Setting up new reef tank, Help me understand

[robo100]

I am going to be setting up a new reef tank in the next few months and I need some advice from all the experts here. I am having a custom home built and have decided to have a nice large reef tank built into the wall of my living room. The idea is that there will be a 8' X 15' access room where the tank is installed along with all the equipment to make it work. This room is where the tank is installed and the face of the tank would fit through the wall to the living room. The wall construction is all 2X6 lumber and I plan to make the main support for the tank out of 2X6 as well. Since nobody is going to see the actual tank stand I dont plan on making it look pretty. Right now I am thinking of going with a 10' tank (about 300 gallons). Here are my questions to the experts...

ELECTRICAL POWER, WATER, DRAINS
I am planning 6 dedicated 20 amp circuits in the room so I know I will have enough power to run all the equipment. The room will be a bare concrete slab with multiple floor drains. Hot and cold water lines will also be ran to the room where I plan on connecting my RO unit.

SUMP and RETURN PUMP
I am planning a 100 gallon sump for this system using a return pump to cycle about 1200 gallons of water per hour. This would be about 4X the display tanks volume. Is this enough? I have been looking at the Pan world PX-50 pump due to its nice power rating (only 90 watts). Here is a link
http://www.marinedepot.com/md_viewItem.asp?idproduct=JW1135
Is this a good pump? What pumps would you recommend?

SUMP INPUT/OUTPUT
I was hoping to have as few internal pumps to my tank as possible. The display tank would be drilled to provide input and output lines for the sump. Should I just have a screened bulk head at the top portion of the tank for the water flow into the sump? or should I do an internal overflow box? If my calulations are correct by using a 1-1/2" line the maximum flow I will get out is about 750 gallons/hour so I am planning on two drains to the sump and two returns back to the tank. Does this sound right?

FLOW IN THE TANK
I dont belive the sump pump alone would be enough flow in the main tank for a reef setup... so I was planning on using another idential pump with multiple inputs back into the display tank that I can turn on/off with valves. This would provide an extra 1100 gallons/hour flow in the tank. Does this sound like a good or bad idea?

LIGHTING
I am planning on a DIY type light for this reef tank. I belieive I would need about 2000 watts of light (metal halides). I am thinking of going with eight 250 watt bulbs to accomplish this. I would also run a few hundered watts of CF or VHO bulbs.

RO and Auto topoff
I will be using RO for this setup and am thinking of using a BRUTE 50 gallon container for the RO water. I will have a simple float valve (mechanical) in this container to keep it topped off with RO water. The sump would have a float valve (electrical) to turn on a small pump to transfer water from the RO container to the sump. With this setup I will not have to worry about evaporation as the system would keep everything at the right level.

I guess I am just looking for some help to see what you guys think and what RO units, pumps and other equipment you would suggest. What do you think should be the protein skimmer?

 

[Herefishyfishy]

Lot of energy going into the tank, don't forget the chiller

 

[Krish]

Sounds like you will have a great setup!

SUMP and RETURN PUMP
I am planning a 100 gallon sump for this system using a return pump to cycle about 1200 gallons of water per hour. This would be about 4X the display tanks volume. Is this enough? I have been looking at the Pan world PX-50 pump due to its nice power rating (only 90 watts). Here is a link
http://www.marinedepot.com/md_viewIt...product=JW1135
Is this a good pump? What pumps would you recommend?

For the sumps flow, I think that will be more than fine. You don't want, in my opinion, to put too much emphasis on what will be pumped into the tank from your sump as a primary source of flow, but more importantly that your sump will be flowing the amount of flow you want (for eg. some people typically like a slow flow rate through their sump to allow their skimmer to get a good shot at incoming water etc) As for the pumps themselves, never used either one so couldn't say. Will the pump be used externally or internally?

SUMP INPUT/OUTPUT
I was hoping to have as few internal pumps to my tank as possible. The display tank would be drilled to provide input and output lines for the sump. Should I just have a screened bulk head at the top portion of the tank for the water flow into the sump? or should I do an internal overflow box? If my calulations are correct by using a 1-1/2" line the maximum flow I will get out is about 750 gallons/hour so I am planning on two drains to the sump and two returns back to the tank. Does this sound right?

Going on the CPR overflows, the 1 1/2 bulkhead is good for 1600 gph. Scroll down to the chart here http://www.premiumaquatics.com/Merc...D&Product_Code=CS50&Category_Code=CPROverflow I guess someone more experienced with drain sizes will have to chime in, but maybe that will give you an idea. As for an internal overflow vs a screened bulkhead, I like the overflow idea better for better surface skimming, plus it will look a lot nicer in IMO

FLOW IN THE TANK
I dont belive the sump pump alone would be enough flow in the main tank for a reef setup... so I was planning on using another idential pump with multiple inputs back into the display tank that I can turn on/off with valves. This would provide an extra 1100 gallons/hour flow in the tank. Does this sound like a good or bad idea?

IMO you will need more flow than that (it also depends on what corals you keep as well though). At one point I turned over my tanks volume 104 times per hour to keep my corals happy. Check out this thread to get some ideas on what people use in various sized tanks.

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

As for a protein skimmer, I'd look into the Euroreefs, Octopus skimmers and the ASM's

Good luck!

 

[Scooterman]

Guess I'll take a shot!

ELECTRICAL POWER, WATER, DRAINS
I am planning 6 dedicated 20 amp circuits in the room so I know I will have enough power to run all the equipment.

Make sure to add a GFCI for anything electrical that is submersed in water or a potential to fall in the water

FLOW IN THE TANK
I don't believe the sump pump alone would be enough flow in the main tank for a reef setup... so I was planning on using another idential pump with multiple inputs back into the display tank that I can turn on/off with valves. This would provide an extra 1100 gallons/hour flow in the tank. Does this sound like a good or bad idea?

I don't think this is near enough for a tank 10' long, try the Sequence Reeflow Hammerhead for the Closed loop with several outlets, you may need two CL's, depending on the depth & height of the tank, while I'm at it, is this glass or acrylic?

LIGHTING
I am planning on a DIY type light for this reef tank. I believe I would need about 2000 watts of light (metal halides). I am thinking of going with eight 250 watt bulbs to accomplish this. I would also run a few hundred watts of CF or VHO bulbs.

How deep is your tank going to be, again the size would determine this. If you use the Luminarc III's they cover a 2x2 foot area, so you may be able to get away with 5 of these if your tank isn't too deep or wide.

RO and Auto topoff
I will be using RO for this setup and am thinking of using a BRUTE 50 gallon container for the RO water. I will have a simple float valve (mechanical) in this container to keep it topped off with RO water. The sump would have a float valve (electrical) to turn on a small pump to transfer water from the RO container to the sump. With this setup I will not have to worry about evaporation as the system would keep everything at the right level.

http://www.aquariumwaterfilters.com...se&category_id=25&option=com_phpshop&Itemid=1

Use one of these & you won't need a tank, it will top off automatically, I love mine, also it protects from water overflowing in your tank, what a bargain

 

[robo100]

Hey guys thanks for the replys. The tank I was looking at was 120 X 20 X 30 all glass aquarium. This is from Oceanic and they have options to drill the tank and provide one or two overflows with silencers. They also had options to have black painted sides and back which may be a good option for this installation. I am making a big jump from the 80 gallon tank that I currently have.

Thanks for the topoff link, I think I will get one of these. Right now we are in the very early stages of designing the house plans so I just want to make sure I think about this and get it right..

 

[Krish]

Sounds great! Just plan it all out and ask whatever questions you have on your mind so you don't have any regrets later

 

[staticx]

Okay
I will focus on the sump and flow I guess, for a 300 gal you should just drill 3 1 1/2 inc holes at the water line and screen them for your over flow or just pop in a overflow up to you .no hang on the back for that size tank. as far as flow your gonna need alot i maen alot If you have a 300 gal main tank and a 100 gal sump you are going to need at leats a ten time turn over in your main tank that means about 3000 pgh comming out of your drains and going back into your tank via your sump. so your return pump from your sump should be about 4000 gph. you should do a closed loop in your main tank probly a 6 or a 8 way with a 5000 gph pump and you will be good