new custom tank - need assistance/advice....

[02tts]

About to have a custom tank made and need some guidance on a couple of things: (making it custom because of the desired measurements and the inability to be able to go 20-24" wide, trust me I wish I could, would be much, much, much cheaper).


1. can't decide between glass or acrylic, if glass it would be made by Oceanic, if acrylic it would be made by either Pro-Clear in Florida or by ATM in California.....glass would be 1/2", acrylic woud be 1".........that bing said, aside from the scratiching thing, it seems acrylic might be the way to go...any comments on this...

2. the tank will measure 81x19x36 roughly 240 gallons - while I realize wider would be better, this is the space I have to work with...this would be for a fish only tank until possibly later on. Tank would have roughly 150-160lbs of live rock and some live sand.

3. I was thinking of putting two in-tank, pre-drilled overflows/pre-filters on the back....question, would two suffice or would I need more...seems that two would suffice from what I see, each one would also have a return course.

4. on the return, oceanic recommends 3/4" but alot of what I have been reading points to using 1" return's instead of 3/4"...any suggestions on this?

5. for filtration I'm thinking about geting a Life-Reef wet/dry tricller filter with dual drains.

6. some recommend using a single pump and "T" it off for the two returns vs. using two separate pumps, once for each return....any thoughts and size...I was thinking 2400x2 or 3600x2....?

7. for filtration, I was thinking of getting a Nu-Clear Mechanical canister filter and possibly attach a Nu-Clear Activated Carbon canister filter...any thoughts...

8. for protein skimming, I have had excellent results in the past with Aqua-C skimmers so I was thinking about going with the Aqua-C EV 240 unless someone has other suggestions...

9. all pumps would be external, from what I can see, it would be 2-3 pumps, depeding on wether I "T" off the returns or not...and I was thinking about using the Sequence pumps as they seem to have a good rep and seem to be the quietest pumpt out there....and is often compared to the Iwaki pumps...

10. lighting: no idea yet as I plan on keeping a fish only tank it would not be too demanding...although I do like the coraline algea...so, whatever I can get away with without having to worry about getting a chiller for the tank.

Also does anyone have an experience with the following tanks/manufacturers:

Pro-Clear
ATM
Blue Zoo Aquatics
Tenecor

Seems some recommend 3/4" if going acrylic but amy say I may experience some bowing at 3/4" because of the height and stick to the 1" instead....others say I should not see a problem....

I think this covers most of the setup of what I have in mind, I am in no way an expert on the field so please take a look and feel free to assist/critisize this setup, the more experienced answers/opinions the better.

Thank You all in advance for any assistance you can provide.

JN

 

[Anonymous]

Hello 02tts, and :welcome:

1. can't decide between glass or acrylic

Another thing to consider with acrylic is that it doesn't stand up too well to metal halide lighting. It can discolor, bend, warp, etc.

3. I was thinking of putting two in-tank, pre-drilled overflows/pre-filters on the back....question, would two suffice or would I need more...seems that two would suffice from what I see, each one would also have a return course.

Two built-in overflows should be fine.

4. on the return, oceanic recommends 3/4" but alot of what I have been reading points to using 1" return's instead of 3/4"...any suggestions on this?

I think two 3/4" returns would be fine, but if you have any doubts, go with 1". You can always use reducing fittings to go down in size but not up. I would suggest you make your drain lines 2" if possible. 1.5" at the very minimum. You drain lines actually dictate how much flow you can run through your tank. If your drains can't handle the flow, you have to reduce it.

5. for filtration I'm thinking about geting a Life-Reef wet/dry tricller filter with dual drains.

Lifereef makes good products. I presonally prefer their berlins style sump over a trickle filter. You are going to have live rock in your tank, aren't you?

Hope that helps.

Louey[/quote]

 

[02tts]

yes, I will be having about 150-200lbs of live rock in the tank.

would I need any powerheads inside the tank to move the water or will the returns be enough, and if so, would a 2400gph pump work as a return or should I go slower...

This is where I get mostly confused...since I read the more you can turn a tank the better, but most people tell me a return can only handle about 1200gph pressure wise....guess I'm a little confused as to why, if you make the drain big enough and use pvc all the way around, I don't see what a return would not be able to handle a larger flow....

maybe I'm misinterpreting this....

what are your thoughts...

 

[Anonymous]

02tts wrote:

would I need any powerheads inside the tank to move the water or will the returns be enough, and if so, would a 2400gph pump work as a return or should I go slower...

I'd putt a couple of Tunze 6100's or 6200's in the tank for added flow.

Or I'd look into the new EcoTech Marine Vortech pumps.

Either of those two products would increase the flow in your tank without going through your sump.

I started my 300G tank with (2) Iwaki 100's. I then changed it to (1) Iwaki 100. I then changed it to (1) Iwaki 40.

The Iwaki 100's were simply overpowering my drains.

So now I have one Iwaki 40 (1200 PGH) returning through two penductors. Penductors increase flow at a rate of 3:1 - 5:1.

I also have two Tunze 6200's controlled by their multicontroller. Marine Vortech's hadn't came out yet when I set my tank up.

Louey[/url]

 

[02tts]

thanks for all the help....

so, if using the tunze pumps, etc...those are only to allow for water movement inside the tank, nothing going back to the sump, correct...?

as the only thing going to the sumps is the drains, and the returns coming back into the tank...

with that being said, for a 240, would you recommend a pump that would do 2400gph or more?, since I would be "T"'ing off the pumpt for both returns, or would that not have any effect, meaning, I should stick with a 1200GPH or lower pump?

my confusion comes in when people say to turn the tank 10-12x per hour, what I consider this is the amount of gallons being drained into the tank and the ability of the return pump to feed that water back into the tank...with that being said, I would think I would need a 3600GPH pump to turn the tank that many times....

any help is greatly appreciated as the few local fish stores I have areof absolutely no help.

thanks in advance.

 

[Anonymous]

Your flow doesn't necessarliy need to go through the sump. High flow is good for the tank because it helps keep detritus in suspension so that your skimmer can get it out of the water column. It is my opinion that your flow through your sump only needs to be equal to that that your skimmer has pumped through it.

That is another reason I cut the flow through my sump from 4000 GPH to 1200.

If you go with the tunze's or EcoTech's, then that flow counts towards your turnover rate.

Louey