My 20 long build....An exercise in overkill

[ghofmann]

This tank was supposed to be a 38 gallon build but i was getting ready to go and realised the tank has a brace right in the middle and it is going to block alot of light from my MH, so i decided to go with a 20 long I had instead. Most of the equipment I have for the tank came off of my old 55, so as you can see lots of overkill as far as lighting, flow and skimming ,but on the other hand if I decide to add a frag tank or something later i have the option of doing so without pulling the system apart for upgrades. I want this tank to have a couple of clownfish, a BTA, some sps and maybe a gobbie. I have about 150 lbs of rock that was in my old system. I need to go through it and pick what I want to use of it in the new tank. Not sure if I'm gonna go with a BB or A very shallow sand bed (like 1/2" to 1").

This is the brace on the 38

Now on to the overkill
I'm planning on having about 1500gph flow between the return pump and either powerheads or a closed loop with an external pump. (about 70xs turnover?)
For lighting I have 150 watt DE MH pendant with a 10k bulb and 2 65 watt PC 03 actinic lights. 14 watts per gallon. Should be more than enough.:smokin:

Here's my skimmer. It's a Lifereef VS24 Venturi Skimmer with a RIO 2500 700gph pump to run it.
The pump could probly stand replacing but we'll see how well it works on such a small system.

I'll be building a stand and canopy for it. I plan on a few DIY projects like water top off and a Kalk reactor and maybe a phosban reactor as well.
If you see anything glaringly wrong with what im doing please feel free to let me know.


Greg

 

[Peppie]

I love over kill projects. Looks like you have a good plan. Might have a sand storm or two to deal with. LOL

 

[10gnano]

if your going to do something might as well over due it...Best of luck with the build

 

[Krish]

I love over kill projects. Looks like you have a good plan. Might have a sand storm or two to deal with. LOL

These were my thoughts when I read the title!! I love overkill!!! . Looking forward to the build! Have fun with it!!

 

[ghofmann]

I love over kill projects. Looks like you have a good plan. Might have a sand storm or two to deal with. LOL

Thanks Peppie I was thinking the same thing.
I want to cycle the tank with only the main return I'm hoping that just the return pump (at 700gph) wont be too much flow and that should help the sand get stablized before I throw another 800 gph at it.

OK got a few more pics of stuff for the tank.

Here's my sump

The return side of the sump with lots of little places for goodies like probes, reactors and mechanical filters.

900 GPH overflow

Skimmer running real wet on a tank full of base rock.

Some of the base rock

 

[ghofmann]

Well after 2 years of life throwing me curve balls, I'm ready to kick this project into gear. Once again I have decided to go back to the 38 gallon instead of the 20l. The tank is going to be drilled for 2-1" overflows with an internal surface skimmer. Hopefully this weekend.
The reason I want to go back to the 38 is I want to try led lighting over it, and the brace won't be an issue with leds.
The options I'm looking at are 4 strip LED, 15k Kessil ocean blue a150s or OCreef 14kpar 38s, or a combination. Since I have no clue what LEDs would work best any input would be appreciated.