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What is the difference between the Lumenarc III and the A3 mini reflectors other than size? Will the III work enough better that I would want them over the smaller ones?
 
Sounds like a great system Tim! Congrats!!

One thing thought, NEVER put halides over the acrylic bracing. They should be positioned directly over the cut-outs in the top of the tank. So you would have three after repositioning your seaswirls.

-David
 
davidabrown66 said:
Sounds like a great system Tim! Congrats!!

One thing thought, NEVER put halides over the acrylic bracing. They should be positioned directly over the cut-outs in the top of the tank. So you would have three after repositioning your seaswirls.

-David
Click to expand...

So should I get the larger reflectors or the small ones? The large ones will overlap the acrylic by about 1" front and back, the small ones will fit inside the holes and I can mount the bulbs as much as 12" off the water.
 
The whole tank has a frame that is about 4" wide around the top, do I even need a center brace?
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Yes, the center braces are a very good idea. Without them the centers will bow out and most likely the corners on top will crack.\

This is a used tank so I don't think I have a warranty, what is 40?
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I was talking about weld-on 40. It is a 2 part mix that is similar to epoxy. It is great for filling gaps, making repairs and is preferred for building tanks with 3/4" or thicker material.

Sorry for my ignorance, what is crazing?
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No prob, crazing is basically stress cracking. It usually is minor and not a structural problem but can look really bad. (looks like spider webs in the acrylic)

As far as the reflectors go, if the lamps are 12" above the tank the larger ones would be fine. But if you are going to have light coming in through the top of the tank, you will have to keep it clean or you will reduce the light quality.
 
moortim said:
What is the difference between the Lumenarc III and the A3 mini reflectors other than size? Will the III work enough better that I would want them over the smaller ones?
Click to expand...

If you ever want to upgrade to 400 W lights, the minis aren't useable.... luminarc III will give you a much bigger light footprint.
 
I think I have the lighting figured out, I just need to decide which reflector I want. I will be cutting out the center brace and welding on two smaller ones so I can have three lights. Next I need to figure out flow but first, I got some pictures to show:

This is the tank laying on its back so I can clean the coraline off the back.


Here is a picture of just how much coraline there is on the front.


Here is my progress on the back of the tank, it used to look like the front


One of the canopy with all the lighting
 
I don't like the green of the stand so after I get the tank clean I am moving the stand into my garage and going crazy with the sander. When I am done it will be a lighter oak color.

My next part of this project is the sump, I don't like the sump design so I am rethinking that but I want to ask everyone about flow first. How much should I reasonably have flowing through a 30 gal sump? The way it is designed right now it has about 4000gph which in my opinion is way too much. I was thinking more like half that. The pumps I got with the tank are:
Dolphin Amp master 3000
Dolphin Aqua Sea 2100
Unknown Dolphin pump (draws 2.4A, 1/10hp, about 260watts) does anyone know what it is? I couldn't find this exact one on-line anywhere.
Older Mag 12

The sump returns were the Aqua Sea 2100 and the unknown Dolphin, the Closed loop was the Amp Master, and the Mag 12 was thrown in. I was thinking of not using the unknown Dolphin, using the 2100 for sump return (around 1500 gph at 4') and keeping the Amp Master for the closed loop.
The biggest question I have is that I want to keep this tank as low powered as possible, is there any other brand pumps that are similar flow but less power that are still reliable? I only want to use three pumps if possible, 1 for the sump return, 2 for the closed loop, 3 for the skimmer/chiller/whatever else. Does this sound reasonable? That would give me roughly 22x turnover in the tank, I would like a little more but I don't want to increase the power consumption too much. What does everyone think?
 
wwouu dood you got a lot of flow going through that sump :D ... i think cutting it to half doesn't sound to bad .
i wish i could help you with the pumps, but i'm not good on that :oops: .... and yes you definetly need to do some sanding :lol:
 
Hey Moortim, you should be more than fine with 1500 gal/hr going thru the sump. Are you using two pumps to do two separate CL's? Also, doing two "like" pumps for your return would give you reduncancy, and a quality pump like Iwaki or Panworld, etc. would give you long life (peace of mind) although these tend to be more noisy if you're reef is in the living rm.

I use an Iwaki for my return 1100 gal/hr divided into two SCWD's for random flow on my 150. I also have two CL's using a Dolphin Ampmaster & Sequence Barracuda, so I get about 45 x's turn over, more realistically like 35 - 40.

I use two pumps both mag 9.5's for chiller & skimmer, and then I have one extra mag on the shelf for a spare. I hate having to keep alot of different models on hand.

My own opinion is my Dolphin is quieter than my Sequence (not by much), but the Sequence handles random sand in the intakes much better ( i've had to change out the seals already on my Dolphin after only 6 months of use). I have had success with the new heavy duty seals that I paid $80 for though.
 
I agree, 1200-1500 gallons per hour are more than enough flow through your sump.

For the rest of your flow, have that be via your closed loop, which should NOT be going through your sump at all, just recirculating water from your tank.

I see where you have 2 large intakes (???) holes in the bottom of your tank for your closed loop, but didn't notice any return holes??? What is your idea on that?
 
LakeEd said:
I see where you have 2 large intakes (???) holes in the bottom of your tank for your closed loop, but didn't notice any return holes??? What is your idea on that?
Click to expand...

The previous owner was using the Dolphin Ampmaster for the closed loop which was being fed by two 2" pipes down to 1.5" at the pump and then out to two 3/4" seaswirls. I don't quite understand why you would turn 4" of pipe down to 1.5" at the pump output so I have been thinking about running two closed loops, one for each drain. The seaswirls were mounted on top in the center brace, one pointing each direction but since the center brace will be changed I will probably mount them on the back of the tank. I like seaswirls but I haven't really decided how to have the cl return work yet. Any thoughts?
 
I've only heard good about the Dolphin Ampmaster pumps.

I like the idea of the SeaSwirls, just don't have any. :)

I drilled 2 sets of 3 holes in the back of my tank for my Closed-Loop returns, along with 2 holes for the suction. Here is a link to a picture of the back-side of my tank, so you can kinda see what I did on my closed-loop.

http://www.reeffrontiers.com/photos_members/showphoto.php?photo=5613&ppuser=1010

The reason someone would do dual 2" suctions, then only have a single return (be it the 1 1/2" output of the pump), is so that either of those suctions, won't be sooo strong, to suck a fish into the intake. Okay, so that didn't really sound like what I meant??? Anyways, if a fish happens to wander too close to one of the intakes for your closed-loop... by having the redundancy, neither of those suctions will be sucking soo hard that a healthy fish won't be able to break away from that suction.
 
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