Jestersix

A tank fit for a Hobbit (planning)

svreef

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BOD
In 2017, we started building a second home on our property for my parents to live in (and eventually us). We chose to build an earth-sheltered house because it fit perfectly in our landscape and has a lot of additional benefits. During construction - a full year before I started my first reef aquarium and joined BAR - I dreamed of having an in-wall aquarium in this house. I even cut one out of cardboard and placed it on the wall.

2018-08-26_11-33-05.jpg


Since then, I have learned a lot about reefing and my ambitions for this tank have grown - it will be much larger than the cardboard cutout from 2018, for one!

The basic guiding principles for this tank are:
  • There will be a display side (the side we're looking at in the picture) and a fish-room side. From the display side, no equipment will be visible. On the other side, all bets are off. The fish room side will have a horizontal blind that can be pulled from one side to the other to become the background of the tank.
  • The tank will be long. The plan is to make an opening in the wall that is the same size as the window above it - 120" x 20". The tank will be taller and longer than the opening, so maybe 140" x 24". That ends up in the 300-400g range depending on the depth. The door into the fish room will be flipped to make room for the extra length of the tank.
  • The tank will likely be euro-braced, it doesn't need to be rimless.
  • It will be at eye level: no bending down to look at it (and I'm 6' 10") which means a very tall, custom stand - most likely steel. The idea is to think of the tank as a piece of art hanging on the wall and not a container full of interesting things at counter-top level.

I've been designing this tank in my head since the day I took that picture and I have a few unconventional ideas that I want to run past you, so I figured I'd start this thread now.

If you have questions about the house itself, head over here: https://www.bareefers.org/forum/threads/our-hobbit-house.28952/
 
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Fun project. Some thoughts:
1) You need to be able to reach into the tank from the front. Partly to clean, partly to move things around as you view.
2) Other people will want to look at it also, and they are not as tall.
3) A 120" x 20" tank is probably going to look weird, like a flat picture. Just too extreme of a ratio.
4) Long tanks are a pain for flow. Plan ahead.

When I retire/move I am sort of planning an in-wall also.
(Like you, I have the house, just not living in it yet)
But I was really thinking two big tanks, side by side, with a gap.
One REEF, one FOWLR.
Allows for a wider variety of fish, and fixes the "long tank" problems.
 

Flow​

I've given flow some thought - and this is one of those unconventional ideas. A 1 1/2" PVC pipe will run along the top front of the tank, against the front glass and the euro bracing down the entire length. It will have a nozzle (RFG?) every 12" aimed down and back. An external pump (or two) will draw water from the tank and send it down this PVC pipe. Think of a high pressure irrigation system.

Since the top 2 or so inches of the tank will be above the opening in the wall, it won't be visible from the display side (unless you get close and look up).

Hobbit Tank Flow.jpg
 
So awesome. Round door and everything!

Do your parents know half their house is going to be a fish room? Can they make themselves useful with tank maintenance?
 

Flow​

I've given flow some thought - and this is one of those unconventional ideas. A 1 1/2" PVC pipe will run along the top front of the tank, against the front glass and the euro bracing down the entire length. It will have a nozzle (RFG?) every 12" aimed down and back. An external pump (or two) will draw water from the tank and send it down this PVC pipe. Think of a high pressure irrigation system.

Since the top 2 or so inches of the tank will be above the opening in the wall, it won't be visible from the display side (unless you get close and look up).

View attachment 26755
the only problem with this design is the water flow at the end of this pipe will have almost no or less flow. and really high flow/pressure at the begging if the pipe. i'd place two pumps at both end.
 
the only problem with this design is the water flow at the end of this pipe will have almost no or less flow. and really high flow/pressure at the begging if the pipe. i'd place two pumps at both end.
Yup. Or maybe two half length pipes driven by separate pumps.
 
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How is Egress done to the bedrooms? I imagine this was substantially more to build than a typical house. How much more? 2x? 3x?
 

Flow​

I've given flow some thought - and this is one of those unconventional ideas. A 1 1/2" PVC pipe will run along the top front of the tank, against the front glass and the euro bracing down the entire length. It will have a nozzle (RFG?) every 12" aimed down and back. An external pump (or two) will draw water from the tank and send it down this PVC pipe. Think of a high pressure irrigation system.

Since the top 2 or so inches of the tank will be above the opening in the wall, it won't be visible from the display side (unless you get close and look up).

View attachment 26755

I am confused by the "aimed down and back." That implies a diagonal.
I assume you are going for some sort of gyre flow?
Usually when doing that you want flow aimed across the water, so it has least friction for the largest amount of time.
So nozzles would be pointed directly back horizontally.

Pumps are not very efficient for flow, but gyres are, so perhaps it cancels out.

Note that with gyre flows, there is a dead zone in the center. That can be fairly large depending on rockwork and such.

A thought: Have two tubes like that, on in front, one in back, with nozzles pointing toward each other.
You get a turbulent double gyre. Maybe...

Note that holes in tubes like that plug quickly with algae growth if near the lights.
 
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