New set up, need advice
 

So we set up our first reef tank in December. One is no longer enough. We just purchased a 35gal, a 75gal and a 135 gallon as well as a 35 gallon sump/fuge. Go big or go home right?

I want the 135gal to be a frag/coral tank only. Possibly with a section divided off for anemones. The other tanks can be used for sumps/fuges etc.

What size sump and what set up am I best to go with? The 135 is not drilled but is VERY thick and I believe tempered, will this be an issue to drill and is there a way to do it without drilling. My husband is a tool and die maker so I wouldn't be going at this endeavour on my own and he is pretty handy.

Best bet for lights?( don't want MH)

Skimmer?(do I need one?how big)

Powerheads? Or some other form of water movement?

Sandbed or no sandbed?

Basically just looking for any and all advice that can be offered.


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Set up
 

Sounds awesome!

Many enthusiast are going with LED fixtures due to heat and cost effectiveness. Matter of preference....

As for wavemakers and pumps, Jebao is making some very affordable and controllable pumps (DC versions) and wavemakers (wp40s or wp60s) which would suit your system....

Skimmer is a matter of choice as they virtually do the same thing, (a redundant product imo) but properly rated for bio-load and system specs.... there are even DC powered skimmers now... (SkimmerKing) would know volumes in this department...

If you are going big, or go home kinda route....ECOTECH Radions with pumps and controller seem to be the way to go. Neptune controller. RO/DI unit, water change systems, dosing pumps, self cleaning skimmer cups...all depends on the budget!!
Good Luck

Hi I've had a 90 gallon reef set up for 1.5 years and have enjoyed it a lot, it's a big learning curve with a few hiccup's along the way but a lot of fun.
I'll try and offer some advice from my experiences.

135 Frag tank: you probably could get away with the 35 g sump.
If you don't want drill then I would go with a good quality HOB over flow,
I recommend this brand >http://www.lifereef.com/frame.html
I used one on my first 50 g setup and it worked very well, never failed once.

Lights: You could use HO T-5 lighting, but for a frag tank I would go with a higher end LED system. I use and recommend these> http://www.aquaillumination.com/lighting/ I run AI sols on my 90 g with glass tops and they do a great job with most corals and are fully programmable.

Skimmer: If your doing frags only and a few inverts you may be able to get away without one with having a low bio load. I always had a few chromis in my frag tank to create a little more bio load and ran a skimmer. Vertex is a good choice and they offer most sizes.

Powerheads: Good flow in the tank is a must, a couple is a good idea.

Bare bottom or not : I went BB with frag tank simply because it was easier cleaning.
Hope this helps. :smile:

Thanks for the info guys.

So the tanks available for this endeavour are the following sizes:



38gal sump 12.5x19x36



73gal 19x18x48



18gal (box that fits on the top of the sump I assume for bio balls?) 16x17x15.5



129gal 24x72x18



32gal 29x14x18



As for what kind of corals I would like to start off with corals that are easily propagated. Leathers, acro, monti, Xenia, sun corals, favia, ricordia, acan, blasto etc.



I think we will probably run a skimmer it's just a matter of what brand to go with. Big ALS took us for a ride the first time around with our initial set up and I'm not going down that road again.





Is it possible to drill tempered glass? The main tank is a miracles tank and is extremely thick glass with no bracing.





I want to have an anemone tank, am I best to run a separate tank off the same sump for this or put a divider in for them in the main tank?

Radions over kessils? This is the current debate. Who has the best price on jebao?



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if the glass is tempered and you try to drill it, the whole pane will shatter. Drilling thick glass is no issue. Tempered would be a mess

google tempered glass, and you will find a lot of info on how to recognize it.
Do not attempt to drill tempered as was stated.
take a look at this:
http://www.salt-city.org/showthread....ss-is-tempered
and
http://glass-fish-tanks.com/how-to-t...empered-glass/

If I go into my car in bright sunlight, and look through the rear window, while wearing polarized sunglasses, I find that there are light and dark patches in the rear windowe. Ergo, tempered glass

i keep bubble tip anemones, the ones that have a clown living with them grow quite large. the ones with an anemone crab are also happy
if you have them in a tank with no fish and no metal halides they may not do well.

j

Ok, I will have to try and test and see if it is tempered. The glass is thick with no bracing at all so I am assuming it is tempered for strength. There is a stick on the bottom of the tank with a bunch of warranty info but it doesn't say if it is tempered or not. It is a Miracles tank however so maybe they will be able to tell me. Taking the tank to NAFB is not an option, this tank is never leaving my basement again, we had to hire movers to get it in the house in the first place. So I am thinking we will need a HOB overflow kit.

Where is the best location to put the HOB over flow on the tank? In a corner or in the middle? Should I have two? Working on a sump design at the moment, will most that when I finish it.

So here is my idea for a sump/fuge. I want to run the 135gal and the 75 gal off the same sump This setup is going in an unfinished basement and the sump will be either beside the tanks or between them.

The sump will be 38 gallons with the fuge being 35 gallons. This drawing is horrible but you get the idea.

I want to run a phosban reactor and maybe a calcium reactor if needed but I dont know where I should run them from in the sump.

I would probably shoot to have a larger sump. In the case of a power failure you want the excess water from your display tanks to be able to run off and not overflow into your basement.

I would switch your skimmer and return sections. Split the overflow water and have one of them go to the macro algae part. I would have this overflow empty into a filter sock on the right hand side of that refugium. Raise that tank so it is the same height as the other. This way, having a power outage, it would not spill onto the floor.
Add a ball valve onto one of your returns so that you could adjust the flow.

I have read mixed reviews on using filter socks. Some people say you have to change them very often (every three days??) or else you will have nitrate issues. What are your thoughts?

Yes 3 days is good. Some people change them every week.
Some people can't be bothered.
Filter socks collect detrius among other solids, and copeopods too. If you don't collect the solids, then they will pile up somewhere and decompose "rot".
If you collect and take them out of the system, then you are doing a nutrient export kind of thing. Less nitrates your system has to handle, less water changes IMHO
All depends on your bioload, how many fish/corals/food you have in your soon to be system.

Are copeopods not a good thing to have? I have a mandarin and have always kept an eye on my tank to ensure I have loads of them for him to eat. I even try and pick them out of the water when I do a water change to ensure I keep as many as possible (a bit OCD I know, but I would die if I knew he was hungry lol).

Filter socks, wouldn't catch very many copeopods compared to how many you have in the system. Your refugium will grow way more than you catch in the sock. And then how many will die when they go through the pump, back into your display. For sure not all of them, but some.
I would not worry about the sock catching too many.
It does not matter how you do nutrient export, many ways available, you just have to do some.

Ok, that makes sense then. Filter socks seem easier to deal with than a sponge of some sort.

Best brand of skimmer to go with?

I have LEDs on my main display and Aquaticlife T5 on my basement tank and so far I am more impressed with the colors under the LEDS but I am still torn between the two. What is the best brand for each(LED and T5)? Thoughts on the PAR38 bulbs?

I think I am going to go with Eheim pumps for the skimmer as from what I have read they have gotten very good reviews.

Yeah, that seems to be popular opinion alright... BUT that's not what I found.

I was using filter socks and found it a real chore to have to change/clean them every 3 or 4 days. Now I have a large sponge that fits in between baffles in my sump, and takes all of 2 min, to squeeze out in the sink and replace every 2 or 3 days,... way less work than the filter socks.

Plus the sponge is better when I am away, too, as it just pushes up on the baffles when dirty to let some water flow by, whereas the socks used to spill over causing some splashing.

And I only need 1 sponge vs about 6 filter socks that I used in rotation. And this single sponge is 10+ years old now, whereas filter socks only last about a 2 years at best (depends on how many used in rotation).

Anyway, your choice, but hope you enjoy filter sock cleaning if you go that route...

You found it easier to clean the sponge rather than the filter sock? Did you find the sponge still collected enough? The filter socks I have seen are very very fine, I would imagine much finer than any sponge.

Yeah, they both collected about the same, although the sponge does not last quite as long as the filter socks did. I had the large 7" X 16" filter socks, so a lot of capacity. Many use the smaller 4" socks, which would plug up really fast in my system (230g). The sponge is 2" X 3" wide X 14" long. My baffles are actually deeper so could accommodate quite a bit larger sponge. So if/when I buy a new one, I would get a bigger one.

With filter socks, you have to put them in bleach for a couple days, then turn them inside out to scrub them clean, and then back in the water with a dechlorizer solution for another day, and then dry. Some do them in the washing machine, but I know my wife would not allow that... Was a real PITA for me.

Sponge is so quick and easy, with just some squeezing and rinsing in the sink. The gunk comes out real fast, and then pop it back into your sump.

I was totally with you on the sponge as the bleaching process does not seem enjoyable or quick at all. But then you mentioned using the washing machine and it caught my interest. Can they just be thrown in with bleach and then used right away? Or is there a whole process still? I have no issues using my machine for this, cant be any worse than washing the horse blankets in there lol.

Have not used the washing machine myself, but a lot of people do. Just add a little bleach with the wash cycle. I would probably turn them inside out, too, so all the crud gets washed out. I think this is probably a way better than manual washing them like I did.

You still need to let them dry, to air out any bleach, and perhaps use a dechlorizer soak as well. That's why you want a bunch of them, so you can clean several at a time.

And if you do go filter socks, use the large 7" inch ones, as they last a lot longer.

my skimmer would go crazy after putting new filter socks washed in bleach. now i rinsed the socks in clean ro water and that usually do the trick

How often do you clean your filter socks? Have you ever used a sponge and if you have, how did they compare?

Wow I don't think I know one person who goes through that much trouble to wash a sock lol no wonder you quit using them lol

I just rinse twice in regular wash , no bleach no hand washing , no dechlorinizer ( ? )

Takes about half an hour and the machine does most the work, I do push the button though ;)

For the hour at best it takes me to wash socks I run the system sock free

Sponges are fine too but I did that long before socks were around and popular in Sumps , not much has changed in the way of sponge technology so I doubt I'd be going back.

With that said properly running and healthy system needs no fabrics at all to run its just ease of maintenance , I've ran many setups without as I was always to lazy to squeeze sponges and custom fitting a sock into my existing sump wasn't gonna happen then lol

I tried running without anything for a while, but found my skimmer neck was collecting gunk more quickly, and needed more frequent cleaning to keep it working effectively.

I still say that it is faster to squeeze/rinse my sponge than it takes for your filter socks (2 min beats 1 hour)... :smile:

And BTW, since when did you start capitalizing and punctuating your posts, and thinking about spelling!!???...

So given my level of laziness and the fact I have free range of using my washing machine, I think I will go with filter socks. But I think I will buy 4 or 5 of them and just throw them in a bucket until I have a few to wash at a time. Laziness will always win out with me lol.


So washing them in the washing machine- I just put it on rinse twice and thats it? No soap or bleach?

I also don't clean my skimmer neck lol maybe once a year :)

Yup that's all I do , I dont need them white like my t-shirts and they last me over a week.

1 x 7" sock does the job that a few 4" socks does so if there's space go larger. There are different sixes and microns that socks come in all have diff purposes so choose the socks for the right job, some can be washed by hand others require machine (can do by hand but that's a pita)

I have enough things to do that if I can eliminate daily chores then I will

I'm not a fan of socks or sponges but I'm also not a fan of 4yr crud in my sump lol

You might have missed this comment, as it was a later edit... But am still curious about the new change...:smile:

Don't know what kind of skimmer you have, but mine (Vertex) looks pretty bad, just after a week...

I couldnt agree more. I want to do as little as possible. I have a lot of regrets with the setup of our original tank and I dont want to make them again. The least amount of work I can do, the better. So I think I will buy a bunch of filter socks, as large as I can fit. How do I know which kind is the right kind for me?

Buy an assortment and see what you like for each , when scrubbing down my tanks I use the nylon socks and clean by hand , for general use I use the polyfibre and they last over a week and clog less.

200 micron 7" X 16" socks worked best for me (when I was using them).

Ok, good to know. Chances are my LFS will have one kind and one size so I think I will have to travel to find what I want.

Next question is skimmer. I think I have decided on a Vertex. Has anyone found anywhere that has super good prices on them or will give you a deal if you buy everything from them?(lights, skimmer, pumps etc)?

I have a csc450 and not that nothing ever builds up but my skimmer is well oversized and nutrients are undetectable so I don't see the benefit to cleaning it? Skimmer really only pulls out so much doc

Contact concept aquariums they can help you out on all that ( I am biased though lol ) or pm me and I can do it.

Mine is the older In-280. Since I combined my tanks into one sump (230g system), it is probably a little overworked. But it sure pulls out a lot of gunk every week, despite my pre-filtering with the sponge. So I think it is doing a pretty good job. My nutrients are kept very low as well, zero for nitrates and near zero for phosphates.