Soft Coral Propagation Tank

[joe_hoble]

My buddy MJK7 and I are building a coral propagation tank. We are planning on a shallow tank. The dimensions are 48 x 24 x 9 or possibly 48 x 24 x 12. We are gonna use live rock that I have and place it over a course substrate. We have 2 MH lights 250w that will be placed in a canopy. If this is too much light can we put lower wattage bulbs with those ballasts? We are looking for any info good or bad that we need would help us out tremendously. Thanks. :wink: :?:

 

[liquid]

For the tank, I'd recommend a 50 gallon Rubbermaid livestock trough. Dimensions: 48x24x12. Cost: approx $50. The side of the tank is already drilled w/a bulkhead if you need one.

If you go w/ 250 watt halide ballasts, you will need to run 250 watt bulbs. Ballasts/bulbs aren't interchangeable. You need to run like wattages. 250 watt halides should be fine for softies IME.

hth

Shane

 

[joe_hoble]

We are gonna build the tank with acrylic. We started building the stand today. I know we're gonna plumb the tank with an overflow pipe and a return line through the stand. We are also gonna set up a refugeum for a sump. Do you think a 10 gallon sump will be sufficient? I have to figure out what kind of pump to use for the return. I also have about 100 lbs of live rock waiting to be used up, but I noticed that some of the pieces were quite large and since our tank will be relatively shallow, I though of breaking some of the rock down to smaller pieces so we will have more area available for coral. How much live sand do you think would be sufficient? I've read about 1/4 to 1/2 lb. per gallon and what would that equat to in thickness with a 24 x 48 base? I guess that is one of the reasons we are leaning towards the 12" deep tank... Any thoughts?

 

[liquid]

A 10 gal tank might be pushing the lower end of what I'd say is functional fora sump. If you could find a 30 breeder or maybe a little larger you may be much happier with the results. It'll give you more room for heaters, skimmers, filtration, added water volume, etc. IIRC a glass 30 breeder isn't all that expensive.

For a return pump, I'd probably go with something that'll push 10x your tank volume per hour thru the sump after you take into account your plumbing head loss. For pump details, please see: http://www.reefs.org/library/pumps/

For sand, I like going with anywhere from 2" - 4" of oolitic aragonite sand for the sandbed.

hth

Shane

 

[joe_hoble]

We have a 30 gal glass aquarium we can use for a sump. As far as the height for the tank we are building I think 12" will be better than 9". My thinking in that is in consideration of 2" of substrate and the live rock rubble we will put in there, I want to have enough room for the soft coral to grow. In the tank we'll put 2 or three powerheads for circulation, a simple standpipe for flow to the sump. In the sump I plan on using a Rio 2500HP for a pump. I figure with the head pressure from the sump to tank and the charts I have read, should give it about 600 GPH on the return. We'll place the overflow and the return on opposite ends of the tank to maximize the flow of unfiltered water to the sump. The overflow stand pipe will have a pre-filter on in to cut down on some noise. I have read where someone cut the end of a stand pipe with a saw in a clockface pattern. I'm thinking that the top of the stand pipe should allow for the top 1.5" to 2" over water removal to the sump and keep the 30 gallon sump filled to about 20 gallons, that way if there is a power failure or I have to turn off the pump, there will only be anywhere from 7.5 to 10 gallons of water drainage to the sump and the sump will not overflow. What do you think of all of this. Thanks.

 

[liquid]

Sounds good to me.

Shane

 

[krux]

if you are using a standpipe to flow back down to your sump, i am not sure how you will be getting 1.5 to 2 inches of drain. with a standpipe, once the water drops below the lip, it stops draining. also inherent with a standard stand pipe, the lip of the pipe ends up being your water level. the only way your water level can be above the level of the stand pipe is if you have more water flowing in than out, which would empty your sump and burn your pump out.

so, unless im missing something from your description, drain back from the pipe to your sump will not be the issue, if anything it would be your return line if that is at a lower level than the drain.

also, you might want to ask someone with a lot of experience with refuges, but i think 600 gph through a fuge might be a bit high. for more water flow you might want to look into a closed loop system, and cut back on the circulation to the fuge. if you go closed loop you can have as much flow as you could ever want for circulation without the fear of blowing around sand and macro algae in your fuge.

 

[joe_hoble]

Well the stand pipe will not go to the top of the tank or if it does, will have slots cut out to allow water to drain out to the sump. More of less set up like an overflow tank. To maintain the water level in the sump, the pump to the return line will run constantly. That is why the drain line is larger than the return line. It helps maintain the water level in the sump. That is the way my FO tank setup, with a 1" drain and a 3/4" return. It has ran like that since it has been put together. The pump is magnetic drive so there are no brushes to burn out. As far as the 600 GPH, you want about 10 times the size of the tank for water circulation from tank to sump and back per hour. I figured the tank being 60 gallons and the pump head pressure at approximatly 3 feet, a RIO 2500HP will give me about 600GPH. At least thats what the chart reads at. Now I understand that the drain line to the sump would cause the substrate to blow all over, so I figure there will have to be something in the sump to distribute the water evenly and softly sort of like a wet/dry setup. (If anyone has any ideas on this let me know... try on keeping it inexpensive). Anyway, I want to let all of you know that I really love chatting about this. Thanks for all the great info, comments and questions. Wish I had started this hobby earlier in life. :wink:

 

[krux]

aye 10 times is good for a classic setup, using a wet/dry or a berlin system with a skimmer, however if you research refugiums, i think you will find it is closer to 3 times the volume. this allows longer contact time for the macro algae to absorb nutrients, as well as leaving a less turbulent area so you can raise frags, nurse damaged fish, and cultivate a pod population.

knowing that you are running this as your primary filtration system, i can see where you would want to go with the standard 10 times number, but i really would hesistate to have that much water blowing through the fuge if it was mine.

maybe a couple posts in the equipment section can get ya some replies on using a fuge as your sump, thereby getting some info on flow through it.

the only reason i would look at this is every sump/fuge combo setup i have seen has had a very small percentage of the total flow going into the fuge portion, and in instances where you have a sump and fuge separate, the maximum flow i have seen recommended is 3 times (as stated above).

really the easiest way to do it might be to use a smaller pump to return for a bit and check your levels, and adjust up, or if you already have a large pump, you can try that and be prepared to possibly need to size down.

or you can get a large pump and ball-valve it to restrict flow, so you can open it more if you are not disrupting your fuge, or crank it down if need be.

good luck, hth.

 

[liquid]

If you think about it 600 gph really isn't that much flow. It's equivalent to 2 maxijet 1200's vs. just one. What you could do is go with your original plan of 600 gph thru the sump but in addition, put a gate valve on the return line to your tank. If you find that 600 gph is too much, you can close the valve a little and slow your flow down. I've heard the argument that slowing down the flow thru the refugium will allow the macro's to absorb nutrients faster, but to be honest I'm not certain I believe all of it. JMHO of course. Try it and see what happens.

Shane