300 gallon Mimmecking Fireplace-Planning Stage

[downlinx]

Ok buys, i know i have not posted alot here but wife and i have been discussing on getting a bigger house and i then told her that she said when we get a bigger house that she stated i can build my own Aquarium. Of course she really is not keen on the idea but i also let her know what i had planned when we found and bought the house.
So here it is the thoughts going through my head.

1) The tank will be built into the wall of the house.
2) The Tank will have the replication of a fireplace complete with cultured stone hearth and wall, also full hardwood/driftwood mantel as an aquarium canopy
3) When the aquarium light is off/moon light, the aquaruim will look like a fireplace, so when showed off, it will be completely unsuspected.
4) Heating of the Tank will be done with Thermal Radiant heating from under the Tank.(just like your floors in bathrooms)
5) The aquarium will almost be fully controlled via computer and internet for when we are away from the home. Also, will try to set up the aquarium with remote control access(just like your TV or gas fireplace)
6) Filtration may be come an issue but as of right now i dont have an idea on what i want to do.

Ok now that the basics of what I want with the aquarium are now stated, its time to think about going about this. Cultured stone will be an easy one as I was a Brick/block/stone Mason to put myself through college. The aquarium stand will be built out of 4" cinder blocks and the face will be built with 6" Cinder blocks to allow me to slide the glass into the grove of the blocks.

see the grove at the end of the square, the glass will slide in there after i stack them properly.
I have not decided yet if i want to build the whole box out of Block just yet or do a mix of block and marine fiberboard or plywood.
I also have not decided if i want to build it in such a way that it will be seen from another room as we are still looking for the house we want to buy.

I have not figured out how i want the aquarium to mimmick a fireplace at night or when its lights out.(was hoping for suggestion from you guys)

themal radiant heating will be done from under the aquarium from a small tankless water heater. The will be done from having a run off from the aquarium into a 30-55 gallon water barrel as i do not plan to hook water up in the holding room.

I am going to attempt to control 90% of the Aquarium from a laptop/internet. This means if i am away i can feed the fish, turn the lights on and off, control the water temperature, and maybe CO2 in the tank.
My current job is a Computer Systems Administrator, so i hope i can take care of this one pretty easy(but nothing is ever that easy)

As of right now the plan is to lay the Cultured stone on the outside and the inside of the aquarium so that there is no clashing(this is a suggestion from my Interior Designer, My Wife). I have not chosen what style of stone i want just yet as i have not chosen the Biotope style yet.

I have not made my mind up on what theme of tank i want to do. I am torn between Cichlid, Amazon Angels, or Southern Texas/Florida Freshwater Biotopes.

But i would love your guys input on this build as it is as much as mine as it will be the communities. I have been following this community for a very long time and just kept quite and thought i would make my introduction with a project. So please everyone let me know if there is something i am doing wrong or something that will make the build easier down the road.
I would appriciate your guys input on filtration as well as this is my weak point at this time.

 

[Oughtsix]

Oh my!

For the fire in the fireplace effect how about a big circular bubble wand with red and orange LEDs lighting up the bubbles. Make a couple of the red and orange LEDs flash alternately but don't make all of them flashing.

For filtration I think you are best off with a sump. I would build the sump into the tank itself. Just add a partition at the back. This would give you less plumbing and a lot less chance of plumbing leaks.

No matter how high tech you make the tank you will need to do a lot of low tech maintenance (Unless you are envisioning some sort of micro submersible autonomous robotic poop picker-upper)... so access to the tank is going to be key for a successful design. You need to make the sump socks/filter pads easy to get to and easy to change. To minimize the maintenance you should plan on incorporating a continuous drip water change system. Yes, you need to plumb water to the tank. Even if it is just 1/4" refrigerator ice maker tubing.

A tankless water heater running radiant hydronic heating tubes underneath the tank??? That is complete nuts! Put a couple appropriately size heaters in the sump. Use ones with remote thermostats for easy tweeking. Or setup your convoluted doomed to fail remote computer controlled temperature controller and wait until something goes south with it.

You need to insulate the tank well. This includes some sort of hood to reduce evaporation. If you do decide to make the tank out of sealed masonry blocks that is fine... BUT plan on insulating around the outside of the blocks. This way the blocks will come up to tank temperature and act as a big thermal sink instead of a big thermal hole!


Oh yeah! Safety First! Post a large plainly legible sign on the roof noting that the fireplace is fake and full of water!!!! If Santa drowns before he makes to our house my 7 year old daughter is going to be really pissed!!!

 

[downlinx]

Oh my!

For the fire in the fireplace effect how about a big circular bubble wand with red and orange LEDs lighting up the bubbles. Make a couple of the red and orange LEDs flash alternately but don't make all of them flashing.

For filtration I think you are best off with a sump. I would build the sump into the tank itself. Just add a partition at the back. This would give you less plumbing and a lot less chance of plumbing leaks.

No matter how high tech you make the tank you will need to do a lot of low tech maintenance (Unless you are envisioning some sort of micro submersible autonomous robotic poop picker-upper)... so access to the tank is going to be key for a successful design. You need to make the sump socks/filter pads easy to get to and easy to change. To minimize the maintenance you should plan on incorporating a continuous drip water change system. Yes, you need to plumb water to the tank. Even if it is just 1/4" refrigerator ice maker tubing.

A tankless water heater running radiant hydronic heating tubes underneath the tank??? That is complete nuts! Put a couple appropriately size heaters in the sump. Use ones with remote thermostats for easy tweeking. Or setup your convoluted doomed to fail remote computer controlled temperature controller and wait until something goes south with it.

You need to insulate the tank well. This includes some sort of hood to reduce evaporation. If you do decide to make the tank out of sealed masonry blocks that is fine... BUT plan on insulating around the outside of the blocks. This way the blocks will come up to tank temperature and act as a big thermal sink instead of a big thermal hole!


Oh yeah! Safety First! Post a large plainly legible sign on the roof noting that the fireplace is fake and full of water!!!! If Santa drowns before he makes to our house my 7 year old daughter is going to be really pissed!!!

Ok, thank you on some information about heating and filtration. I do like the idea of the sump built into the tank, I will have to draw some plans for this as well.

As for the tank being high tech, this does not mean it will be low tech maintenance. The tank will have an access room. Although the tank will be in public view, it will be in the basement where our familly room is.
so no need to wrory about santa, hehe.

There will be a cover on the aquarium so no worries there bud.

 

[downlinx]

sorry tablet was cutting out, but to finish up, because of the sheer fact of how heavy this will be, it will be in the basement. all too often i see people building these and not putting the proper measure in for bracing the floor for the weight. so instead of cutting up the floor and putting lintels under the floor for bracing, it will be easier to place it straight on the concrete of the new home. This way i can build a utility room and seperating wall around it so i dont have to worry about a load bearing wall, as most fireplace are on such.
As for insulating the tank, no worries there bud, i have that planned already, i will be using a water proof sealant on the outside with an 1.5" styrophone board to insulate, and zavlar on the inside before the cultured stone goes in.

As for the fireplace look, i have been toying with the idea of hooking up a spare projector i have to one of my HTPC's (home theater PC) and it my double as a movie screen for my kids, hehe. But that might not happen, will see how the picture comes out.

I also have been looking into different options for heating the tank as you may be right about the tankless water heater.

 

[tonto95]

you could place an undergravel heater sized to your tank, large tank might need more then one system, this also lets the gravel act as a heat sump