New Tank Design...

[BigIan]

right were planing on having a new tank built, that has a divider running right across the back to house a sump/fuge ect.

tank dimenions will be 32"longX2`high by 2`deep including the sump effective tank will probably be something like 32"x18"x2`Leaving us with a 32"x6"x2` sump
Will this be a viable sump size? or does it need more width to alow water to flow propperly?
We were thinking of deviding it into 3 sections, the first housing a skimer, and heaters ect, the second housing miracle mud, then the third packed with LR and alge to form a fuge. and an over flow back into the tank.
One of my worries is that the fuge at the bottom wont get enough water flow, how can i counter this? and also how much light does a fuge need? as i`m pretty dure that if i pack it with LR then the light won`t penetrate down to the bottom that well would this be an issue?

 

[SkiFletch]

So you basically want to make a big nano tank? Sounds good to me. The fuge doesnt need to get light to the bottom, it will still fucntion if you cannot get light oto penetrate all the way down

 

[BigIan]

if you include the water thats in the "sump" then it`ll probably be around 50/60 gallons depending on how we divide it ect....

so does this sound like a viable idea?
just blank off the back quater of the tank to make the sump?

i`m going to build the stand my self but going to have the tank made, at some point over the next yeat , really looking forward to getting it up and running, hopefully with a sump containing mirace mud and a fuge we should have very little water quality problems from now on.

the other option is would an open top tank be ok?

the stocking will be 1 fire fish, couple of cardinals, a mandarin, and probably some form of small angel

 

[Matthew5664]

You can grow the algea in the Mirical Mud.

I would go with something like this:

The first chamber can be usedfor carbon

 

[SkiFletch]

Matts advice is great. As for open-top, thats a no-no with a firefish and angel in there, the firefish will go carpet surfing eventually when the angel decides to chase him.

 

[BigIan]

Thank you gentlemen...
I may hve to have some form of cowling built round the top of the tank. as were probably going to have either 2x150 or 1x250 metal halide there is going to be ALOT of heat given off so i need to find some way of getting rid of it,
as the sump will be right on the back of the tank it should hopefully get plenty of over flow lighting from the halides.
How high do fire fish jump out of interest? so i know how high to build the cowling

 

[Matthew5664]

the 250 will give out a lot of heat and so you could use clip-on fans on a timer to come on when the MH does and to go off a cople of mins after. Or for £30 odd quid theres a controler thing that will control the heater and a fan/chiller. Look at it here this is what santas getting me hopfuly.

As for the jumping how longs a bit of string. They feel more secure in a group I had 2 until one died but he didn't jump and I've got a open tank with a pigmy anglefish.

 

[sparklefuzz]

All the display tanks at the LFS run with a section at the back for a sump, I think it is a great idea. Is this going to replace your current marine tank, or are you having another?

 

[BigIan]

It will eventualy replace the one we have now. as it has lots of problems that i`m hoping a sump aswell as the other upgrades i have planned will cure.
we may well run both tanks at the same time to begin with and cycle the new tank on its own, before introducing the live stock from our current tank. as this will alow us to quarantine any new stock we add to that tank before we add our current critters...

i think i have the heat and jumping problem cured, just acctualy need to get the tank.

Matt: i notice in the middle of that diagram that there is a weir type thing, with the water flowing round 3 panes of glass why is that why not just flow straight over the top?

 

[Mr Miagi]

Microbubbles Ian! 3 baffles placed like that will reduce microbubbles making it into the fuge section from the skimmer.

 

[BigIan]

ahhh excelent........

thank you very much good sir...
As we`ve just got our new TMC vectron 400 skimmer i no longer need the hang on the back sump to house a skimmer so i`m thinking of turning it into a smaller version of the fuge i plant for when we get the larger tank.
Now my next question is, how deep should the miracle mud be? is it the4 more the merryer or is less more?

Would something like this work?

i`ll probably add some form of alge in the mud/fuge and it will get plenty of light as it will be right under the new 250w MH we`re getting