Design principles:
* Central feature of the living area
* At eye level, not bending or looking down
* As maintenance free as possible (ie a lazy reefer's tank)
* High fish load
* High wife approval rating
System
* Total 850L
* Display 110cm long x 80wide x 90high (roughly 4’L x 2.5’W x 3’H, not quite a cube, but it looks deep from every angle)
* Includes a large sump with refugium for chaeto
* A 2nd refugium including a cryptic zone
* 8" DSB in display (keeping it old school)
* Lighting : Pacific Sun Pandora Hyperion.
* Skimmer: Tunze 9430
* Chiller: Teco TK1000
* Doser: Pacific Sun Kore 5th Doser
* Neptune Apex (Well worth the money if you’re thinking about it!)
* NSW, stored in 1400L rainwater tank, plumbed for auto water change via Apex
* Return pump: Aquael AquaJet PFN 15000 (15,000L/hr RC), located outside to reduce noise
* ATO: Tunze
* Wave: Jabeo RW15 x2 (I started with Vortech, but couldnt stand the noise)
* Stainless steel frame
Design features:
* The tank is fully plumbed, the wall that it is against is an external wall, and on the outside sits the external return pump, NSW rainwater tank, chiller, ATO canister and have left room for more capacity to be added to the system if needed.
* I designed all the cabinetry including kitchen, living room feature wall, and the tank skin at once. The tank is integrated into the rest of the room. We got the same guy to build it all. Going for a minimal /Scandinavian look
* Aquascaping: I was very inspired by the famous 'Bonsai tank', and I tried to replicate the minimal look with a lot of overhangs (and will get more as the corals grow out). I think I have achieved that, while nowhere as good as the original. However, I am finding now that I don't have as much space to mount heaps of corals, which is a little disappointing (everyone always wants more corals!)
* Layers of of redundancy to ensure no floods in the house. There are several overflow outlets that drain outside, if there is a blockage, the floor stays dry (knock on wood). All the levels for the tank + refugium were designed to allow significant water changes without affecting the display tank, also each tank could be taken off line separately without affecting the rest of the system for easy maintainence.
How to achieve a high wife approval rating:
* fully plumbed for hands-off water changes and auto ATO reseviour top up, meaning that there is no buckets being carried into the house and little spillage
* high automation: water changes and filling ATO is automated
* Include the kids, my 3 year old helps me with water testing (and gets angry if he sees me testing and is not included). He has his own dedicated test bottles and measuring syringes.
* Hide how much you really paid for stuff, but I guess that's standard practice.
The final concept drawing :
During construction. The cabinetry guy screwed up the dimensions, and the top gap on the feature wall was too small. Didn’t look good, so in the end i took off the top cabinets, and reused them in another room. Looked better in the end that what i had actually designed.
Other side of the room, the kitchen with match cabinets:
Schematics of the tanks and all the holes to be built. This is where i spent most of the time, coming up with diff plumbing options to fit into the space. I wanted the total system capacity to be as big as possible, while still being able to do large water changes, and be flood free.
Cabinets holding one refugium, electrical, doser:
Fairly out of date internal shot
Under the tank, showing the downpipes (Beananimal), skimmer
Underneath, showing the sump/fuge, and the huge DSB
This open cabinet has been designated the hot section, which houses the power supplies for the DC return pump and lights as well as the modem, router, amplifier (not shown) and media centre/file server. I put all of the heat generating components in one section, then have put in good ventilation with an extractor fan. In the photo you can see the holes drilled into the top which are the air holes, this didn’t end up being enough and i have since cut a big hole and but a nice looking white grill.
Custom made Pacific Sun Hyperion light. The pac suns are always made with the power cables coming out one of the long sides, however they made me a special order unit with the cables coming out of the short side (which suits a room dividing tank set up). This looks so much better. Have to thank the guys at pacsun for this, they didn’t even charge me extra for it!! just had to wait a little longer
Pacsun light hanging from the ceiling for a minimal look.
Inside the left side cabinet which houses the refugium
Doors closed
Doors open
Return Pump
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