Some Feedback on My Tank Design Please

[Canadian]

Hey folks! I'm finally finishing up my masters in physiotherapy and now that I'll be back in the working world and have a little more time on my hands I'd like to get back into the hobby after a long hiatus - prior to which I was pretty heavily involved with reefkeeping. Having been a member here for so long it was pretty easy to revert back to my old habbits and head on back to RC.

I've decided to set up a small reef tank and after looking at the all-in-one tanks out there I think I'd be happier with a custom tank.

So now I'm in the process of planning out the construction of the tank and would really appreciate some feedback on the tank design as I've always plumbed my tanks with a sump and this is the first false wall tank I've built. I've attached a couple of schematics below. The tank dimensions are 24" x 24" and 18" tall with the false wall being 6" from the back of the tank. The tank will be frameless and I'd like to run it open-topped.

A couple things to keep in mind when looking at the pics: I plan on putting two Hydor Rotating Water Deflectors on the two holes in the false wall which will run off a Y'd return pump. I'm also leaning toward putting a Hydor Koralia-2 on the right side of the tank about midway down the false wall. These look like a nice option for keeping temps down while maintaining good flow. Also, one of my biggest preoccupations with this tank is hiding the equipment as much as possible to keep it looking like a glass box. So I'm avoiding Loc-Line etc. in the display at all costs.

For lighting I really like the Clip-on Coralife Aqualight Advanced that looks kind of like a desk lamp. While I'm not a big fan of Coralife products this seems to be a better option than the JBJ equivalent. I plan on running a 20,000k 150W HQI. I'd also like to put a Tunze 9002 Nano DOC Protein Skimmer in the back compartment.

My main questions are:

1) What would you recommend for a return pump? (assuming the tank will be a mixed softie, LPS, and low light demanding SPS). I'm trying to keep everything as low wattage as possible to avoid jacking the heat up and necessitating a chiller.

2) Anyone with any experience with the Tunze Nano skimmer know what kind of water depth I need to run the back compartment at?

3) Any suggestions on a better way to lay out the back compartments? (I plan on stacking some foam and ChemiPure in the overflow section)

4) Any concerns with the tank design? I was thinking 3/8" glass but I'm not sure what the requirements are for a tank like this that is fairly wide with a reasonable height and no frame or brace (I intend to have the tank built by a local aquarium builder). I want to avoid any bracing if at all possible (including Euro bracing).

And here's a pic of my old 20g nano with 300W VHO from around 1999-2000 just to show I'm not a total newbie when it comes to nano reefs.

 

[WarEagleNR88]

Nice coralline you had there; that's a great looking tank you had! How did you have 300W VHO over it? How were those arranged?

If you want high flow in this new tank, anything far over 300gph with those Hydor Flo Rotators will void their warranty. "Excessive flow rates can damage the unit and are not covered by warranty." With your approximately 30 gallons of display area, even 600gph won't be much. And they have some issues after a while, so that may not be the best route to take in my opinion.

If you want to run a Hydro Koralia in the center of the false wall to keep the clean, glass container look, why not run two Tunze Turbelle NanoStream 6025s on it instead? For the return pump you could use a small, efficient Eheim 1048 Pump or its smaller brother, the Eheim 1046 Pump, running your return. Going this route would help prevent microbubbles, cut down on heat, and easily provide close to 50 times turnover in the display only with a measly 24W of power. Plus you gain efficiency in your skimmer by providing low flow and dwell time in the rear chamber.

Also, don't put teeth in the overflow. If you want a great overflow--and you can if you run a low flow pump like the Eheims--lower your entire false wall by 1/4" and let the entire back overflow. This will also improve skimmer efficiency and will allow you to have only a small stream of water across your 24" interior false wall. With that little flow of water, sound and salt spray will be minimized. This will require a little ingenuity to keep small animals from going over the overflow, but I'm sure you can handle it after showing the pictures above.

HTH!

 

[Canadian]

WarEagleNR88,

Thanks for the reply!

I really appreciate the feedback on the Hydor and the excessive flow rates.

With regard to the Eheim pump: it's listed as being rated for 158GPH. I don't see how this pump is sufficient. Is there something I'm missing here?

I initially thought about running the overflow as the whole false wall without any teeth but I was worried a) about noise b) about an inability to direct flow from one chamber to another to force it through chemical media like ChemiPure. I figure I could just run a length of egg crate along the back side of the false wall. I planned on building a little cap with cutouts for cords etc. to cover up the overflow so it would still like tidy with the eggcrate.

Keep the feedback coming. I really appreciate it.

 

[Louie3]

Freakin sweet Coraline looks cool.

Sorry but thats All I have to say

 

[oldreefer76]

I agree with the Tunze 6025 for flow have a 6045 in a 15g and love it or you can go on a waiting list for a 6055 which will be controllable as for the Tunze 9002 skimmer it will fit well in you back compartment and you will love it, they are with out a doubt the best small skimmers I have ever owned

 

[Canadian]

WarEagleNR88,

Here's a pic of the lamps to answer your question about how the lights were arranged - I just used an IceCap ballast and IceCap end caps. The lamps were 24" 75W. It was a dicey DIY lighting hood so I made no attempt to hide the wires as you'll see. The little blue light in the middle was a light detecting night light with a blue bulb that turned on when the main lights went off.

The coraline growth was mostly the result of good water flow and dosing B-Ionic. I actually intend to use B-Ionic on this tank because even after setting up numerous other tanks with calcium reactors I never had the coraline growth I had in this tank.