Planning a new tank...ideas??

[Norm R]

I just ordered a new tank for my daughter to upgrade her 37 gallon set-up. She has really taken an interest in reefs and reef photography so...

I'm open to ideas as I'm not very experienced with tanks this size. Here is what I know so far-
30" x 30" x 22" high ~85 gallons
made by AO
starphire 3 sides
internal overflow in back center
2 1.5" Dursos
Mag 12 return
VHO and PC lighting to start, upgrade down the road
Aquac Urchin skimmer to start

What I'm uncertain about is what to do with the returns. I've got a SeaSwirl on her current tank but I'm not sure it will work with the new tank because I assume it will have eurobracing (still need to talk through this with AO). I'd like to have something to provide some motion rather than just straight returns. Any ideas?

Now I just need to make the stand & canopy....

Some time in June I'll have her 37 set-up for sale. Solid natural cherry stand and canopy (for VHO/PC).

 

[icu2]

wave box??

 

[jakano]

i really like my manifold. look in the old calfo forum for info on it.

 

[xdusty6920]

i was thinking wavebox or a good old fashion scwd

 

[Treg]

Hey Norm,

I'm using an Ocean Motions 2 way squirt on my Mag 12 return. Its pretty slick for the money.
You could have AO drill holes in the euro brace at all 4 corners and use bulheads/lockline into the tank, Go with the 4 way squirt.

Will both 1.5" drains be functional? Or is one just a backup? How many inches of teeth for the internal overflow?
A Mag 12 might not keep up...

My Barr Aquatics internal overflow box has 22" of teeth and a single 1.5" drain line, Its quit o' bit of flow. The Mag 12 running wide open still leaves my water line a little lower than I like. Which could be a good thing (I guess), The two Tunze 6100's create a lot of turbulence on the surface, if the water line was any higher it might get messy.

 

[Mantis]

You could have Will drill your Euro-brace for the SeaSwirl. Put it in one of the back corners. Even better idea, put a SeaSwirl in both back corners. That would create a really nice random flow in a cube.

Keep it open topped with a cool pendant or 2. Get the euro-brace made out of Starphire, shouldn't add much to the cost.

 

[szwab]

I like manifolds around the top as well.

 

[Norm R]

I got busy and wasn't able to get back to this. Thanks for the responses everyone. These are good ideas. I failed to mention that I'm trying to complete this on a budget. I spent more on the tank than I planned so I may have to make less than Ideal choices on lighting and flow and upgrade down the road.

Treg, just one of the 1.5" drains will be functional. I plan to raise the 2nd one higher so it only kicks in if the first one gets plugged (she plans to keep anemones). I have 3 in my tank, 2 functional and one emergency. It let's me sleep better at night. I'm not certain on the overflow size yet, open to suggestions...

Mantis, how would you mount the SeaSwirl above the Euro-brace? I headed down this path initially but they basically clip to the side of the aquarium. Since I already have one, this would be ideal if I could work it out.

I know little about manifolds, I'll have to check it out.

 

[Treg]

Just an idea to throw out to ya if the overflow isnt etched in stone yet...

How about an external overflow box. 15" long x 6" wide. This way you can limit the amount of flow with only 15" of teeth and free up some room inside the tank. THEN use an external Durso's on the left and right side of the overflow box. That will give you the room to keep the box smaller. Smoked black back glass. Ahhh it would be awesome.

These guys helped me pick out using an external Durso and I love it.
Easy to get to for cleaning the salt creep out and keeping it quiet.
Here's a pic for ya.

I'm gonna stick with my OM 4 way squirt suggestion. $135 wired for the 3/4" squirt or $205 for the prewired 1" Super Squirt. (Just incase you planned on 1" return plumbing.)
For $135 I just dont think you can beat it.
Then if you want to really get trick and upgrade later on you can add their revolutions.

Heres a pic of Twins Guy's OM to give you an idea of what I ment about going through the eurobracing.
His is only a 2 way with a support on a 3rd corner, I would do a return on all 4 corners.
I think it is very clean looking, I really like it.

 

[asnatlas]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=6951908#post6951908 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Norm R
Treg, just one of the 1.5" drains will be functional. I plan to raise the 2nd one higher so it only kicks in if the first one gets plugged (she plans to keep anemones).

LOL, don't want to order one drain and then drill your own after you get the tank like somone else in the club did, cough... :rolleye1:

Mantis, how would you mount the SeaSwirl above the Euro-brace? I headed down this path initially but they basically clip to the side of the aquarium. Since I already have one, this would be ideal if I could work it out.

You could always do what bstone did on his tank... He removed all of the brackets and used Velcro to attached the SeaSwirls to his tank. just an idea...

Click link for pic...

 

[Norm R]

Treg, I like the idea of the external overflow and dursos but I'm a little challenged on space. I was originally going to go 30 x 24 footprint but bumped it out to 30 x 30, which is pushing it for her bedroom. I haven't spoken to AO much about the overflow box size or construction yet. Do they have teeth on them? She keeps a lot of small fish so I'll have to come up with some solution.

Actually, the OM through the Eurobracing is exactly what I have on my big tank. I installed bulkheads and used 1.5" 45's for the returns. It gives a nice broad band of water flow. The price on the squirt is better than I expected.

Is that a picture of your Durso? If so, where did you get the valves? I like those.

Asnatlas, I thought about going that route w/ the velcro or something similar but my luck it would break loose while I'm on vacation. My pool table sits right below her room....:eek2:

 

[asnatlas]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=6954318#post6954318 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Norm R
I haven't spoken to AO much about the overflow box size or construction yet. Do they have teeth on them? She keeps a lot of small fish so I'll have to come up with some solution.

This is a pic of Brads tank as I don't have a close up of mine... Will likes to cut out the area and attach black egg create....

 

[Norm R]

Does he give any other options? Half of her fish will end up in there...

 

[asnatlas]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=6954318#post6954318 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Norm R
Asnatlas, I thought about going that route w/ the velcro or something similar but my luck it would break loose while I'm on vacation. My pool table sits right below her room....:eek2:

If you get some industrial strength velcro you should have nothing to worry about... The good thing about velvro is the more movement "vibration" it has the tighter it will "hold"... If that makes since... I personally would not worry about the velcro coming off if you went with the industrial stuff, itââ"šÂ¬Ã¢"žÂ¢s not very exp, but that is your call if you don't fell comfortable...

 

[asnatlas]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=6954571#post6954571 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Norm R
Does he give any other options? Half of her fish will end up in there...

You could always go with that option and then attach some GutterGuard to the back of it to reduce the holes down smaller...

Would this work better ??

 

[Treg]

Yep thats my Durso, inside the tank is an overflow box.

I was just thinking with an internal overflow, with the size of the box needed to house two 1.5" drains, Its gonna be big. If you wrap teeth all the way around the box (like mine) your going to get 1500 gph drain... I would keep the teeth height low so you dont end up with a low water line. Or consider a Mag 18 return? If you look in that pic of my overflow box, my water line is now at the trim. (where the black and brown meet.) Thats about 1/2" of teeth. You could put teeth in (only) the front or (only) the sides... You could go with external Dusro's to keep the internal box smaller. Thats just a 1.5" Tee with a cap and a 1/4" threaded JG fitting. Inside the box is a 1.5" slip 90. Everythings available at Lowes. Of course that wouldnt help you with limited space, If you do that you might as well go with the external overflow... :lol:

Just some ideas...

If you were interested in the external overflow box I would still have the teeth cut in the back glass and you could probably get the box down to a 5" width.
You would only need it wide enough to install the bulkheads.

 

[asnatlas]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=6954752#post6954752 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Treg
I was just thinking with an internal overflow, with the size of the box needed to house two 1.5" drains, Its gonna be big.

If he went with 2x sched 1.5" sched 80 BHs he will need like 2x 2.75" holes and Will suggests 2" around any holes... So that would be put the overflow about 6"-7" into the tank and then I would guess about 14"-16" wide... So he could have a centered overflow on the back that would be about 15x7... Just throwing out ideas, you can tell me to shut up and at time