Help with Setup Needed

d2mini

Reef enthusiast
Hi all,
Getting back into the hobby but much smaller this time.
I'm setting up a 46g oceanic glass bowfront tank and I'm building a stand for it so it will sit at a better height, probably around 40" or so. The tank is not drilled and the spot it's going into is kind of an art nook or whatever you want to call it at the end of a hallway so one side will be completely blocked, the back blocked, and part of the other side will be blocked. I will also build a custom hood for it and will be dropping everything behind the tank and then into the stand from the rear. I want to keep a few fish but mainly lots of live rock and corals (a bit of a mix of sps/soft).

So what i need help with is equipment. I was thinking of hanging a CPR overflow with Aqua Lifter pump on the back to get water to a 10g sump. But then I'll need to get water back into the tank. How would you set that up and do you have suggestions for a quiet pump? PVC pipe that splits into a T at the top of the tank?

Suggestions for a sump for that size tank? I'm not sure if I want to bother building one or buying one prebuilt, new or used. The last one I had was a CPR and it had the skimmer in it. Oh, and I had also thought of using this instead of the sump, but I have a feeling I'd be missing out on some of the benefits of a sump? Anyone have experience with these?
http://www.marinedepot.com/ps_Aquar...ofessional_professionel_wet_dry_external.html

For lighting I was thinking of a 36" T5 with lunar lights

I figured that would get me started and I could start adding live rock and sand to get the tank cycling.

Any help would be appreciated. It's been about 4 years since I've touched a saltwater tank and the last one was 150g with all my equipment bought through my local LFS. He hooked me up with everything I needed so it was a bit easier. This time I'm trying to do it at a much smaller scale in both size/money.

Thanks!
 
please don't use cpr aqualifter if your gonna do a hang on overflow make sure its u-tube style cause if there is poweroutage they will stop and start up on there own no flooding. i would get a 20 gallon long add couple of baffle in it so you can use in sump skimmer something like octopus 110 or bubble magus skimmer.
below is a link to ebay site who sells repaired current light fixtures and nova pro's also really low prices
http://search.ebay.com/_W0QQsassZcurrentusa
 
warner marine and bubble magus are some different brand proteim skimmers i've been reading about on reef central equipment thread and seems both are very affordable and getting real good reviews.
 
Cool, thanks for that ebay link. I might just utilize that!

What about the overflow? If I don't use the aqua lifter pump, how does it suck the water out of the tank? Sorry for the newb question, i'm just used to having an overflow in the tank and I'm not familiar with the external ones.
 
I would put the biggest size sump you can fit into the stand. The bigger the better. It is way cheaper to buiild your own sump. All you need is a aquarium some baffles and silicon. Most have three sections. One for inflow from tank with protein skimmer and heater,one for refurgium, and one for return pump. As for lights T5's are the way to go.
 
here are the overflows i use:
http://store.hurricanefilters.com/quprov.html

i use one on my 75 gallon with a mag 9.5 for return pump and gate valve to adjust flow

i use 2 of the over flows on my 125 gallon with a mag 18 return pump that has gate valve to adjust flow plus the line T's of two directions for two output lines.

one of overflows is 600 gph
2 is 1200 gph so you need a pump a little stronger to get proper circulation. its up to you if you use hard piping (plastic) or flexible hoses or however many outputs you want.

i use one output in my 75 gallon and 2 in my 125 gallon, some people think they need super flow through there sump so they can use outflow from return line for water circulation but i get my flow from powerheads.
 
A CPR overflow box with an Aqualifter pump will prevent flooding during a power outage, so I'm not really understanding what D was saying... I used one on my old 55, and it worked great. It was tested by power outages many times. When the power kicks back on, the Aqualifter pump restarts the siphon, preventing a flood.
 
A CPR overflow box with an Aqualifter pump will prevent flooding during a power outage, so I'm not really understanding what D was saying... I used one on my old 55, and it worked great. It was tested by power outages many times. When the power kicks back on, the Aqualifter pump restarts the siphon, preventing a flood.

Ya, that's what I thought but I've never used an external overflow so I wasn't sure. Thanks!!!
 
i don't have experience with them either someone told me that and sayed u tube overflows are the best option for non reef ready tanks.
 
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