New tank setup, flows & plumbing?

[apw63]

Hi, I’m planning on setting up a 55 gal acrylic tank. I will have a sump with a refugium and return sections. I plan on this to be a reef tank. I plan on starting with fish and inverts, working my way up to corals. I will be putting in around 60 lbs of live sand and 85 lbs of live rock. I also plan on building a close loop circulation system using
http://www.oceansmotions.com/store/...id=34&osCsid=679e6eb4c8ce0d44d7b6ad28b18f9d6e

I will also have a protein skimmer. My overflow will be made of 1” pvc (stand pipe http://saltaquarium.about.com/gi/dy...0reef.com/pages/standpipe/standpipe_frame.htm) contained in an overflow box. The close loop will have 1” inlet and ¾” outlets. The return from the sump will be ¾”

Now that you have some background the questions.

I need to know about my flows. Do I need to run about 1100 gph through the sump/refugium system? Is this flow adequate? I figure 2/3 will go to the skimmer and 1/3 to the refugium.

Now what about the close loop system? What kind of flow should I put through it? Do I need to break up the flows between the closed loop and the sump system?

Any info is welcome and thank you. If anyone has better ideas on plumbing size please let me know.

Andy

 

[jer77]

How big is your sump, because 1100gph running through it might be too much. Thats 20X your tank size, while people usually recommend anywhere from 1-10X. I usually recommend around 4-8X. You'll also be losing a lot of electricity to head loss and a lot of money for a big pump. You can make up the gph in your closed loop, powerheads, etc. Are you planning on having the pump in the sump or outside?

 

[Gooli]

"I need to know about my flows. Do I need to run about 1100 gph through the sump/refugium system? Is this flow adequate? I figure 2/3 will go to the skimmer and 1/3 to the refugium."

- ask yourself...why do you want to run that much water through the sump? i went through the same thing with my 180g and believe it or not i only run 200gph through my sump\fuge. If you want to have more flow in the tank...do it with a closed loop and possibly powerheads. Slower flow through sump\fuge would be quieter, cheaper, and could minimize microbubbles.

Now what about the close loop system? What kind of flow should I put through it? Do I need to break up the flows between the closed loop and the sump system?

What are you going to keep in the tank? will you have sand or bare bottom?

 

[apw63]

Thanks for the info,

I will have sand on the bottom. I'm still not 100% sure on what fish and inverts. I'm not looking to get any aggressive fish. I would like a nice happy reef tank.

The real info I was looking for. How much flow the tank needed through the sump and close loop. The return pump will be in the sump. The closed loop will be on the back of stand about level with the bottom of the tank.

Andy

 

[Gooli]

apw63..please understand...you're doing this backwards...you need to know what corals you're gonna have in the tank THEN decide on the flow. Are you gonna do SPS, LPS, Softies?

 

[apw63]

Yes I understand what you are saying. I know I have fish and coral decisions to make. I have not bought anything yet. I'm just trying to get a feel for how the 2 systems work together. I guess what I was trying to find out is. What is the relationship between the closed loop circulation and the sump system circulation in terms of total tank circulation? I do understand that the amount of flow/circulation is dependent on fish and corals.

Thank you for stressing the order of decisions.

Andy

 

[Gooli]

Hi Andy,

The return pump's function is simply to transfer water from the sump to the main display tank. Needless to mention, it adds flow to the display tank.

The closed loop pump function is to circulate water within the display tank without any correlation to the sump. So it takes water from the display tank and spits it back out into the display tank.

Between the two, in most cases, you can achieve enough flow for any type of corals. I know i did. I have mostly SPS with only 200gph through the sump and about 3300gph from closed loop.

Check out my two threads for some closed loops info.
http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=7133173#post7133173
http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=937269

hope this helps..feel free to ask more questions.

 

[fishmongerrron]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=9261011#post9261011 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by gooliver
apw63..please understand...you're doing this backwards...you need to know what corals you're gonna have in the tank THEN decide on the flow. Are you gonna do SPS, LPS, Softies?

apw63:
I agree with gooliver, that you're going about this in reverse mode.
The reason you will need to decide which type of coral is that there are some types of corals which release many more toxins into the water column than others. If you are going to have a couple of leathers, for example, they would be one of those corals which produce a larger amount of slime and you would need to run more of your flow through the filter and not just blow the slime on to another coral through a closed loop. This is why it is a difficult question to answer. Hope this helps.

 

[apw63]

Thanks for the info again.

I will decide of what fish and corals before anymore planning.

Andy

 

[apw63]

I have been looking at fish and corals. I have known what type of fish I wanted for a while. I did not know which corals I wanted. I will start off with easy to take care for species.

Wrasse
Dartfish
Goby
Clownfish
Damsel

Misc cleaner inverts along the lines of these

http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/prod_Display.cfm?pCatId=1944
http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/prod_Display.cfm?pCatId=482


For coral I like these 2 packs

http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/prod_Display.cfm?pCatId=714
http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/prod_Display.cfm?pCatId=2140

I believe all these species are compatible and reef friendly.

Andy