Question about 1st tank......

[jagid1]

Hello there.


I have never had an aquarium before, but a friend of mine recently donated an unused AllGlass 26 gallon bowfront with stand, and so after a little bit of deliberation (well not so much actually) I have decided to start a reef tank.

I have done a bit of research, and would like to get a little input on the feasability of the system that I have come up with. Please keep in mind that I do not have an unlimited budget, and the choices that I have made here reflect that.

To start with, the hardware:

26 gallon bowfront
Stand
10 gallon tank sump/fuge
Maxi-Jet Natural Wavemaker System (106 gph x 3 and timer)
Marineland H.O.T. Magnum Cannister Filter
AquaticLife Internal Mini Skimmer 115
Visi Therm 100 watt heater
Maxi Jet Model 1100 utility pump

I plan to drill the bowfront and install an internal overflow box with a durso standpipe to drain to the 10 gallon tank in the stand below. I believe from what I have read, that at 48", the Maxi Jet 1100 will provide about 120gph-ish of flow back to the display tank, while the 3 106 gph powerheads will top that off for a grand total of 446 gph of flow in the display tank (which is around 12.3x the volume of the entire system, and about 17x the volume of the display tank (this will not be static, as there is the wavemaker timer allowing for some turbulent flow).

I currently intend on 40lbs of sand, and 45lbs of live rock, (perhaps a bit more, as I am aiming for 2-3 inches of sand in the display tank and the fuge)

That being said, the Magnum Cannister filter SAYS that it is rated for up to 50 gallon tanks..... The mini skimmer 115 says it is good for tanks up to 30 gallons... I think (I think) that after accounting for the volume of live rock and sand, I should be good (yes, no, maybe?)

I also intend on adding 2 mangroves to the fuge with some macro, which I believe will reduce the load on the skimmer (eventually)

Lighting:
I have a 150 w MH pendant that I intend on incorporating into the hood/canopy (that I am building). I intend to build in 2 small pc's in the hood also, so that I can supplement the MH with some actinics.

--

I currently intend to run the heater, the skimmer and the HOT cannister filter down below in the sump/fuge...

Anyhow, if anybody has some ideas on this, please let me know.....

-James

 

[returnofsid]

So far, it does sound like you're on the right track. I would do a little research into sand depth. I wouldn't recommend a deep sand bed, in your display tank. 1" or less, would be better. A deep sand bed, in your refugium, is a whole other matter, and a great idea, 4"+.

Also, on your lighting fixture, does your tank have a center brace? If not, you're good to go. If it has a center brace, your lighting choice is going to cause an issue. The light would be directly above the center brace and most likely melt it. Not to mention, the brace will create a shadow in your tank.

I'd also do some reasearch, in here, through Skimmerwhisper and Luke33, on skimmer choices.

 

[jagid1]

tank

Nope, no center brace.. shouldn't have any problem with shadows.

will a 150w MH on that cause too much evaporation? should I plan on fans in the hood or in the stand to cool water in the sump?

 

[bigblue141]

I would plan on Fans in a hood with any type of lighting.

+1 on Sid's advice.

Looks like everything should work out good for you. I'd prefer the newer style power heads (Like the Korila's) as their water stream is very wide, move lots of water and do it gently.

 

[lvsuckerfish]

and also for the power heads you can do the mods Ecco and Algae free mods which will give you a tremendious amount of flow but will chatter on the power stip ecco are not as loud as the algae free ones.

 

[jagid1]

tank

I looked up the eco and algae free mods for the maxi jet... I was a bit stunned.

I read that the algae free mod would crank that little maxi jet 400 I am getting up to something like 1200 gph.. thats 46 times the volume of the display tank, for just one powerhead..

if I had them on each of the 3 powerheads, it wouldnt change that volume I guess, as I had intended on using the wave maker.. but totaling that movement with the return from the sump gives me a flow rate of about 50 times the volume of the display tank per hour.

isnt that a wee much????

thanks again!

 

[MGDMIRAGE]

Sounds solid, make sure if you are using the canister that you clean it atleast once per week to make sure it won't become a trap for detritus and basically do the oppasite of it's intention.

With your turnover rate i would say anything 30+ should be perfect, i had a turnover rate of 76x at one time in my 20 gallon long and everything did fine although since i've turned it down to 30x it was just too much i had sand blowing around. Just make sure you have good positioning on the powerheads to best eliminate deadspots as much as possible.

Also i have that exact skimmer on a 10 gallon nano reef and i'm not really impressed with it, even after breaking in it creates lots of microbubbles in the display and it skims very wet no matter how much you adjust it. It also is somewhat noisy, it sounds like an old perculating coffee pot. I'm sure the noise won't be too bad if it's down in the sump and if your sump has proper baffles the microbubbles hopefully won't end up in your display.

The rest of your equipment sounds perfectly fine, good luck!

 

[lvsuckerfish]

I am not sure if they are made for the 400 I never owned a 400 mj but for the 900 and 1200 (2100) it cranks out some flow... Korlias are a good choice but unless you spend the money on controllables the reg korallias will work but will deplete the life span of them. (not recommended on wake makers) for flow it will depend on what you want (corals) in the tank. for a softie only tank what you have will work you can also do 1 or 2 mods and one reg. mj to achieve the flow disired in the tank. what it boils down to is cost and use of equipment you already own. some will say a mp10 and it will also do the flow desired and cost about 200 shipped to your door for 3 say k3's will run you i would guess 150 bucks roughly so another 50 and you have one powerhead less power used and more places for corals.

side note: make sure you can drill your tank some are tempered glass which is not drillable.

 

[ac7av]

I say use what you have buy what you need. You can always upgrade some of the stuff easily after the fact and in your case your not really doing it twice because you did it wrong the first time. You just have a majority of the equipment already and it will work for now and you get to learn what your tank wants and need depending on what type of life you want to keep in it.

I would look into the drilling of your tank. Most all glass aquariums have tempered bottoms so you will / may need to drill a side. Usually there is a sticker on the bottom but in your case since its not a new tank it may have been removed. You can go to all glass website and probably get that information.

 

[jagid1]

drilling

I surfed my way over to the Aqueon website, and looked up the specs on their 26 gallon bowfront. Good thing I did, as you guys were right.. the catalog does say that this particular tank does have a tempered bottom.

I guess I will have to adjust my plan a little bit, and drill the back of the tank instead of the bottom.

I do have another question though:

I have been looking at durso standpipes... the smallest design i have seen is for a 3/4 inch bulkhead, and is rated at (I believe) 300 gph.. my return pump is only rated at around 120 gph at 4' head.

what is the best way do regulate the drain flow rate? on the durso site, it says to regulate it by matching the rate of water flowing into the overflow by adjusting the teeth spacing and size on the overflow weir.. is there some magic calculation or formula out there for this? I dont want a wet carpet....

thanks again!

-James

 

[bigblue141]

You want your drain to handle well over what your return pump size is.

The water level will only go as low as the top of your drain. You put the water in the tank and let gravity bring it back down to the sump.

I hope I did not confuse you with this and hope it makes some kind of sense

 

[lvsuckerfish]

Like BigBlue states also may want to look in to drilling 2 drain holes just incase one is clogged you have a fail safe. the only water that will drain from the tank is the size pump for the return. I have 2x 1" holes grant it my return is on the large side a enhiem 1262 for a 29gal. so it drains say roughly 700-800 gph as what my return is pushing back into the tank. if that helps.

 

[jrgilles]

Hello there.


I have never had an aquarium before, but a friend of mine recently donated an unused AllGlass 26 gallon bowfront with stand, and so after a little bit of deliberation (well not so much actually) I have decided to start a reef tank.

I have done a bit of research, and would like to get a little input on the feasability of the system that I have come up with. Please keep in mind that I do not have an unlimited budget, and the choices that I have made here reflect that.

To start with, the hardware:

26 gallon bowfront
Stand
10 gallon tank sump/fuge
Maxi-Jet Natural Wavemaker System (106 gph x 3 and timer)
Marineland H.O.T. Magnum Cannister Filter
AquaticLife Internal Mini Skimmer 115
Visi Therm 100 watt heater
Maxi Jet Model 1100 utility pump

I plan to drill the bowfront and install an internal overflow box with a durso standpipe to drain to the 10 gallon tank in the stand below. I believe from what I have read, that at 48", the Maxi Jet 1100 will provide about 120gph-ish of flow back to the display tank, while the 3 106 gph powerheads will top that off for a grand total of 446 gph of flow in the display tank (which is around 12.3x the volume of the entire system, and about 17x the volume of the display tank (this will not be static, as there is the wavemaker timer allowing for some turbulent flow).

I currently intend on 40lbs of sand, and 45lbs of live rock, (perhaps a bit more, as I am aiming for 2-3 inches of sand in the display tank and the fuge)

That being said, the Magnum Cannister filter SAYS that it is rated for up to 50 gallon tanks..... The mini skimmer 115 says it is good for tanks up to 30 gallons... I think (I think) that after accounting for the volume of live rock and sand, I should be good (yes, no, maybe?)

I also intend on adding 2 mangroves to the fuge with some macro, which I believe will reduce the load on the skimmer (eventually)

Lighting:
I have a 150 w MH pendant that I intend on incorporating into the hood/canopy (that I am building). I intend to build in 2 small pc's in the hood also, so that I can supplement the MH with some actinics.

--

I currently intend to run the heater, the skimmer and the HOT cannister filter down below in the sump/fuge...

Anyhow, if anybody has some ideas on this, please let me know.....

-James

If you are putting in a sump, I would ditch the canister filter. They really aren't that good, and if you don't clean the filters constantly, they become a nitrate trap. Just add some live rock to the sump for biological filtration. You can get a cheap phosban reactor (coudl probably find for 20 bucks used on the forum) and you could add in phosban or carbon to that as you think you need it.

Also, the sump really isn't big enough to try to put a refugium in it also, I would just leave it as a sump, with as big of a return chamber as possible. Maybe use one of those backpack fuges to save sump space? You might also want to look into a cheap DIY auto-topoff system. This stops salinity fluctuations (search ATO on google. I can send you a link to a DIY kit)

I'd go with a very thin sand bed, and get a good amount of live rock. 40 lbs is what I used in my 75, so I think 20 lbs would be plenty, if not too much. There are different schools of thought on this though (as there is for just about everything in the reef world)

rob

 

[scottmdebord]

I had a maxi 1200 with the alge free mod in my 60 g and it was to much it was blowing the sand all over the tank

 

[iroll253]

+1 on getting rid of the canister filter if you dont constantly want to clean a mess.
A media reactor would also do your tank good.

My personal choice on an overflow style would be the herbie overflow.
I use it on my tank and once i got everything dialed in its dead silent. I cant even hear a drip of water at all.

As for flow i would prefer to drill a drain at the bottom of the back and a return in each top corner or where ever you would like and run that all on one external pump.
This would be a nice clean look (closed loop) and leave you plenty of room in the tank since you would be dealing with loc line instead of bulky power heads. For that i would use a mag 7 or something of similar gph.

Also you might want to consider using a larger return pump I use a rio 2500 in my 29 gallon. Seems to work perfectly cut back just a bit to work with the quietness of my herbie overflow.

Good luck! Will be hoping to see a build thread!

 

[jrgilles]

+1 for herbie style drains. Run totally silent. If you go this route you'll probably want to have a secondary "backup" drain since your primary will be running only partially open.

I have mine going with 2 overflow boxes, 98% of the water drains through the herbie drain, and then a small trickle occassionally uses the backup. I think I would have flooded several times now without the backup drain though.

When I upgrade my plumbing, I'm going to replace the ball valve I have on my herbie drain with a gate valve. Would have a lot more control.

rob

 

[iroll253]

I have mine going with 2 overflow boxes, 98% of the water drains through the herbie drain, and then a small trickle occassionally uses the backup. I think I would have flooded several times now without the backup drain though.

I thought the herbie drain was 2 drains standard? My lower/Main drain is about 2 inches lower than my safety and is on full siphon with a little cut back via ball valve. Then my safety is an elbow and runs just barely with no ball valve.

 

[jrgilles]

Yea, iroll253, I guess it is standard. Just wanted to state it since he was designing, second drain is a must for herbies

 

[iroll253]

**Meant to be EDIT**

 

[iroll253]

I just wasn't sure after you mentioned it