Hi everybody,
I am just now setting up a new Reef tank after being out of the "hobby" for 7 years. A lot of things have changed but mainly just by degrees. Not really a lot totally new. Circulation rates are way up, trickle irrigation is way down close to non existant in reef tanks. Light intensities are up and thank you for HQI's and good spectrum power compacts. Beckett skimmers were the new in thing six years ago, DIY then. Now its number one with AquaC, hum. I am going to try out a Turboflotor first. Drilled lots of holes in an AGA "reef ready" tank, _AFTER_ cutting out the furnished overflow towers and blocking the tiny little bulkheads holes cut by AGA. Put in two 2" bulkheads in the back wall with Glass-holes overflow box to feed a 40 gallon sump. Return is provided by two Iwaki 40XLT's each exiting through two 3/4" bulkheads in each tank sidewall. A Dart (rated at 3600 gph) is setup in a dedicated circulation loop, fed through a 2" bulkhead, with slotted cover box, exiting through two 1" bulkheads near the back/side corners in the back wall. All pump outlet flows will pretty much converge at a point close to the center of the front glass about 60% up from bottom of tank sand bed. Circulaton of, up too, adjustable through gate valves and redundancy in pumps, about 6000 gallons per hour. I will probably throttle back the Dart to around 2000 gph and use one Iwaki at about 800 gph and use the other Iwaki as back up. Or maybe throttle back all three pumps and circulate at about 3000gph. Of course I will not use all the pump capacity, do not think even SPS coral would tolerate 6000 gph + circulation. Lights are two 250 watt HQI 10K halides and two actinic 96 watt compact flourescent plus moonlights. Niveaumat top off pump feeding Kalkwasser and a 1/5 hp chiller for all the light heat output. Good RODI system. No water in tank yet. Hope to have the water in and live rock coming before spring semester starts up. Planning on 125 lbs, give or take, of live rock and a deep 5-6 inch sand bed seeded with live sand from GARF. Always open for suggestions and intelligent conversation.
From,
David aka Fatman.
I am just now setting up a new Reef tank after being out of the "hobby" for 7 years. A lot of things have changed but mainly just by degrees. Not really a lot totally new. Circulation rates are way up, trickle irrigation is way down close to non existant in reef tanks. Light intensities are up and thank you for HQI's and good spectrum power compacts. Beckett skimmers were the new in thing six years ago, DIY then. Now its number one with AquaC, hum. I am going to try out a Turboflotor first. Drilled lots of holes in an AGA "reef ready" tank, _AFTER_ cutting out the furnished overflow towers and blocking the tiny little bulkheads holes cut by AGA. Put in two 2" bulkheads in the back wall with Glass-holes overflow box to feed a 40 gallon sump. Return is provided by two Iwaki 40XLT's each exiting through two 3/4" bulkheads in each tank sidewall. A Dart (rated at 3600 gph) is setup in a dedicated circulation loop, fed through a 2" bulkhead, with slotted cover box, exiting through two 1" bulkheads near the back/side corners in the back wall. All pump outlet flows will pretty much converge at a point close to the center of the front glass about 60% up from bottom of tank sand bed. Circulaton of, up too, adjustable through gate valves and redundancy in pumps, about 6000 gallons per hour. I will probably throttle back the Dart to around 2000 gph and use one Iwaki at about 800 gph and use the other Iwaki as back up. Or maybe throttle back all three pumps and circulate at about 3000gph. Of course I will not use all the pump capacity, do not think even SPS coral would tolerate 6000 gph + circulation. Lights are two 250 watt HQI 10K halides and two actinic 96 watt compact flourescent plus moonlights. Niveaumat top off pump feeding Kalkwasser and a 1/5 hp chiller for all the light heat output. Good RODI system. No water in tank yet. Hope to have the water in and live rock coming before spring semester starts up. Planning on 125 lbs, give or take, of live rock and a deep 5-6 inch sand bed seeded with live sand from GARF. Always open for suggestions and intelligent conversation.
From,
David aka Fatman.
