New Cube 36x36x18

[em805]

I need some suggestions on the layout/design for an overflow box on a 36x36x18 cube. I was thinking of 18" in length but, I have no Idea how wide the box should be (or if it matters). I will be using a Mag18 for return and was thinking of having it drilled with 2 1" drains. Should the box be placed in the center back of the tank, corner, etc. (for the most efficient placement).

Also, I'm pretty sure I will be using an OM unit, more than likely a 4way... Will the Mag18 be strong enough for the version 3 drum pattern or will I have to go with a stronger pumb since the flow will be divided in 2? I will want to keep mainly SPS, so I want very strong currents and hopefully strong enough to reach the front of the tank from the back wall.

By the way I love the flow of this site so far .

Thanks for the help and ideas!

 

[Krish]

Welcome to RF if I haven't welcomed you already As for your tank, I'm not sure if this will help, but here's how I did the overflow for my old cube. I did basically a coast to coast overflow so I could get full surface skimming of the tank and put the overflow on the backside so it wouldn't take up any space in the tank. I also used an elbow in the overflow with a strainer to quiet it down and never heard a sound from it. How the "teeth" were done for the overflow was, I had 1/4 inch slots laser cut into the tank, 3/4 inch long, spaced 1/2 inch apart from each other and 1/4 inch down from the top. I was told with the "teeth" set up like that, I could run basically as much flow as I needed and with this setup I ran a mag950 for the return. If you need actual box measurements, I can get them for you when I get home because I still have the tank stored. Hope that helps you some and good luck!

 

[em805]

That definatly helps alot, thank you. Do you or anyone have any insight on the amount of flow I could use. I'm actually pondering the use of a Sequence Dart (rated 2820 gph @ 4') or a Mag 3600. Will this be too much for my system, should I stick with the Mag1800? Or will the fact that the flow is being divided by 2 outlets in the OM mandate a need for a stronger pump? I have no experience using OM devices, so any comments or insight would help. Thanks again. Eli

P.S. Thanks for the welcome!

 

[Krish]

That definatly helps alot, thank you. Do you or anyone have any insight on the amount of flow I could use. I'm actually pondering the use of a Sequence Dart (rated 2820 gph @ 4') or a Mag 3600. Will this be too much for my system, should I stick with the Mag1800? Or will the fact that the flow is being divided by 2 outlets in the OM mandate a need for a stronger pump? I have no experience using OM devices, so any comments or insight would help. Thanks again. Eli

P.S. Thanks for the welcome!

Glad it helped some See if this thread helps you any with flow. I started a thread a while back asking people to post their tank size and flow numbers. In any event, where flow is concerned, it all depends on how your flow is placed and what you want to accomplish as to how much flow you will need. That tank in the pictures above was 24 inches long (38 gal) and I ran almost 4,000 gph in it which was about a 104 turnover rate. Some thought I was crazy(LOL), but another member here has a 110gal tank and has about 12,000 gph of flow in his!

http://www.reeffrontiers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=18140


As for the amount of flow, I'm a bit confused, but will the mag18 have the ocean's motions on it coming from the sump or will it be used on a closed loop that you are pondering a sequence Dart vs Mag3600 for?

 

[em805]

As for the amount of flow, I'm a bit confused, but will the mag18 have the ocean's motions on it coming from the sump or will it be used on a closed loop that you are pondering a sequence Dart vs Mag3600 for? [/QUOTE]

The problem is that I haven't fully made up my mind on which size pump to use as a return pump and which pump to use as a closed loop with the OM. Will I have too much flow if I use a Dart & a Mag36 or should I just use the OM in the same line as my sump return? See I'm probably as confused as you. hehe

 

[Krish]

The problem is that I haven't fully made up my mind on which size pump to use as a return pump and which pump to use as a closed loop with the OM. Will I have too much flow if I use a Dart & a Mag36 or should I just use the OM in the same line as my sump return? See I'm probably as confused as you. hehe

LOL!! Well, in reality, you don't need a lot of flow coming from your return pump that's in your sump. Some people don't like a lot of flow running through their sumps for various reasons. For eg. I only like about 800gph through my sumps to give my skimmer a shot at incoming water and not have it "wizz" by while some people like high flow sumps for other reasons. As far as the Dart or the mag36 being too much flow, I don't think so at all...You may even end up wanting more later You have a nice sized tank...Roughly 100 gals and like I mentioned, I had about 4,000 gph in just a 38 gal and it wasn't too much. I split that 4 ways (2 up top and 2 down low) so I got about 750 gph per nozzle and when I thought I needed a bit less per nozzle up top, I just put "Y" adapters on the outputs which cut it back to half the flow like in the pic below. I'd probaby use the OM on the closed loop so you can get good switching currents like the ocean in your tank with one side off while the other side is one and so on...Your corals will love it! As for the sump return, I'd just let then run straight out without the OM and maybe use it to provide you with surface aggitation etc.

 

[em805]

Wow, that really clarifies alot! TY. I have always had a simple system with a single return from the sump (LFS setup) and don't have any experience with closed loop systems--but I do know I want to include one in this new plan. With that in mind do you know any good threads I could look at to get details on setting one up. I imagine the closed loop will be fed by a direct flow from the tank using a 1-1.5" hose? Then the pump shoots it back into the tank via the OM at high velocity? Would I need to have one or two more 1-1.5" holes drilled in the tank specifically for CL drain purposes? Thanks again, your awsome! Eli

 

[Krish]

For starters, are you planning to drill your tank to do the closed loop or will you prefer not to, and have everything plumbed over the tank?

I imagine the closed loop will be fed by a direct flow from the tank using a 1-1.5" hose? Then the pump shoots it back into the tank via the OM at high velocity? Would I need to have one or two more 1-1.5" holes drilled in the tank specifically for CL drain purposes? Thanks again, your awsome! Eli

Ok...The plumbing size for the closed loop will all depend mainly on the plumbing size of the pump. Also, sometimes you may have to factor in how many bends there will be to get from the tank to the pump. If there are a lot of bends in the plumbing which can cause a bit of friction/resistance in there, sometimes you'd want to go up a 1/2 plumbing size or so to compensate for it. Also, some people will use multiple bulkheads for the suction/drain line for the closed loop pump. The reason why is not very many people want to plumb their closed loop using 1.5-2 inch plumbing...Get's too bulky. Also, just imagine how strong the suction would be at a single bulkhead on say a mag3600. That would suck in any small fish passing So some people will use 2 or 3 bulkheads that all drain into one into the pump which means you can go with a smaller plumbing size (seeing you will be using a few smaller sizes that are equivelant to the single big one) and also, each drain point in the tank won't have a very strong suction so if a fish or snail happens to bump up into it, they can easily release themselves. Did I lose you?

Here are a few threads you browse through to see how some tanks were plumbed.

http://www.reeffrontiers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=5191 (This one Todd uses an OM for his closed loop! Really nice!!)

http://www.reeffrontiers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2062

http://www.reeffrontiers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=14793


http://www.reeffrontiers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=4743


And I'll just post up a few pics of how I did mine on my old 38gal instead of making you dig through that thread(LOL) Also, if you don't want to drill the tank, let me know and I'll show you a few ways to do a closed loop over the top of the tank

K...I re-did my closed loop a few times so I'll explain what I did in each attachment.

Attachment 1: This was one of the first closed loops I did on this tank with (1) 1506 gph pump. The red arrow points to the suction/drain for the pump and as you can see I'm using two bulkheads that join into one so my fish wouldn't get stuck like I mentioned above from the suction being too strong. The blue arrow points to the return for the tank that, as you can see, go to 4different outputs.

Attachment 2 : This shows the other side of the plumbing inside the tank with the red arrows pointing to the 2 suctions/drains and the blue arrow pointing to the 4 outputs.

Attachment 3: The flow wasn't strong enough so I figured I'd add in another 1506 gph pump so I re-plumbed a bit. I didn't want to re-plimb the whole thing so I ended up using a single suction for each pump (as you can see they are now seperated, not joined and one goes to each pump). Then the outputs were split as well with one pump feeding the top and bottom left outputs and the other pump feeding the top and bottom right outputs.

HTH

 

[em805]

Thanks for the pix and the threads. I think I need to decide on my pump, and from the looks of it I will have 2--the Dart CL at tank level (like yours)and the Mag18 for return. With that in mind I have a couple more concerns...

#1 Where do you order the black flex tubing disturbedreefer used on his tank?

#2 Since my tank will be placed with the back side against a wall what is the best way to plan for later expansion or remodifications to plumbing? That is, once the tank is filled for the most part they are no longer movable, unless you empty it again--that really isn't an option when it's filled with coral and the aquascape is placed. Is there a way to make the tank stand movable? Other than leaving a large space between the wall and the tank what are my options? What are some techniques ppl used to overcome this issue?

#3 Will 2 3/4" drains to the Dart be cautious enough to save critters but provide sufficient flow to the Dart without burning it out? If not how many drains and what sizes would you recomend?

 

[DisturbedReefer]

For your first question: http://www.aquaticeco.com/index.cfm/fuseaction/product.detail/iid/12473/cid/3157

Second question: Make sure you keep it no less than 8" away from the wall, more is better so you can get back there. If it is future plumbing that your not putting in yet, say like a closed loop, you may want to preplumb and cap with some true union valves. Otherwise yes you will have to drain and drill later.

Third question: 3/4" drains to feed that dart will kill it. You need at least two 1.5" drains to feed it. Look at my thread and you will see how I did mine, it is a baracuda.

 

[em805]

Cool thx again all for the info! I will post pics of my tank as soon as it comes in .

 

[Krish]

Sounds like Todd got you all sored out! Good luck and keepu posted

 

[em805]

Here is the overdue update I promised...

I ended up changing the dimensions of the tank to 36"x36"x20" (lxwxh) and the advice I received from you guys on the CL and overflow was VERY, VERY valuable! Thanks again !

I will spare you all the in between stuff and give you the meat of it:

Here is the tank when I received it:

Here is my sump 30"x20"x17" (lxwxh):

Here is the stand I welded for it out of 1.5" hollow tubing:

Here is the light rack I made:

Here is the finished product installed in my LR:

Also, here is a close up of the plug holes I made on the fake rock background:

Let me know if you want to see any of the in between details.

 

[Krish]

Wow! That came out nice!!! Glad you got it altogether! Congrats man...Post more pics as you move along

 

[em805]

Current status list:

* Waiting on cycling process, used a raw shrimp and dumping dirty water from my 60g tank into my new tank to hopefully speed up the process. Good idea or bad? Need some opinions.

* Need to make some rock. Planning on using Portland cement and oyster shells--this will be my first attempt at making rocks--GULP. Also, planing to experiment with Quickwall cement and Oyster shells. Anyone have experience with those two, or reasons I shouldn't even try?

* Need to move my lights 5-6" toward the front of the tank, since I forgot to account for the overflow box, DOH! My current goofed up set-up feeds half the light of back light to my overflow, ha ha!

* Need to figure out a way to quiet down my Sequence 5000 pump. It is pretty loud ATM and my wife is starting to complain. Thinking of covering it in Acoustic foam and leaving a space between the back air inlet/exhaust of the pump and the foam. Again need some advice/opinions on this, please.

 

[IAP Brian]

* Need to make some rock. Planning on using Portland cement and oyster shells--this will be my first attempt at making rocks--GULP. Also, planing to experiment with Quickwall cement and Oyster shells. Anyone have experience with those two, or reasons I shouldn't even try?

Is Quickwall Cement Render suitable for use in Coastal areas?
Quickwall Cement Render was first designed for use in the most aggressive environment of the salt water swimming pool. It is heavily used in the coastal areas of North Queensland. Please view our Quickwall Coatings Brochure for more information.

http://www.quickwall.com.au/SpecSheet/Doc/CoatingSystemsBrochure.pdf

I have made plenty of rocks with Grey Portland cement type 1 and 2. I have also made a few with white Portland type 1. I've never used Quickwall. Since it is listed as an acrylic polymer with cement I would think it would be ok. Try e-mailing quickwall from the above link and ask them if it is safe for aquatic life and not just extremely resitant to salt corrosion.

 

[Meche]

There is some great information about making your own LR at http://www.garf.org/

 

[louzoo51]

Any updates?,I am following this thread as I am doing the same size tank..

 

[em805]

Sorry, been so busy with a new baby in the house haven't had time to update. I will get some new pictures up asap.

 

[class clown]

it looks like you may have gone for the backwards barreling effect that Paul at OM prescribes - how do you like it? any complaints? If you had to do it differently, would you do anything different?

Oh.. and congrats on the baby