. My point is life changes quickly when your young. Invest your money and build what you want when you are in a stable position . And no, I no longer have the mustang I was forced to sell it so Snap-on didn't repo my tools. As far a selling the tools if I'm lucky I could probably get 25% of my investment back so I'm kinda stuck with them lol

 

[mizimmer90]

That's an aquarium not polo reef, probably 100kgs

It's my understanding that polo reef also has a maintenance crew that regularly dives in the tank for cleaning. Here's another video of some regular maintenance on a smaller tank.

You should check out the Anderson family concrete reef thread for an idea of how labor intensive your project will be (both in terms of set up and regular maintenance).

***Skip to page 33 to see the Concrete Tank build - 5000 gal***

***
________________________________________________________________________________________

The time has come to build out another sweet large reef.

Here is my last one: Anderson Family Reef - 1200 Gallon Reef



This time I will build out an in wall 720 (8'x3'x4') and a 740 (9'x4'x33") in the fish room.

 

[jayden kolonne]

So what current maintenance do you currently do on your tank?
You will also likely need a whole room for equipment, another room for water storage etc

So I do a 20% water changes every 2 weeks, I have my protien skimmer draining into a 5g bucket so I empty that when I do the water changes and I change the socks when I feed frozen shrimp, every 3 days. All I do is feed, the only reason I have to do that is because I don't have a auto waterchange system on the tank, yet I already know how to build one, super easy with Neptune energy bars. Also the best thing about where the tank is going is there is a large closet, the size of a small-medium sized bedroom. Right now it's where the boilers are. Also there are slidding doors where I can run the pipes through without drilling holes.

 

[Subsea]

You problem will be access for maintenance on a 5 foot tall tank....just sayn

Jay,
You never addressed this fact. With an 8’ ceiling your 5’ high tank will be 3’ from the ceiling. Consider how you are going to mount coral on bottom of tank.

 

[csund]

I would sink the tank into the concrete a foot. Rent a jack hammer and go to town. It would also allow you to backfill with leveling concrete. My 500g is in our basement and the floor has fairly substantial slope towards the drain.

 

[dinosaur_1552]

I think even 20 gallon tanks are too big, I dont even get the guys with 100 gallon etc tanks.

A big tank takes over your life, hard to leave it alone with expensive stock when you go on holidays, constant worry in the back of your mind what if all that water ends up in the floor at some point and a substantial investment in terms of money, space, time. You will exist for your hobby, not the hobby for you.

You can make a small tank in a hidden corner beautiful, can show off, can have expensive fish (some of the basslets are quite expensive for example), can breed some species, you can do everything what the hobby can bring you in a small tank as well.

Dont get the drive to have anything bigger than 10-20g apart from peer pressure coming from forums etc

 

[Gill the 3rd]

This reminds me of myself when I was 17 lol. I think you are seeing this build through rose colored glasses and oversimplifying it. I'm guilty of that myself many times. I only have a 300 gallon, but can shed some light on this.

You need to really understand what you are getting yourself (and your family) into here. With a 5' tall tank you are looking at 1.5 inch thick glass, not 3/4". Not sure where they came up with 3/4" for a tank your size. Anyway, that's already 4,000 lbs for the tank itself. With water and rock you will be over 20,000 lbs. I'm not sure what you mean when you say you have a large foundation under your basement floor. If you mean you have a concrete slab basement floor, its not thick enough. Residential slabs are typically 4 inch thick if you are lucky and cannot take that weight. You will need to cut and pour a thicker slab with reinforcement. Also a 7x5 glass panel at 1.5" thick is almost 1,000 lbs. You aren't going to easily maneuver those panels into your basement and silicon a tank together with just a few people. Personally I would be looking at acrylic at that size, but that is $$$$. Where are you going to source the glass? Is it local or will you have ship it to your house via freight? If the latter, how are you unloading it?

As others have stated, how are you going to maintain the tank? Assuming you have 3 viewable sides, that is almost 100 sq ft of glass you need to clean. What mag scraper are you going to use that works with that thickness of glass? I only have to clean a 10x2x2 front panel and that can be a pain to keep up with.

Same with power heads? My mp40s just hold through 3/4" acrylic. At that size tank you will also need a lot of power heads for flow. Much more than you are anticipating.

You will need a separate room for equipment. How are you making and storing RODI and saltwater? How are you topping off your system with RODI? If you have an issue with the tank and need to do an emergency 50% water change, how are you quickly making 750 gallons of saltwater? Are you budgeting for a high flow rate RODI system and the amount of salt you will be using at a tank that size?

What protein skimmer are you using? Tanks that size usually have custom built external protein skimmers. I have an undersized red sea skimmer that I currently empty into a 5 gallon bucket and I have to empty it roughly every 10 days.

You will be moving a lot of water at that size, what return pumps are you using? Is your 220 gallon sump capable of handling the volume of water that will flow back into the sump when your return pumps are off?

What happens if you have an aptasia outbreak? dino outbreak? bubble algae? green hair algae? vermetid snails? Corals needing fragging/relocation? Something falls in the sand? You're really going to get into a wetsuit and dive into your tank to take care of these issues? Even when a tank is going really well, you will still need to get your hands wet to take care of something. The maintenance is all fine and dandy when you stay on top of it. At a tank that size, once your maintenance slips it can take a lot of work to get the tank back to normal.

Are you going to have a robust qt procedure for introducing fish and coral? How are you going to catch fish or treat the tank if a fish disease or coral pest show up?

How are dealing with the humidity issues you will have in the basement?

How are you dealing with the additional power requirements? Do your parents have a generator? Are they running additional circuits for all the power requirements? Does your house panel have spare capacity?

These are just some of the questions that immediately came to mind when reading your post.

FYI as a mechanical engineering major who went to college 3 hours away from my parents, I can tell you that you will not have nearly as much time as you think. You will have school, new friends, girlfriends/boyfriends, events, etc that will take up your time. I only ever made it home for thanksgiving, Christmas break and spring break. Even my summers were busy with working and friends. You are putting a huge burden on your family to maintain a tank of this size.

People tend to budget for the tank and major equipment, but i find its all the other small items that add up really quick. Piping, valves, dosers storage tanks, etc can add up very quickly. I know you wont take this advice (I wouldn't have at your age), but If you really have the spare money to pull this off, don't sink it into a money pit of a tank. As others said, save it for a house or put it towards retirement. That money will do a lot of work for you if you invest it at only 17 years old.

Also remember that Polo reef has a mind numbing amount of money and multiple full time employees to maintain the tanks. If you are looking to keep a lot of tangs, you easily do that in a tank a 1/4 of the size you are proposing.