Ideas for my 240

[engwife36]

OK, Just throwing some ideas out to see what your thoughts are. Here is what I'm working with and remember I'm a R.O.A.B.!!!!!

I'm just worried about how I want to do the plumbing. Here's what I'm working with......

240 gallon reef ready, 96x24x24 , dual overflows in corners

Custom sump by Melev, 50x20x16

Now, keeping in mind a low budget, how would this work....

Use both the overflows as strictly drains so that would be four drains into the sump.

In the sump I could run a MAG 36 pump, split it into two SQWD's into four returns:whew:

Would this work?

What are some of your thoughts keeping price to a min...that would work out.

[alton]

When you went over two hundred gallons you threw the thought of low budget out the window. My only comment is I would go with a Pan World 100 PXX external pump in lieu of a pump in your sump to keep the heat down. Have fun I always wanted to move up to a 240.

[Fish4life]

i think you would be disapointed with the performance of the mag 36. spend the money on 1 big external or 2 smaller externals. mak 4's are a nice little pump and cheap!

[mikedelgado]

congrats!! Thats a big boy. I have a 215. I use a sequence barracuda, 1tunze stream, and a vortec. Barely enough. I TRIED using 2 scyds like you described and was dissapointed. check out green maakos wavy sea , it looks VERY effective. I still have the sqyds if you want to try them. And i agree with Alton external pump.

[hobogato]

no matter what return pump you go with, you dont want that to be the main flow in the display. most people try to keep the flow thru the sump at 10X turnover per hour or less. on my 240 i run a mag 12 and a mag 18 as return pumps. i also have four seio 2600's and one tunze in the display for flow. the main advantage to the mag is that they are much more quiet than externals. we run external pumps on the new 180 we are setting up because it is in a room where noise doesnt really matter. the 240 is on a wall in the living room, so the less noise the better.

[lhoy]

echoing Ace, don't use your return pump as a means to create flow in the tank. Keep the turnover of the sump low and then rely on powerheads, waveboxs or closed loop for flow.

Lee

[Bill S]

When you went over two hundred gallons you threw the thought of low budget out the window.

Yup. 200+ and budget are oxymoronic.

As Ace said, try Seios for flow in the tank, they will give you great turnover at a reasonable cost, in purchase price, heat added to your water and ongoing running costs.

[RayAllen]

Agree with Ace and Ihoy. My 210g has a Mag 12 return which is actually throttled down a bit and in the main tank itself without the reutrn GPH I have 2400gph by 2 Hydor 4's. Keep in mind my tank is a FOWLR and 7ft long so i didnt need anymore flow unless my fish wanted to surf around the tank. So in your 240g 8ft you may want to go with 3-4 Hydor 4's giving you 3600-4800gph. Now obviously the flow you want depends on the corals you keep which you already know.

[Bill S]

Mine has a Quiet One 6000 (1750gph I think) for the return, I have 2 2600gph Seios, and 2 x 1250 gph closed loops.

[RayAllen]

Oh and with my 210g I was lucky. I found it on craigslist and talked a doctor down to $500 and thats with a custom stand. Ive spent to date around $2000 on the tank and its goind well and looks pretty good. That $2000 includes all equipment everything new from pumps to skimmer, 170lbs of LR etc.... Again this is a FOWLR. If I went reef with Special lighting it would add another $500-$800. Good luck

[engwife36]

I just bought mine For $1400. It includes:

Tank, Stand, Canopy
Custom sump (listed above)
ATI Bubblemaster 200 skimmer
MAG 12

Thanks for the help.

It's going to be a mixed reef with about 60% being SPS. So if I keep the mag 12 for the return and put 4 Hydor 4's in there do ya'll think that would be sufficient?

For those running 7-8 foot tanks, I plan on running 3 400w 12k MH's with VHO actinics. The top of the tank is euro braced with three big openings. What are your thoughts? Will 3- 400 watt lights be overkill on a 24" deep tank?

[RayAllen]

your question "It's going to be a mixed reef with about 60% being SPS. So if I keep the mag 12 for the return and put 4 Hydor 4's in there do ya'll think that would be sufficient? "

Id think youd be ready to rock with the flow. 4800 gph would make for a lot of happy corals and no dead spots. Mag 12 would be fine for a return as well.

[hobogato]

It's going to be a mixed reef with about 60% being SPS. So if I keep the mag 12 for the return and put 4 Hydor 4's in there do ya'll think that would be sufficient?

hmmm... i think you would be on the low side of flow for sps. that is only about 20X turnover per hour + return flow, and most sps people have at least 30X. my tank has 4 @ 2600 seio, and 1 @ 1200 tunze along with about 2000gph in return - works out to about 13000 per hour or about 55X per hour.


For those running 7-8 foot tanks, I plan on running 3 400w 12k MH's with VHO actinics. The top of the tank is euro braced with three big openings. What are your thoughts? Will 3- 400 watt lights be overkill on a 24" deep tank?

you could save money now and in electricity bills by going with 250 watters instead - i think they would be sufficient for a tank that deep.

[RayAllen]

hmmm... i think you would be on the low side of flow for sps. that is only about 20X turnover per hour + return flow, and most sps people have at least 30X. my tank has 4 @ 2600 seio, and 1 @ 1200 tunze along with about 2000gph in return - works out to about 13000 per hour or about 55X per hour.



you could save money now and in electricity bills by going with 250 watters instead - i think they would be sufficient for a tank that deep.

13000gph holey cow. Id go with ACE on that one. Had know idea they needed that kind of flow.

[Bill S]

I'm at 10K. I'd go with 250w. A lot less heat.

What were you saying about "a budget"?? Another oxymoron: "sps on a budget". My wife says I'm into this beast at around $15K - and I bought most of it used!

[Fish4life]

go with 250 watters on lumenarc reflectors and t5 sup, vho are a thing of the past. for flow you might be able to mod those koralia's with a vortech prop. i've heard that it will double the flow rate. think i might try it and see. with the mod they are like 80 bucks a pop.

[engwife36]

I've used T-5's off and on over the last 5 years. IMO VHO actinics look much better.

[JeffCo]

I agree, I like the VHO's better as well.
I use 400 watters on a 25" depth, so it's not overkill, but 250 's will work as well and with alot less heat.

[engwife36]

Now dont get me wrong.......I'm not going to skimp with setting this up but I'm not going to drop $1500 on just a Tunze system.

[don-n-sa]

URI super actinic T-5's are exactly the same color/ spectrum as VHO's...I have them both.

[engwife36]

Hey Don, I've had the URI super actinic bulbs and to me they didn't quite have that deep blue color. Maybe I should try it again:confused:

You know we are the family that got your cat (coco) a few years back

[Jynxgirl]

Tunze's can't be beat for flow in a tank :D They rock!