My Upgrade Checklist- Need Your Help

[gofor100]

So some of you may have seen my previous thread asking what has/has not worked for your "old" reefs, and I think that maybe if I tell you what I'm going to keep and the parameters of the set-up, it might be easier for you to find "holes" in my plans and suggest how you would do it (although I realize that some issues people will "agree to disagree" on)... so here it goes.

I'll start off by giving you some backgroud...I've been reefkeeping for about 7 years now (just recently got into SPS and clams... successfully I might add), so although I'm not considered a "newbie", I'll admit I still have plenty to learn from the "real" vets out there. My goal with this thread is to learn from everyone else's mistakes and to create a tank that is extremely automated and will sustain life for the long term.

I'll try to organize this thread to be "topic-specific"... starting with the tank/equipment and then moving on to the livestock (although I'll give you some background on generally what I intend to keep as that will determine what I need as far as equipment goes).

So first thing's first... THE TANK

Tank Profile
> Dimensions: 84"L X 36"D X 24"T which equals approximately 314 gallons
> 2 Full Height Overflows drilled (1 inch holes) for the "Herbie Method" (since I've heard this is nearly a silent method) placed off-center
> Euro-braced (since I live in earthquake country and would prefer my water stay in my tank)
> Starphire on the three viewing panels

Questions
1) As far as the tank dimensions go, I'm considering only a 24" height because I believe that this is the tallest that tank manufacturers will build a tank using 1/2" glass (checked with a local manufacturer and this is what they do)... and if you go to 3/4" glass on starphire, it costs about DOUBLE... any comments or suggestions otherwise?

2) I've looked up the "Herbie Method" and it seems like there are a few variations that are being used out there. Does anyone have a good website/explanation of the method (illustrations would be great) or any other suggested method (keeping in mind that a low noise level will be key)? Also, I've determined that the off-center look of overflows will be the easiest for me to hide given my aquascaping ideas... but open to your feedback.

3) I'm open to suggestions on the bracing of the tank, but think that Euro-bracing would be optimal for my purposes, since a) I want to keep the water in and this provides about a 3" cover on the upper edges of the tank and b) the tank will have a canopy on top, so the bracing won't be an "eye-sore".

4) I've pretty much settled on Starphire (over "regular glass") since this will be my long-term tank and have seen the difference particularly on larger tanks. Additionally, acrylic is out of the question for me since I'll have a sandbed and have personally witnessed what an algae magnet and a small particle of sand can do to an acrylic viewing panel.

Alright... now for any suggestions, thoughts, feedback. Even if you agree with the set-up... say so, then I can move on the next topic

Next will be the EQUIPMENT IN THE TANK (i.e., lighting and powerheads/water circulation).

 

[gofor100]

Monday morning bump... otherwise I'll just move onto the next topic

 

[gofor100]

Hahaha... found the link to the original "creator" of the Herbie method... Herbie himself... http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=344892

Looks like he used two drilled holes and had the return lines come externally, but I was thinking of drilling three holes in each overflow box (2 holes for the Herbie method and the third for the return line)... does anyone see any potential problems with this?

 

[gofor100]

Alright... I guess I'm on to my next topic... EQUIPMENT/ITEMS IN THE TANK

POWERHEADS

I've decided (I think) that I will go strictly with powerheads for water circulation (besides the returns coming from the sump which will both be plumbed through the overflow box). Having said that, here's what I was thinking of doing...

> Sides of the tank: 2 MP40's on each side (for the wave motion) and because they have a lower profile since they'll be on the side of the tank.
> Back of the tank: (in addition to the return spray bars) 2 or 3 Tunze 6105 PHs pointed in various directions for random flow.

On the other hand, I was also thinking of keeping the sides of the tank completely clean (no PH's), maybe putting the 2 MP40 on the back towards the center, and then the Tunzes (maybe a little stronger like the 6205 or the 6305) running in the back corners of the tank pointed towards the center of the tank.

As you can see, I'm kind of open to suggestions on this topic. But I think I have decided that I don't want a closed loop that would require external pumps (which typically require more energy usage).

SUBSTRATE

This is where the livestock I'm keeping is really going to come into play... I'm keeping a pretty diverse tank, that will include sand dwelling clams, wrasses that bury themselves in the sand at night, gobies that sift the sand, AND corals that need HIGH waterflow... so the bottomline is I need & want sand BUT I don't want it to blow around and cover bottom-dwelling livestock. The question is HOW MUCH (or maybe better stated how deep) and WHICH KIND?

HOW MUCH: since most wrasses dive into the sandbed at night (and I think it is recommended they have at least 3 inches of sand), and I'll be keeping some burrowing and sandsifting gobies, I was thinking of a sandbed that ranges as low as 2 inches, and as deep as 4 inches. This way, there won't be a huge pile of sand in there, but the animals I keep can benefit and I hopefully will be pleased with the "look".

WHAT KIND: I don't think that sugar-sized sand will work since the waterflow will be pretty decent (I'll be keeping SPS), but at the same time, I don't want the "crushed coral" look. So I think my "middle-ground" would be a majority of the CaribSea Aragamax Oolitic Select Sand (probably an average of about 2 1/2 inches) and a scattering of CaribSea Aragonite Super Reef Sand for the larger pieces and random shells. This way, the sand should be large enough to withstand at least some flow right?

Suggestions PLEASE!!!

ROCK

I'll be using mostly dry rock (some of the manufactured stuff is really looking nice these days) along with some of my existing nice pieces of LR to seed the tank. So although this isn't really a big discussion point, if anyone can suggest any nice manufacturers of rock, that would be nice.

And as far as aquascaping goes, since I'll have some pretty good depth, I was thinking of putting two large pillars/mountains with a valley in between in the back of the tank (to hide the overflow boxes) and then some smaller pillars/hills of one or two pieces of decent sized rock in the front, where I'll place most of my zoas, acans and a few SPS.

LIGHTING will be next on the discussion, but please feel free to comment on anything I've mentioned so far!

Please share your thoughts!