First sump

[Youngsilver]

wWell i picked a heck of a sump for my first 1, haha, a 75 gallon sump/fuge for a 300g tank. I used lowes glass for the baffles. a 18" skimmer/overfowdumping area, then 3 baffles in the over under over pattern, then an approx 17" fuge, then 2 baffles in over under order, then n 8" return area with a 1.5" bulkhead through the end. I then used auto tint on the front to cover everthing but the return area bc the owner didnt want alot of light shining out of the stand, bc people keeping opening it up to see what the light is. I forgot to get some full photos while i had the sump out, so installed is the best i can do. Forgive me for my premature epostulation bc I have yet to replumb it, the current plumbing is what is left over from the wet/dry.


Here you can see teh old 45g wetdry setup and some ugly guy

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finished product:

you can see how i left the return area clear as to make it easy to see the water level w/ the fuge lights off.

 

[kpk]

Nice work. Is that the tank at the restaurant? It should turn into a nice setup...

Kyle

 

[Youngsilver]

thanks, yeah it is. It definately has a ton of potential

 

[kpk]

Shoot yeah get about 200lbs of LR if not more and that thing should rock and roll. Is it gonna be fowlr?

 

[Youngsilver]

Wanting to add t-5s, maybe halides, jsut enought to have some softies and low light LPS

 

[Travis L. Stevens]

You could do VHOs fine. There might be a heat issue with an enclosed top and the sump being pretty much enclosed. T5s are brighter and cooler. But man oh man! Halides would be awesome if you could talk him into it. That would mean building a canopy though

 

[kpk]

You may look into some vhos too. I like the Icecap ballasts, and they aren't too expensive, but I have heard some dang good things about the t5s too. Heck do 4, or 5 175w halides with 14ks and you could keep alot, but may cost quite a bit more.

I bet that is a fun project. I just setup a 150g for my gfs parents with 150lbs of rock, it is really fun to do other setups. It will have a clown trigger (already have in a 55g), and maybe a couple angels and tangs. It is still in the cycle process. Maybe someday I will have my own 300g haha...

 

[Youngsilver]

yeah thats what makes it so much fun, the fact that it is like actually getting to have my dream tank w/o paying for it all haha

 

[kpk]

After looking closer at the pics looks like it has a short hood. I think the easiest thing would be just to retro 2 icecap 660s in there with either 8 48" bulbs or what is it 6 72".

 

[kpk]

sorry 4 72" bulbs...

 

[kpk]

LOL good way to look at it. Heck make a part time business out of it and you could afford one maybe...

 

[Travis L. Stevens]

Luckily it's not really a "hood" per say. It's open top. It's a fake hood.

 

[kpk]

Easily fixed, put some support across it and make a hinged door ontop...

 

[Youngsilver]

Yeah I think that 8 VHOs or T5s will proably be the way to go

 

[Travis L. Stevens]

Re: First sump

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7155259#post7155259 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Youngsilver

Here you can see teh old 45g wetdry setup and some ugly guy

Hhheeyyy now. Let's no make a beauty contest out of this. Afterall, Paul in his mermaid outfit will beat the both of us :lmao:

 

[Travis L. Stevens]

If you decided to do (8) 48" T5s you would need the following

(4) 128w Workhorse Ballasts - $26.95 ($107.80)
(8) 46.5" Parabolic Reflectors - $20.04 ($160.32)
(8) Waterproof End Caps (Pair) - $9.87 ($78.96)
(8) 48" 54w T5 HO Bulbs - $20.95 ($167.60) [Average Price]

Grand Total - $514.68

 

[Youngsilver]

I typed this up the other day, jsut to see where I stould, MH to VHO comparison:

Prices form Hellolights.com

Option 1: Metal Halides

4x 400 watt metal halide ballasts $64 ea. $256
4x XM Brand 10k bulbs$708ea. $280
4X Reflectors w/ Mogul Base $29 ea. $116
4x power cords $7 ea. $ 28

Total Watts:1600
Watts per gallon: 5.53

Provides the ability for any soft corals or Large polyp stony corals to thrive.
Total: $660 (kit price)



Option 2: VHOs

2x 48" 4 lamp complete kit with 50/50 10k/actinic bulbs $466


Total Watts: 880
Watts per gallon: 2.93

Provides ability to grow soft corals and select low light LPS

Total $466

 

[Travis L. Stevens]

Option 1 would allow you to grow anything. Option two would allow you to grow soft corals, Most LPS, and select SPS

Edit: Option one would most likely need a chiller too.

 

[Youngsilver]

I thought 3watts/gallon was somewhat low light?

 

[kpk]

I would go vhos, 4x400w halides would heat the place up. 3 watts per gallon of vho is plenty for quite a few corals...