Help me plan my 225g Reef Tank

[savethereef]

Hey Everyone. Well its that time again. Time to UPGRADE!!!!
1st ill let you know about my current tank i have. Its a 180g Acrylic Penninsula tank. its 6x2x2 made of 1/2 inch all around. For drains it has one 1.5 inch and two 3/4 returns. In the stand i have a 75g sump with a BM250 skimmer. Its rated for up to 500+ gallons but we all know how skimmers are over rated. tank is LPS Dominant with some SPS around. As for lights i just got a 72' aquamedic with three 250w Pheonix 14k DE bulbs and four T-5's.
For a return pump i am running a Dolphin Ampster 2700/3200 model which is teed off to run returns and my 1/3 current usa chiller. Well here is a short video of my current tank as you can see my fish love me they alway follow me



middle mh on only

Well here are my plans!!!


Me and my wife think its time for another kid to make a total of three. and want to make more room. Dont get me wrong i love my current tank but kids are 1st.

i plan on getting a traditional tank againts the wall the dimmensions will be similar to this. i am planning on a
72L x 30W x 24H which is the same like what i have now just 6 inches wider and it will have a black back. Also i plan on using all my current equipment on this tank as possible. for this size tank can i still get away with the same size for drain and returns. which is one 1.5 for drain and two 3/4 returns. As for who will build this tank i am going to get Advance Acrylics to built it for me.
My second question is what is the best placement for the over flow right in the middle or in the corner. Or is a External overflow better? Also i plan on getting a tunze wave box for this new tank.

third question is Bracing. since i have a Aquamedic with 3 MH what is the best patter for the bracing? i tried looking for pictures of tanks with these dimmension but had no luck so dont know what to do as for bracing.

Thanks in advance everyone.

Happy Reefing

 

[savethereef]

If you can see on the last picture the back side of the tank where the book shelf is thats where i plan on putting the new tank. that area is exactly 6 feet long. so it will fit nicely in there.

 

[KRASHPD]

Nice looking tank that you have now Rob. As for placement of the overflow, that is just a preference issue. I prefer to have two overflows on a 225g with the overflows in the back corners. Most people stand right in front of the tank so I don't want to tank up room in the middle for overflows instead of rock and corals. One of my last acrylic tanks had the overflows in the corners with the return from the top in the middle. Actually looked nice with good flow throughout the tank. I wouldn't go with an external overflow.

I used a tunze wavebox in the past and they ave very nice. It won't be enough flow by itself but it definately makes a big difference. Hopefully someone with more experience with bracing can help you with that question.

 

[savethereef]

Thanks KRASHPD

So for a 1.5 inch drain what the maximum GPH it can Drain? also for a 3/4 what is the Maximum i can push thru. i really want to avoid buying another pump.

As for flow in the tank i currently have a Tunze 6060 and a tunze 6025 and two Seios one is a M1500 and the other is a M820 + i will buy a wave box. so inside i will be pushing about 3,000 gph inside the display + the wave box.

Also still deciding if i will go BB or or SSB. I have about 13 fish and 4 of those are tangs and i still plan to add a Sohal and nazo to the tank so thats alot of poo.


So any one can comment on Bracing.

 

[kajung2k]

hey.. check out this page: http://flexpvc.com/WaterFlowBasedOnPipeSize.shtml

I'm just quoting the web page:

1.5" Pipe 35 to 126 GPM or 2100 to 7560 GPH]
.75" Pipe 11 to 36 GPM or 660 to 2160 GPH]

hope that helps.

 

[savethereef]

Cool thanks so i have settled to go with the 1.5 inch drain and two 3/4 returns.

Lets talk bracing. what do you guys recommend. i am using a 3 MH lights. from a Aquamedic

 

[DanW]

Hey savethereef,

You may want to check on having a single 1.5” return. I’m also looking into this and found the following on wetwebmedia:

I just started reading your site and have learned quite a bit in a short period of time. You mentioned going to Reef Central for calculation of drain size. For 1200 GPH they recommend 1.43 inch minimum drain pipe diameter and 18 inches of linear overflow size.
(I'd recommend at least two 1.5" ID diameter lines for 1200 actual gph flow)
In the various responses to articles you seemed to recommend for a 120 gal tank and the above flow rate 2 overflows with 1" to 1.5" of drain diameter. I know that more is better but could I get by with a 6" x 8" center overflow box and one 1.5" drain or do I need to go to a 2" drain.
(The two inch)
I don't want to put more than one drain hole in the overflow because I want to use a Durso or Stockman standpipe and having 2 in one overflow makes it more difficult to debug problems w/ the standpipe. Also, both Durso and Stockman only offer the standpipe for a 1.5" bulkhead.
(You can make these...)
2" may be too large for a standpipe.
(... uh, no)
Having one center overflow will make it easier to design and build a closed loop manifold so I don't have to go around to corner overflows.
(Understood)
Thanks for your time
(Thank you for your participation. Bob Fenner)

Thought that I’d pass it along.

Dan