Starting up a 58 Gallon

[ataylo13]

My dreams of a larger tank are coming to reality. I have recently purchased a 58g tank. I picked up a few things from Reef Dwellers close out sale for the sump. I am stting up a 20g long with partitions:
1 for protein skimmer
1 for return
1 for refugium

I am toying with the idea of going bare bottom, but I am unsure if a ~10g refugium will be enough for the tank. any thoughts?

The tank came with a rio 3100 do you think this will be enough water movement for SPS?

I am planning on adding a Calcium reactor within a month or two of setup.

I will post pics during construction.

 

[hansnfrans]

Barebottom should have higher flow than that. Aim for 20x turnover rate, maybe a bit more. Maybe use a couple of Seio 820's in the tank. Were you going to use the Rio 3100 as a return pump from your sump, or in the tank as a powerhead?

If the whole 10gal is used as a refugium, then it should be sufficient for a 58gal tank.

 

[schmoeger6]

Don't think in terms of tank size vs refugium size. That 10 gal fuge could be plenty with a average bioload, but not nearly enough with a high load.

The size of the fuge should be determined by what you are planning on adding. I am running about a 6 gal fuge on my 90 gal, but there is minimal nutrients as it is a SPS dominated tank.

Starting to sound like a broken record, but check with Rod, he has a wealth of knowledge on setting up sumps/refugiums

 

[ataylo13]

The starting bio load will be a 6 line wrasse. It is looking like I might be getting a yellow tang from a friend. I have a few softies and lps and the number of SPS is growing.

 

[jjjimmy]

Re: Starting up a 58 Gallon

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8095170#post8095170 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by ataylo13
The tank came with a rio 3100 do you think this will be enough water movement for SPS?

IMHO, the only thing that it would be good for is the garbage. I will personally never use another RIO product.

 

[ataylo13]

So I am going out on a limb to assume that you "may" recommend a new return pump? Since the sump is not drilled what type of submersable pump would you recommend?

 

[jjjimmy]

A Mag 9.5 for submersible possibly or a quiet one pump.

 

[whiirly]

as long as it isnt up and running I would take the time to drill the sump

 

[ataylo13]

Any recomendations on where to get the tank drilled? I bought the tank from menard and it already has been drilled and I am going to use that for the fuge.

 

[desjardiniidj]

I can drill it for $10 a hole(up to 50-60 gal.). I've got bits for 1" and 1.5" bulkheads. I can even drill out smaller holes. If it's 3/4 and you want 1" or 1.5", no problem.

 

[Hammercoral]

I wouldnt add a calcium reactor in 2months unless you already have mature sps. water changes and kalk should do you fine for quite some time. Spend the $ on better pumps,skimmer, lights, etc first.

 

[ataylo13]

I currently have about 12 SPS frags in my tank now. They are far from "mature" but they are growing

 

[lovereefs1]

We ran a 58 gallon tank with a 10 gallon sump and heavy bioload for nearly two years. We did wish we had something bigger, but it was enough.

 

[glassbox-design]

BB is to keep very low nutrients...in which case a fuge isnt needed. macro will only trap detritus increasing nutrients or die from not enough

as said...ditch the rio and look into a cool running submersible. mag's are hot and noisy...check out eheim or ocean runners. you wont need a lot of flow through the sump and these would work quite well...and no need to drill the sump, i like things simple

if you do go BB try 2 maxi-stream mods. that should give you some good flow. what skimmer are you running? lighting?

let us know what you decide bb, ssb, dsb etc....

eric&flint

 

[Tabeaubi]

Re: Re: Starting up a 58 Gallon

Re: Re: Starting up a 58 Gallon

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8096982#post8096982 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by jjjimmy
IMHO, the only thing that it would be good for is the garbage. I will personally never use another RIO product.

I agree with jjimmy. Keep that piece of crap out of your tank. To many people have fallen victim to these pumps failing, myself included.

Check this out.

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=752236

Gotta love them Rio's.

Tom
:mad2:

 

[aiko670]

I had a Rio on my old 58 and it sucked, I switched it to a mag 9.5 then to a mag 12. I liked the 12 better but the 9.5 was probably sufficiant.

 

[ataylo13]

Thanks for all of the info. I have read bad things about rio's in the past but you never really know if it is a one time thing.

Skimmer:
The tank came with a protien skimmer not sure what brand though. I figured some is better than nothing. It has the name CU-75 on it. I will do some research.

Lighting:
I am going to move my Current 150W HQI Pendant to this tank until I save for t5's. I have to do more research on brand, fixtures, etc.

Sump:
I am working with a 20 Long. Got some acrylic today for the paritions. I remember reading that you need a certain type of silicone for aquariums. I bought a tube of GE Silicone I* from Home Depot the other day. It is 100% silicone, which the LFS said was need. They told me the silicone they had would not adhear to acrylic, but it would stick to the glass. How do I bond acrylic to glass? Any suggestions?

Thanks again for all of your help and recommendations.

 

[ataylo13]

After a little research I found it to be a WON PROTEIN SKIMMER. Has anyone ever used/heard of one? The cost seems low on the net. What brand would you recommend?

 

[MadTownMax]

The WON skimmer might work OK, but if you're looking to upgrade- octopus needle-wheel skimmers are really cheap, and fairly good quality; that is what I plan to get as my next up grade.

The Silicone will not create a water-tight seal with the acrylic - but it will hold it securely in place as long as the acrylic doesn't bend - if it does bend, you may find that double-thick glass is much cheaper than 1/4" acrylic sheet - and you can get the glass from any local hardware store.

FWIW - a 58 is a nice size to use a single-ended halide over it - a 175 or 250W (400W if you're planning on SPS only, but that will require some pretty good cooling from fans or a chiller) Due to the fact that there is no center brace, you can put the halide right in the center of the tank and get pretty good coverage - you can check out my gallery for pictures of how this looks (my pictures are of a 65, but the 58 is the same footprint - just slightly shorter) - I recommend Single-ended over double-ended as the double-ended pendants do not tend to cover as much tank real estate :thubmsup:

IME - As far as flow for the tank - you may want to wait a bit (if you can :lol: ) and get a tunze nano stream - very small, very versitile, very low power consumption - and some really nice flow (considering the size) - I used a quietone 3000 on my 65 and found that adequate - a quietone 4000 or a mag 9.5 would be OK too - but I wouldn't get anything larger than that - the more flow you put through your sump - the more problems you are going to face with microbubbles, overflow noise, and heat - if you want more flow - do it efficiently with either the tunze nano streams, seio's, or powerheads...

 

[flapjack1439]

I made a fuge from a 15 gal all glass tank. I used 100% silicone with plexi glass dividers. I put silicone on the edges before I slid them in and then sandwiched it between two beads. I figured even if it didn't adhere to the plexi the bead on either side would keep it in place. I've had no problems so far.