First reef tank

[akunochi]

What the heck are you guys talking about?????? Maybe I need a drink.

 

[luzblue]

Just came across the bean animal overflow setup - pretty cool idea! For my sump, I want to have the skimmer and fuge chambers at opposite ends feeding into a central return chamber. This way the fuge gets unskimmed water to help with pod production and none of the pods are skimmed out

I was planning to split the flow from the downpipe, but with the bean animal overflow setup now I'm thinking I could have the siphon standpipe feed into the skimmer and the open channel feed the fuge. Do you think this would be enough flow for the fuge? Also, I'm thinking over bumping up the depth to make the tank 34x34. What are your thoughts on the depth? Is 30" too much? Thanks!

 

[Peppie]

30'' is pretty deep. 34'' is even deeper. The more water the better IMO. Consider your lighting budget. also you will need to get to the bottom of your tank sooner or later. How long is your arm? lol. IMO the Bean Animal is the way to go. You could add more flow thru you fuge if you dont think the siphon is enough. Just T off your return line.

 

[luzblue]

Ok, cool. Good point about Ting of the return! Sorry... I realized now that my post about the dimensions was confusing. To clarify - I am thinking of increased to 34" front to back (to match the length). The 30" I was referring to was for height. My arms aren't that long to be honest, so now I'm thinking 28" height might be better

 

[luzblue]

You guys have been super helpful... feel like I'm making quite a bit of progress. Go the overflow situation mostly figured out now & found a good place that will ship me a stand (steelaquariumstands.com). Now I know this next question is a big debate... but what are your thoughts on acrylic vs glass? I was planning to go rimless, but after seeing the stands on that site I think I might go for a canopy

 

[akunochi]

Side note I have a bean animal and a sump identical to what you are wanting to do.... so any questions just PM or ask.

Glass hands down...I've owned acrylic and will never do it again. But that IMO

 

[Workaholic]

Coming from someone who's done tank maintenance for a living. You dont want a tank over 28" tall. Its just too much of a pain to get to the bottom, especially in your case with it being a reef. Having it that deep also increases your lighting requirements to get good penetration that deep exponentially. I saw you were planning on making your stand 32" tall, personally I would go 36" as having that little bit of extra room really helps inside the stand.

Also for you lighting, are you planning the base model Illumina or the Illumnata (much more expensive reef focused lighting). If you're planning the illumina it wont be able to do sps that deep. They are a great light, dont get me wrong. You'll be very hard pressed to find a better LED out there for the money and they can grow the hell out of coral in a shallow tank. But they dont have the optics or the total # of LED's to be able to support sps that deep.

 

[Peppie]

If I were to buy a tank I would buy a glass tank, Way more forgiving on the scratches. I have an acrylic tank cause I couldnt afford to buy a glass tank. Although I did have some acrylic, so I built an acrylic tank. It did alow me to think outside the box and I was able to build it to my specs and needs.
If you decide to go rimless with acrylic, You will be looking at 1'' or more in thickness of material. Acrylic that thick is very expensive .
If you are not going rimless the price would about be cut in half. IMO go glass

 

[luzblue]

I was leaning towards glass, but Jason over at CFI makes some pretty nice looking acrylic tanks. I also like the look of the acrylic stands, so I've asked him for a quote to do my tank/stand/canopy/sump. If I went glass I would want starphire so it gets kind of pricey. Planning to cut back to 24" tall and forgo rimless in order to keep the price down. I've heard about the scratching, so I guess I'll just have to baby it