Planning my Tank, looking for input

silkchaos

silkchaos

Member
Alright, so tonight i am picking up the tank and stand. It is a 30 gallon x-tall (same foot print as a 20 gallon, but 24" tall). I will be drilling a 1 inch hole for the sump, and (2) 1/2 inch for the returns - with lockline hooked up to these to be able to play with the direction of hte flow. 10 Gallon Sump.

Lighting:
I have ballasts for power compacts, so I was thinking of using those for actinics

(2) 32w Sunpaq Dual Actinic Power compacts.

And metal halide lighting (of course.).
I had been thinking 250W but figured I would ask people's input- would I be better off with 175? I pretty much would prefer to be able to keep just about anything i want in it..

Circulation:
* Will be using a Rainbow Lifegard Quiet One Aquarium Pump 1200 as my return pump. - Was contemplating putting a SCWD on this.
* (2) Hydor Koralia Nano's on a JBJ Ocean Pulse Wavemaker

Skimmer:
Excalibur skimmer, will be using a MJ1200 to run it (instead of the rio 800 that normally comes with it).

Thoughts?
 
I would use a 175W ballast personally but a 250 would work too. SCWD are pieces of junk IME and IMO and they break down after a few months of use. Other than that it sounds good...

Nate
 
Couple more things...i think the 175 will be more than suffecent for that size tank. How far away from the sump is the tank in feet? cause that pump only does 296gph and has a head height of 6 foot, so at 5 foot the Gph will be almost nonexistant. i would go with nate on this one and say that the SCWD's are junk. as well as the hydor nanos will not put enought flow in the tank, i reccamend the hydor #1's, well if you are going to be getting back into SPS anyway. Nate has one of the nano's and it is very very pewny. Also the hydors can not go on a wave maker unless it is a seio style one. they are not designed to start and stop. the seio wave makes slows the PH down instead of stopping it. useing the hydors on a normal wave makers creates alot of raquet and is not very good for the pump.
 
The sump will be in hte stand, so only about 3 feet. With the head loss calculator, it has it coming out at 192 gph.

alright, scratching the scwd then.

on the flow with the Hydor's, myt hought was that its a 30 gallon.

so 192 gph from the return pump
and ten 240 gph from the Hydor's. Gives me about 14X the water turnover. I will look in to the hydor 1s.

I will have to check out the seio wave maker. Interestingly, I have found several references on line to people running these on wavemakers without issues.
 
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Im not sure where you saw people using them but when i tryed it they start backwards some times, and are very very noisy when they come on, and the max on the wavemaker that i had was like 35 seconds, maybe a little more but it got really annoying after only a few mins...
 
I can definitly see where it could... ok, scratch teh wavemaker idea.. (Saves me 50 bucks, so thats not a bad thing)
 
I've got a Mag 5 on my 20 with a 10G sump. The return line is split to two locline returns and has pretty decent flow. It is the only flow in my tank (softies) but I think I coulda even gotten away with a mag 7
 
I picked up the tank last night, forgot how much taller than a 20 it is! But, at 4' high(which is about where it will be), the return on the quiet one 1200 is ~200 gph, on a mag 5 it is ~250. and the Quiet One 1200 runs at ~20 Watts less than the mag 5.

(Plus the pump is quiet a bit cheaper up front)

Then, out of another paycheck, I can get: (2) Koralia 1 - 3.5 Watts each - 400 gph each, and have my flow getting more toward where I actually want it.

Yanno, if I hadn't spent $1100 on car repairs today, I could have placed that marine depot order ofr EVERYTHING I wanted, instead of buying what I could used, and slowly getting the rest...

I suppose I will wait until AFTER I drill/dremel the holes in the tank to place the order though. It would suck to have all the parts, and then break the tank as I tried to put holes in it.

It looks Like I am actually going to have to take the tank stand apart to fit the 10 gallon aquarium in it, and them put it bakc together. So, I will have to get the skimmer and pump before I get everything set up - as I will need to see how much room I have and put the baffles in the sump.
 
Are you putting the skimmer on the sump?? I had issues with the seaclone not sitting flush becasue it hits on the bottom of the stand. I think it makes it a bit noiseier.
 
I'm planning on it - Its not a stock tank, and I don't know if it will sit flush. Perhaps putting something under it to help with the vibration.
 
(that previous post was supposed to say "not a stock tank stand)

Hmm. I was wondering peoples thoughts on this. I am of course going to drill the tank for the overflow, but on the return -

I was trying to decide if i benefit from drilling the tank for the return, or setting it up so that i had pvc running into the top of the canopy and that way i could connect it to loc-line in the front of the canopy to get circulation coming in from the front of the tank.

Also weighing the benefits of 1 or two returns for the flow factor.
 
Drilled the 3 holes (well, used a dremel) and ensured that the bulkheads fit in each, cleaned the back - tomorrow i am painting the back piece of glass black.

Next steps:
1) stand - drag it down stairs and strip it so that it can be stained the same color as the canopy
2) canopy - well.. Make it.
3) Sump - get a maxijet 1200 for skimmer, and figure out spacing. Then pick up 3 pieces of cut glass from lowes - and put in bubble trap.
4) put it all together.
 
you'll actually find Binghamton Plate Glass Co Inc is cheaper than lowes. I got 3 1/4" glass baffles for $15 there, and lowes (depending on who it is and how they charge) will cost more for 1/8" glass
 
Hope no one minds - documenting as I go through the process - in case I ever want to look back and see it.

Over the weekend, sanded down the stand - removing all finish. Started building the canopy.
Got 20 lbs of rock (base), put that in a separate aquarium with RODI and Salt, added some fish food so that the bacteria will start the cycle now.

Found information on the "calfo overflow" in the DIY section - I am considering goign that way instead - as I haven't ordered the overflow yet from Glass-holes.
 
Didn't you already drill?? I think Calfo would need holes on the top back. I went calfo on my 20G...
Your build sounds alot like mine was. If you wanted to come over and take a look, let me know... seen here:
Softie-1.jpg
 
I did drill - but I think I can make it work with the holes I drilled - The are on teh back wall, at the top. I have a one inch hole in the center, and two 1/2 inch on the sides. I was contemplating using a one inch t - have the pipes for hte overflow go out to the sides, as opposed to connecting to a bulkhead on either side.

Would love to come by and see your set up!
 
Ok, So here is what i am thinking with plumbing (figured i would bring this back to this thread instead of the Zoo conversation thread.
80409plumbingfront.JPG
Along the red lines (obviously measured and done straight as opposed to quickly done paintshop lines) will be the line cut for the intake.

where the blue is, i will be hooking up locline for the returns from the sump.

An alternative would be to put in an actual calfo coast to coast overflow


80409plumbingback.JPG

Here is the back, will be hooking up tubing to the back fo the returns you see here.

And just because
80409tankonstand.JPG

Here is the drilled tank, with the proposed plumbing, sitting on the sanded but not finished (and sans door) stand.
 
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