My new 800-gallon plywood lookdown tank

[bob21115]

The Idea

About 5 month ago I was sitting around and had this great idea, what if I built a large plywood tank I could have the sharks I always wanted. Following plans on www.garf.org and making a few modifications because I want a lookdown tank, I decided to make it 8’Lx5’Wx4’H. 4’ high allows you to lean on the top rail and look into the tank.

Construction

Not having any construction skills I started buying 2x4’s 2x6’s and 3/4” plywood. It took me 2 week of working a minute here and there to get the frame built. I bought 1500 pounds of live rock and needed a place to put it, so I took 2 days and finished the tank. Lined the frame with ¾ plywood and ¾ foam sheets. After some research I decided to use a 40ml pond liner made by Goodyear.

Filling

After getting the pond liner install reality set in on how long it was going to take to make enough RO water to fill the 800-gallon tank 8 to 10 days, I had 5 days. I started the RO/DI going and waited for Saturday when I was getting the rock. We ended up taking about 400 gallons from the rock system. Figuring the 400 old water and the new water would be just like a large water change. We added the 1500 pounds of live rock and the water and we were still low about 6 inch’s of water. I started freaking out I had about 400 lbs of LR out of water and it was going to be that way for awhile. Luckily I had asked a friend of mine (Scott from Chowhound in Grand Rapids) over helping load all the rock into the tank. He asked if I ever tested the house water for Phosphates? I ask no why would I? You’re on city water and you may get lucky and it might be at 0. So I tested for Phosphates and he was right it tested at 0. First thing I thought yeah I’m going to save the rock. Then I thought what have I been using the RO/DI unit for? I could use a decorticator and I should be all set. I started a 4 am Saturday and went to bed a 3:30 am Sunday morning.


The next week or so
I got the skimmer, lights, pumps, controller, and ozone setup.

Skimmer AquaC EV-2000 capable of skimming a 2000 gallon system.

Lights 2 400w pfo electonic ballasts with XM 1500k bulbs with luminarc III reflectors

Pumps Two 6100 tunze's with multi controller in stream rocks
2 mag 18’s and a Quiet one 6000 on a reefkeeper 2 controller.

Controller Reefkeeper 2 turns light on and off monitors temp and sets up the pumps as wave makers.

Ozone 200 mg Red Sea ozone controller (oh my after a week of running ozone the water is so clear you can even see it)

Adding the 800-gallon tank to the rest of the system

The wall of the tank is (from the outside in) ¾ plywood, ¾ foam, and a 40ml liner. The obvious was plumb with bulkheads. I figured that there were to many layers that might shift and cause the bulkhead to leak. So I tried to make a standard overflow box with 2 Rubbermaid trash cans. The can on the outside worked but the one in the tank moved all over the place. So I just removed it. I have 2 ¾ PVC U tubes (Siphon hole below the water) over the edge of the tank going into a trash can with 2 1” bulkheads in the bottom draining into the 150 gallon Rubbermaid common sump.

Plans for the future

I will be adding the new Calcium Reactor tonight a Deltec PF1001 rated for 2000 gallons. This thing is a monster 4 foot tall. I will be putting a fake brick paneling on the outside of the tank and I need to do something with the top rail.




Stocking

Fish

Pair of blonde naso tang's (male 10" female 8")
Red Sea Sailfin tang 7"
Purple tang 7”
2 Large yellow tang's
Orange shoulder tang 5"
2 Hippo tang's 7" 4"
Vlamingi Tang
3 orange perc's
Gold Strip Maroon Clown
orange skunk clown
11" chain link eel
30" snow flake eel
5" powder brown tang
lawn mower blenny's large
1 green cromis

Inverts

Darsea clam
4 blue linkia star's large and healthy
Rose Bubble Tip Anemone
Green Carpet Anemone
Green Long Tentacle Anemone

Coral

Name it its in there.

Mushrooms
Candy cane and trumpets
Frog Spawns
Brains
Leathers
Elegance
Favia
Blasto’s
Green and Brown Star polyps
Zoos and Palys
A number of SPS


Pictures

[Small Fry]

lol, so when are the sharks coming in???

Good job though, i like the idea, however im still a side-view person

[bob21115]

Good job though, i like the idea, however im still a side-view person

I have plenty of side view tanks. I really like leaning against the look down

[bob21115]

2 feeding videos

Tangs feeding 34 sec 34 meg

Tangs feeding 2 51 sec 50 megs

[wildeone]

Interesting idea and design Shawn. That would be a good way to just make a coral frag tank for growing them out.

[bob21115]

Interesting idea and design Shawn. That would be a good way to just make a coral frag tank for growing them out.

Im planning a few smaller one for jusgt that reason

[m8298]

That's just cool... Did you buy some waders so you can get in to clean it? lol

[V]

I think some people missed the train, cause some good threads went cold.
Where for arrrrrr thou!

[Phurst]

WOW!!! I'd love for thread to come back.

Walking down memory lane today are we, V?

[Skurvey Dog]

Amen brother Ben! I'd love to see what this puppy looks like if it's still up and running and what additions and improvements that were made along the way. I'd also like to see if that frag box got built also.

[bob21115]

Its with great regret that I have to say no the tank isn't still up and running.

After the tank was running for 5 + months I noticed water leaking from the tank. Long story short I mover every thing out and drained the tank I wasn't able to find a leak in the liner so I left it empty for about 6 months. One day I got a wild hair like I often do and started to fill the tank because I found out that the return for my skimmer which was running along the top of this tank was the cause of the water.

After the tank filled with RO water I let it sit for a few day with fresh water because I didn't have the money for the salt and it was going to have to wait for payday.

The more I thought about it I had sold the lights and a ton of the rock and the fish were spread out between 5 other tanks and I really didn't have anything to put in it. So I drained it yet again.

I tore it down and listed it on Michigan Reefers for sale. After a month or so it didn't sell and I used the wood to build the rack system for the grow out system for my clownfish.

I'll try to post pictures of the grow out soon

[V]

cool thanx bud, change of dirrection - such is life

[PhotoJohn]

heck i wish i could guild one of those in my apartment

[Skurvey Dog]

Well, I'm impressed anyway. You had an idea, went with it until fruition and enjoyed it at least for a while. Glad to know you are still enjoying the hobby also. Would love to see what you've been up to lately! Wait with bated breath to get some pics.

[CarmieJo]

Hi Shawn, good to see you!

[redtop03]

this thread is over 2 yrs old,I'm curious if this tank is still running...very cool idea,I love to stand over my tank and look at it from the top,it's a whole new perspective of viewing the tank,the front glass distorts the view,it makes everything look closer that it actually is,viewing from top down you don't have that distortion....only problem is the water movement ripples the surface and makes it difficult to view that way without snorkel goggles