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Hello And A Few Plans

jagz

jagz

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hi guys im new to this forum and would like to say hello
im about to start my very 1st saltwater setup up and would like some info on my ideas if possible.
I have a nice little space in my conservatory which would allow me to have a tank 32"x16"x24" (LxWxH) i would like to setup a reef if possible i want saft and hard corals, live rock , anenomes and a few small fish like clowns and and blennys and stuff like that oh and a clean up crew of corse.

For filteration i am hoping to have a hell of alot of liverock but i would also like a sump as i have the space underneath for one, this is my sump design i am going to putabout a 5"dsb in the center chamber
sump-1.jpg


now for lights i was looking at these, can you tell me if this unit will be ok for the size tank i will be setting up ,
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Real-light-Halide-la...oQQcmdZViewItem

now after all that stuff im going to need a protein skimmer now my stand will be 32" wide and my sump is only 24" wide so there could be about 6-8" gap at the side for the skimmer so can any body reccommend a skimer that allows me to put a pump in my sump and then the skimmer on the out side of the sump bearing in mind i only have about 6-8" to play with. Or will i be better off making the sump a little longer to get a skimmer inside.

thank you all so much and sorry for all the questions cheers guys for any help

jagz

ps if you think im missing something important please let me know.
 
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5" is a bit shallow for a DSB unless you use extremely fine sand (as in under 0.5mm grain). You are much better off going at least 6" and more if possible. One of the main believed causes of issues with DSB is not having them deep enough. I would fill in the gap in the second part of the first set of baffles and have the water flow right over it, thus allowing you a deeper area the other side.

I say make the sump longer and put a skimmer inside it. HOB skimmers is just asking for water to leak out, if it is in the tank it doesn't matter if it leaks. I tend to recommend Tunze products and either the 9002 or 9005 should fit your demands there as they are not too large.
 
would agree with andy on that one! having had my skimmer overlow all over the floor (laminate floor luckily) within the first week of setting up wolud advise to keep it in the sump to minimise any leakage.
As for the tunze equipment i couldnt agree more after using powerheads from them I wouldnt use anyone else!
 
jeasko said:
would agree with andy on that one! having had my skimmer overlow all over the floor (laminate floor luckily) within the first week of setting up wolud advise to keep it in the sump to minimise any leakage.
Click to expand...

Not to mention that a bigger sump means more volume and increased stability.

As for the tunze equipment i couldnt agree more after using powerheads from them I wouldnt use anyone else!
Click to expand...

Then may I recommend the Wavebox? A true marvel in reef water movement (excuse the tank in this, it was as I was moving from the old reef to the new one):

 
cheers andy i will remove the gap in the baffle allowing for a deeper dsb and i will add 6" to the end of the tank allowing room for a protein skimmer to go inside the sump, i will have a look now at the skimmers you suggested.

what did you think of the choice of lights will it be ok for depth of tank im going for and will 150w metal halide be enough aswell as the 2 24w T5s

thank you once again

jagz
 
Gonna toss in my own $0.02 here. IMO, a DSB has no business being built into a sump like that. Reason being is that eventually it will need cleaning/replacing/maintenance, and that is a royal pain in the #### if it's part of a sump at the lowest point of the system like that. You're better off doing a remote DSB with a 5 gallon bucket. That way when you have to clean it or do whatever to it, you can just take it out and fix it :). Much easier IMO. I'd rather have a refugium in that middle chamber.

One other word of advice, I have the exact same display tank (65g 36x18x24") and I also have a 12" wide sump like yours. My final sump chamber with the return pump is probably 10" long and evaporation requires me to tend to topoff the tank every 2 days. Going with a 5.5" long final section would require you to topoff every day... Kind of a pain, but that's for you to decide.
 
SkiFletch said:
Gonna toss in my own $0.02 here. IMO, a DSB has no business being built into a sump like that. Reason being is that eventually it will need cleaning/replacing/maintenance, and that is a royal pain in the #### if it's part of a sump at the lowest point of the system like that. You're better off doing a remote DSB with a 5 gallon bucket. That way when you have to clean it or do whatever to it, you can just take it out and fix it :). Much easier IMO. I'd rather have a refugium in that middle chamber.

One other word of advice, I have the exact same display tank (65g 36x18x24") and I also have a 12" wide sump like yours. My final sump chamber with the return pump is probably 10" long and evaporation requires me to tend to topoff the tank every 2 days. Going with a 5.5" long final section would require you to topoff every day... Kind of a pain, but that's for you to decide.
Click to expand...

hey skifletch that middle chamber was going to be a refugium but i thought a refugium was a DSB with with calupia or chateo on top and a light please can you tell me the difference is please. as for the last return being quite small i may be able to add 6" to one end or the other is my predicment is shall i add 6" at the return end so i have more space and less top-ups or shall i add 6" to the other end so i can fit my skimmer inside the sump if not i can just have the skimmer on the outside of the sump

please can can somebody let me know if these lights will be ok

cheers jagz
 
I get a PNR on the lights (page not responding), sry :(

Ok, Refugium: A refugium is a place of "refuge" for desireable organisms. Typically in the reef scenario they are home to macroalgae (usually chaetomorpha or culerpa), copepods, maybe stomatella, and other crabs/snails that might otherwise meet their demise in the display aquarium. They are also sometimes equiped with a thin layer of sand (~1-2") and liverock for bonus filtration. It is the macroalgae here that is the big thing. The macro is grown with a grow lamp over the refugium to aid in nutrient export (nitrate/phosphate).

Deep Sand Bed (DSB): Generally a layer of sand at least 8" deep with a significant surface area (say 64 squre inches plus). These sand beds create anoxic zones (without oxygen) at their bottom. Here, anaerobic bacteria which can't live in the presence of O2 will colonize the sand bed and converte nitrate to N2 gas. Two rumors (their truth I cannot 100% validate or invalidate) exhist about these within the hobby. First, that they can harbor dangerous gasses that if disturbed can "nuke" your tank. IMO this is probably horsewash as most of the chemicals they "could" make would be rendered useless when rising and contacting O2. Second, that they can over time become waste-laiden and loose their ability to absorb nutrients. This one's tougher to tell it's merit. Many people complain of rising nitrates a year or two after installing the DSB. It just "stops working". Maybe, maybe not? Not something I can answer.

Either way, a refugium is far easier to maintain, requiring no stirring or significant maintenance other than occasionally pruning the macroalgae. I highly reccomend them over DSB's for beginning aquarists as their benefits are many and challenges few. They're exceptional advantages when it comes to keeping hard corals as the macroalgae can consume low levels of phosphate and really make your life a whole lot easier :). Also just to add, a refugium doesn't have to be very big if it's lit with a nice grow lamp. Mine's only about 10" wide and gets the job done. Nitrate and Phosphate have been 0 since I set it up and I feed frozen daily pretty heavy without straining.
 
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Wow. I just wanted to say about the clean up crew, don't forget to keep up maintence. Even though the crew take a load off and are good for biodiversity in your tank, they don't do everything.
 
jourdy288 said:
Wow. I just wanted to say about the clean up crew, don't forget to keep up maintence. Even though the crew take a load off and are good for biodiversity in your tank, they don't do everything.
Click to expand...

thank you for that jourdy288 i have no problems with maintence as i do a water change on my discus every day so 2-3 times a week for sw shouldnt be a problem im just a little bit worried about cross contamination

jagz
 
Still get PNR's, sorry? Maybe its cause I'm in the US and tryin to load a UK ebay page? Your sump is fine for a refugium, just make sure that final chamber isn't too small, you'll regret it :)
 
My one concern with that light is your tank... 65g tanks are often braced on the top in the center to prevent bowing. If this brace is with black plastic (as they commonly are), you'll get a really big shadow under the halide and it'll look realy wierd. If this is the case, you can cut out the brace and replace it with acrylic BEFORE water goes in :)
 
SkiFletch said:
My one concern with that light is your tank... 65g tanks are often braced on the top in the center to prevent bowing. If this brace is with black plastic (as they commonly are), you'll get a really big shadow under the halide and it'll look realy wierd. If this is the case, you can cut out the brace and replace it with acrylic BEFORE water goes in :)
Click to expand...

thank you for that skifletch i will be haveing my tank made so i could specify that when i order it as it is a friend who builds the tanks

cheers guys

jagz
 
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