1K Reef

[748S911]

Coming up on 16 year anniversary on Reefcentral and to this day...this hobby and forum has been a big part of my life.

After a lot of consideration, I'm starting my next build. Gonna keep this reef low maintenance and very simple. Lights, skimmer, uv, cheato, action!

I love a ton of fish and not so reef safe angels too. I've done it before, this time I will give corals plenty of time to mature, before I add angels and other not so reef safe animals.

That being said....

The Tank:

I'm going with Miracles custom 1000 gallon tank give or take a few gallons its gotta fit in the house lol. 120x48x3?

Lighting:

I love T5 and MH and had tons of success with them in the past, but going with all LEDs for this build. LEDs are proven to grow beautiful coral and tech now has made this an easy decision for me.

Going with 12-16 Ecotech Radions XR30 G5's spaced 16inches apart and 8inches off surface.

Flow:

6-8 Ecotech MP-60's (has anyone mounted them on bottom?)

2 Gyres

Filtration:

Nyos Skimmer
Large UV sterilizer

Fuge:

Chaeto

Dosing:

Ecotech Versa dosing pumps

Two part B ionic, maybe down road will upgrade to calcium reactor when corals mature.

Fish room:

Quarantine fish tank- 100 gallons

Quarantine Coral tank- 100 gallons

all corals and fish will be quarantined for 6months before introduced to main system.

From past experience, 1 new fish or coral can kill everything!

Saltwater mixing station

Need help on dehumidifier options.

 

[Dmorty217]

You mentioned mounting the MP60s on the bottom, can you elaborate? You mean having the flow be vertical? With a tank that size I would look into having 2 closed loop systems with some supplemental flow from a few Mp60s

 

[748S911]

Yes vertical, flow wise it would be great to get random flow patterns.

Placing two mp60's on bottom close to end of tank, maybe even two gyres to help with dead spots.

This is gonna be a peninsula style aquarium and I don't want powerheads on glass.

Gyres and mp60's will be on overflow side, want to keep the three panes of glass pump free.

I could look into closed loop options, maybe this is the best route. But worried about maintainability and issues down the road with servicing. (I'm not drilling anything on tank) so this would be pvc pipes hooked up to a red dragon or something like that if I go this route.

Mp60's and gyres on bottom are easily removed, cleaned, accessible, and replaceable.

Worst part of reefing in my opinion is ease of access. I hated cleaning my skimmer and equipment because I would have to get under tank and work in tight spaces. So this time around I will have sump, pumps, and everything easily accessible.

 

[Dmorty217]

I would plan the closed loop with the tank builder so there is no drilling done by you. As far as easy of cleaning goes, when properly planned for the two pumps running the closed loop would be much easier to clean and less time consuming. Also the closed loop outlets can come up from the bottom of the tank allowing you to hide the outputs with rock work making the tank look very clean and seamless

 

[tom obrecht]

I'd agree with closed loops! With a display this size and your wanting to keep a clean look I'd recommend closed loops with dc pumps such as Abyzz or like option that can be configured to wave type flow. That way you can have varied flow throughout and yet keep the noise from pumps to an absolute minimum.

 

[748S911]

I hate closed loops and with reef tech nowadays, I feel closed loops are on there way out. I don't want to worry about any extra holes on this build.

I will sacrifice clean look somewhat to not go closed loop. Maybe 4 Ecotech L2's dc pumps with loc line return nozzles attached to random flow generators. All this will be hidden in rock work, this will make it to easy to remove pumps for servicing and replacements or upgrades in the future.

With reef tech evolving as fast as it is...I want be able to swap and replace stuff as time goes on with out being a huge nightmare for change and upgrades..need lots of flexibility for this build.

 

[Dmorty217]

I swear to you that you will be very disappointed with the vectras, they don’t move nearly enough water. Also going back to mounting the mp60s on the bottom of the tank... this will be a huge PIA when cleaning and putting them back into the tank. You will always need a second person to align the pumps properly to prevent excess noise and irregular magnet wear from not being aligned properly. Get on YouTube and look at larger tanks like you want and see what they’re using. Most wish they would have done it differently

 

[748S911]

6 mp60's and 2 gyres will be more than enough flow in the tank, prob overkill.

I was thinking add 4 bommies with 12inch 3/4 pipe on a T with dual loc line returns on rfg's powered by 4 individual Vectra L2.

The L2 with 12inch of 3/4 pipe will be strong enough to mix up flow at 3100gph.

Maybe 2 boomies at 12inches and 2 boomies at 6 inches.

That would make 16 returns pumping out all different directions.


it would look something like this if your looking top down the x is 6inch boomie and the X is 12inch boomie.

x X x X

 

[748S911]

It should be enough flow, only thing with this whole idea is how long are the power cords? lol

 

[748S911]

I was just looking at the a400 abyss and at $3k price tag for one pump at 4500 gph on closed loop with nightmare plumbing lol (my plumbing skills are terrible) I spend hours looking for plumbing parts at Home Depot, just to come home and not be able use any of it lol.

Or I can do 4 Vectra L2's, 4 T's, 4 12inch 3/4 pvc pipe, 16 random flow generator tips, and 8 dual loc line return nozzles. for $2300 or less. I won't even have to use glue lol that's a win win in my book.

 

[wtac]

I haven't seen much talk of SeaSwirls in quite some time. If you are planning an open top, they aren't the prettiest things to see up top.

 

[locito277]

The Vectras have repeatedly failed me on my 720. L1s. I now have a tiger sharks and a golden hammerhead for closed loop.

 

[locito277]

I use 2 seaswirls and just had 2 more delivered. Great gadget.

 

[saf1]

Just keying in on one of your requirements:

* Gonna keep this reef low maintenance and very simple

I'm going to second what Dmorty217 is suggesting with regards to a closed loop. You are talking about a Miracles custom 1000 gallon tank and we all here know that isn't cheap. Add in your lighting choice and number of units I'm thinking you have room in your budget to do things right the first time rather than coming back later when it may not be possible. By not possible I'm talking about your design / installation will prohibit forcing you to start over...or expense needed to correct.

Let us get back to the maintenance aspect of it. You mentioned 6 to 8 MP 60's and a pair of Gyres. Not sure what version you hare using but having a pair of XF250's I'll say that while they move a metric ton of water they need cleaning. At least once a month.
Not a huge effort but time. Now you also noted 6 or 8 MP's. More cleaning. Also position as already noted will require a template on the top to mount and align if doing solo or two people. I'm not sure how this fits into your "low maintenance" but I honestly don't see it as such.

I recently upgraded from a 40 breeder to a 210 gallon tank, much smaller than what you are considering, and boy do I wish I did things differently. One thing I learned after the fact is that larger tanks require more stuff to keep them going. Sure, we can keep them simple but there are other things to consider such as the amount of rock needed to promote healthy fish, their safety, and of course corals. If that is what you are doing. And ease of maintenance is not just about cleaning pumps. It also includes how you handle water changes, redundancy, and of course repairs.

You mentioned plumbing isn't your thing. That is perfectly fine. Don't be shy and hire someone or ask to help build your list. I understand the abyz pump is expensive but so is your overall tank. It is goin to be a drop in the bucket all things considered. I recently watched a video and a well known hobbyist was showcasing their closed loop. Two of us right off the bat pointed out that they had the return pumps mounted under the tank, from the bulk head, without support. Noise and vibration is going to cause problems at that location and they will have a leak on their hands...

So we all make mistakes . Point is - you have a large build. A large dream. Stick to your goal of low maintenance and build around it. You may have to rob Peter to pay Paul but at the end of the day you did it only once...

Lastly - I can't speak of a tank that size. My largest is 210 as I said with my current upgrade. I did go with 2 x 1" Sea Swirls with attached random flow generators. They work great and really provide flow at the surface level. I have a pair of XF250 gyres but recently reduced them to a single unit. I'm struggling with flow but a lot of that has to do with the width of my tank (54" x 30" x 30"), amount of rock, and tank coral maturity. Which gets me back to that darn "planning" word

Anyway sounds like an awesome build. I like closed loops and in tanks that size you can make them invisible. Best of luck!

 

[saf1]

I haven't seen much talk of SeaSwirls in quite some time. If you are planning an open top, they aren't the prettiest things to see up top.

This is true. However, you can do some small tricks to reduce the noise (plumbing line and unions). They work great though.

 

[saf1]

I swear to you that you will be very disappointed with the vectras, they don't move nearly enough water. Also going back to mounting the mp60s on the bottom of the tank... this will be a huge PIA when cleaning and putting them back into the tank. You will always need a second person to align the pumps properly to prevent excess noise and irregular magnet wear from not being aligned properly. Get on YouTube and look at larger tanks like you want and see what they're using. Most wish they would have done it differently

Tend to agree. Not to mention you will be limited to bare bottom. Now let us factor in fish and clean up crew behavior and we have more risk. Especially if you are using any of the flow patterns. Too much risk placing them on the bottom.

 

[748S911]

Thanks everyone for all the input.... all things considered, I’m going all MP60’s and the biggest gyres available for this build.

Returns will be red dragons or abyss pumps.

 

[mansorinc]

I’m excited for you, I can’t wait to see the progress!

 

[748S911]

House purchased, tank ordered from Miracles.

120x60x30, 1000 gallon monster

Delivery of tank and home August or September 2021

 

[748S911]