Starting a 225 gallon reef tank

[MdM31]

Before I start the official thread, I have a few quick questions for you guys. I am at the point to where I need to know what size holes I should go with in my overflow. The tank is going to be 225 gallons with 2 external overflow boxes. I was thinking 2 holes in each box, at 1.5". Would that be too large? Could I make the durso's 1.5" then size them down to 1". What would you guys do? I want the tank to be micro bubble free and as quiet as possible. I wont be having a high turnover rate either so thats not a big issue.

-Mike

 

[HotHotHot]

As a reference, I'm setting up a 225 right now (ready for rock).

I had 2 1.5" holes drilled in each overflow. 1 Durso and 1 emergency drain per overflow.

I'm using a Sequence 3200, which is gawd awful powerful, as a return pump and the drains can easily handle the flow (my sump can't however).

What return pump you will use?

HTH
Ed

 

[downlimit]

I would suggest that instead of using 2 large drains and having a massive pump to return the water to the tank from the sump, I would be a proponent of using a centralized overflow, with a small pump returning only about 2 to 5 times the tanks water volume per hour, and then having the rest of the flow created by closed loop systems. this not only addresses the fact that you wont see any micro bubles back in the aquarium, but also there is no loss of flow as the cls will take care of that.

 

[HotHotHot]

I'm inclined to agree with downlimit. I sized the pump based on the headloss calculator, but dang there's no stopping this pump!

I did throttle it back by dumping water back into the sump with a tee off of the return line.

I'm also using a closed loop with a Dart and OM 4-way which is bubble-free.

Ed

 

[MdM31]

Im going to use my panworld 100px pump. Its a flow pump rated at about 1000gph, but it wont be open full be/c I will be using it to feed my UV, calcium reactor, and other components. Im guessing I will get about 600gph back into the actual tank.

Im starting to think 1 1/4" drains would be fine. Ive heard of people haveing problems with large drains; problems like microbubbles and noise. Is this true?

Im not going to have a high sump turnover, so what would you guys suggest?

-Mike

 

[CAreefer]

With my 225, the return pump is the Pan World 100 px also. I do have it throttled back about 25%. I run a single 1 1/2" drain into the sump. No noise coming from the overflow or the drain into the sump. I had to get a little creative with the overflow plumbing. Vertically into the sump, 90deg elbow, up to 2", Tee (up and down) 2" elbow on top. Dead silent. Flow in the tank is handled by the tunzes.

HTH
CAReefer

 

[CAreefer]

Mike, I am looking at making some changes to my tank. How has Miracles been to work with? Are they on time with stated deadlines?

Thanks
CAReefer

 

[asnatlas]

I would stick with your 2x 1.5" drains in each overflow... Its better to have too big of drains then not big enough... The drains will only drain as fast as the water is returned back to the display...

As for the return flow I would stick to about 3x-5x of your display volume...

 

[CAreefer]

Great advice Shawn.

 

[MdM31]

Thanks!

 

[MdM31]

Well now I have come to the lighting dilema. I was thinking of having 5 250 watt metal halides on icecap ballasts. I was going to run 3 10ks and 2 20ks (XM bulbs). Do you guys think I would need actinic supplementation? Another issue i ran into was the halides might heat up the tank a little too much and I do not want to buy an expensive chiller. What would you guys do? Im open to all suggestions.

-Mike

 

[Drewcipher]

I am doing the exact same thing. I have 2 drains and 1 return in each external overflow. The drains are 2" and 1.5". The return is 1.5" I just received my Gen-X Mak 4 return pump(1190gph) and expect my closed loop pump tomorrow(Sequence Barracuda). I will also have Tunze 6000s on a multi controller. Mine will be an LPS tank so this might sound like alot of flow, but the return pump and the closed loop pump will all be blasting away at the back of the tank. We decided that the flow in back is one of the most ignored areas of a tank. The rest of the tank will be tossed about by the Tunzes. I hope it works out well for us. Maybe it helps you some too.

I am still in the lighting dilemna as well, and I know what I am going to keep. What do you want to keep in the tank? I think you are too heavy on lighting, unless you are planning on SPS only. If you want a mixed reef, I think you might be disappointed with that much light. Also, as far as supplementing goes, it is far too subjective to answer. People differ in the color they like to see in their tanks. On the other side of the coin, I like supplementation so that I can have those lights on first, rather than go wham into daylight. Anyway, sorry if I rambled.

 

[CAreefer]

As to the lighting, I ran 5 250 watt DE's in the ROIII reflectors and couldn't get the necessary spread. I ended up with the LAIII's and 400 watt bulbs. I went mainly with the 400's because I wanted to keep the bulbs 16" off the surface to help with the heat issues. I have had them as low as 8" and still got complete coverage. IMO 3 250 watt SE in the LAIII's would be a good set-up. The supplementation is a little more difficult because with the eurobracing. With 4" front and rear bracing, a 22" opening is left. The LAIII's are 19.5" My VHO's are under the reflectors and there is a slight shadow. Might want to look into the LAIII mini's.

CAReefer

 

[MdM31]

Alright I will do that. Only 3 running 3 halides will save me a bunch of money too!

-Mike

 

[CAreefer]

You can see all the hooks in the ceiling from my previous experiments trying to get the desired coverage. I intended from the beginning for this to be an SPS dominant tank, so I knew I needed lots of light. IMO it would take at least 6 of the ROIII reflectors to get full coverage front to back.

Here is with the 5 250 watt, actually 2 were SE and 3 were DE

And what I ended up with.

What bulbs you're on running will determine the best ballast for your situation. I bought all PFO HQI's so I could run the Radium. The 10k Reeflux gives the corals great color, I believe due to the very high spike in the 450 nm range. but on the HQI ballast, it has a pink tint to it that I find unattractive. I'm going to give the CV e-ballast a try and see how I like it. The par difference is minimal and the blue spike remains.

CAReefer

 

[asnatlas]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=6804828#post6804828 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by MdM31
Well now I have come to the lighting dilema. I was thinking of having 5 250 watt metal halides on icecap ballasts. I was going to run 3 10ks and 2 20ks (XM bulbs). Do you guys think I would need actinic supplementation? Another issue i ran into was the halides might heat up the tank a little too much and I do not want to buy an expensive chiller. What would you guys do? Im open to all suggestions.

-Mike

5x MHs, what size is your tank ?? I am only running 4x 250w over my 600gal (96x48x30)... I am using Lumenarc III reflectors... They can give a good 3'x3' coverage and I would really look into them, depending on what corals you are planning on keeping you could prob get away with 2 or 3... I would look into T5 for supplementation...

 

[CAreefer]

One other thought, IIRC the XM's don't fire reliably on the IceCap ballasts. At least the DE versions. I maybe really off on this, but seems to me....

 

[MdM31]

I think im gonna run 3 luminarc III reflectors with 250 watt XM bulbs(10ks on the outside one 20k in the center). I think im gonna try to run them of PFO HQI ballasts. Will I have to buy the PFO mogul socket? Im guessing I will, also do the Luminarc Reflectors come with some type of mounting bracket??? I am also gonna run two 72" super actinic for supplementation.

Thats it for now.

-Mike

 

[CAreefer]

The LAIII's come with the socket, accompanying bracket, mounting hooks (for hanging), and a cord with a proprietary plug (IIRC you get both male and female too). The cords are really long, like 12 ft. Makes remote placement nice. You will need the PFO lamp cord as it is sold seperately and plugs directly into the ballast.

Marshal

 

[radone]

CAreefer, the new ice cap 250 ballasts will fire the XM's no problem.
Just thought you would like to know, just don't want start something.
You have a beautiful tank BTW