Jacks All Around Weird 335 Build

[mannydouhnut]

Hey there RC. Been putting together an interesting system the past few months and thought I would share my ideas, as well as get some feedback from you guys. I am doing an in wall build with three tanks that will all be connected to the same filtration I am going to have a 200 gallon main display that has really weird dimensions 54"Lx24"Wx44"H(or something like that at least) then a standard 75 to its right and a 2'x2' 60 gallon cube to its left. I do not like the the dimensions of the the 200 very much and because of such will do a minimal aquascape with either stinging LPS and predators or all macros and maybe some gorgonians and doing a huge seahorse and other small mouthfish tank. I know those are two polar opposites bur I'm having trouble deciding on what to do due to those dimensions it will be difficult to build a tall balanced aquascape (at least for me it would) I plan on using a Reef Breeders Photon 48 for this tank so I don't plan on growing very demanding corals I this tank. The 75 is setup right now as a mixed reef it will be moved to its new spot and converted to all SPS once it is moved it is lit by a Photon 48 as well. The 60 cube I will decide what is going in this tank based on the fate of the 200 if the 200 becomes a seahorse biotiope style tank then I will do a pair of orange spot filefish if the 200 becomes a different tank then I will do a large Red Reidi Seahorse pair with maybe a pair of some sort of pipefish pair with all macroalgaes this tank will be lit by a Photon 18. Filtration will consist of 2xASM G2s (eachone rated at 200g) an Aquamedic Acone 1.5 (rated at 3-400 gallons),
a huge turf waterfall style algae scrubber powered by dual 150w halides, dual media reactor if need be with carbon and gfo, Jebao dosing pump with slave unit, Apex w/ Lab Grade PH, and a Jebao DC 12,000 return pump. I also need to decide between two Rubbermaid 100 gallon stock tanks or my two current sumps daisy chained together if I went the Rubbermaid route I would have on dedicated for hpusing equipment and the other a full blown refugium filled with every macroalgae I can get my hands on that coexist well. We'll that's my plan tell me what you think.

 

[dave.m]

Your 200 is far too skinny. A good balance is to make the display tank as tall as it is wide. 44" is an excellent height. Just increase the width to match. Smaller surface area makes for poor gas exchange at the surface, plus a skinny tank leaves you no room to build your rockscape.

Dave.M

 

[o2manyfish]

The 44" is going to be tough to keep clean and to mount corals in.

Building a stable structure using large sized rocks & pond foam is not too hard to do. You can also build a structure using Fiberglass grating - Think of egg crate you could drive a truck on. You build a structure out of the grating with shelves, and then the rock gets placed or foamed onto the structure - Very stable and requires less rock because underneath the rock is open swimming space- your rock is only 1 layer thick.

With the combination of different coral types in different tanks, you might consider making sure you have a fairly decent sized carbon reactor for dealing with the different corals toxicity to each other - High populations of lps and sps in the same water volume can lead to problems as the corals have defense mechanisms against each other.

Dave B