New (to me) 46 bowfront

[dstipple]

Hi all,
I've been all over this forum and other websites for months and finally found an opportunity to purchase a tank. I bought a 46 bow front, stand, coralife lighting system, and 3 Marineland HOT Magnum 250's. The guy I bought it from said he has it running for a couple years with this equiptment alone. I just wanted to get all of your opinions as to if what i have will work or if some new goodies will need to be bought to get her up and running (successfully).

 

[greech]

I would think maintaining 3 of those filters would be pretty tough. I have never used them but from what I have seen I would think the mechanical filter would get clogged pretty quick. Was the previous owner using these in a saltwater setup? If you can run the filters empty or maybe one with just carbon and GFO and use the other 2 for circulation but you will still want more flow through powerheads, etc.

I would recommend ditching the filters for a sump even using a HOB overflow if you can't/don't want to drill the tank. This way you get all the filters off the back of the tank and have a place for a good skimmer. If you don't add a sump consider a HOB skimmer.

Not sure what kind of lighting your Coralife is but if its PC, T5HO or halide you can have some corals at least. Just depend on what you have.

 

[websiteworld]

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2039444I have a 46 bow with a sump in the basement VIA 10 feet of pvc.


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[dstipple]

I would think maintaining 3 of those filters would be pretty tough. I have never used them but from what I have seen I would think the mechanical filter would get clogged pretty quick. Was the previous owner using these in a saltwater setup? If you can run the filters empty or maybe one with just carbon and GFO and use the other 2 for circulation but you will still want more flow through powerheads, etc.

I would recommend ditching the filters for a sump even using a HOB overflow if you can't/don't want to drill the tank. This way you get all the filters off the back of the tank and have a place for a good skimmer. If you don't add a sump consider a HOB skimmer.

Not sure what kind of lighting your Coralife is but if its PC, T5HO or halide you can have some corals at least. Just depend on what you have.

The previous owner did use it for a saltwater setup and he told me that he kept some corals but was somewhat limited. I think I will end up going to my LFS and see what they can tell me about it (the hood for the lights has no markings other than "coralife" but the bulbs are "Royal blue 65 watt" and "10,000k 55 watt"). I was a little unsure of the filters but the price for the setup was good with or without them so i figured I'd give them a try. As far as a sump can you buy them premade or is it more of a DIY?

 

[dstipple]

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2039444I have a 46 bow with a sump in the basement VIA 10 feet of pvc.


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I eventually want to make/buy a sump and i like your basement setup alot! Is the 2400 gph pump just to help fight that 12ft rise or is that a normal size pump for a 46?

 

[greech]

If these are your bulbs, they are compact fluorescent...

http://www.petstore.com/ps_viewitem...se&utm_campaign=pscseggl2&utm_content=ES54306

You will be able to keep some corals. If you think the bulbs are older than a year/year+1/2, you might want to replace them or better yet just upgrade the lighting to T5HO, LEDs, etc. With the Cfs, you will be able to keep low light LPS, zoas, shrooms, leathers, etc. but higher light corals and clams would not be a good idea.

 

[reefmanmatt]

my first reef was a 46 bowfront ... liked it so much i never stopped using it ! its my current sump but i loved the look , and great flow is easy with the curved glass . i think i ran 2 koralia 2's for ever , with a aqua-c remora skimmer for a year , then built a sump and started upgrading ..... still havent figured out how to stop !!! the only downfall is the center brace , but if your running a bar light it doesnt show too much . that pump is 4 sure to battle 12ft of head i couldnt drill mine because it was tempered , so i ran a cpr over the back which worked well but i dont miss it much either . post up some pics with a build thread !!!

 

[dstipple]

yea the bulbs seem kinda old so I'll replace them once my tank is cycled and I'm about to start adding fish and corals (or is that a bad idea to switch lights after cycling?) That setup with the 2 koralias and protein skimmer sounds like a pretty good setup (and relatively cheap). Ill be sure to post pics of the build but i wont start it until mid-late August when I get back up to school

 

[websiteworld]

I eventually want to make/buy a sump and i like your basement setup alot! Is the 2400 gph pump just to help fight that 12ft rise or is that a normal size pump for a 46?

Yes because when you do the math and account for angles etc, its only 850 gph.

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