Juwel Rio 240 - Want To Setup Marine Enviroment- Advice Please?

[judgek]

Hi,

I have bought a Juwel Rio 240 (240L, W:121cm, H:55cm, D:41cm).

The tank is currently EMPTY. I am looking to start up a new marine aquarium and am looking for advice. I have done nothing yet, this is all the planning stages.

I am chosing to go for a REEF type marine environment, as opposed to Fish-Only. I would like to begin small, maybe a lot later down the line, add corals.

After a lot of research, I have produced a list of equipment and things I will need to start a succesful marine aquarium. As you can hopefully see, I am going for high quality, clean, stable environment.

Here is a list of things I believe I need:

* 40KG Live Rock - (or 25KG Live Rock with 15kg Base Rock)

* Live Sand - approx 4" Deep Sand Bed

* Protein Skimmer - Deltec MCE 600?

* External Filter - Eheim Proffessional 2/Fluval

* 2-4 Smaller Powerheaders - 4800 Lph Total -- Tunze 6025/6045 -- Aim to circulate the entire volume 10-15 times per hour.

* UV Steraliser

* Hi-Lite Lighting Unit
- 1 X T5 Marine White Light Tube
- 1 X T5 Actinic Blue Light Tube

* Reverse Osmosis Unit

* Heater 200W

* Red Sea Salt - 25KGs - 750L

* Testing Kits, Refractometer, Hydrometer, Thermometer etc


Questions/Advice

* I would ideally like a Sump, that can be housed in the standard Rio cabinet that is supplied with the aquarium. However, I understand this is not the easiest task. I have read an article (http/www.ultimatereef.net/forums/showthread.php?p=1595604) that explains one way of installing a Sump into a Juwel Rio cabinet, is to cut a hole into it.

* I do not want to do this. The weight of the aquarium is over a tonne, and weaking the support is not the best idea.

1) Is there a way of using a sump system with all the apparatus above? I have the time to build a home made one, if someone could explain a bit more to me?


2) Is there a very good Protein Skimmer I can get that doesn't hang on the outside of the tank? Ideally, it should be in the sump?

3) Is the external filter going to be useful considering the amount of live rock, sand, protein skimmer etc?

4) I don't fully understand how the RO Unit links in. Is it only used to make up the pure water totally independent of the aquarium system? Or is there some way of integrating it into the system (eg water pumped out of tank -> into sump -> into RO unit -> back to tank)?

5) Is the heater powerful enough?

6) Is the lighting powerful enough?

7) Have I missed anything out/is there too much stuff?

8) Am I going about this the wong way? Is there perhap a better/alternative way to do this bearing in mind I want to hide as much equipment as possible in the cabinet?


Please any advice would be greatly appreciated!

 

[SkiFletch]

1) You can reinforce the middle wall pretty easily with a 2x4 frame or something if you choose to put a sump under that stand similar to the pictures I saw over there. Your other option would be to put the sump next to the aquarium, or go through the walls/floor into another room...

2) Tunze sells some great internal skimmers. I'm pretty sure Deltec and Aquamedic make them too, but don't quote me on it

3) External filter can be useful for phosphate or other chemical media.

4) 99% of the time it's only used to make water seperately and then used either for topup, or salt is added and used for a waterchange. You CAN setup autotopup systems, but it's still better to remove the RO unit from the system and have the autotopoff draw off of a smaller tank. That way in case of malfunction of the autotopup damage to the tank and/or your house is minimal. I've heard too many horror stories of RO units getting stuck on and auto topping up the tank to the point of flooding their house, dropping their salinity to nothing and killing their entire livestock...

5) Yes, but it's always wise to have a backup set a degree or two lower in case of failure of one

6) For basic softies, yes, anything else I'd go with a 4-tube setup with individual reflectors, especially on a deeper tank like that.

7) Try to go for more turnover in the tank if you want corals. 20-30x per hour.

8) If you really want the minimalist look, you'll probably longterm be happiest with cutting out the walls, bracing with 2x4's and putting a sump in there BEFORE you fill the tank with water