New 180BB tank in the works... your advice?

[ghever]

Hi Guys

I am looking for advice on how I should do my 180g BB tank. I plan on keeping lots of SPS, so keep that in mind.

So far, here is what I have...

72x24x24 180g 3 sided starphire main tank...center trap overflow with 1.5in drain.

120g sump.

Lighting: 3x 250w HQI DE halides, Icecap ballasts, RO III pendants... 4 x 36in T5 HO retros.

Reeflo Dart for closed loop circulation
GenX PCX55 for return circulation.

Skimmer: Reef Octopus RPS3000 (going to give it a try and if it is no good, go with a deltec or H&S)

Calcium Reactor... ReefFanatic dual stage reactor

Controller: ACIII and Milwaukee for Calcium reactor.

I have HDPE in white for bottom of the tank, and thinknig about doing the faux sandbed thing, or possibly just leaving it as is.

I am also thinking about doing the black foam as a backdrop, but it sounds like I'll need to silicone an acrylic sheet to the back of the tank since the black foam doesnt adhere well to glass.

Flow design is for returns to come up and over the back of the tank and a return on either side of the trap will be located on the cross braces, so that it will push water down the back of the tank. The Closed loop flow will then direct more water down the back of the tank through 2 returns (one on each side of the overflow) and then I will have 2 more returns (one on each side of the overflow) at the bottom of the tank, and these will be pushing water straight out towards front of the tank... this will essentialy cause water to go down the back of the tank, then across the bottom towards the front, and then circulate back up and to the overflow...this is per Paul at Ocean Motions flow design. Any suggestions here?

Now, for sump and skimmer flow... I want to gravity feed my skimmer, and it is ratef for around 400-600gph... and I dont want to T off my return because I heard of some dangers in doing that, so was hoping for all the flow to go through the skimmer... will this be enough flow going through the skimmer and then through the sump/refugium? Your advice here is greatly appreciated as well.

Any input, please post it here..I will check often..

Oh and by the way, the tank will be on one side of the wall inside the house, and the sump/filtration stuff will be on the other side in the garage.....I will do some through wall plumbing for this..

It's a big project, but I hope with some help here, I can get it done... I am posting on SPS forum because I plan on keeping SPS and so I hope you guys can help me keep them as well.

Regards
G

 

[jjjimmy]

You may want to consider a chiller. with all of that $$$$ in equiptment and soon to be livestock, why take the chance?

 

[jsweir]

Sounds good but that is a lot of flow through your skimmer. My H&S only requires 150 - 180 GPH to do a good job. I just put a small pump in the sump to drive it. Only other thing I would suggest if you have an extra $500 is a Tunze wavebox. I have yet to see something that beats that for good overall motion in the tank.

 

[marine_freak]

JUST GOT MY TUNZE WAVEBOX YESTERDAY...IT IS AWESOME!!!!!!! I SECOND THAT RECOMMENDATION...IF YOU GOT THE MONEY SPEND IT ON IT....... WILL NEVER HAVE ANOTHER REEF WITHOUT ONE.

 

[ghever]

thanks guys... chiller advice is noted...my area has pretty good climate, and hardly ever gets above 90 and below 50, and the house is never under 65 or above 82, so I never needed a chiller, but with the sump and frag tank now in the garage, I guess I might need one...

As for Tunze, I really dont like powerheads inside the tank, that is why I am going with a closed loop...I think I will have around 4500gph total flow... that should be more than enough.

G

 

[jsweir]

You will have plenty of flow, but I still suggest that you find someone with a wavebox and just see what it is like. I don't think you can replicate that kind of motion with anything else. If not, you will still be fine.

 

[Wiskey]

Does any one else think 4,500 GPH flow sounds a little low in a 180? I know I sure do. I have 3,500 all pumps included in my BB 50 gallon and I still feel like there are places that could use a little more. You may want to concider beefing up that closed loop, or using something like a iwaki 100 with 4 educators insted, that should beef things up.

How much rock do you plan to have? The denser your rock structure the more flow you will need, I kept mine very open for that reason.

Lighting sounds great, tank sounds like it is perfect (I love starfire)

I would reconcider the Faux sandbed idea, it will get covered in coraline quick, and it's ruff surface lends itself to trapping deatris much more rather than pusing it along the slick surface of the HDPE.

The wave box everyone is talking about is not a powerhead, it is really cool though, look it up.

Just my $0.02, great to have another BB'er,
Whiskey

 

[ghever]

where do you guys hide these wave boxes? Where would you place one in a tank?

My rock strcuture is going to be very open... I plan on using foam to create a backwall reef structure...,hard to explain exactly how it will look, but I have a couple of ideas... one idea is to have to remove island (tower) reef walls at each end of the tank, and have them both connecting at the base with rock leading towards the back center of the tank... ok, that probably wont make sense...

Point is, I will have it pretty open...

G

 

[edwar050]

The only wave box that was hidden good I saw was next to the overflow and hidden behind rock at the LFS 300 tank, almost didnt notice it. What great flow!

 

[twon8]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7256633#post7256633 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Wiskey
Does any one else think 4,500 GPH flow sounds a little low in a 180?

ive got a bb180, and ive got two tunze 6100's, a seio 1500 pointed down, and a ~800 gph return after head loss. so im sitting at max8500 gph turnover and i plan to add at least one more 6100. 4500 seems very low to me for a mostly sps tank.

 

[achillesheel]

increase the size of the return and add a closed loop. ive got 2" sand bed and use a dart for return, 2x darts on closed loops on timers and 2x 6100 on controller. ive got great flow but would increase it more if i didnt have the sand. thats my opinion

 

[marine_freak]

I HAVE SEEN PEOPLE FIT WAVEBOXES INSIDE THEIR OVERFLOWS WITH THE HOLE CUT FOR THE OUTPUT........ I MY SELF THINK IT IS PRETTY SLICK BUT I HAVE NOT DONE IT BECAUSE MY TANK IS UP RUNNING FULL OF ROCK AND CORAL..... MY NEXT TANK THAT IS WHAT I WILL DO BEFORE IT IS SET UP......

 

[jsweir]

Question is does hidding the wavebox behind a wall decrease performance?

 

[REEF-DADDY]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7261319#post7261319 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by jsweir
Question is does hidding the wavebox behind a wall decrease performance?

I really don't think you can hide it, unless you either build it into your rocks or put a large coral in front of it. It also needs to be centered so its pretty much "there". Also if you plan on a wave box get a center overflow, end overflows really decrease performance.

I am running 2 eductors on a pcx 70 on my 280 ,with the wave box its plenty of flow. I've got one across the top and one opposing it on the bottom. Works like a charm to get particles to the Bullet 3. IME beckett skimmers are the way to go for BB tanks.

 

[Weatherman]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7256633#post7256633 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Wiskey
Does any one else think 4,500 GPH flow sounds a little low in a 180? I know I sure do.

I have two 6100 Tunze Streams on a multicontroller (only one pump runs at a time), along with a 1000 gph sump return on my 155 soft coral tank (6ââ"šÂ¬Ã¢"žÂ¢x2ââ"šÂ¬Ã¢"žÂ¢x2ââ"šÂ¬Ã¢"žÂ¢ tank with a bow front). Peak flow is a little less than 4200 gph. Iââ"šÂ¬Ã¢"žÂ¢d consider 4500 gph to be very gentle.

You can have that kind of flow, if you have Tunze Streams and a multicontroller, and still keep the bottom of the tank swept clean. Otherwise there will be lots of dead spots in the tank.

Wave boxes are good for keeping things loosened up because of the back and forth or up and down rocking motion, but they are not designed to transport detritus out of your tank. You need sustained horizontal and vertical motion to do that.

 

[ghever]

ok.. so now I have some other questions/ideas..

Wavebox: If I have a big enough center trap overflow...why could I not fit it inside the overflow, have a hole cut out for it, and have the output going through this hole???

Tunzes: Same idea... could I not have holes in the overflow...

I know the overflow needs to be sealed, so I guess the question for the two items above is, could you have a tight seal and have these tunzes connected from inside the overflow so as to hide them?

Next...for my returns, since they will be coming from over the top of the tank and pointed down at the back of the tank, do you recommend I use penductors/eductors here? Wont they narrow the volume of water moved, or is it the opposite and they increase? Should I maybe use a scwd to alternate my return flow, so that more flow is directed to each half of the tank at one time?

appreciate the help guys...sounds like you guys really like rediculous amount of flow...so I am trying to build my tank to be as modular as possible so I can add on more flow later with minimal interference of the tank and lowest visibility.

G

 

[ghever]

what about one or two of these??

http://www.ecotechmarine.com/products/vortech.htm

These Vortech pumps seem to be the future of water movement...I am just trying to figure out how I'd apply one in my 180...I wouldnt put it on the side, because most of my sides are for viewing...and they are rather large.....was thinking maybe if you put it at the bottom side of the tank.. anyone care to chime in on these?

For the wavebox...do I need my overflow box to be a lil bit lower to allow for the increase and decrease in water levels? I mean, how do you ensure it doesnt push water out of the tank?

thanks
G

 

[jsweir]

The wavebox creates a wave that goes just over my corner overflows and up to the rim around the tank (just perfect). Not sure about hiding these things. They are big, but the motion they create is to die for....I don't believe the vortech controller is in production yet, so I'm hesistant until that is delivered. Hoping it will be a good competitor for the Streams....

 

[Dizzyswimmer]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7256633#post7256633 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Wiskey
Does any one else think 4,500 GPH flow sounds a little low in a 180?

That does sound a little low to me . I have around 16,000 gph on my tank and thinking of adding a few more streams, or a wave box. Check out an OM 4 way , or 8 way to put on your CL also.

 

[ghever]

OOOOOPPPS... sorry about that..

I ALREADY have an OM 4 way planned for the closed loop.. my bad..