Remanso . . .

[Wookii]

I think its about time I started a journal for my new tank. This has been 2 years+ in the planning - my dream system - I literally had to move house to get space (and permission! 🙄) to have this larger tank - so I think we can consider this project a bit of a slow burner!

For those wondering about the name . . .

Remanso

(Spanish / Portuguese)

re·man·so Masculine - Noun - Singular

1. backwater; pool; still place in a stream or river
2. restful place, haven of rest and tranquility

As much an objective and mission statement as a name, plus a language nod the South American region most of my fish will hail from.

For no other reason than this post really needs an inspiration picture:



I'm not yet ready as an aquarist to go full-tilt into a biotope/habitat style of tank - as much I love looking at biotope style tanks, I just like having a lot more plants than is typical for that style of tank. That said I will be attempting to replicate much of that style of tank as I can - lots of broken lines of sight and shadowy areas. The 600mm width of this tank will hopefully give me scope to have more open areas for fish that I typically end up with (I'm a self-certified plant crammer!).

Most of you guys who know me, know I'm a maintenance-phobe - so this whole system is also designed with as much automation as physically possible. I pretty much just want to have to trim the odd plant, feed the fish, and enjoy watching the tank.

Basic Specs:

Tank:

• 1500 x 600 x 550 high - 495 litres (Aquarium4Life custom build - 15mm Opti-white glass)

Filtration:

• 1000 x 400 x 400 160 litre Sump (NACD) with wet/dry trickle filter
• Fuji Cube 1600GHP (6,056lph) overflow box with "Bean animal" overflow system | 410mm internal weir - modified for bottom draw inlets
• Innovitech X-Filter 1.0 fleece roller pre-filter (17 micron fleece material)
• Ecotech Marine Vectra M2 return pump (2000gph / 7500lph)
• Lifegard Aquatics 1" slip bulkhead outlet (to allow some fanciful experiments on outlet options)

Cupboard:

• Custom made (by me) 316 stainless steel frame with heavy duty castors and wind down feet
• 26mm solid Trespa top and 13mm Trespa base shelf
• Stone finish laminate doors and end panels
• Integral LED lighting with auto-door sensors

Lighting:

• 2 x Weak Aqua T90 Pro RGB+UV (point source ceiling pendant lights)

Water change system (in adjacent fish/boiler/brewery room):

• Vyair R-200 4 stage RO system with chlorine and chloramine filters
• 2 x 50 litre storage containers for fill and drain matching
• Kamoer X2SR Pro water change unit (1000ml/min)
• Water targets will be very soft - around KH 0 / GH 3-4

Fertilisation/Substrate:

• Some percentage of EI - I won't have any demanding plants, mainly epiphytes and crypts, and just want slow clean growth. I also want to keep TDS low, so ferts will be fairly low. Possibly 1/5th EI or so to start with.
• Ecotech Versa Dosers
• Rich substrate layer - I plan to add a rich substrate layer (a peat pellet, aqua-soil and kanuma mixture laced with a bit of osmocote) - around 20mm - in some stainless mesh trays (which I'll show later on). I'm in two minds whether I really need it, but it won't hurt, and will be a nutrient reserve as and when required.
• Main substrate - around 60mm Hugo Kamashi Natural Sand mixed at the top layer with Wio Heaven River Sand (to give some grain variety) and a splash of Hugo Kamashi Natural Fine Gravel to accent
• CO2 - I plan to initially dose CO2, but only at a fairly low level (around 10ppm) - but in time I may do away with it all together (time will tell!)

Plants:

• TBC - Mainly epiphytes and crypts (I've become a bit of a rare-crypt addict)

Livestock:

• TBC - this will be the 'funnist' bit for me - so loads more on that later!

Pre-install photo (just because 🤷‍♂️):



Running the pipework and cables was loads of fun (NOT!!!) - four lots of 1/4" PVC pipe (for auto water changing) and four runs of stereo 3.5mm jack cables (for water level and ATO controllers) from where the tank is (kitchen), over the ceiling (to the right of the image), down the wall and into the 'fish room'.

There was also no power at the tank location, so the lovely masked off hole was where I punched through 600mm of brick wall from behind a socket in the adjacent lounge using a stupidly long 800mm x 20mm masonry drill bit to get through the L-shape section. To the left (near the radiator) you can see where I skilfully misjudged the angle and managed to punch through the side wall. An even more skilful application of masking tape prevented the wife noticing it for almost two months! Amazing! 🤷‍♂️

Carving out the plaster channel for the pipes, and then trying to infill to a smooth invisible finish took the entirety of the tiny bit of patience I was born with, but it "don't look half bad":



. . . and for those that like a visual aid - a CAD drawing prepared before we even completed on the house!



More to follow . . .

 

[Hufsa]

I LOVE IT!
When can I move in?!
I'll bring the plants 🤩

 

[John q]

Custom made (by me) 316 stainless steel

I hope we're going to get close ups of the welds..😉

Looking forward to this journal mate 👌

 

[Wookii]

I LOVE IT!
When can I move in?!
I'll bring the plants 🤩

Any time you like @Hufsa - I’ll squeeze you in under the stairs, Harry Potter style! Only downside is you have to play dolls and tea parties with the 6 year old for at least 2 hours every day!

 

[Wookii]

I hope we're going to get close ups of the welds..😉

Looking forward to this journal mate 👌

Lol I’ll demonstrate some TIG welding excellence to you John - but I’ll have to confess that the ‘me’ might be more a royal ‘we’ 😝

 

[Wookii]

A little bit about the stand . . .

So as I work in a stainless steel fabrication factory, and have access to a lot of skilled guys (in addition to my own meagre DIY contribution) I tend to make a lot of stuff I need out of stainless, so it was an obvious choice to make a stand from stainless, and then panel it out in a material of choice. This stand took a lot of thinking about to account for fitting of hinges for the doors, allowing easy access for the pipework from the overflow box to the sump, allowing holes for door lighting sensors and lighting wiring, providing internal fixing point to add shelves and panels (to screw power strips, and dosers to) etc.

I also wanted to include some heavy duty castors that would allow the empty tank to be easily moved around whilst on the stand, but also needed some height adjustable feet for levelling the stand one in situ The stand obviously also needed to be pretty heavy duty to take the 80kg tank and another 500kg plus of contents and water. This was my eventual design in an attempt to address all those requirements:



I drew up the sump, roller and overflow system to try and ensure it would fit:



It was then a matter of cutting and drilling box section, and getting one of my guys to weld it for me (yes, I can't TIG weld very well @John q - I just end up blowing holes in everything!). Pre-clean down and polish:



We have a company we work with that manufactures Trespa panels for some of our laboratory projects. For anyone that doesn't know what Trespa is, its a high density compressed laminate (basically loads of sheets of paper compressed with a resin under high heat and pressure). The resulting panels are very dense, very rigid and durable and critically for this project, very flat. The company CNC machined some panels for me - for the base shelf a single layer of 13mm Trespa and for the stand top, a dual layer bonded together.

Back breakingly heavy, but I managed to get it all home and fitted together. This image is more recently at home fitting the top and the lighting:



I wanted to set the lights up to turn on automatically on opening the doors, with two separate circuits - one in the double door section where the sump is located, and one single section that will be storage etc. I found an IR door sensor on Amazon that has proved to work very well (you'll have to excuse the 'sweaty sock' mode of operation for now!):



Finally I added a 10mm layer of high density EVA foam to the top of the stand ready to take the tank, and the front edge of the Trespa top is banded to match the finish of the panels and doors:



Overall I'm really happy with how the stand has turned out. Obviously its completely over-engineered (I wouldn't have it any other way!) and would take the weight a city bus, let alone a filled aquarium - but it's been designed to last a lifetime.

 

[Chrispowell]

Beautiful attention to detail and cracking looking stand. I bet it weighs abit!

Are you having an overflow on the sump? I remember drilling out through the exterior wall of our house whilst the wife was out to accommodate this!

Keep the updates coming, really nice project!

Chris

 

[Wookii]

Beautiful attention to detail and cracking looking stand. I bet it weighs abit!

Are you having an overflow on the sump? I remember drilling out through the exterior wall of our house whilst the wife was out to accommodate this!

Keep the updates coming, really nice project!

Chris

Thanks Chris.

No unfortunately there is no scope to run an overflow on the sump, I can't get to an outside wall as the tanks position is close to the centre of the house. Instead I chose to oversize the sump. As I will be running a wet/dry trickle filter, the operating water level in the sump will be quite low (around 110-120mm). This leaves around 280-290mm of sump height for tank drain purposes - around 112-116 litres.




The worst case scenario is if I get a complete failure of the internal weir (i.e. it falls out the bulk heads), and the water in the main tank can drain to its lowest point which is the base of those bulk heads. This equates to around 65-70mm of water height in the main tank, which also equates to around 58-63 litres. So lots of spare capacity there.

On the auto-water change system the most the system will change at one time is around 45 litres. The auto-water change has over-level sensors that will be in the sump also, combined with float valves as back-up for over-level situations. So even a complete double whammy failure of a) the weir falling out and the tank draining the full 70mm into the sump, and b) the the waste water extraction on the water change unit failing whilst still dumping the fresh water into the sump, and b) both the level sensors and float valves failing - the sump can still take the additional 100-108 litres. The chances of all those things failing at once is hopefully very very remote!

So hopefully I'm covered in the absence of an overflow outlet on the sump . . . 😅

 

[John q]

Stand looks mint mate, especially like the fact you installed satin finish plug sockets, very pleasing on the eye.

(yes, I can't TIG weld very well @John q - I just end up blowing holes in everything!).

Haha you know the saying "How do you get to Carnegie Hall?"
"Practice, Practice, Practice"

 

[Wookii]

Stand looks mint mate, especially like the fact you installed satin finish plug sockets, very pleasing on the eye.

Thanks John. Yeah, the socket had to match the rest in the kitchen, and I got one with the USB outputs which may come in handy.

Haha you know the saying "How do you get to Carnegie Hall?"
"Practice, Practice, Practice"

Yeah, do you now the one "You don't get a dog and then . . ." 😂 - really I'm a path of least resistance kind of guy!

 

[Conort2]

The stand looks quality, can’t wait to see this one filled up.

 

[Wookii]

The stand looks quality, can’t wait to see this one filled up.

Thanks mate. I have a mixture of excitement and dread in approaching the hardscaping and planting, as I really want to get some of the open and negative space you created in your tank, but I know what I'm like with 'over-planting'. Whenever I think about it, your previous comment always rings in head "Less is definitely more!"

 

[dw1305]

Hi all,

Overall I'm really happy with how the stand has turned out. Obviously its completely over-engineered (I wouldn't have it any other way!) and would take the weight a city bus, let alone a filled aquarium - but it's been designed to last a lifetime.

Just unacceptable, how do you think it makes the rest of us feel, with our cr*p cabinets and re-purposed furniture?

Even @Epiphyte and @jamiepearson have gone from feeling rather chuffed to now knowing they have to <"raise their game">.

Personally? I've just spent ten minutes simultaneously throwing my toys out of the pram and crying over my keyboard. I'm really hoping that NASA, an F1 team, university science lab or a local hospital swoops on your house and requisitions it.

cheers Darrel

 

[Hufsa]

Personally? I've just spent ten minutes simultaneously throwing my toys out of the pram and crying over my keyboard.

This!
So close to the dream tank I figured the path of least resistance would be to just move in 😂

Any time you like @Hufsa - I’ll squeeze you in under the stairs, Harry Potter style! Only downside is you have to play dolls and tea parties with the 6 year old for at least 2 hours every day!

Ive lived in worse places and I have definitely had worse jobs!
See you soon

Joking aside though I am ridiculously excited for this journal

 

[Conort2]

Just unacceptable, how do you think it makes the rest of us feel, with our cr*p cabinets and re-purposed furniture?

He doesn’t realise yet but I’m getting him to design and make my next cabinet when I get a bigger tank.

really want to get some of the open and negative space you created in your tank

Mine always start of ok and then the plants over take it. I’m losing more and more that space as the plants are actually starting grow which is quite rare with me! 😂

 

[Wookii]

See you soon

Made your bed up - hope you don’t mind an Octonauts bed set and faux fur pillows . . . 😂

 

[Luciën]

Really nice project. Everything looks so professional. Looking forward for the rest!

 

[Wookii]

Really nice project. Everything looks so professional. Looking forward for the rest!

Thanks mate 👍🏻

 

[Wookii]

A little bit about the lighting . . .

Those of you who may have seen my posts in the lighting section of the forum are likely already aware I'm a bit of a fan of the combination RGB lighting from the likes of Chihiros, ADA etc. Whilst I'm yet to find the perfect light in terms of colour rendition, the RGB lights - for me - give a superior result to standard white LED based lights, and make my fish and plants look their best.

However, ever since I saw metal halides for the first time over a planted tank some 25 years ago, I fell in love with the natural shimmer effect they created. Having dived a fair bit in shallow salt and freshwater, the shimmer reminds me of those natural environments, and I've always wanted to achieve the same in my tank.

To get the shimmer, you need a point source light, and all the RGB based lights on the market are panel designs which result in almost no shimmer. The sticking point, has for along time been that there hasn't been an RGB based light in a point source format available until recently.

Enter the Week Aqua range. Week Aqua are an OEM manufacturer for a number of aquarium brands, and fairly recently they have started to expand their own brand range of lights, including some pendant style lights which utilise RGB LED's a compact COB format. This results in a pendant style light that gives high output (90 watts in this case) from a point source. I'd had my eye on them for some time, but as they were only available through AliExpress I was a bit wary, but then @Hanuman pitched in and bought a Week Aqua light . . so I figured if it's good enough for @Hanuman, its got to be good enough for me, right?! 🤷‍♂️

So I stumped up for the Week Aqua T90 Pro which adds wireless app control (though the app needs A LOT of work - growing pains for a company transitioning to supplying end user products I suspect):





The build quality of the lights is very good. Good quality machining of the aluminium casework, and a massive glass lens fisheye on the bottom to spread the light.

The lights did come with black cabling as standard, so I had to swap that out for clear cabling in an OCD induced fury!





The next image is for the tech heads amongst us that like to see the guts of the thing - I'm unsure having the PCB cover some of the aluminium cooling fins is necessarily a good thing, but time will tell how hot these get. They do have a 92mm fan in them though for forced air cooling:





Also the stock power supplies are a bit 'plasticky'. As I have run cabling for these lights into the ceiling space, and down into the fish room, I thought I'd upgrade to an all in one PSU capable of running three lights, and robust enough to let me rest easy at night knowing it's not going to burn the house down - so I upgraded to a big metal cased Meanwell unit. The lights are 90 watts (36v @ 3amps), so this PSU is running well under capacity on three lights, and I'll only be running two to start with to see how I get on:





A close of of the lens on the light magnifies the COB and lets you see the individual LED's. The central row are UV LED's, which are probably of dubious usefulness:





I wanted to install the lights in a semi-permanent way that allowed me to have them ceiling mounted so they are up out of the way during maintenance etc, but adjustable in terms of lateral position. I also wanted the ability to be able swap them out for my existing Chihiros Vivid's if these Week Aqua lights didn't work well enough (or indeed for any other future dream sunlight replicating light).

So I used some aluminium T-slot channel that I have used in the past, and sourced a wire hanging kit that was large enough to be able to drill out the base of the ceiling mounting body sufficiently to get an M6 bolt inside, which then screws nicely into a T-channel nut located inside the channel. The nut can then be slid along the track to position the lights as required.

Locating and pulling the four core lighting cable I'd ran in the ceiling void through a 10mm hole was lots of fun (NOT . . . AGAIN!) hence the kitchen spotlight having to be removed to get access. Still all done and connected and working as expected, it just needs a bit of tidying up to conceal the cabling in the channel and capping it with some aluminium strip. I'm quite pleased with them and think they should give enough coverage for the 1500mm length, whilst hopefully adding a bit of shadow and shimmer to the tank 🤞:

 

[shangman]

A little bit about the lighting . . .

Those of you who may have seen my posts in the lighting section of the forum are likely already aware I'm a bit of a fan of the combination RGB lighting from the likes of Chihiros, ADA etc. Whilst I'm yet to find the perfect light in terms of colour rendition, the RGB lights - for me - give a superior result to standard white LED based lights, and make my fish and plants look their best.

However, ever since I saw metal halides for the first time over a planted tank some 25 years ago, I fell in love with the natural shimmer effect they created. Having dived a fair bit in shallow salt and freshwater, the shimmer reminds me of those natural environments, and I've always wanted to achieve the same in my tank.

To get the shimmer, you need a point source light, and all the RGB based lights on the market are panel designs which result in almost no shimmer. The sticking point, has for along time been that there hasn't been an RGB based light in a point source format available until recently.

Enter the Week Aqua range. Week Aqua are an OEM manufacturer for a number of aquarium brands, and fairly recently they have started to expand their own brand range of lights, including some pendant style lights which utilise RGB LED's a compact COB format. This results in a pendant style light that gives high output (90 watts in this case) from a point source. I'd had my eye on them for some time, but as they were only available through AliExpress I was a bit wary, but then @Hanuman pitched in and bought a Week Aqua light . . so I figured if it's good enough for @Hanuman, its got to be good enough for me, right?! 🤷‍♂️

So I stumped up for the Week Aqua T90 Pro which adds wireless app control (though the app needs A LOT of work - growing pains for a company transitioning to supplying end user products I suspect):


View attachment 195614


The build quality of the lights is very good. Good quality machining of the aluminium casework, and a massive glass lens fisheye on the bottom to spread the light.

The lights did come with black cabling as standard, so I had to swap that out for clear cabling in an OCD induced fury!


View attachment 195615


The next image is for the tech heads amongst us that like to see the guts of the thing - I'm unsure having the PCB cover some of the aluminium cooling fins is necessarily a good thing, but time will tell how hot these get. They do have a 92mm fan in them though for forced air cooling:


View attachment 195616


Also the stock power supplies are a bit 'plasticky'. As I have run cabling for these lights into the ceiling space, and down into the fish room, I thought I'd upgrade to an all in one PSU capable of running three lights, and robust enough to let me rest easy at night knowing it's not going to burn the house down - so I upgraded to a big metal cased Meanwell unit. The lights are 90 watts (36v @ 3amps), so this PSU is running well under capacity on three lights, and I'll only be running two to start with to see how I get on:


View attachment 195617


A close of of the lens on the light magnifies the COB and lets you see the individual LED's. The central row are UV LED's, which are probably of dubious usefulness:


View attachment 195618


I wanted to install the lights in a semi-permanent way that allowed me to have them ceiling mounted so they are up out of the way during maintenance etc, but adjustable in terms of lateral position. I also wanted the ability to be able swap them out for my existing Chihiros Vivid's if these Week Aqua lights didn't work well enough (or indeed for any other future dream sunlight replicating light).

So I used some aluminium T-slot channel that I have used in the past, and sourced a wire hanging kit that was large enough to be able to drill out the base of the ceiling mounting body sufficiently to get an M6 bolt inside, which then screws nicely into a T-channel nut located inside the channel. The nut can then be slid along the track to position the lights as required.

Locating and pulling the four core lighting cable I'd ran in the ceiling void through a 10mm hole was lots of fun (NOT . . . AGAIN!) hence the kitchen spotlight having to be removed to get access. Still all done and connected and working as expected, it just needs a bit of tidying up to conceal the cabling in the channel and capping it with some aluminium strip. I'm quite pleased with them and think they should give enough coverage for the 1500mm length, whilst hopefully adding a bit of shadow and shimmer to the tank 🤞:


View attachment 195619

Oooh, what's the link for the light on AliExpress ? I need a new light and feel totally the same, really want some shimmer as well as good colour!