Getting ready.

[Zoofan]

I am getting ready to start a new tank. The tank is 96"x46"x36"H and will be built in wall with a room behind it. I am looking for ideas on skimmers and pumps. I am looking for higher flow and will have acropora and other stoney corals in the tank. I have had a 210g up now for about 7 years now and look forward to building my next tank. There will be room for multiple frag tanks in the tank room as well. I am planning to have the tank in the summer if all goes well with the house build.

The two questions I am working on now are.

1. Best skimmer for the tank?
2. Best external pumps to move the water?

Thanks for your ideas.

Mike

[aquasport24]

WOW, that's almost 700g. I would looking at Bubble King for skimmer, 4 Vortech MP60's for water moment and a big Reeflo for return pump. What do you plan for lighting?

[350gt]

Nice!!

Looking forward to a ton of pics!

[Zoofan]

I have been looking at the reef breeder led lights. A friend of mine has them and they seem to be well built. I have been running T5's and 250 Halide's, I am looking forward to getting away from the halide's. I am concerned about getting good water movement in the middle of the tank. I like the Vortech, it seems like it has the muscle to get it done. I am sure some of these questions won't be answered until the tank is set up and I see what they can do.

https://www.reefbreeders.com/shop/photon-48/

Thanks for the ideas.

Mike

[aquasport24]

Am curious if the reef breeder would have enough par for a 36" deep!

[Zoofan]

I was thinking of mainly soft corals towards the bottom. I really am not sure of the par on those lights. Still lots to consider.

[Zoofan]

http://www.dasaquariums.com/collections/marine-fish-enclosures/products/standard-frag-enclosure

Has anyone dealt with this company?

[Zoofan]

The more I look into the lighting issue with this tank I am wondering if I should stay with MH/T5's? I will need lots of coverage and the LED's may not be up to the task. Any opinions?

Mike

[kkiel02]

I use sicce internal pumps. Externals seals fail too often for me to feel comfortable with them. As far as skimmers mine is old. It's a reef octopus extreme 250 I believe. Probably time for me to upgrade soon. I will either go with a skimz dc skimmer or a newer reef octopus. Don't worry about water movement in the middle of the tank. Any of the main manufacturers have a pump that can easily push water for you(tunze streams, mp40 or 60, gyre or even the jebao rw-15 or rw-20). The lighting comes down to the bracing of the tank for me. I have three radions hung over my tank. You would be looking at nearly tripling that since yours is 10" longer front to back and 12" deeper. If not you will get shadowing. I get some shadows under my braces(my tank was supposed to be eurobraced but it ended up having to have two braces) but my rocks get good coverage. I would say my radions max out spread wise at about 24x30". I bought the wide angle lenses but haven't installed them yet. Having that extra 12" of water to push through will also mean you need more lighting.


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[kkiel02]

Oh and start reading all you can about vinegar dosing. It seems to be the easiest way to keep nitrates/phosphates down in larger tanks.


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[Zoofan]

Kevin,

Thanks for the reply. What kind of corals do you keep under you LED's?

Mike

[kkiel02]

I was doing Lps and high end Zoas. I have one sps that came in on another frag that's been growing good for me about halfway up under a radion. I got slammed at work and didn't do water changes for at least 2 months so a buddy is holding my corals till I get this hair algae under control atm.


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[Zoofan]

We need to trade some Zoas sometime.

[alton]

When it comes to pumps Panworld either a couple 100PXX or multiple 50PXX. Lighting large tanks MH still wins the battle unless your budget is endless. My lamps(16 to 18 months) last longer than most LED warranties(12months). I have added a couple Build my led fixtures to my 300 with 3 x 250w MH as a main source. I like the color of T5's, but I don't like the fact of them only lasting 12 months. Good luck with your tank build

[kkiel02]

Sounds good. Just let me know when you get setup.


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[Zoofan]

Ok, so inching forward on this project. After about 6 months of power easement issues and several months of bank questions it looks like the house should start in the next month or so. So I have started the process of ordering the tank and have been trying to work through some of the things I want the tank to do vs. the issues they bring up. I want to have a refugium that is slightly above the main tank with macroalgea in it. I want this water to return to the main tank without going through a pump in hopes that I will have more copapods (intact) entering the main tank. It will also allow me to use the space below this refugium for a sump and other needs. I have looked some for a tank with a proper overflow for this but have not found one yet. Does anyone know where I can get a tank with some type of overlow lip that will allow the water to run back into the main tank?

Another question, what material have you guys used to make robust stands for sumps/tanks that are elevated off the ground 4 or 5 feet?

I am leaning towards the MP60's for most of the water movement and possibly two Reef Octopus Elite's for my skimmers.

Thanks

Mike

[Zoofan]

Should get framed into the house in the next week or so.

[Dkray944]

Looking good.... Can't wait to see it installed

[Justin]

Looking good man. For internal pumps, you can go with the following:

Vortech MP40 or MP60. Probably MP 60 depending on the thickness of glass
Tunze: they make great pumps
Gyre: On your tank, you could go with the larger as the big mover and use the ones above to help add some added movment and change the flow a bit

I like internal pumps and Kkiel's suggestion of Sicce's would be my choice as well. I run a 4.0 on mine and its dead quiet.

I run leds on mine but i have found that despite spectrographs on LED's, they don't really hit the blue spectrum that well. To counter act this, I also supplement with T5's as well. Mainly to push the spectrum further into the blue and to also add some omni direction to the lighting. LED's cast their PAR straight down as opposed to a more diffused light with Halide and T5's. Lots of people notice bleaching of their colonies on areas where the light doesn't hit; ie underneath and branches that are directly below other branches. To avoid this, I usually angle my reflectors at about 45' degrees to really hit the lower branches. I use (2) ATI Blue Plus and (1) Purple Plus on my current system.

[Zoofan]

Tank is in place, covered in plywood until safe to uncover.

[Zoofan]

2776627767

Working out the details of the sump. House getting ready for dry wall. Does anyone have experience with the variable speed sump pumps?

Thanks,

Mike

[SABOB]

Looking good......keep the updates coming


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