Setting Up 50 Gallon Marine Tank.

[brewyn]

although I am a little while off setting up my marine tank I am wanting as much info as possible as what my LFS is saying is entirely different from what other people are saying. as I am used to doing the practical, rather than the theory side of things,this can sometimes be difficult. The tank I have chosen is a 48x18x18, not too high. the light unit is an arcadia T5 electronic controler, I will be using 2 arcadia marine white 14,000k each tube plus a seperate blue tube. I will be using a berlin protein skimmer 25-250 gallons, and a sump which will be 48x15x18. all this equipment is what I already have!!!!

I will be investing in other equipment like an RO unit, and a good pond pump. with regards to the flow in the tank, I intend to build a very large version of a under water spray bar which I can possition the live rock around, hopefuly this will enable me to do away with the powerheads and keep any unsightly equipment to the minimum.


the live rock is what is causing me the biggest head ache! as I am prepared to spend some money, I am not prepared to spend £1,000s. I can get 26 k of fiji uncured live rock for £150 all in, I believe this to be enough as I am going off 1/2 a kilo of rock to 2 imperial gallons. I could add more live rock as I go. I would like to keep a living reef rather than fish, but I would like various shrimps, gobies, pr of clown fish, not really wanting open water swimmers.* the fish and contents will be something I look into when Ihave done the main setup.

what does everyone think so far?

here is a link of what I would LIKE to achieve.

http/www.guppiesforyuppies.co.za/uploads/BFA_Dsc03233.jpg

 

[SkiFletch]

That should be enough LR to start with, especially if you plan on adding corals that will come attached to more rock in the future. If my calculations are right that's about 1lb per gallon which will suffice. What I am very confused with is that you are going to run a sump of the same volume as your display tank? That's one heck of a sump my friend. If you dont allready have the tank, you could consider toning it down a little so that maintenance doesn't make you want to gouge out your eyeballs Convenience is required in sump design . I do like your choice of hardware so far. Also for a tank that size to achieve such a clean look as you posted in that link, they were probably running UV or ozone sterilization.

 

[brewyn]

hello ski. I have the tank already but need to build a unit, *reason why I cant set up yet*, and the sump is going to be made out of a tank that I have in use at the moment, the sump will be slightly smaller than the tank. I have just gone and bought a set of T5s today for my 2ft quarantine tank, also its a tank that I have a small amount of live rock in, and a few other bits *thought I would dip my toe before I drowned*. I will plan all this out before I dive in and do it, so it should be a good learning curve. I keep a lot of malawi cichlids and have far too many tanks, so this marine set up will be a very interesting and somewhat expensive experience. one thing I will agree on is that for a living reef the LR is important.

 

[Locke]

Hey!

Great setup, only thing I see is that the sump is too large for that size tank. They say that it's good to have at least 1lb of LR per gallon so I think you're OK on that measure. If you want a reef tank like that, I strongly reccomend that you don't add but maybe one fish.

Research your corals and be sure to have enough test kits! You will be spending a lot of time on this tank and don't want it to crash.

Good luck,

SB

 

[SkiFletch]

Will you be constructing the sump yourself? And will the tank be drilled for overflow or use a box?

 

[brewyn]

cheers locke, I will look at compatability before I purchase anything. and I have gone off the general rule of measurements with regards to the LR.


ski, the tank will be drilled and have an overflow, I will be making the sump myself and I will be getting some hands on help with it. the only 2 things stopping the progress is

1. I have to set up my 101 gallon tank for the mbuna, so I can use there tank for the sump, that wont take long.

2. I have to find a reasonably priced 5ft wardrobe to make my cabinet out of.

gives me some time to improve my knowledge. cant wait lads. to think Iv'e put off doing this for so many years.

 

[SkiFletch]

Have you had a look at melevsreef.com yet? Melev uses plexi for his tank, but his designs can be re-created with glass. Mixing plexi and glass doesnt always work too well, so if I were you, I'd go ahead and stick to just glass and use plain window glass for your bubble walls

 

[brewyn]

I will look at that in more detail later, just not had the time at the moment, will get back to you.
cheers

 

[denis coghlan]

Looks like a great start brewyn. Our tank looks like it is well on its way!!!!!! Remember dont forget us in the cichlid section as these saltwater guys arnt half as mush fun as we are!.

Best of luck

 

[Navarre]

Seems a very constructive and well thought out plan so far, keep up the good work and keep us posted.

Great setup, only thing I see is that the sump is too large for that size tank

No sump is too big IMO. The larger the sump the more stable your water conditions are and the more voume of water/filtration you can have for the display tank. For example, a small or no sump limits the tank to the filtration capacity of the tank but a large sump increases volume and filtration which means you can fit more fish should you wish (as long as they are not territorial or need extra swimming room).
Larger volumes of water take longer to deteriorate and this means its easier to divert disaster when compared to a smaller volume that can have water peramters change much faster.

 

[brewyn]

ski, I have just had a look at that melevs website, WOW, some complicated stuff in there, I think keeping the marine will be the easiest part while building the sump will be the nightmare! I thought sumps were meant to be like a large version of an external filter, instead they look more like a marine tank under another marine tank, think I saw a photo of my mate tanks in there, messing about with his plastic inventions LOL

tanks, will be home soon, is mammafish getting on her high horse again!

like I have said earlier, its going to be a couple of weeks before I can start to set up properly, so will have to get off my butt and get my mbuna sorted at the weekend.

 

[SkiFletch]

Navarre, while i totally agree that larger volume sumps are where its at, I also believe that there is a point at which the sump becomes so large that it is impossible to work on it and maintain it. If the aquarist's sump is so big that he/she cant get their hands inside it to clean a media insert or remove a dead fish that got sucked down, or clean the skimmate cup, or replace a broken heater or leaky return pump, etc etc, its a big problem. It all depends on the space available to work with. I personally have a custom built sump that is as big as possible and still lets me work on things. Good thing too from a recent minor leak I had with it...

 

[Navarre]

Im the o pposite way around ... My sump is too small and has been rendered useless.
If i get a power cut then the back syphon will overlfow the sump even if the sump is empty at the start of hte back syphon When i designed the sump i didnt take into account for the surface area of hte tank and how much a half inch of water over a 7ftx2.5ft surface would be

 

[andywg]

Navarre, while i totally agree that larger volume sumps are where its at, I also believe that there is a point at which the sump becomes so large that it is impossible to work on it and maintain it. If the aquarist's sump is so big that he/she cant get their hands inside it to clean a media insert or remove a dead fish that got sucked down, or clean the skimmate cup, or replace a broken heater or leaky return pump, etc etc, its a big problem. It all depends on the space available to work with. I personally have a custom built sump that is as big as possible and still lets me work on things. Good thing too from a recent minor leak I had with it...

That only really applies to the stand being too small for the sump. The idea of having a large sump still stands.

The ideal setup would have a sump 4 to 5 times the size of the display, enabling a huge amount of stability, but only really possible when mounting the sump in a different room from the tank.

I have seen some people with 50 gallon tanks and 200 gallon sumps.

 

[brewyn]

are you saying that if you build a sump you should not use the entire of it for filtration, that you should infact leave enought clearance for any possible misshaps???




also, I tested the salt solution on the 2ft tank today and it was reading 1.018, how do I bring it up to 1.022 without having to add to much water???