New Tank Design

[Wildman]

The design phase of my new setup is almost complete. I would like to get everyone's opinion before I start building to make sure I didn't miss anything. The main display will be a bare bottom and covered back wall with some corner towers made out of fired clay. I will then build in my live rock. The sump display will have a sand bottom with a fake back wall (same as above) and live rock. This is going to be a dense mixed reef with a heavy bio load. This is why I have incorporated the skimmer and algae scrubber. I would like to only run the skimmer every other day or so, but feed daily. Both the display and sump will be lit with LEDs. You can see the two bio filtration areas on either side of the sump. The cryptic area (might also be called benthic or something like that) is for filter feeders like tube worms and sponges. The goal is to get as close to natural as possible and still be able to house a heavy mix of fish and coral. The upper cabinet will have shelves on either side of the display. The lower cabinet will be completely close except for the very center section for the sump display. You can also see in the lower left corner the air vent. The cabinet will cover one of my air conditioning vents. I will vent it out the side in the winter, but use the cool air in summer to cool the setup. With LEDs I believe the temp will stay pretty cool, but this will be a little extra help.

Sorry for the sad drawing.
Please let me know what you think.

Travis

 

[Wildman]

Come on. Almost 50 views and no opinions?

 

[StephLionfish]

Looks nice as far as I can tell. I'd T off the drain pipe, though. Just in case you don't want to run the ATS or skimmer or something.

 

[Wildman]

I have gone back and forth on that. I will probably go ahead. It is only a couple more dollars in material.
I also plan on a manifold on the return to feed a carbon reactor, spare or two, and a drain for water changes.

 

[StephLionfish]

That's cool. If you are looking for more opinions, I'd ask in one of the forums on the main index of RC.

 

[EvilMel]

I stink at setup design...since I tend towards being a SERIOUS minimalist.

What kind of skimmer will you use? Only ones that can be run externally, I suppose.

 

[Wildman]

Me too. I have a hard time coming up with new ideas. This is basically a bunch of other peoples ideas I cobbled together.

No, it will be set in its own dedicated sump. I have been looking at the vertex.

 

[Wildman]

oops. double post. I love the way it doubles up but then tells me I have to wait 15 seconds between posts:debi:

 

[EvilMel]

Hilarious. I love my IN-180. It's a real workhorse as long as you can keep the volume in that section the same. If your volume fluctuates it doesn't work well.

 

[cee]

Running your skimmer at an elevation higher than the sump is going to make maintaining a consisten water level inside the skimmer more difficult. As Mel points out, a consistent water level in the skimmer is critical to optimize performance. Also, I'm not a fan of cycling the skimmer. I've found that each time it turns on you're more apt to get surges which can result in overflow.

 

[Wildman]

That was part of the reasoning behind the seperate sump.
1. I use the usual sump as a second display so the water level is to high for a skimmer.
2. The water level will never fluctuate even with evaporation.

 

[Wildman]

Phone dropped my entire post.

Dave, am I missing something. There will be a slight rise above weir height, but as long as the return pump is running the water level should not change. The level in the lower sump will change with evaporation.

The cycling is something I will have to consider. I have read that skimmers remove some good things from our tanks and was trying to eliminate some of this.