large system filtration ?s

[armison89]

im wondering what the best way to filter my future large tanks. im going to have 2 700 gallon tanks and a 240 gallon tank in a u formation. the tanks will be 108x48x32 and 72x24x32. im planning on building a fish filter room for my sumps filters and frag tanks. the 700s will be a reef and a fowlr tanks and the 240 will be a lion/scorpian fish tank.

9'x4'
x x x x x x x x x oooooooo
x o o
x o filter o
6'x2' x o room o
x o o
x o o
x o o
x x x x x x x x x oooooooo
9'x4'

now to the ?s

should i try to get 1 very large skimmer for all the tanks or 3 large skimmers 1 for each tank?

how much water volume should i have in sumps?

should i have a sump for each different tank?

how big should my fuge be?

 

[armison89]

i tryed to make a diagram but it didnt post right

 

[d3hree]

I would be tempted to keep fish only and reef systems seperate to help maintain good water quality in the reef, that is assuming the fish only system will be full of large, messy fish.
Personally I would prefer 3 skimmers, or atleast 2. One on the reef and one on the fish only tanks.
As regards size of sumps and size of fuge I generally go by as big as you can fit and manage.
HTH

 

[armison89]

i was thinking 2 skimmers that will skim around 1000 gallons and 1 that does around 500 gallons. the tanks will be going in the garadge when i buy a house so i will have more then enough room. i will build the filter room to fit the tanks not the tank to fit the room.

 

[armison89]

2 of these skimmers

http://www.saltysupply.com/Tunze-Master-DOC-Protein-Skimmer-9460-000-p/tn25740.htm

1 of these

http://www.marinedepot.com/Reef_Oct...ariums_Reefs-Reef_Octopus-CV5131-FIPS-vi.html
or
http://www.saltysupply.com/Tunze-Master-DOC-Protein-Skimmer-9420-000-p/tn2538.htm

 

[ChuckOutdoors]

My only thought on the skimmers...

Why mix brands? Pick your favorite and get as much as you can. Never enough skimmer...

 

[prop-frags]

I would be tempted to keep fish only and reef systems seperate to help maintain good water quality in the reef, that is assuming the fish only system will be full of large, messy fish.
Personally I would prefer 3 skimmers, or atleast 2. One on the reef and one on the fish only tanks.
As regards size of sumps and size of fuge I generally go by as big as you can fit and manage.
HTH

I agree with Matt.
You will want to keep the FO system segregated from the reef system.
The skimmers will be a big investment for water volumes that large, so unless money is no option, you may want to go with fewer, larger skimmers. There's a lot of overhead in the production of a skimmer; I would think you can get a single large skimmer for less $ than two medium-sized skimmers. Plus, there is less maintenance on less equipment, and less points of failure.

 

[armison89]

ok thanks i will seperate the reef and fo filtration.

reef:
225 gallon fuge 60x36x24
100 gallon skimmer/return 72x18x18

fo:
90 gallon live rock 72x24x12
135 gallon skimmer/return 72x24x18