New 260 Gallon Build

[jcarlilesiu]

Hi All,

I used to be pretty active here, and then family and work took its toll. Took a toll on my 150 cube as well. Now, I am ready to get back into the hobby full steam.

I am looking at (and have been authorized by the wife) a 260 gallon (72x29x29) built-in system. This will be a full reef with SPS, LPS, and hard coral.

Because I will be tearing down the 150, I want to reuse as much of the original equipment as possible. Most of this will be too small for the larger tank, so I plan on doubling up all equipment as the concept of redundancy is important to me. I plan on fully automating just about all maintenance on the tank, even water changes. I want to simply flip a few switches and have my Apex utilize various pumps to fully complete the process.

In any case, the sump is the first order of business. It will be a custom build and installed directly below the new take in the basement. I utilize (3) 55 gallon Brute cans to filter fresh water and t/o and pump to the second one to heat and mix salt for water changes. Third tub no plan yet.

Anyway, here are some renderings of the new basement sump layout. Looking for any input you might have to help me finalize the design.

 

[Orsamax]

Impressive. Did you use some sort of CAD to generate these renderings or are you "outsourcing" it to a manufacturer? If so (and this is totally sidebar) what is your day job? Engineering of some sort? Please keep us posted as this is the level that I, and I'm sure many of us, would like to get to some day. I really want a whole extra "shed" style building with a miniature Georgia Aquarium in it, but reality has to kick in at some point. Anyway, please share photos, and let us know how the dual/redundant method works versus what you see many do which is to get one (albeit seemingly "more efficient") system (skimmer, return pump, etc) that is vulnerable to breakdown and the subsequent wait time to get it operational again. Good luck!

 

[jcarlilesiu]

Impressive. Did you use some sort of CAD to generate these renderings or are you "outsourcing" it to a manufacturer? If so (and this is totally sidebar) what is your day job? Engineering of some sort? Please keep us posted as this is the level that I, and I'm sure many of us, would like to get to some day. I really want a whole extra "shed" style building with a miniature Georgia Aquarium in it, but reality has to kick in at some point. Anyway, please share photos, and let us know how the dual/redundant method works versus what you see many do which is to get one (albeit seemingly "more efficient") system (skimmer, return pump, etc) that is vulnerable to breakdown and the subsequent wait time to get it operational again. Good luck!

Hey Orsamax.

I am an Architect. This was generated using Sketchup (Free modeling program) and rendered with a free version of Indigo.

Yes, redundancy is the most important aspect to me. I am always fearful that some critical part will fail and ordering will have a detrimental lead time. Plus, I already have all of the equipment from the 150, so I figure I should be able to double up without issue?

For instance, is two 150 skimmers the same as a 300 gallon skimmer?

I figure with doubling up on everything, that if something fails, the tank can limp along indefinitely until new equipment can be procured.

 

[Orsamax]

Jcarl, awesome. I'm an operations analyst. So I don't design buildings, but there is a good bit of crossover, I'm sure. I love the idea of redundancy. I think that some are under the impression that they can build redundancy by having a much larger skimmer (for example) than what they need. But it doesn't get after what you are working toward which is, half of a skimmer for a week is much better than no skimmer for a week, and so on. It's not to say that I think that those people are WRONG, it just means that you present an important issue to consider. I'm sure that your system is not as energy efficient as non-redundant systems. But that is not as important to you as guaranteed stability, even in the bad times. Please post photos as you go. I hope to have a 300-500 gallon setup once I retire from the military and don't get up and move every 24-36 months. I've just got to plant the seed with the wife! Good luck!

 

[moondoggy4]

What about two Fluval SP2 pumps, I have a SP4 on my 120 it is way overkill for my tank, so it will easily handle your tank. Since you want to run two pumps the SP2 are cheap and almost bullet proof so far.

 

[jcarlilesiu]

What about two Fluval SP2 pumps, I have a SP4 on my 120 it is way overkill for my tank, so it will easily handle your tank. Since you want to run two pumps the SP2 are cheap and almost bullet proof so far.

I could look it up, but do you know the flow rate and head height? I know that you don't need a ton of flow out of the return pump, but I do like to get a decent 10X per hour rate. Probably overkill.

 

[moondoggy4]

This is what I know, A Fluval SP4 will work fine on your tank.
I know a guy with a similar size tank and he thought about trying a Fluval Sp6, yeah it sold it because it was too much for his tank. He runs a SP4.
I have a SP4 on a 120 tank with a 4 foot head, so problem here, I have to throttle it down.
Now the unknown is the SP2, one will not work, but two. That is the question.
http://www.fluvalaquatics.com/ca/product/14335-sp2-aquarium-sump-pump/

PS there is a couple of people selling SP4 for cheap, one person is CA is selling two.