New Tank Questions

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drfdisk

New member
I am in the process of putting together my first salt water tank and I had a couple of questions I wanted to ask. The tank in question is an All Glass 125G 72"

First, I have a pair of Coralife 36" compacts with 96w 10k bulbs and actinics. What types of anemones can be kept under these bulbs? If I am successful keeping a few fish and a hardy invert or two I might add some halides but I want to take it slow first.

Second, I have decided not to try and drill the back of the tank and use a CPR CS102 instead. Would a Mag9 be enough or should I buy like a 1200gph pump and regulate it with a by-pass?

I have other questions but I cant use them all up in one shot now can I? :P

Here are some pics of my progress so far. My house and the tank are a wreak so I appologize. If I ever get the thing finished (which seems like never at times) I promise I will clean up. :)

The tank on the stand almost ready for a final sanding and primer. A bar was removed to make room for the stand.

IMG_0448.jpg


The sump is a 65g acylic tank custom built from Glasscages.
http://i140.photobucket.com/albums/r35/Olomon/IMG_0444.jpg
 
I can not tell from the picture but is your house built on a slab, if not is the floor reinforced, Because you are talking about a lot of weight, about 2000 lbs after you add water rock, etc. sitting in a 6' area which looks to be in the middle of a room.

I don't think you will have enough light for most anemones. If you are planning on sps or soft corals, etc you can use either MH or T5's. You mine as well spend once for lighting instead of upgrading later.

The Overflow you are talking about IMO is not the best and could very well be the worst choose. I would go with a U tube type they are less likely to fail. The CPR's require an air pump to keep them from loosing siphon.

The size of the return pump will be determined by the size of the overflow. For example if you get an overflow that is rated for let say 600 GPH you can use a water pump of 500 and be OK. You can go smaller but not larger unless you reduce the out put with a ball value. If you don't't and try to use lets say a 700 gph pump it it will overflow your tank.

The other piece of equipment you will need is a good skimmer and I always recommend RO/ID water.

hope this helps.
 
I agree with the above post. I would seriously consider a drilled tank instead. It would look better and work better with what your trying to do. Do you really want a overflow box and other stuffs hanging around on the side of your tank where your gonna be viewing it all the time? Good Luck!!
 
[welcome]

Looks like you are doing some nice work. Is the back of the tank (closest to the kitchen) going to be all enclosed? It looks like the stand goes a few inches further toward the kitchen than the tank. If so, then I think you'll be fine with a good HOB overflow, because that is where you can run all of your plumbing/wires. If that side of the tank will be exposed so you can see the tank from the kitchen, then you'll likely need to work out some other mechanism to plumb things and run wires for the lights/fans or you'll have all of that out in the open.
 
I agree with the above, I'd stay away from a CPR and go with the U-tube type.

Where in LaVergne are you? If you need any help, send me a PM.
 
How can you tell if a floor is reenforced? In the new house, I will be putting my 120 parallel to a wall in the office. The new house has a crawlspace, so now Im scared!
 
Yea the next steps are making doors and crawling under the house and reinforcing the floor. I have been saving it for last because I am somewhat closterphobic. If your house has a crawl space jeff69 I would reinforce it to be safe. It might support the 1500-2000 but would proably sag over time.

I understand I cant keep most inverts with the lights I have I'm just curious which ones I could keep. If I decided that it was something I could do I would just upgrade to a better set and sell the ones I got with the tank. Or just add halides in the canopy. I bought the whole thing off Ebay together and probably bid against some of you in the process.

The back and left side of the tank will have a black background. There is about 8.5 inches behind the tank so room for a box will be no problem. I am probably going to build a wall with access doors behind the tank and put cabinets over it all. Try and make it look built into the house. I would LOVE to have a drilled tank but this is the tank I bought unless you know someone who wants to buy it. :)

I have a new CSS 220 for the skimmer and will be buying a RO/DI unit soon. I also have 2 Eheim 2215's that I plan on using until I figure out if I want a reef or not.

Which box would you guys recommend? I have read the CPR brand ones are better to have because the fact they use a lifter pump in case the lights go out when your not at home.

Thanks for the compliment and everyones input!
 
Last edited:
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8672487#post8672487 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by drfdisk
Which box would you guys recommend? I have read the CPR brand ones are better to have because the fact they use a lifter pump in case the lights go out when your not at home.
Click to expand...

If it were me.... I'd stay away from the CPRs. Due to the square nature of them they will build up air that MUST be removed with the aqua lifter pump. If the pump fails/clogs and you don't catch it in time, you will have water on the floor... I have.

I've changed both mine to the U-tube type, your welcome to come by and see anytime.
 
How do they restart the siphon once broken? Me fear is coming home from work or waking up in the morning with 20 gallons of water in my floor after a power outage.

What area do you live in? I always like to see setups.

Someone asked earlier what part of La Vergne I live in, I live off of Stones River Rd.
 
I have a CPR type and can tellya that they can break siphon on their own. with the Aqualifter pump, it is supposed to prevent this by taking out the air in the overflow. Personally I have used the U tube type and I like my cpr one better. the U tube was much more intrusive in the tank, and the tube would always get air in it and I would have to suck it out and redo the siphon much more often that I wanted.

since I bought that pump, mine works great. I have a 102. I think. dual 1" drains. I run a mag 9.5 with mine. I ahve it slightly throttled back though because I get microbubbles because of the flow in my sump.

So long as you have the aqualifter , when power comes back on, it will pump out the air in the top of the overflow. if you have the discharge end of the pump submerged in the overflow itself, then it wont break siphon when the power is out.
 
How do they restart the siphon once broken? Me fear is coming home from work or waking up in the morning with 20 gallons of water in my floor after a power outage.

What area do you live in? I always like to see setups.

Someone asked earlier what part of La Vergne I live in, I live off of Stones River Rd.
 
I run a U-tube on my 55g reef and it works fine. I went with RR tank with the new one and I would never turn back. I like it a lot better then any HOB overflow box!!! My U-tube never breaks siphon unless I pull it. Even when power goes out, once it comes on, the siphon starts again. I clean it every so often, that's about it. Down the road, I would like to transfer everything into RR tanks.... :)
 
I am on the verge of buying a RR 125 so my current tank might be going up for sale.

Its a AGA 125 with 36" AGA lights, iron stand, and 2 Ehiem 2215's if anyone is interested. Its missing one of the glass versa tops.

If anyone is interested and I decide to sell it PM me for pics of it all.
 
well, I am running a mag 9.5 at about 80% and I did have a good gurgle going. I have a fairly large Living room and you could easliy hear it over normal tv volume. I make some silencers for mine and talk aobut a HUGE diference. No gurgle whatsoever. I can show you how to do them if you want.
PICT0978.jpg


PICT0975.jpg


as you can see I dont have the foam pads installed nor the cone shaped screens. just my home made plugs. HOnestly, I dont konw whether I have a 102 or 202.
 
I don't think you'll regret buying that RR... there is always some risk of a flood with this hobby, but I think you'll find that you sleep better at night.
 
I pick it up tomorrow. muhahaha - I just couldnt help myself.

Yea I had a 30gal FW tank crack its bottom one night while I was sleeping. It was in my bedroom thank god or I would have not known it until the morning.

I was laying in bed 3am half out of it and I thought to myself "Why is the shower running?"

Then it clicked....

"THERE IS NO SHOWER IN MY BEDROOM!!". :eek1:
 
You'll be MUCH happier with RR tank!!! I'm very happy with mine, at least I don't have to worry about it overflowing on me. Just make sure you run a wet test first before you fill the whole thing up and running. Making sure there's no leaks anywhere!!! Then drain the tank and fill it up with RO/DI water. Good luck with the new RR tank, I'm quite jealous!!!....I can't have anything pass 90g until we get a house with a large basement where I can support my tank habbit with the whole basement.....:D
 
Well heres the new tank. Abby seems to like it. :)

IMG_0463.jpg


The returns look bass ackwards but that was the ONLY way they would go in the tank. Every other one I have seen has the returns facing the middle of the tank.

IMG_0469.jpg


Hopefully I can sand, prime and paint the stand this weekend. I hate painting...

Thank you to Kaine for helping me get the thing in the house and on the stand. Now I just need to remember to give him his hole saw back. :)

As it turns out Kaine lives so close I could almost hit his house with a rock! I just hope he doesnt get sick of me asking him questions. lol
 
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