Setting Up 50 Gallon Marine Tank.

[SkiFletch]

Is there anything in the tnak thats alive? if its just an empty glass bowl you could pour some more salt with a powerhead in there

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?

Yes, sort of. SOrry, we're getting lost in a theoretical discussion here Brewyn, I hope we didnt go too far over your head . First step is to choose a tank that fits your physical space constrictions of the stand or room in which you have the sump. I have no idea what your stand is like or where you're putting your tank, but make sure that when selecting a sump tank size that you have enough room to reach behind it to monitor and maintain your supply and return pipes to the sump. Also make sure that you have enough room from the top of the sump to the bottom of the display tank so that you can get your arms and possibly head in there to see whats going on and fix anything that breaks.

Then when you're designing your sump, you have to prepare it for a possible power outage. The proper use of bubble walls/dividers and a good grasp of the physics is essential here. Remember that the level of your drain or overflow box determines your display tank water level (and the level of your return pipe's anti siphon holes). Then remember that the height of your walls and dividers will determine the height of water in the various compartments of your sump.

There's then a balancing act to consider. During operation, the water level in your display tank will be slightly higher than that of your sump. In most tank's I've ever seen, the water level is about 1/2" above the top of the overflow. That means, that if the power goes out, 1/2" of water from your display tank will drain into your sump. In my particular case, thats 216 cubic inches of water (36x12x0.5). During operation, my sump has been designed so that there is an extra 480 cubic inches of space that is not filled up. So when the power shuts off (hasnt yet), those 216 cubic inches come down from my display tank into the sump, and just fill up half the dead space. If I had only say 100 cubic inches of empty space in my sump... Well then I'd have 116 cubic inches of water on my floor every time the power goes out.

What Navarre is saying is that his sump does not have 1176 cubic inches (84*28*0.5) of empty space to absorb the water from his display tank should the power ever go out.

You can get fancy with solenoid valves and relays and all sorts of other nonsense, but plain physics is more reliable in the end

 

[brewyn]

I'm glad we cleared that up as I would have used the whole capacity of the tank for the sump. the design of the stand, the sump, and how the equipment goes is unclear as yet so when I am ready to make a start I will be asking you guys as to what goes where, I have got a general idea after reading that link you left for me to read but not sure were the berlin skimmer comes into it, will it over hang the tank, or can I place it in the sump, this will come clear when the guy I bought it off gets back from his holiday.


ski, the little tank is matured and set up, using mature water and established media fro my LFS, it has some LR, polyps, hermits, eneminas and boxing shrimps, the water was showing low salt, 1018, I did a water change making the water 1.022 but didn't take into consideration that it would become diluted once added to the low salted water in the tank. dont think I have room to add much more water as did 25% yesterday so need to somehow bring the levels up in the tank using higher content of salt to smaller amount of water. as it was my very first attempt at a marine water change, I am not sure I can do this!!!!

what I am asking is can I make up a mug of strong salt solution and add this drop by drop to the tank untill the metre reads thr required 1.022?

whats your valuable oppinion?

 

[SkiFletch]

Yes, its quite possible to bring up the sg as you propose. If I were you, I'd start by doing a 10% water change and the water that you add should have an sg of perhaps as high as 1.030. Just add the new water slowly so that none of your livestock gets shocked too badly by the increased mixture and you should be fine. Then, let things settle out and see where you are. Following such a procedure will prolly only bring your SG up a couple thousandths of a point. So then a few days later do another water change, etc etc. The 2foot tank volume isn't so bad that youre wasting a lot of water and salt with this method

About the skimmer... Most high quality skimmers such as Berlins are made to operate either as hang on or in-sump. If possible, go for in-sump. A lot of current wisdom suggests that the skimmer should be housed in the first compartment of the sump to eliminate a lot of DOCs before the water passes through other natural means of filtration and to make bubbles less of a problem for the return pump