Sumps Inexpensive But Good Quality?

[Tropicaltone1980]

Hi all

I am interested in the sump idea however I have seen these on sites for complete marine setups but they seem to cost an absoloute fortune. Heres the challenge!

Can anyone tell me how to set my marine tank up with a sump system, which is inexpensive but good quality?and what it would consist of?

Also the tank I mentioned earlier is L60"H24"xW18" 430ltr/95gal does anyone know what they ideal lighting requirements would be for the tank, I was looking at the Interpet Compact T5 Lights thinking they might be a good idea.

An comments would be great

Thanks

 

[Redstratplayer1]

Ok well u can convert a 20,30,10,5,2.5 gallon tank into a sump for cheap.Dont buy a sump make it you self its easy,cheap and you can tell all your frends about how you are the king of diy.

www.melevsreef.com a awsome place for diy sumps and such.

 

[Siamese Fighter05]

DIY will save you loads! Sadly for me the amount of times it would take to get it right would run over the price of having it made and delivered

 

[SkiFletch]

To answer the lighting question, I have to ask you, what livestock do you want to keep? Fish, soft corals, LPS corals, SPS corals, or any combination thereof?

 

[Tropicaltone1980]

I was thinking of keeping a couple of clowns (small anenome ones), a Blue Regal Tang, Copperband and a cleaner wrasse, live rock, some anenomes (cant spell sorry). I don't knoe the difference in the corals u mention

 

[SkiFletch]

A tank that big is ideal for anemones but you're gonna have to go with metal halide lighting if you want nems. General rules of thumb for anemone's are: Big tank, ~30 times tank turnover in powerheads or other flowrate, sump, big skimmer, and metal halide lights. They are both beautiful and difficult to keep so beware. Choosing the number and wattage of halides for that setup will depend entirely on how many top cross-braces the tank has. If its got one brace, I'd go with 2 250watt halides. If its got two braces, I'd go with 3 175watt halides

 

[Tropicaltone1980]

Holy moly!!!!! Thats a lot of wattage

I was thinking T5 Compacts with reflectors 4x36W plus 2x55W (along centre) and a 36W for the sump. Based on my tank could you explain what you think the lighting requirements should be for these three Marine setups

Setup 1 : Marine fish only

Setup 2 : Marine fish, live rock & reef

Setup 3 : Marine fish, llive rock, anenomes & reef

 

[callell]

Setup 1 : Marine fish only

This would be classed as a fish & Liverock tank

Lighting is not so important in this setup as you wouldnt have any livestock that require High Output lighting
T8 or T5 Lights would do the job

Setup 2 : Marine fish, live rock & reef

This is a Reef

Lighting would depend on the corals you want to keep in the tank

For most Soft Corals a few T5's would do the trick but if you moved upto Stony Corals then you would either have to increase the amount of T5 or upgrade to Metal Halides

Setup 3 : Marine fish, llive rock, anenomes & reef

Again this is a Reef but with an Anemone

Lighting will depending on what anemone you want, but mostly they require Metal Halides to maintain & promote health, for a tank as long as 60" I would agree with the above post about using a couple of halides instead of 1.

I have recently been reading a pinned post in Saltwater Invertebrates & Corals regarding Anemones which I would suggest you read as lighting is not the only thing you need to worry about but also your filter inlets

 

[SkiFletch]

Holy moly!!!!! Thats a lot of wattage

THat it is, but remember, the sun puts out way more energy