48x36x24 in the works

W

wsun083

Active member
I'm setting up a 180g shallow reef tank and had a few questions. i'll start w/ lighting.

1) this is the most deep tank i have tried and so i'm not sure what lighting would work. i was going to be safe and just go w/ lumenarcs on galaxy ballasts, but i've decided i might want to try t5s. i think that ati fixtures are a bit too steep but i haven't ruled it out yet. what's the major differences between the ati fixtures and the tek fixtures? would the 48" 8 bulb fixture be enough spread on a 36" wide tank?


2) i'm still torn between a closed loop or using powerheads. i do have tunzes lying around but i hate the clutter of powerheads in the tank. i also have a few external pumps lying around i could utilize, but i am away from my tank for extended periods of time. i was thinking of doing closed loop and supplementing the flow w/ some powerheads, but if i'm gonna go closed loop, i might as well go all the way and eliminate the powerheads. any suggestions? i'm a bit unfamiliar w/ closed loop manifolds so if anyone has any links i'd greatly appreciate it.

i'm sure i will many problems will arise and i will post some pics along w/ numerous questions about the problems i face :). any feedback would be greatly appreciated.
 
Will, I see that you have found a new tank already. That would be a great size for a reef. Are you going with sps again? If you go with a CL check out either a Ocean Motion 4 way for the random flow or a manifold for constant flow( flexpvc.com , lots of nice plumbing parts as well)....Lighting, depends on what you are going to be growing, SPS, or a mixed reef. Being 24" deep you might be ok with the T5 as long as the sps are high enough of course. In my opinion you can never go wrong with a halide setup. Use those 400w setups you had. 2 of those and you'll be set. Or the two 250's. Have you purchased the tank already? Glass or acrylic?
 
hey brian, thanks for the response.

the tank is acrylic, i might be moving it around and i love glass but glass is just too damn heavy. yeah, i guess i could just stick w/ the 400s, i always want something new, lol. i'm not too sure about this manifold business, i gotta do some more research. why did you decide to go w/ tunzes rather than a closed loop? it seems like closed loop systems are much cheaper, lol.
 
I might go with a closed loop. Not really sure right now. My tank is already drilled for one. I forgot to tell you about glassholes.com They have very nice low-profile overflows. If your going with acryllic it will be easy to install. If you go with a closed loop, OM 4 way would be the way to go. A little pricey though. Check them out. So many options.........
 
Those 400's are going to be too intense for your 24" tank, even if its SPS only. 175's or 250's would definitely do the job and cut down on your power bills. Also T5 will be able to handle 24" of water no sweet and it will be easier to tweak color.

I would also go with a closed loop even though the new tunzes are very nice and I also highly recommend them. Good thing about the closed loop is that if its done well it looks very nice and clean. Good thing about the tunzes is you can move them whenever you want and constantly tinker with them and change whenever you like or your needs change. Also, a good closed loops is going to be more expensive after buying a OM, pump, and proper plumbing.
 
From all I've heard the tek light is very good though the ATI has been rated higher (and so is the price). There is a long thread on T5 lighting in the lighting forum and I'm pretty sure they have discussed these fixtures forwards and backwards. They could answer any questions you have.
 
The ATI kicks the Tek's PAR out put (and so they should for the added price). I'm in the planning stages of a tank with the exact same dimensions as yours and i'm going T5 all the way. I already have one 36" , 6 bulb ATI fixture and i could not be happier with it. The individual reflectors and active cooling make make a big difference, especially since PAR output drops significantly at higher temps.
As for closed loops v wavemakers, after much research i believe wavemakers are way more cost effective as the running cost of a closed loop is significantly higher than that of in tank Wmakers. Not to forget that if your closed loop malfunctions, you are left with no means of moving water within your tank. Im going for a Eheim 1262 as a return (mainly because i can't get a RD in M'sia), a tunze wavebox and possibly 1 X vortech or 1 X 6105
 
Nice to see you picked up a tank William! I guess We'll have pretty similar set ups. On a 48"x36" tank, Id go with a bunch of T5s. How bout the Giesemann 12x54w T5 fixture, that thing looks insanely nice. you could also even use a couple Tek T5 fixtures, which would be cheaper. Cant wait to see this thing up and running.

Also, Id stick with the Tunzes or a vortech. Theres no chance of a leak, which is awesome. You dont have to worry about plumbing, or any of the PITA. Price wise, a couple Tunzes are pricey. But after the cost of a hammer head, and an OM4way youre close to the same price. And the Tunzes are ~1/4 the electricity (1/4 the heat importantly).

On another note William, if you want to foam and epoxy the rear, and maybe have some rock structures secured into the wall (I wish I did that), Id be happy to help you out bud. Just give me a call or a PM. Maybe I can take you up on some of that good smelling food if its my carb day ;) lol Congrats again, though.
 
For a 48"x36" footprint, I think a 12x39w T5 setup is probably your best bet. If you have eurobracing (which an acrylic likely will), there will be 4" covered around the edge anyway, so you are wasting watts with the 54w bulbs. I've got a 12x54w on a 60x36 and it does a great job. AO is having a sale on Sfiligois now, you can get a 12x39w stealth for 1080. You also could do a 10x39w ATI powermodule as the bulbs are spread apart a bit further in these units.
 
so on the tank i have (2) 2" drains on the bottom for a closed loop and (2) 1" drains from the overflow box. I haven't decided whether or not to just plug up the 2" drains and go w/ tunzes.

If i didn't decide to go closed loop but wanted to run a dart pump as my return, how would i plumb it? i was thinking i'd plug one of the 2 inchers up and used the other one along w/ the (2) 1" drains to drain into the sump. then i'd have a ton of returns. is that too much flow running through the sump? i will be running an external skimmer. does this question even make sense? i feel like i'm missing the boat on this here, lol.
 
I honestly dont get how people run a dart as their return. Maybe someone who is familiar with that can chime in. To me though, it seems like too much flow. Id run an eheim 1262, or a Mag18-24 for your return.

If you do the CLS, thats your choice. but I dont think it should be predicated upon what you use as far as your sump and return pump go. PERSONALLY, I would plug them up, and run some Tunzes. You already have a couple 6101s IIRC. Even just adding a couple 6045s in the rear, adding some directional flow, would be good. I have minimal corals, and I run 2 6045s, and a Vortech, with a mag18 return pump. Things seem to be working fine for me. Though Id like to add another Vortech.

Will, let me know before you get started, we can foam that beast. It'll look 10x better than mine, since we will (or can, I should say) epoxy it, and put some rubble rock in it, to make it look more natural. LMK if you are up for it, I can make the trip down, or you can bring it here. It should only take a day or two, though.
 
yeah, the only reason why i wanted to do the closed loop was b/c i have so many pumps lying around i thought i should utilize at least one, lol.

so tunze or vortech? i don't have any experience w/ the vortech.
 
Sell the pumps then, lol. Is it going to be at the restaurant? If so, Tunze, since people can fiddle with the Vortechs and knock them off the tank. I like my vortech, but it doesnt FEEL like much flow, even though it may be. It feels like as much flow as my Tunze 6080 that I had. I think a couple vortechs would be cool, since itd take up less space in the tank. Unless, like I said, its at the restaurant. Then you gotta do tunzes. Maybe even a wavebox, to draw some attention to it ;)

If you wanna go barebottom, we could probably use one of those CLS inlets and make a spray bar along the back wall Will. thatd be a way to get you some more flow, and utilize those holes.
 
I have a 48x30x20 acrylic tank. I currently have 1 6x54w tek and 1 4x54w tek. They seem to work pretty well on my tank. More than enough light for sps. I am however upgrading to a 12x54w fixture which I should have on tuesday. For flow I have 2 vortechs, 2 k4s, 1 k3, and one maxijet mod. Over kill but I run a gyre style flow with one vortech on a pulse mod to make a small wave. The one vortech can make a wave of about 1/2" just for you to have an idea. Make sure you get that tank and stand built like a rock if you decide on using any kind of wave box or vortech to create a wave. To give you an idea my tank is made out of 3/4" acrylic all the way around (front, back, sides, 4" euro brace) and 1/2" bottom.
 
Taken when I only had one vortech on the tank. I just added the second one yesterday. The tank has only been setup now for a few weeks, it was upgraded from a 48x18x18 tank. That tank had just a 6x54 watt tek.

tankshot2of2sept14thsmall.jpg
 
Running low turnover through the sump. I actually have two tanks tied into one system. This tank and a 48x30x12 frag tank. Both tanks are being run by just a quietone 4000. A lot of people dislike these pumps, however I've never had a problem with one. Very low wattage, they have never stalled on me. I used a quiteone 3000 for a long time with no problems. Low sump turnover = better skimming. I have a 18x24x22 fuge under the stand with a 24x24x16 sump. The fuge gravity feeds into the sump. I run a msx 250 skimmer in the sump.
 
Here is what it looks like under the stand with out the equipment.
underthestand.jpg


I have my calcium reactor, ato, etc under my frag tank stand.
 
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