"Glad to be back" 30g shallow mixed reef

[KEEPonREEFING]

So after around a year hiatus from the hobby, I could not be happier to have another tank running. After selling my 150 right after a restart due to moving, I set up a Solana that I could just never get running the way I wanted. The all in one concept frustrates me. So I sold that and took a break from the hobby. I started skydiving which may be just as addictive as reef keeping. Now a licensed skydiver, I came across an opportunity to a 30g (24x24x12) shallow tank. It was actually the guy I sold my 150 to. He has been running 2 tanks and was tired of it. So I jumped on it.

Equipment:
24x24x12 acrylic rimless custom tank
Custom built stand
AI Vega w/ director
Next reef sump
Vertex omega 130 skimmer

Plans for this tank is to keep everything simple. I have found it works better for me and my livestock. It's going to stay a mixed reef. There are no power heads in the tank right now. The only flow is produced from the return pump which I plan on changing this week. I'm going to keep the flow rate right around 20x. The predicament I am currently in is I don't want any power heads on the sides of the tank since it is viewed from both sides. So I thought about doing 1 tunze 6045 on one side of the overflow set about half way since flow is controllable. I also thought about doing 2 koralia 240's one on each side of the overflow. Thoughts on that would he much appreciated. I also plan to add a tunze nano ato. I will be ordering both by the end of this week. So onto some crappy pictures. They were taken late in the light cycle so mainly blues where on.

This is one problem I have with the set up is the overflow gurgles pretty loud at times. Any ideas on what I could do to quiet it down some would be great. I look forward to finally have a stable system that I like and can grow with. I'm glad to be back on the hobby and looking forward to some helpful advise and sharing this journey that has been a long time coming. Thank you for reading.

Here is a picture of my old 150 in its current state with the guy I sold it to.

 

[splix]

gurgling usually means you're pulling faster than a true syphon in your drain and it starts to pull air. Sort of hard to explain but thats what is going on. You'll want to use that ball valve you have on your drain and get the water JUST to the point that its stable when looking at it with the cap off. Not looking like it's boiling, but not so much that you're limiting yourself on the drain either. I have mine to the point that the water is just barely boiling/tumbling. That way I know I wont get gurgles nor limiting my flow.

 

[KEEPonREEFING]

Few shots of the corals under the blues. Still up in the air on what to do for flow. I'm going to stick with tunze but haven't decided on going with the 6015 or the 6045.