Newbie to sw

[e46er]

start with RODI water and save headaches
make sure your sump has enough room for your skimmer footprint and a little bit extra for a safety net
a 20 G tank will not have enough room for a skimmer section/fuge section/ return section
you will want to make the return section as large as possible as this is where you will see the evaporation occur not as important if you use an auto top off

external pumps are more reliable in my experince but more $$
get a big enough return pump to run reactors for carbon, GFO, Pellets so much easier than individual powerheads running them

and for flow it really depends on what types of corals you want to keep and your rock placement and powerhead placement
i have around 8000 gph in my 120G tank

[Kimmi7]

ok so I have actually am looking at building in internal overflow if able. Only thing is I haven't been able to find good informaton on how to go about that.

Has anyone on here done that?

Also does anyone on here use the uv water treatment that you can get at hd for around 500$?

[mike31154]

Originally Posted by Kimmi7

well looks like I will be putting this on hold till I find a new tank. Mine looks like tempered glass and dont want to try to see if it isnt by drilling.

Perhaps not, unless you really wish to spend money on a newer, larger tank. IME, tank ends up being least of cost in the hobby in the long run, but every little saving helps, so up to you.

If your 77 is a Hagen, according to the FAQs on their web page, none of their tanks use tempered glass. A way to confirm tempered is to use two polarized filters, one from outside of pane (polarized sunglasses) looking at a polarized LCD screen (like a notebook or even phone) with a white screen. Rotate the screen & if pattern appears on white LCD screen, glass is tempered.

http://faq.hagencrm.com/details.asp?kbfaqid=21880&en

My 77 is a Hagen (company sticker on trim, no center brace) & the width is 16 & 1/8th inches, glass thickness is 3/8 inches. I plan to drill it & use as a sump/refuge when I upgrade display tank some time in future. I've already drilled a used 65 gallon for a sump as well (confirmed non tempered sides with polarized trick), not that difficult, especially when it's empty & sitting around doing nothing. Bottom of the 65 is tempered, & a sticker there says that. I also confirmed this with polarized filter method.

[Kimmi7]

Thanks for that info! guess I will use it still

[sunoka]

What make is the tank ?? odds are the glass is not tempered and if it is it will likely only be tempered on the bottom if any. I have a 77 gal and there is not a pc. of temp glass.

Originally Posted by Kimmi7

well looks like I will be putting this on hold till I find a new tank. Mine looks like tempered glass and dont want to try to see if it isnt by drilling. Oh well just means I can go bigger for my angels, then get bigger with the reef tank.

So what is the benfits of moon lighting on a reef tank? I will be saving up for a great light set now that I am going with a different tank, as I dont like the look of hob anything anymore that i found canister filters. (will be doing sump)

With drilling into the bottom wouldnt that cause a overflow when and if power goes out? as water runs downhill lol. just dont want to have to pull up carpet in the new house just yet.

So if I was going to do a 90-125 gallon tank, I believe I would be needing around 1000gh for movement to get 7x hr?