90g 24" tall x 13" deep x 5' wide, help pls.

[Newreeflady]

Setting this up for inverts/softies and some lps. Will filter with live rock, dsb, skimmer and likely will add a refuge later.

Tank has 3 viewing sides, therefore all plumbing/fixtures/etc must be contained to one 13" side.

Better:

a) Tunze 6110 on the 13" side, sump return in snake loc thingys. Is the Tunze like a powerhead where it feeds from the tank, or do you feed it from your return?

b) One of the smaller (6000?) versions coming out from Tunze on the 13" side, and a sea swirl on the opposite end of the tank.

c) Sea swirls on both ends of the tank fed from return pump.


Return pump is dolphin aquasea 3600 I believe. Sump size undetermined, will feed skimmer also from this pump.

Feel free to offer abstract suggestions. thanks a bunch

Angela.

 

[rvitko]

I would go with the 6000 or better yet 2 and a multicontroller, a 6100 could work but the DSB could be a problem. I don't really know to much about Dolphin pumps but I wouldn't buy one to find out either. I would go with GRI, they are quiet, energy efficient and very easy to service. I would use Sea Swirl units as well. You are trying to create random flow, you can't get better than pulsing wide flow from your Stream and oscillating a more directed flow from a Sea Swirl. I generally think sharing a pump to return and run a skimmer is a bad idea, you complicate your adjustments and as the pumps slows and plumbing gets bio growths you will be constantly adjusting. Get the pump the manufacturer recommends for the skimmer, it is the only way to be sure the product is in proper operation. For your aquarium I would recommend either a Tunze 230/3, a Euroreef CS-1 or a Aqua C EV-120. These three skimmers have always served me very well, each has their own advantages and draw backs and your research will show which is best for you.

 

[Newreeflady]

With only one wall to conceal, would it be redundant to put two 6000's on the same wall facing the same direction? Or, just put one higher and one lower? I can only use the one wall (13" wide x 24" tall), which remember i'll also have to drill a generic overflow into.

thanks,
Angela.

 

[rvitko]

Oh, well I missed that part. I guess your best option is a 6000 with single controller this is called 6010 and then use the GRI to run a 3/4" Sea Swirl on the other end. The 6000 is like powerhead and just recirculates water in the tank. Sorry for the mix up.

 

[Newreeflady]

Will the flow from the 6000 be enough to reach the end of the 5ft tank with enough force? Do you think I might be better off with the 6100 and just use it at a lesser force and up it if needed since it is controllable? Or is it just way too powerful for this tank even adjusted to low?

Thanks so much for you're help.
angela.

 

[rvitko]

Well, the 6100 cranked down would be OK, at full power I think it is better suited to a 6-7ft tank. The 6000 is better suited to a 4ft tank. The difficulty for me is that the main advantage of the power adjustment is to set the pump to pulse, the more difference between the pulses the better the wave action, you wouldn't want to crank it down to low. It will depend on inhabitants mostly. With mainly SPS the 6100 would be a better choice provided you don't use a fine deep sand bed which would be stirred up to much on anything over half power.

 

[Newreeflady]

So, for a 5 foot mixed tank with deep sand bed, i'd have to have two of the 6000s really. Man, why do things have to be so darned complicated I don't want to get just one 3000 if it won't even do much good in 5ft tank. But, I guess I can't really turn the 6100 to pulse between say 20-45% power, right? That isn't really good either you're saying, correct? Sorry for all the questions, thanks a lot.

Angela.

 

[rvitko]

It is just that I cannot predict these things without seeing the set up, how will the rock and sand effect flow? I think the 6100 would work but the ideal would be a 6000 on each end and a center mounted SeaSwirl. The 6100 will give a flow between 1280gph and 3250gph and the 6000 is between 650 and 1850. The wider the pulse differnece the greater the turbulence effect. I think you could pulse the 6100 between 1280 and 2500gph. My concern is the tank is narrow and will that channel the flow and cause more sand disturbance than it has in my tanks which are all at least 18" wide. The flow from a Stream is very wide at about 24" at 24" away from the pump, I cannot predict this effect so I am being cautious. For that matter a 6000 and 6100 have only the difference of a transformer so one can be converted to the other for about $70 if you find it is too much or too little.

 

[Newreeflady]

Thank you, Roger. Yeah, I understand that it would be ideal to have one on each end, this is what makes this setup a challenge where flow is concerned. I think i'll probably try the 6100 since you say I can downgrade it I need to... hopefully I don't need to. I will probably not even be able to use it until I have all of the rock I want, which i'll end up accumulating over time... until that point, i'll just use the sea swirl on the opp end. I'll also make a spray bar and split the return to that and the sea swirl, maybe that would help with more flow.

Thanks so much for you're help.
Angela.