Tank Build! What I've been up to - Greenhouse build

Ok I've been meaning to start this thread for a while now, but I've been waiting till things got a little more stabilized and concrete before posting anything. Basically what I've done is take the garage behind my wifes building, knocked out the south facing wall and roof and turned it into a greenhouse. Inside of which I have spent most of the summer growing coral and figuring out how to keep it alive outside.

I spent a lot of time trying to decide on what type of tanks to use. The goal was to stay as inexpensive as possible while having a water volume large enough to keep the temperature a little more stable. I was unable to sell my 300 gallon tank (too deep) so I used that as one tank. I was able to find a couple of free IBC totes as well and I cut the tops off, drilled holes for uniseals and set up a cascading tank system.

 

I learned right away that I would need shade cloth to help with both too much light and heat. I ended up going with blue 60% shade cloth for the ceiling and then adding some black 40% on the south wall this fall when the sun started getting lower.

I don't know if anything I've written has made sense at all so far so I'll open it up for any questions you have for now and try to get some shots of the coral tonight when I get home.

 

Well I'm going to try to use a wood burner for most heat when it gets really cold. I'm trying to decided between electric or a small propane heater for supplemental and for when I'm not around (at work, etc). Right now I'm able to keep the water around 76 degrees at night using just an small space heater when its in the low 40s outside. Its only like 200 square feet so it shouldn't take a whole lot to keep it warm in there. I've got it sealed up pretty well so it holds heat pretty well. Right now in the day time I'm still having the vent and exhaust fan kick in to keep it cool. I know that can't last much longer though so I'm open to suggestions.

 

Thanks! I've loved every minute of it. It takes a lot of my time, I've gotten rid of my display tank because I didn't have time to maintain both but it was worth it. Only real difference for me is now I have some fish in my greenhouse.

 

Yeah I'm a little concerned with the heating. The whole north side/roof and most of the east and west sides are insulated with at least R-19 insulation so that should help. I've also got an insulated pool cover that I'm planning on putting over the tanks at night to help keep the tanks warm at night. I think I'm going to try possibly wrapping the tanks with some sort of insulation around the sides of the tank as well.

At the moment I'm trying to grow a little of everything. I've had the most luck with LPS and softies so far. SPS has been a little less successful. Some things like montipora caps, pavona, pocilliopora, red planet, and birdsnest do pretty well, while most other acros and such have a little more trouble. I suspect its the 3-4 degree temp swing I've had so far to have something to do with that. A few SPS corals I've actually had bleached out from the sun. Leathers grow extremely well. Mushrooms and ricordeas do well. Zoanthids are starting to do better with less light this fall. I've surprisingly had the most luck with LPS especially acans and blastos. Never would have guessed that.

 

I was wondering if i put up plastic like you would put over a window in the winter if it would help at all or would you think it would cut down the light?

 

I hadn't thought about using halides for heating. Thats not a bad idea. I'm actually surprised I didn't have much trouble with heat in the summer. I've got a vent on one and and a fan on the other, and 2 turbine vents on the roof. I got by with a cheap box fan blowing across the top of one of the tanks this year and never had the temp get much north of 82. I'm planning on getting a bigger fan this year to try to keep that number lower yet. In a couple weeks to a month I suppose I should try taking down some of the shade cloth maybe? That would probably help with the temp a bit. Total system volume is somewhere around 800-850 gallons so it doesn't swing too quickly at least. This is kind of a test greenhouse to learn some of the ins and outs of growing in the sun. I would really love to put up something much bigger someday but I'm starting small.

 

Here are a few under water tank shots of what I'm growing. At the moment I'm using cheap chinese LEDs for supplemental actinic lighting.

 

Awesome good call with the tangs. I have a couple now but not near enough. What species would you recommend?

 

Ok sailfins, yellows and koles - the cheapest tangs perfect!
is there a fish that will eat aptasia but leave my coral alone? I've heard ORA has a filefish that will only eat them but I'm skeptical.