Anyone have a 36" wide tank?
- Thread starter dmbnpj
- Start date
asnatlas
New member
Re: Equipment List- Help please! 
Re: Equipment List- Help please!
1) Tank - You can check with Will @ Aquarium Obsessed... He is the one who built my tank and did a really good job...
4) Lights - You could prob get away with 3x 250s in L3 reflectors depending on the corals you want to keep and where... I went with T5's along with my MH's because I wanted a dusk to dawn effect... With you wanting 36" wide, you could prob get away with 4x T5's... You can check @ reefgeek.com...
5) CA reactor - I would look into a GEO geosreef.com/
6) I think a Seq Dart return would be more then enough to feed your tank along with your CA reactor and anything else you may want to add ( I would get two units to have one on stand by incase one goes down, also about every 6 months you can swap them out so that you can do maintenance)...
7) I went with Tunze's (2x 6100s and 4x6200s) because I wanted to move alot of water as cost effectively and right now they seem like the best product to do that... Also since I have 6 units if one were to die I still have 5 more providing water movement... If you have a CL with one pump running it and you don't have a backup on hand and the pump dies then you will lose your CL until you get a replacement pump... I am thinking about adding two wavy sea plus's with the Tunze Connector Adaptor to hold two more 6100s in the back corners of the tank... If you go with a CL you have ALOT more plumbing to deal with and with every connection there is that many more points for a possible leak... Tunzes will be more up front (not much more) but you can come out ahead with in the first yr or so with the savings on electricity...
8) You can use some simple 8" fans from Walmarts...
10) I have a dedicated temp controller along with my Aquatronica for heating and cooling (2x 500w heaters on both controllers)... Right now I don't have a chiller as I feel I don't need one since the setup is in the basement... As of right now I am keeping the tank at 77deg and the heaters seem to be coming on more then I would like so I am going to look into wrapping my Rubbermaid bin to hold in the heat better...
You will want to look at humidity/evaporation and prob setup a fan to exhaust the hot humid air outside... If you can have a cold air intake in your fishroom to pull the humid air into your HAVC unit...
I would use sched 80 BHs on your tank and make sure who ever build the tank knows this as sched 80 BHs are about 30% larger then sched 40 thus needing a larger whole drilled...
Which would you like installed ??
Re: Equipment List- Help please!
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8808632#post8808632 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by dmbnpj
So I am planning on a either a 280 or 336 gallon tank depending on the room I have when I find my new house
280 would be 60x36x30
336 would be 72x36x30
Either or, I think the equipment list will be fairly similar. Here is what I plan on starting off with. As you will see, I need some suggestions on brands and possibly recommendations on other equipment which should be necessary to start this new big tank. Thanks for any help!
1. Tank
2. 75 gallon sump-Take my existing and convert to a sump/refugium with baffles.
3. ASM G4 skimmer (I have a G3 and am happy with it...are there other brands that are possibly better?)
4. Lights- HELP! - I would like to go with metal halides and T5's. I most likely will have the halides suspended from the ceiling. I'm not at all familiar with T5's, so I need help here. Please let the suggestions roll in
5. Calcium Reactor - Don't have one now so I need recommendations on brand/type.
6. Pumps- Leaning toward Sequence externals- How many will I need/what type?
7. Closed loop/tunze/seaswirls?- I think this is gonna take the most thinking.
8. Fans-For display tank and sump
9. Storage tanks with auto topoff- This will probably come later.
10. Heaters-Please recommend type/brand.
Thanks everyone for the help!
1) Tank - You can check with Will @ Aquarium Obsessed... He is the one who built my tank and did a really good job...
4) Lights - You could prob get away with 3x 250s in L3 reflectors depending on the corals you want to keep and where... I went with T5's along with my MH's because I wanted a dusk to dawn effect... With you wanting 36" wide, you could prob get away with 4x T5's... You can check @ reefgeek.com...
5) CA reactor - I would look into a GEO geosreef.com/
6) I think a Seq Dart return would be more then enough to feed your tank along with your CA reactor and anything else you may want to add ( I would get two units to have one on stand by incase one goes down, also about every 6 months you can swap them out so that you can do maintenance)...
7) I went with Tunze's (2x 6100s and 4x6200s) because I wanted to move alot of water as cost effectively and right now they seem like the best product to do that... Also since I have 6 units if one were to die I still have 5 more providing water movement... If you have a CL with one pump running it and you don't have a backup on hand and the pump dies then you will lose your CL until you get a replacement pump... I am thinking about adding two wavy sea plus's with the Tunze Connector Adaptor to hold two more 6100s in the back corners of the tank... If you go with a CL you have ALOT more plumbing to deal with and with every connection there is that many more points for a possible leak... Tunzes will be more up front (not much more) but you can come out ahead with in the first yr or so with the savings on electricity...
8) You can use some simple 8" fans from Walmarts...
10) I have a dedicated temp controller along with my Aquatronica for heating and cooling (2x 500w heaters on both controllers)... Right now I don't have a chiller as I feel I don't need one since the setup is in the basement... As of right now I am keeping the tank at 77deg and the heaters seem to be coming on more then I would like so I am going to look into wrapping my Rubbermaid bin to hold in the heat better...
You will want to look at humidity/evaporation and prob setup a fan to exhaust the hot humid air outside... If you can have a cold air intake in your fishroom to pull the humid air into your HAVC unit...
I would use sched 80 BHs on your tank and make sure who ever build the tank knows this as sched 80 BHs are about 30% larger then sched 40 thus needing a larger whole drilled...
Which would you like installed ??
asnatlas
New member
LOL, Paul was posting as I was writing my book
I was thinking about and would have gone with ext overflow(s) but since I wanted to hide my Tunzes I went with the inside custom "tunzes boxes" on both sides of my center overflow...
And as Paul stated and I posted in my previous post, go with Sched 80 BH's
LOL, yea, I have been to HD/Lowes way too much, as well as with Savko...
dmbnpj
New member
You guys are great! Thanks for all the pictures...I am a visual learner (aka dumb)
Let me start back with Paul....is this drawing how you have yours plumbed? Picture the 2 overflow boxes I drew as external like yours. Are both the holes in the bottom of both draining to your pumps? (I havent drawn in the return holes yet)
(aka dumb)Let me start back with Paul....is this drawing how you have yours plumbed? Picture the 2 overflow boxes I drew as external like yours. Are both the holes in the bottom of both draining to your pumps? (I havent drawn in the return holes yet)
Yes and No...
I have two overflow boxes, as you have, each with two holes. Each hole drains to the sump. No pipes are connected.....
One pipe in each overflow is higher than the other. The reason for that is if one gets blocked, the water will rise in the overflow and use the other pipe. I will see that and realize there is an issue.
If you connhect the pipes then you run the risk of floods by not being able to return the water to the tank fast enough.
make sense?
P.
I have two overflow boxes, as you have, each with two holes. Each hole drains to the sump. No pipes are connected.....
One pipe in each overflow is higher than the other. The reason for that is if one gets blocked, the water will rise in the overflow and use the other pipe. I will see that and realize there is an issue.
If you connhect the pipes then you run the risk of floods by not being able to return the water to the tank fast enough.
make sense?
P.
Definately get your plumbing (other than the bulkheads) at lowes over HD.... Lowes has a much better selection and better equipment. (I have a bit of plumbing in my house)
Dart on closed loop and returns/drains in the basement.
I have over 30 10' pieces of pvc in my basement for all my plumbing.
I ran a Dart on my closed loop.. didnt have to go up that high.
I ran 2x Hammerheads on my returns (1 on each system) since I had to go up 16' and travel over 30' across.
I really like the Big GEO skimmers... I don't think you can appriciate how well a skimmer that is (too big) can be. Just because it says up to 350 gallons doesnt mean that will be enough. Remember high bio loads and such can make a big difference.
I went with 400w SE bulbs on HQI ballasts... with 12k lights I get some real nice color.
I wish I had better pics than this, but I am still cycling the 500g.
to add perspective to the tank size....
Good luck on your system... I can bet you one thing for sure... the more questions you ask, the more varying answers you are going to get.
Dart on closed loop and returns/drains in the basement.
I have over 30 10' pieces of pvc in my basement for all my plumbing.
I ran a Dart on my closed loop.. didnt have to go up that high.
I ran 2x Hammerheads on my returns (1 on each system) since I had to go up 16' and travel over 30' across.
I really like the Big GEO skimmers... I don't think you can appriciate how well a skimmer that is (too big) can be. Just because it says up to 350 gallons doesnt mean that will be enough. Remember high bio loads and such can make a big difference.
I went with 400w SE bulbs on HQI ballasts... with 12k lights I get some real nice color.
I wish I had better pics than this, but I am still cycling the 500g.
to add perspective to the tank size....
Good luck on your system... I can bet you one thing for sure... the more questions you ask, the more varying answers you are going to get.
linky to geo some skimmers for ya.....
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=943436
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=943436
Yeah big skimmers cost big dollars... I run 2 since my system is currently split. 1 that will run all 1200g well is about 2500. The 2 I have are 1 Geo rated for 700g $1299 and 1 Lifereef rated for 800g 1000. Things that make it better are the types of pumps, size, types of materials, exposure time, types of skims it can do etc etc etc. You will get so many different answers on this question.
Check around and you will see, you are going to have a pretty penny in the correct skimmer. Don't skimp too much here. Money saved on the skimmer is going to cost you big in the long run.
Check around and you will see, you are going to have a pretty penny in the correct skimmer. Don't skimp too much here. Money saved on the skimmer is going to cost you big in the long run.
MammothReefer
Active member
mines 60x36x24 it's great.. Next tank I woudln't mind the extra foot.. ie 72x36x24
I'm also just running a G3 on my setup.. and it's waay to small I empty it everyday.
I'm also just running a G3 on my setup.. and it's waay to small I empty it everyday.
dmbnpj
New member
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8811630#post8811630 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by pwhitby
i love the overflows on the outside, so very easy to plumb. It also creates a great deal of extra room inside the tank.
I personally would have your tank drilled on the back for 2 outlets (flow to pump) and 4 returns (from pump to tank). One ach of these use a sequence pump (hi flow, low electrical usage). Split the flow to the two separate outlets.
Heres a pick of the plumbing at the back of mine:
i hadn't plumbed the two overflows, but you can see the closed loop holes.
Plan your rockwork in your head so that you can:
a) Hide the holes
b)get to the outlets to clean the strainers
P.
Paul,
When you said drill the tank in the back with 2 outlets (flow to pump), were those in actual vertical back of the tank? NOT the holes on the bottom of your overflows? For instance, in your setup you have 2 overflows with 4 total holes drilled going to your sump along with 2 extra holes in the back of your tank also draining to the sump? Thanks,
Jeff
Here's the drawing I made for my tank, 72x36x24, built by AO:
(Currently sitting in a friend's warehouse
)
Here's the initial drawing for my stand, being built by a local club member:
Here they are combined:
Last drawing reflects all holes correctly, but bracing isn't 100% accurate and there will be plywood / foam on top of the stand.
(FYI, drawings were done using Google SketchUp, free and pretty easy to use.)
Ted
(Currently sitting in a friend's warehouse
)Here's the initial drawing for my stand, being built by a local club member:
Here they are combined:
Last drawing reflects all holes correctly, but bracing isn't 100% accurate and there will be plywood / foam on top of the stand.
(FYI, drawings were done using Google SketchUp, free and pretty easy to use.)
Ted
