The Reef Central Corner Club Thread

[reefscape15]

welcome codfather! love the name! I think LZ just did a led setup on his corner. pm him and im sure he would help. any questions there is still a few of us who frequent this thread and we are pretty knowledgable. best of luck with the build!

 

[lotusstar]

Jim,
Thanks for the reply. So if I'm understanding you, your skimmer section feeds the fuge which feeds the return section. So how about this. Would I use a 10g setup for the skimmer, have the drain line feed that. Then return that water to the beginning section for the 20g fuge, which dumps into a return section that returns water to the tank. Does that mean I'd have to deal with 2 sections for evap requiring top off? Would this sort of thing work? Thanks!

 

[reefscape15]

I'd be a little aprehensive about running 2 seperate sump tanks with seperate return pumps. Say the first return pump quits, the pump in the second sump would pump all the water it can into the display, which would drain down into the 10g sump, which could cause an overflow. Also, if the return on the 20g quits, you would run the first sump dry, which if it empties enough, the skimmer pump may be out of the water for some time and burn up.

Those are the two worst case scenarios, but definitely two possibilities if you do run the seperate sumps. To avoid something like that happening, you could try to drain the display into the 10g, and have that suspended above the 20g, which would gravity feed the 20g, and just rely on one return pump. Some measures would need to be taken just so that if your return pump quits, the 20g sump wouldn't overflow, and if the display or 10g sump drains got clogged, they wouldn't overflow either.

It seems kinda like alot of figuring stuff out and playing with stuff and tweaking things. If set up properly, it can work well, but with the more seperate tanks that you add to your system, the more possibility that things could fail.

And, BTW, I don't currently run any sump. I don't even have my tank running! But when I set it up, I'm going to do a Herbie Style overflow/drain into a 40 breeder sump in a remote stand. I also am considering doing a BTA tank in my old 20g plumbed into the same sump. But the drain will hit the skimmer section, then that will dump into the fuge section, which will feed the return pump section.

 

[waldomas]

Yeah...two seperate sumps is a bad idea.

If you need to use two they could be joined by a bulkhead located towards the top
for a "backup" overflow from the greater to lesser.

 

[lotusstar]

Awesome, thanks guys for the advice. When I thought of the idea I knew there just had to be 1000 bad scenerios but I couldn't seem to think of them and you helped shed some light on them, which is exactly what I needed. The gravity fed idea is interesting but if I had that much room then I'd just go with a bigger sump. My issue is I'm limited to the space under the tank and nothing else. Don't have room in the living room to even put something outside like I've seen some ATO's in a nice thing just next to the tank. If I want access to the tank I have to move couches and stuff, very small area the tank is in. Ideally I could run the drain and return through the wall to the garage and have plenty of room for a large sump / fuge ato area but that would be a nightmare with Texas weather. Plus that would be expensive which my budget is already limited enough as is. So limited to under the tank, might have to just figure out another way to have a fuge or nutrient export. Thanks for the help.

 

[SimonSKL]

Awesome, thanks guys for the advice. When I thought of the idea I knew there just had to be 1000 bad scenerios but I couldn't seem to think of them and you helped shed some light on them, which is exactly what I needed. The gravity fed idea is interesting but if I had that much room then I'd just go with a bigger sump. My issue is I'm limited to the space under the tank and nothing else. Don't have room in the living room to even put something outside like I've seen some ATO's in a nice thing just next to the tank. If I want access to the tank I have to move couches and stuff, very small area the tank is in. Ideally I could run the drain and return through the wall to the garage and have plenty of room for a large sump / fuge ato area but that would be a nightmare with Texas weather. Plus that would be expensive which my budget is already limited enough as is. So limited to under the tank, might have to just figure out another way to have a fuge or nutrient export. Thanks for the help.

I too am limited to only the space underneath the tank. I envy those who have a separate fish room or space outside the tank to house all your equipment and sump. These pictures show you my current setup underneath my tank.

On the left I have my Geo calcium reactor and the controller.

Among all these wirings and tubings, I have a 20 gal sump in there. An ATS sits in the back on top of the sump and a protein skimmer on the left inside the sump. Hanging on the front of the sump is a TLF GFO reactor. In the front, I have a 10lb CO2 canister, a NextReef reactor that houses about 750ml of NP Biopellets, an empty bottle acts as an overflow from the collection cup of the protein skimmer, and a 2-gal jug with saturated kalkwasser water to keep the PH steady, especially at night.

On the right, a 3 gal jug that holds RODI water for my ATO and a little shelf for misc small items.

I am hoping what I can put underneath the tank is adequate for me to maintain good quality water to grow the corals that I have.

 

[reefscape15]

You could always do a HOB fuge. Mine has definitely helped alot! That would leave you room under your stand for just a sump with a big skimmer in it and return pump. Just an easy idea. I think mine was from CPR or Aquafuge, it's the 2.5gal version.

 

[waldomas]

Great lookin' stand Simon!
Did you build it? If so, do you have a build thread?

It is a bit crouded tho.

 

[SimonSKL]

Great lookin' stand Simon!
Did you build it? If so, do you have a build thread?

It is a bit crouded tho.

Waldomas, I did post some of the construction pictures in the old post here.

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showpost.php?p=14608085&postcount=107

 

[The_Codfather]

welcome codfather! love the name! I think LZ just did a led setup on his corner. pm him and im sure he would help. any questions there is still a few of us who frequent this thread and we are pretty knowledgable. best of luck with the build!

Thanks!...I did a search for member LZ and nothing come up

 

[reefscape15]

just look back through a few pages. It might be LZ98 or something like that.

 

[sdoggssf]

I know i asked this question before but dont remember the response i recieved. Has anyone tried the tunze wavebox on a corner tank?????????

 

[lotusstar]

Sdoggssf, Haven't tried or even know anyone that's tried a wavebox.

Jim, that's a good idea. I hadn't thought about a HOB fuge. Would a 2g fuge be effective enough with 90g of water volume? I have no idea, is there a % guide or estimation as to how large a fuge should be to be effective?

Simon, that tank and stand look awesome. Very well done. You've got a lot stuffed under there. How are the LED's working out for ya?

 

[bzuber]

.

My thinking is get a 20g tall tank and a 10g tank to fit side by side. I would split my drain line, 1 going to the 10g where the skimmer would be and the other line going to the fuge. Put a gate valve on 1 or both to control the amount of flow into each. Build a baffle in each tank for the return. Maybe just have the skimmer return section feed into the fuge return section and then both of those have 1 main pump to return to the tank.

I'm sure there are about a million holes in my thinking here so please help point them out to me and if this sort of thinking is possible?

Here is a sump that I built for my 54g corner, seems very similar to your vision.

 

[SimonSKL]

Simon, that tank and stand look awesome. Very well done. You've got a lot stuffed under there. How are the LED's working out for ya?

Thanks Lotusstar. I have a mixture of LPS and SPS in my tank but I was not very successful in growing any SPS prior to using the LED light. They all turned brown within a month after I put them in the tank. It could be my nutrients were too high then. So far the SPS are responding very well to the LED and new tips are coming out. They also retained their color instead of turning brown on me. Some of the smaller SPS frags almost double in size in 3 months. However, my LPS did not seem to grow much, they look healthy but they are not increasing in size. I think may be it is too much light for the LPS. Here is a tank shot from a few days ago.

This picture was taken on 4/1/10, about a week after I started my LED. You can compare this to the same coral in the middle of the tank.

This birdnest (upper right side in the tank shot) coral almost double in size since this picture was taken on 4/1/10.

[/QUOTE]

 

[reefscape15]

Lotusstar - Really any fuge is better than none, but 2gal might be a little small for 90g of water volume. They do make larger ones, but I just got the smallest cause it was for my 20g at the time of purchase. I think the larger one is like 6gal which would prob be good enough.

 

[awitowsk]

Simon your tank and setup are awesome.

I just started building the stand for my 92 yesterday. Still have a long way to go though.

 

[SimonSKL]

Awitowsk, Looking good! Can't wait to see your finished stand and tank. It is always a challenge for me to build something curvy. Why are you needing 3 tanks underneath? Sump, RODI water and a refugium?

 

[awitowsk]

Awitowsk, Looking good! Can't wait to see your finished stand and tank. It is always a challenge for me to build something curvy. Why are you needing 3 tanks underneath? Sump, RODI water and a refugium?

Thanks. The curves are one reason I cheated with traditional doors. I like the way you completely hid the trim and seams on yours, very nice. I am going to keep it in mind when I start the canopy.

That is my plan for the tanks. Have the drain split to the upper fuge and the sump below, and the 20H next to the sump for ato.

 

[vickreyreef]

is anyone with the 92g hanging a 48" fixture or mostly just using a 36"? I have a 36" sitting on the glass top now but really want to switch from 2 150w de mh to 2 250w de mh...but cant find a fixture that has 2 bulbs in the 36" ...seems to start with the 48"....I also want to hang it from the ceiling as I am sick of manipulating it to clean the tank etc...

thanks!