AudraMurphy

Hi Audra. Sounds like a great opportunity.

Here's what the fishroom needs:
1) Multiple circuits with outlets low and high and multiple locations. A circuit just for the heaters, so when they come on the circuit doesn't trip due to excessive items running on the same one. I have a circuit for the heaters, and a circuit for the A/C unit (or chiller unit).

2) Floor drain or french drain.

3) Sink (mop sink is best) to cleanup duties.

4) Ventilation. I have a vent fan running 24 hours a day on my 400g system, year round. It's been going for 3.5 years and the fan is about to be replaced because it has definitely slowed down over the past 30-60 days.

5) Temperature control. That room the aquarium is in needs to be climate controlled all year long, no matter what is going on. Many businesses and schools will have computers that shut off a/c during off hours and weekends to save electricity, but you want that room powered and cool at all times.

6) Emergency backup for power outages. A generator would be ideal.

7) Level floors that can handle the weight.

8) Room to work, walk around etc.

9) A walkboard to make your life easier. I love mine.

10) The ability to access the tank from all sides, and move the lighting out of your way when you really need to get in there.

Thanks a bunch!!! This is awesome information to have!! I am so glad I asked!! I had only thought of a few of those things. I read about your walk board one your website some time back and I definitely plan on adding one of those!! I have been thinking about planning this for a couple years now since they first started talking about a new building. I definitely will be trying to get the biggest room I can get away with. It will be wonderful having everything in one location. Right now I have my aquarium in one location, my quarantine tank and supplies in a closet somewhat nearby, and my RO/DI unit is, unfortunately, in the men's restroom so that can be inconvenient at times .

Just thinking about going from a 100 gallon to a 600 gallon is a little nerve racking as well as super exciting! I will definitely be having more questions in the future!!!

Thanks again for your help!!
Audra

600g is a massive challenge, and if you get the big room with area for water storage, qt, a sink and work area, you'll have the RO/DI system in the same room.

At times a big tank can feel like a full time job. Especially when things are going wrong. No quick fixes, and every solution is exponentially more expensive.

I suggest that you enlist the help of a 'tank team' to maintain the tank and its accessory components. We love this hobby, but the switch from 100 to 600 gallon display and maintenance thereafter will require a lot of attention and diligence, as Marc said. Is the church aware of what the maintenance costs will be (salt mix, supplemental minerals, filters,etc)? Taking it all on yourself may seem like a great idea until you try to find someone willing to feed and maintain the reef when you go on vacation.

Well.......After my original post I have been giving this project a whole lot of thought and your suggestions have pretty much confirmed what I was beginning to worry about. This would be too big for me alone. I've been wanting a large reef tank since I got into the hobby four years ago and I let the excitement of the project almost get me going down a road that would end in potential disaster. I am so glad I asked and got confirmation that a 600 gallon tank would be too big! At this time I do not have a 'tank team' but we are a large church and it shouldn't be too hard to find some responsible and reliable people who would want to be a part of the team. I do have a person I can call on if I run into any major problems.

My next question is this how big of a tank could I get away with. I know that is a question that has no one simple answer but I'm trying to get a feel for what is possible for one person to handle (in the event that finding a team proves difficult).

Cost was another one of the things that had me beginning to doubt the 600 gallon. I am very fortunate that we have people that donate to the aquarium so that will be a huge help in offsetting the costs of the larger aquarium. I am starting to put together a list of equipment and supplies that would be necessary for a large reef aquarium to get an idea of what it would take for such a large aquarium.

Thank you all for your help! It has been a huge help so far.
Audra

How much space do you have for the display tank? Is there a preference between a 6' aquarium and an 8' aquarium? Is it visible from the front only, or will it be viewed from two or three sides? Or even all four sides like an island? How will you access it to work on it? How will you protect it from people introducing stuff into the sump or tank accidentally?

Our club has a few 1000g tanks - which is amazing to me. I know my 400g is big, and they have tanks that are 2.5 times bigger than mine! It's mostly automated, but I do have manual tasks that I'll address as needed. How often will you be visiting the tank to check on it, work on it, etc?

We are still in the planning phases of the building so I don't have an exact size of the area that the tank will be at but it will be a large room near the main entry of the new building. I had gone with 8' because I was thinking BIG but then also to allow more room for kids to stand around it. A 6' would also work just fine. I am wanting a deeper one than I have now which is about 18". I plan on having it viewable from three sides. It will be accessible only by me from the back side which will be my fish room. It will have a canopy on it which will also only be accessible from the back. There won't be any kind of access from the three sides. With my current tank I found rubberbands and bobby pins on a couple occasions but have since put a canopy and mesh netting on the top so I haven't found any more unwanted items in the aquarium.

I feed the fish daily and give the tank a good looking-over to make sure everyone is doing good and also make sure everything is running the way it should be. My weekly maintenance is all done on Saturdays. I test the water, clean the glass, do a water change, make sure everything is running properly. I currently have an APEX that I love. I have the leak detectors so that it can e-mail me if there is a problem. I am also in the process of adding float switches so that it can turn things off if the water gets too high, etc. I don't have those finished yet because I have more switches than brackets so I'm trying to figure out how to make a bracket to hold it in place. This gives me a little peace of mind since I can't be around my tank 24/7. I know it can't tell me everything that's going on but I love that it can give me some warning if there is water where there shouldn't be water or if the temperature or pH gets to high or low.

One reason for going big was the ability to put a larger variety of fish in the aquarium. The kids are always asking "Where's Dory?" So I would like to accommodate them with that. The underwater world is so fascinating to me. I would really love to have an aquarium large enough to have a large assortment of really interesting fish/coral/invertebrates in the aquarium keeping in mind that I need to make sure everything is as compatible as possible.

If you feel you have the time and energy to commit to a big system, go for it. Why shouldn't you enjoy such a project? If you know going in what it entails, and understand that bigger systems are both more forgiving and at the same time unforgiving, you'll be prepared to deal accordingly.

Forgiving: It takes a lot to mess up water parameters due to the volume.
Unforgiving: It takes a lot of product to correct an issue due to the volume.
Forgiving: If something dies, the system can handle it without a massive ammonia spike.
Unforgiving: Cleanup becomes exponentially more work.
Forgiving: Temperature tends to stay relatively stable.
Unforgiving: It takes a lot of power to raise the temperature of all the water after a decent power outage.

The 280g reef I ran was 72" x 30" x 30". That would be a good size that is doable. If you have a DSB, the tank really has about 24" of vertical water to reach down into. Even then I used tongs.

If you did get a 48" wide tank, you'll notice those times when you've got to really stretch. Heck, you might want some type of board to lay across the top of the tank for you to lie down on to reach in and arrange things. Mine is 36" wide and I work the front half from the front, then remove the walkboard and work from the back for the other half.

I love the idea of a walkboard and I'm including it in my plans. I know it's been a while since I originally posted so if it is better to start a new post let me know. I've seen others get "yelled" at for responding to an old board so I want to avoid that .

My aquarium plans have changed since my original posting. After a lot of building meetings I've been given an area that will be designated for the aquarium. The display tank is going to be 460 gallons (96"L x 31 1/2"D x 36 1/2"H). After a lot of jumping up and down on my part I have also convinced them of the importance of a fish room. My fish room is going to be about 145 ft2 which is a lot more than I dreamed they would give me. With this increase in space I am trying to incorporate a lot of things I've seen from other builds as well as things that I've thought would be "nice to have if I ever got my own fish room."

My most urgent task at the moment is to get my electrical needs to the architects. Unfortunately they haven't built many fish rooms and my electrical knowledge is severely lacking. So that doesn't make a good combination when it comes to planning. I have a basic idea of what equipment I will need for my setup but that is about it. As you mentioned above I will want multiple circuits. But when I have mentioned that the response I have gotten so far is a blank face. So I am hoping y'all can point me in the right direction on what exactly I need to tell them. Do I need to figure out exactly what equipment I will be using and figure out the power consumption? Could I estimate this since I haven't settled on the exact equipment?

Thank y'all so much!!
Audra

The way blogs work, you simply make a new blog entry. Your previous one will still exist. Just name each blog about the topic you want to discuss. Like this one could be "New plans, changing directions..." or similar.

When it comes to circuits, think where you want to plug things in. You'll want some up high for all lighting fixtures. You'll want some down low near the sump area. Another one over in the area where saltwater is being mixed, and another area for quarantine or a small frag tank. Be sure to have a couple of handy plugs for those occasions that you can reach quickly (like a dremel, test a light, etc).

My fishroom has six circuits. With the newer equipment we have now, we use less power than before but I still continue to try to avoid tripping breakers. One breaker should be for all the heaters all by themselves since you have such a large water volume to warm at night.

Thanks a bunch for the input!! It is a huge help in trying to plan where I want everything to go. I will start a new blog. I've got a lot I need input on.