So you got a new fish tank Newbie (Continuation)

[WaterKeeper]

Well is it sulfuric or sulphuric acid?

I love the Clown, Balistoides conspicillum, but they have a rather nasty habit of not loving anyone else. Growing to a foot and one half and an agile swimmer, woe unto their tankmates including fish, coral and other edible invertebrates. A 120, I mean 450 liter (or is it litre) tank will contain one. And I do mean one. The main reason they are not overly popular is their hostile behavior to anything else in the tank. When small they can be kept and are usually peaceful. When they grow and reach their full glory, watch out!.

I'd be more inclined to try our RC banner fish, a Clown Tang, Acanthurus lineatus. While not as striking, it is slightly smaller and generally fights with others of its own genus. It is reef safe and exists mainly on a vegetarian diet. It is somewhat cramped in a 120 but should be Ok if you limit the number of fish in your tank.

 

[Shooter7]

er, I thought the banner fish was a Sohal?

 

[WaterKeeper]

You're right Dave

Tis a Sohal;. After a few beers in the afternoon, I can't tell a Carp from and Tang.

Anyway Manc, care insturctions are the same. See Acanthurus sohal for details.

Thanks Dave. :crazy1:

 

[funloven]

Calling WK, Calling WK, please.

This thread is just like coming home when you need someone to lean on.

I am trying to get an answer to how much flow is recommended through a refugium. I posted a thread but haven't really gotten an answer. Can you help me out, please

Many thanks, as usual.

 

[WaterKeeper]

Hi Fun

Refugium flow is a topic where everyone has an opinion. I've always used low flows, on the order of 1-3 turnovers per hour. That is mainly to keep the pods in the fuge. Calfo, on the other hand, says let her rip. He uses the same turnover rate as many people use in their sump and claims it is better for pod breeding.

Since it appears that both methods work, take your pick.

 

[WaterKeeper]

Now I need to figure out why this thread is breaking into fragments. There is this one with 54 posts, another one with 10 and the 41 page main thread. It is very confusing.

OK, I merged the two spinoffs into a single thread. Hope that works.

 

[goda]

"Your lighting a 130 gallon with four 40 watt cool whites?

That is really limiting yourself and unless the anemone is about 4" form the lights its future is not good. See Host Anemones for more. On my 130 I had 500 watts of MH and 300 watts of VHO, including actinic. With an anemone you really want bright lighting and actinic too. However I have a feeling you are just pulling my leg. I am a kinder more understanding WaterKeeper and
Won't Lose My Cool!!! "

yeah you got me altho at the time that is all i had since my ballast was in the shop now im back up to 770 watts of vho ^^ ( switchin 3 out to t5 soon)

 

[funloven]

Well, WK, why do you want to keep the pods in your refug? The main reason I am setting up a refug is to supply my main tank with more pods for my Mandy. Is my thinking way off?


So if I have a 30 gal refugium the flow can be anywhere from
30 gph - 90 gph using your preference, correct? Or more, using Calfo's preference.

Do you use gravity for your refug or do you pump?

I was planning on feeding the refug from a T off the return line and then using gravity for water flow back to the sump but I can't figure out how to keep the refug from completely emptying out whenever I turn my main pump off. How do would you handle this? :hmm2:

 

[WaterKeeper]

:lol: Goda, that sounds more like it.

Fun,

I had my fuge located somewhat above the display and had it empty into it my gravity feed. I had the fuge drilled about 2" from the top so if the pump is off it only drains down about 3".

As to the pods, some will swim out such an overflow but I would often use the old turkey baster to catch some after dark and move them to the main tank.

 

[goda]

i have my fuge next to my sump and use a SLOW flow ( 20 gph throu a 55 gallon fuge) using a giant siphone made from pvc.
then pumps back up to my display from the sump.

plenty of stuff makes it
and if not who care i got alot of pods in the display as well ( just waiting to find the perfect manderin ^^)

 

[funloven]

I had read a magazine article recently about refugiums that recommended putting the outlet as close to the bottom as you could so the pods would just flow out with the current. I don't have much confidence in myself using a turkey baster. I can hardly see the little critters in the bottle of live pods I recenlty bought from the LFS.

Raising the outlet up a bit would help. I don't think there would be anything in the refug i.e. chaeto that would be hurt by being out of the water for the short amount of time I have my pump shut off. The refug tank is 36x12x12. If I have a 3"-4" DSB and then place the outlet around the 6" level that would leave everything in 2-3" of water. Does this sound resonable?

Goda, using a syphone wouldn't the flow break everytime you turn off you pump and then you need to reprime the syphone again?

 

[goda]

nope

it looks like two "j"'s connected.
that way when the water level drops it maintains the water inside the pipes so that it wont loose the prime
now i do have a lil hone on the top so i can suck the air that builds up out of it ( micro bubbles that dont make it all the way throu .) but i have a doser pump sucking on that and then pumping it into a CA reactor ( nothing in the reactor as of yet) so im killing two birds with one stone

 

[goda]

you can see the siphon ( kinda) in a few of the picts. its the one with the airline comming out of the top
http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=827322&perpage=25&pagenumber=1

 

[funloven]

Thanks for the pic. I'll let my DH look at it and then decide which way he wants to go since he gets to do all my plumbing.

 

[MancMonkey]

Cheers WK, looks like i'll have to forget that Balistoides conspicillum and im not so keen on the Sohal, just doesnt have the same character.

The fun has now begun, ive managed to convince the good lady to sacrafice more of the dining room so i can increase from an intended 120 to a 150-180g, my question and most probably a stupid one is what are the best dimensions for a tank that size, ive seen loads of variations, long and shallow, tall and thin etc etc, as i believe most fish spend their time moving in a horizontal fashion as opposed to vertically in the water column would a 72x24x24 be better than a 60x28x28 or is that extra depth of 4" irrelevant (stronger light setup maybe required?).

Im sure over the coming weeks/months there will be many many more questions!

 

[WaterKeeper]

Hi Monkey,

I think I'd go with the 72". I like long tanks and having a few inches less height helps reduce the lighting needs as you guessed. However, if you plan to use it as a dining table then you may want the deeper tank.

Fun,

As long as the Chaeto remains wet it will be fine. For me, keeping the bulk of the pods in the fuge was always a better solution as I would catch them to feed the Mandarin in the 30 gallon seahorse tank. Since the 130 is down I moved the fuge to the 30 so it might be smarter to place an elbow on the outlet to go deeper into the tank. You can always drill a small hole in the elbow to break the siphon if the pump shuts down to prevent an overflow in the display.

 

[MancMonkey]

Cheers WK, went for the 72x24x24, those puppies are heavy :eek1:

I will be aquiring the rest of my gear over the coming weeks, i just have a quick question on circulation. The water turnover rate should be at least 10x that of the volume of the tank, i assume i dont want 10x 180g whizzing through my 40g sump hourly as this will prevent appropriate skimming etc?
In which case i would have to include closed loop circulation of some kind, powerheads maybe (am i on the money still??), the problem is i havent really found any sufficient information anywhere that explains how to do this or the equipment required, plumbing etc, i assume it be a pump and some form of directional head (the search function is playing silly buggers), do you have any informative threads i might set my beady eyes upon?

 

[Shooter7]

Depending on what you're keeping, 10x the volume is pretty light. My 120 gal has over 30x the volume and I'm thinking of increasing that. You are correct that you don't want that much water going through your sump as you would most likely be asking for a lot of bubbles going into your display that way. For water flow in the tank, a couple of the more well known options are Tunze pumps - $$$ but deemed to be well made, reliable, and most are controllable, and Seio pumps - less money, considered to be less well made and some have had issues with not restarting very well after being turned off, but they can move alot of water for a much lower price. I have Seios in my tank and am happy at 6 months in so far with no probs. I have not used a closed loop, so can't help you with that. Checking in the equipment forum can help you in regards to reading up on these pumps and other ideas.

 

[MancMonkey]

Cheers Dave, question though, if you have water circulation of 30x volume and youre not running that volume through the sump, how are you doing it?

Had a look round the equipment area but drawn a blank so far, will try going further back.

Dave

 

[Shooter7]

It's being pushed by the pumps. I have two Seio 1500's in my tank, rated at 1500 gph each. I also have some other pumps in there, along with my return pump, but the Seios are the big guns in there. Basically, it is getting the flow in the display from something other than your sump return pump. And if you incorporate a refugium in your sump area, you don't want water flying through there anyway, so many people advocate going somewhat lighter on the sump flow and getting your display flow through other means, as you alluded to in your previous post asking about pumps and closed loops.

If you're having trouble with the search function, go to the top of this page, click on "Home". On the home page, look at the upper left hand column and you will see a selection called "Search tools", click on that and it will send you to the Google search for RC.