New 15 Gallon Reef Tank - Opinions Needed

[SLHerch]

Hello Everyone,

I guess this is going to serve as an official record of the design/construction/enjoyment of my new 15 gallon reef tank. I currently have a 55 gallon setup with a built in overflow, 15 gal. refugium and 20 gal. sump. I am moving and am forced to downsize to something that makes a little more sense for my living situation. I will be putting the 55 on ebay and hoping for enough money to cover the construction of my new setup. I am starting this thread to get opinions and ask questions as I go, so thanks in advance for your help!

My Goal:

I want to make a "bulletproof" setup that will require minimum maintenence, and provide an outstanding enviroment for my two clownfish and many corals.

My Plan:

I will be purchasing a 15 gal. tank with a hole drilled approximately 3" above the bottom glass in the back panel. I will put in an acrylic sheet that will serve as an overflow allowing me to have a sump/refugium under the tank. I have limited myself to a footprint of 24"x12" (give or take a couple inches). This will ensure that I do not get carried away with needless extra items, as well as ensure a nice, neat, self contained setup.

The sump will be a 16 gal. high tank because the dimensions fit well underneath of the stand that I will be making. The sump will be divided into three stages, an intake stage containing a bubble trap as well as protien skimmer, a middle stage containing a DSB and macro-algea, and then a final stage where the submerged return pump will be located. (see rendering) This is also the biggest tank that I can fit under there while still having room to work. I am shooting for a large sump tank to increase the overall water volume and stability.


The show tank will contain the following:

-Bare bottom, with sand coated starboard for a sand look without the mess.
-approx. 15lbs. live rock. The best pieces from my current setup, as well as any that contain coral growth.
-two false percula clown fish (one 3 yrs. old, one 2 yrs. old)
-Pulsing Xenia
-Scroll coral
-Crusting Gorgonian
-Multiple types of zooanthids
-Sand Polyps
-Green Mushrooms


Over time, I would like to add a couple hardy SPS corals, as well as some LPS corals.

In planning for the future of this tank, I will need to pay close attention to the lighting that i select. I have two different lights that I am currently looking at purchasing. Any information/experience with these would be apprciated. (see links below). I am looking at purchasing from That Fish Place, simply because i live less than 3 miles from them.

Clip on Lighting

Power Compacts

With the rock from my current setup, I can create some overhangs and cave structures to shelter my low light corals from the intensity of that much light. I am looking at high light for future coral additions.


Plumbing/Technical Requirments:

I am planning on making a single loop down from the main tank, through the sump/refugium and back up to the main tank by way of a mag-drive pump that is left from the old setup. I will then supplement the flow with a powerhead placed in the main tank.


Other Notes:

The stand will be primarily constructed of 2x3's as a fram and clear cedar as the finish wood.

There will be no hood, only a light fixture as shown above.


Thank you all for reading this rambling little post. I am trying to include as much as i can so that I can get maximum feedback. I will attempt to post a rendering of my ideas for the setup when i finish the model. Thank you in advance for all of your help!

Steve

 

[clsanchez77]

You wanted an opinion:

I do not believe in "bulletproof" setups so the mindset may get you in trouble. I am all for automating as many tasks as you can to minimze hands on work, but do not confuse this with routine maintenance and proper care...Murphy will prevail.

I am not a fan of barebottom.

I like that you have a limited fish sleection of two clowns, I think you should pair down your coral list to a few favorites if you plan on working in SPS/LPS.

I have no experience with either of the light fixtures you provided links for but do have experience with PC lighting and hated it. I would be leaning toward the clip on HQI.

I recently setup my tank with 2x150-DE and have a large open rock structure creted with Haitain rock, I have plenty of low-light space with high-light space above and like it very much.

I think your plumbing will be fine, whatsize Mag are you thinking.

I really like the stand idea, very unique.

Overall, I like your idea.
Chris

 

[SLHerch]

Thank you for the opinions!

I think i'll be keeping the corals i have for a while. When i make the jump to stony corals, I'll go ahead and start trading them off.

I understand that bulletproof is a relative term. About the only thing I was worried about was overflowing the tank with the return pump, or things clogging the drain line...typical stuff that happens sometimes in our tanks. The regular maintenence is tough to automate...so that will still need to be done by hand, which is ok because i enjoy getting in there and working to keep the tank clean/healthy.

I probobly will go with the HQI clip on light...unless for some reason i run out of cash.

Thanks again for your reply!

steve

 

[MrSpiffy]

I just had one thought about your "bare-bottom" idea of using the sand-covered board. You may want to reconsider this idea. I realize you may not like the BB idea, or the use of sand. But if your tank ever gets ich (I know we don't plan for it, but you never know...) and the fish attempt to rub up on anything, rubbing on the "sand" may act more like sandpaper and cause more damage. I know they can use the rock, as well. But it's just a thought... minimize the damage, you know?

 

[clsanchez77]

If your overflow is internal and not a siphon overflow, I do not see why you would have an overlow situration, just have a strainter on the ovewrflow pipe and you should be ok. I have never had this problem (knowck on wood).

MrSpiffy: never thought about the fish rubbing on the starboard. I did see one tank use GSP as a ground cover and that looked pretty.

Chris

 

[clsanchez77]

Did not mean to post yet...

If you went with that or another polyp type coral, you could go true bare bottom and it would not be visible.

Chris

 

[midgetwaiter]

I setup this exact kind of system about 3 months ago except I used a 20 gal tanks for both the display and the fuge.

Here is the tank:

I drilled a hole for a 1 inch bulkhead in the bottom at the back left corner and built the overflow box around it using a stockman style standpipe. Return comes through 2 holes drilled in the back glass a few inches under the water line and then come out 3 inches from the back glass. I was originally going to use a scwd device to switch between the two returns but with the returns so low I was concerned about back pressure on the line that is not getting any flow. I messed with using Hydor Bio Flos to get some wave action from the returns but mating them to the PVC elbows was difficult and in the end I don't think they did much good anyway so I ditched them. I get a good 250 to 300 gal/hr turnover, it works well but probably wouldn't suit SPS without some powerheads.

I didn't go starboard or faux sand because I had the tank made with a black piece of glass for the bottom. I love the look but I should have also had them use black silicone. Only think I don't like is that the 6 or so inches between the overflow box and the front glass are a pretty dead zone in terms of flow and light. The way you want to do your overflow would work better.

This is the sump.

Leftmost section has the intake from the display and the skimmer. the 1 inch line takes a lot of air so I built a little bubble trap into the corner, it forces the bubbles strait up where most of them disperse at the surface, with the skimmer turned off a get very few bubbles into the next compartment. The skimmer is a Coralife Super Skimmer which works reasonably well, only problem is that I have to raise it a bit to counter the back pressure on the outflow, otherwise it overflows.

Next compartment is my fuge / frogfish tank. There is a few pieces of live rock (not shown) and a big bunch of caulerpa. It used to be lit with a compact fluorescent but I've been trying a 75 watt Philips Daylight from Home Depot that grows the macro like crazy.

The last compartment has the return pump after a section with under / over / under baffles. I really went as small as I could here to maximize the fuge space which was a big mistake. You can see where the water level is in the picture above, that is about as much as I can fill it and still catch all the back siphon from the display. I lose about 3 liters a day (~ 3/4 gal) to evaporation and that brings the water level really low in the return compartment. I absolutely cannot leave the tank for more that 2 days without top ups so an ATO system is in the works. The return is on 3/4 line that is split with a Y and then coupled to the 1/2 returns. I probably could have gone 3/4 on the returns too but I already had the 1/2 bulkheads.

If you have any questions or want to bounce some ideas off me feel free to PM. I spent quite a while designing this system and probably messed with 100 ideas before I set it up the way I did.

Note to Tang Police: He was the size of a quarter when I got him and there is a bigger tank 2 feet away for him to move to.