Refugium limit

[Qcks]

Hello
I'm new to the salt water scene. As such i've actually been lurking on reefland for quite some time. I planning a rather large tank (8ftx4ftx4ft). I recently (last 6 months) read a article in Aquarium about refugiums, and have become seriously interested in utilizing them in my setup. has any one else used them? i read Ivy's article and he seemed to have good results. is there a point when a refugium becomes excessive for say additional filtration, and/or additional feeding. My tank is completely DIY, but i am a very poor college student. As a result i'm very slow to incorporate things into my tank, and exstensive planning is required before i will add any thing. any comments welcome.

[Ninong]

Hi Qcks and welcome to Reefland!

A refugium can be as big as you like. It can even be larger than the main display tank.

If you are a self-described "very poor college student," I'm afraid you have no idea what you are getting into with your proposed 958-gallon tank (96x48x48). A completely equipped reeftank of those dimensions would cost a fortune even if you built the actual tank yourself -- no easy feat. An acrylic tank of that size from any of the popular manufacturers would cost about $8,000 just for the tank alone. All of the equipment necessary to operate such a tank as a reeftank would more than double the total cost.

[Qcks]

Thank you for replying Ninong;

As far as cost goes on the tank i've had several different people at cadillac plastic quote a 4ft x 8ft piece of acrylic as being $264.59. of course it should be noted that the interior will not be 4x4x8 but it will be fairly close to that.

I think i'm going to try to cut the costs though by using a stronger/cheaper/notseethrough materiaL on the other half of the aquarium. My only problem is i i'm alittle un sure of what rating of water absorption is safe. none of the clear acrylic's have 100%, though the rating is neglegible in most instances.

hmmm...... maybe i should repost and ask the question; i seem to remember reading this discussion in a much earlier post (months earlier.), but i forget which forum hmm...

Anyway any advice would be nice. perhaps some other time i will post an interesting site that details vital stats on Plastics.

[Ninong]

Thank you for replying Ninong;

As far as cost goes on the tank i've had several different people at cadillac plastic quote a 4ft x 8ft piece of acrylic as being $264.59. of course it should be noted that the interior will not be 4x4x8 but it will be fairly close to that.

I don't believe we're on the same page here. You do realize, I hope, that the minimum thickness will have to be 1.25"? Actually for a tank 96" x 48" x 48" a safer thickness would probably be 1.5".

Take a look at the pictures of Ted's 120" x 36" x 48" Tenecor acrylic tank: http://reefcentral.com/forums/showth...5&pagenumber=6

Notice the thickness of the acrylic. It's 1.25" thick. That tank cost him $10,000 for the tank alone. I doubt very seriously that an acrylic tank of the dimensions you are planning (96" x 48" x 48") can be built as a DIY project unless you have the experience and the proper equipment to do the job right.

[Ninong]

Here is a well known acrylic tank manufacturer in Las Vegas: http://www.acrylicaquariums.com/aquariums_standard.htm

Note that they offer a tank exactly the same size as the one you are planning. Theirs is 96" x 48" x 48" x 1.5" thick!!!

You need to get a new quote from your plastics supplier.

San Diego Plastics lists prices for cell cast acrylic sheets in 1.25" and 1.5" thickness: http://www.sdplastics.com/sdplas2.html Notice that those prices are per square foot. You will need about 160 sq. ft., including the top. That would run around $6900 to $7700 just for the acrylic sheets. More if you want them to do any cutting for you.

[Qcks]

ok thank you i will

[orlandito]

have you ever heard (the bigger the better).


with a big refugium you can put anything you want in there(i will put my own little island in there with mangroves ,crabs,shrimps,lobsters,you name it