Fish Only System

[andywg]

Ok, I have modified my plans for the upcoming marine pred tank (yet to be built).

The first aim is to try and make most of the inhabitants venomous. Current probables include a Pterois antennata lion fish and possibly another of the slightly smaller ones. I would like to add to them a stonefish, a rabbit fish and a snowflake moray (though sadly the moray will probably not be veneomous). I may add another fish or two, depending on the way the tank goes. Any other thoughts on venomous fish that get to around th 6" mark?

The tank will likely be 42"x28"x28" (around 120 imp gallons, or 540 litres) with a sump in the order of 30-40 gallons with all circulation and pumpage provided by a little giant sequence 10,000 (over 9,500 lph for £100, and only 95W to run too!).

My main grey area is skimming. I have read a number of sites say that you don't want to massively overskim, but this more relates to reef keeping, and I don't plan on any corals in the tank. I am therefore leaning towards advice on more pred related sites to buy a skimmer rated for at least 2-3 times the size.

So, when getting the skimmer, I assum I use the system volume rather than the display volume, non?

And can anyone see any great problems with getting a skimmer rated for 400 or so gallons, since most of the inhabitants will be somewhat messy?

Cheers

Andy

 

[steelhealr]

HI Andywg....as you already know, predators can be messy eaters and skimming would be a necessity. In that situation, you can't overskim. One of the advantages of adding a sump to your system is that you can keep your equipment out of the main tank and out of the way. You could definitely keep your protein skimmer in the sump.

I also don't see a problem with using a heavy duty skimmer with regards to flow. The only thing you'd have to be concerned about is that the sump inflow would be able to handle the protein skimmer's draw. Seeing that you are over in the UK, Deltec is supposed to make some nice protein skimmers from what I've read from posts from our fellow UK marine aquarists. Welcome aboard. SH