Fist, I would like to say hi. I have been in and out of the hobby for a few years and I have been a member of RC for a while. My last tank was a 12 Nano Cube DX. Last week I decided I wanted to build another reef tank. I started looking and I found an acrylic 360gallon that is 96x36x24.
About the tank it will be a room divider with a bar on one side. It has an overflow in the center of one end. There is one whole in the overflow for the drain to the sump. On each side of the over flow it has two whole for a return loop with a drain at the bottom and a return at the top. The return from the sump is also drilled on the right side where the close loop return is. It has euro bracing around the top with a whole cut in each corner for a spray bar. The sump is a large Rubbermaid ® http://www.supplyhero.com/Rubbermaid-70-Gallon-Stock-Tank.1362.52020.3.htm … see link.
Now my questions…
Question 1) Flow…. What kind of flow do I need per hour for the sump? I’m thinking about using Eductors on each side of the over flow in the close loops. I’m thinking of doing one close loop on the top where the four whole are, or would two close loops be better there because of the length of the tank. I’m not sure what size pumps to buy because I don’t know how much flow I need. I was thinking the tank needs to turn over 10 times per hour. I plan on using an AquaC EV-240 skimmer with a Mag drive 1800.
Question 2) Lighting…. I was thinking of using four 400watt MH’s. Now since the tank is only 24 inches deep can I use 250watt MH’s. I don’t want to run a chiller. So I don’t want heat to be an issue. I’ve never had an acrylic tank so I’m not sure how the MH’s heat will affect them. I don’t want to melt the tank. The hood will be 12 or 14 inches tall BTW. So I can adjust the height of the light over the water. I will probably add two Ice Cap 660’s with eight 4’ VHO’s four 4’ on each side. It seems like I remember the MH’s giving off a 2’ span of light.
I’m sure it depend on what I will be keeping in the tank. So the plan is a 4†sand bed. Probably 400ish lbs of live rock, I’m not going to fill it full of rock. I want some open space for the fish to swim. I want to be able to keep SPS, LPS and Clams and Fish
I will try to post some pics today.
Thanks for any help. If you need any more info or have any question please ask.
hershell
About the tank it will be a room divider with a bar on one side. It has an overflow in the center of one end. There is one whole in the overflow for the drain to the sump. On each side of the over flow it has two whole for a return loop with a drain at the bottom and a return at the top. The return from the sump is also drilled on the right side where the close loop return is. It has euro bracing around the top with a whole cut in each corner for a spray bar. The sump is a large Rubbermaid ® http://www.supplyhero.com/Rubbermaid-70-Gallon-Stock-Tank.1362.52020.3.htm … see link.
Now my questions…
Question 1) Flow…. What kind of flow do I need per hour for the sump? I’m thinking about using Eductors on each side of the over flow in the close loops. I’m thinking of doing one close loop on the top where the four whole are, or would two close loops be better there because of the length of the tank. I’m not sure what size pumps to buy because I don’t know how much flow I need. I was thinking the tank needs to turn over 10 times per hour. I plan on using an AquaC EV-240 skimmer with a Mag drive 1800.
Question 2) Lighting…. I was thinking of using four 400watt MH’s. Now since the tank is only 24 inches deep can I use 250watt MH’s. I don’t want to run a chiller. So I don’t want heat to be an issue. I’ve never had an acrylic tank so I’m not sure how the MH’s heat will affect them. I don’t want to melt the tank. The hood will be 12 or 14 inches tall BTW. So I can adjust the height of the light over the water. I will probably add two Ice Cap 660’s with eight 4’ VHO’s four 4’ on each side. It seems like I remember the MH’s giving off a 2’ span of light.
I’m sure it depend on what I will be keeping in the tank. So the plan is a 4†sand bed. Probably 400ish lbs of live rock, I’m not going to fill it full of rock. I want some open space for the fish to swim. I want to be able to keep SPS, LPS and Clams and Fish
I will try to post some pics today.
Thanks for any help. If you need any more info or have any question please ask.
hershell