PNY's 1000 liter (lots of DIY)

I've been in the marine aquarium hobby for about six years. Here's a presentation of my large FOWLR tank. (Before reading, please note that english is not my native language)



Introduction
This tank was setup about 6 years ago as my very first marine / reef tank. After realizing that my time and economy did not let me run this large tank as a full blown reef tank its been running as a FOWLR for most of its time. This is the FOWLR thats wants to be a reef tank!

The aquarium is running on a modern version of the Berlin method, ie filtering is handled by live rock and an efficient skimmer, combined with more modern methods of phosphate absorption and dosage of carbon source. The aquarium was set up in July 2008 and is still in operation today (June 2014).


System Profile
System Water Volume: 1040 liter (275 US gallons)
Display tank: 200x70x70cm, 980 liter glass tank
Sump: 115x54x60cm DIY glass sump with a built in ATO reservoir
Display Stand: DIY stand based on IKEA kitchen doors


Aquarium
The aquarium is a 980 liter (260 US gallons) glass tank, 200 x 70 x 70 cm, in 12mm glas with black background and black silicon. Before turning this aquarium into a saltwater tank a few years ago, the aquarium was running as a "High-Tech" heavily planted fresh water tank for about 6 years. I reused the tank, the DIY stand, HQI lights (now replaced with LED) and UV-filter from that setup.


Tank stand (DIY)
The aquarium stand is a wooden stand with doors from IKEA. These doors are very resistant and still look very nice ten years after I built it! The tank base is about 1 meter above the floor so it provides plenty of room for my sump and equipment inside the stand. I also like the idea of being able to look straight into the tank in standing position. The stand is isolated with sound proofing foam. Two fans ventilates the stand.


Sump (DIY)
The sump is a 380 liter tank measuring 115 x 54 x 60 cm in 10mm glas with black background and bottom and black silicon. The sump is placed inside the stand under the display tank. The sump is partitioned into four sections. The sump holds about 100 liter fresh water for top off. The desgin allow water to flow back into the fresh water reserve instead of out on the floor in case of a failure of the equipment controlling the ATO. The return pump has its own section at the right side of the sump and the skimmer has its own section above the fresh water reservoir. A water change section holds about 100 liter water and allows me to mix new saltwater while the rest of the system is runnig without using any external buckets.


LED Light (DIY)
The light is a full spectrum DIY LED fixture with DIY LED driver and DIY LED controller. The LED driver is a CAT4101-based design with six individually controlled constant current drivers per card and the LED controller is a very slim Arduino based stand alone 16 chn PWM controller with LCD, FAN control and RTC with battery backup. The LEDs are 35 pcs (115 W) Cree XP-G NW, 56 pcs (118 W) Cree XT-E Royal Blue (455 nm), 8 pcs (12 W) True Violet (420 nm), 7 pcs (17 W) Cree XP-E Blue (475 nm), 2 pcs (3 W) Deep Red (660 nm), 4 pcs (10 W) Green (495 nm) per fixture, (I have two fixtures).


Overflow (DIY)
The aquarium has a DIY PVC overflow made entirently from PVC pipes (no box required), utilizing a two pipe full siphon design for silent operation.


Return Pump
A powerful Laguna PT344 max flo 6000 pond pump recently replaced my Eheim 1260 pump to better match the flow rate of my skimmer. This pump delivers 6000 liter/h (1500 gallons per hour) (not all of the water is sent to the disply tank). The return pump also drives a manifold (DIY) that feeds the calcium reactor and biopellets reactor.


Circulation
The water movement in the tank is generated by five Tunze Turbelle Stream 610x each delivering a flow of 13.000 liter per hour. A Tunze Multi controller 7095 pulses the flow between the pumps. About half of the pumps is using the new wide flow outlets provided by Tunze.


Top Off
Top off is controlled by a Tunze Osmolator 3155. The fresh water reserve is a section inside the sump. The ATO section holds water for about 1.5-2 weeks between refills. I refill this container manually. The water is filtered by a five stage reverse osmosis unit that produces water for both my tanks. The RO has a booster pump and is capable of generating 400 gpd. The water quality is measured with an inline TDS meter on the RO.


Ca Mg Alk and Carbon Supplement
A Kamoer 3 channel dosing pump adds carbon source (vinegar and sugar) to the tank. A also have a Schuran jetstream 1 Calcium reactor that holds 2.5 kg (5.5 lbs) of coarse coral media that was used to add Calcium (Ca) and Magnesium (Mg) to the aqarium. Currently the Schuran calcium reactor is offline.

As a rule I don't use any additives that lacks a proper declaration of contents. No blue bottles, no vials of bacteria, no secrets or magic potions.


Temperature Control (DIY)
A DIY STC-1000 temperature controller regulates the temperature by controlling the heaters. The temperature controller provides redundancy to the thermostat in the heater and thus provides protection against accidental overheating of the aquarium at any fault in the heater.


Filtration
The tank contains a little over 120 kg (260 lbs) of live rock and a 1 inch sandbed of fine aragonite for biological filtration.

The skimmer I'm using is a Bubble King Supermarine 250 internal from Royal Exclusiv. Actually, this was the very first of this model to be imported to Sweden. This skimmer is rated at 2300 liter air/h i combination with a power consumption of 48 Watt.

A DIY biopellets reactor keeps the phosphate and nitrate levels low.

Ozone and UV filters
Ozone is supplemented a few hour each night. This makes the water clear. The ozone is mixed with water in an Avast Mutiny II Ozone reactor and the water and air is postfiltered by a Avast custom length reactor filled with 3 liter carbon (GAC). ORP is supervised using a Pinpoint ORP-meter.

Additionally a De Bary AN-25E UVC filter is attached to the full siphon drain pipe from the aquarium.


Equipment
Lighting: 2x275W DIY LED, mainly Cree XT-E and XP-G
Skimmer: Royal Exclusive Bubble King Supermarine 250 internal
Return Pump: Laguna PT344 max flo 6000 (1500 gallons/h)
Circulation: 5x Tunze stream 2 610x, each 13.000 liter/h
ATO: Tunze Osmolator 3155 with 100 l reservoir in sump
Temp Control: Dual DIY STC-1000 Temperature Controller
Heater: Jaeger 2x300 W
Fan: 2x GHL PropellerBreeze II 6
Dosing: Kamoer 3 chn
Calcium Reactor: Schuran jetstream 1 with 6 kg CO2 tank
Other Reactors: DIY Biopellets reactor, DIY Activated Carbon reactor
Ozone: Avast Mutiny II and custom postfilter
UV-filter: De Bary AN-25E
Auto Feeder: 2x Eheim 3581
RO: 5 stage 400 gpd Reverse osmosis


Livestock





Fish
Blue Tang, Paracanthurus hepatus (x2)
Purple Tang, Zebrasoma xanthurum
Sailfin Tang, Zebrasoma veliferum
Red Sea Sailfin Tang, Zebrasoma desjardini
Yellow Tang, Zebrasoma flavescens
Lipstick Tang, Naso lituratus
Red-toothed Trigger, Odonus niger
Flame Angel, Centropyge loricula (x3)
Lemonpeel Angel, Centropyge flavissima
Yellowtail Damsel, Chrysiptera parasema
Clownfish, Amphiprion ocellaris (x2)

Invertebrates
Assorted snails
Red-legged hermits
Peppermint Shrimps, Lysmata wurdemanni

Corals
Green star polyp sp.
Rhodactis sp.
Discosoma sp.
Sarcophyton sp.

Water Parameter Targets
Salinity: 1.025 (Refractometer)
Temperature: 25.3 (STC-1000)
Calcium: 450 ppm (Salifert)
Alkalinity: 8.6 dKH (Salifert)
Magnesium: 1350 dKH (Salifert)
Nitrate: 1-10 ppm (Red Sea / Salifert)
Phosphate: 0.1-0.2 ppm (Hanna)

 

Photos...



Most recent full tank shot (June 2014).


Corals



Invertebrates

 

More photos...

Equipment

 

Even more photos...


Full tank shot.


Side view.


Help with equipment.


Sump description

 

Some movies...

FOWLR

Second generation Biopellets reactor (recirculating).

First generation Biopellets reactor.

Sump.

 

Reserved space...

 

Reserved space...

 

Gorgeous piece of furniture let alone fish tank

Your not an equipment junkie are you by any chance

 

I live the look of your stand. great looking. Thanks for sharing.

 

Looking really good!

Sure have a lot going on under the cabinet ,wow..