Planning my first non-nano tank!

[lockeoak]

Hi everyone, after being in the hobby for about a year now I think I'm ready to make the jump to a "regular" sized tank. So far my main tank has been a 10G mixed reef with a 2.5G tank that's currently a sun-only softy tank. My parents have been getting rid of a bunch of tanks that have all been used for freshwater and they no longer want to take care of them. So I've acquired another 10G and a 50G with a stand for the 50G. They're also getting rid of a 250 or 300G but I don't have the resources to set up or maintain a 300G and I don't think the landlord would let me have it anyway.

The purpose of the thread is to serve as a journal on my progress and to get advice on my tank and feedback, any comments welcome. I'm also going to post a similar thread over at ReefCentral for additional comments.

Here's what I envision:

A mixed reef including SPS and probably a clam, 3-4 fish including my current ocellaris pair. Tank on stand with sump with a hanging T5 fixture, no canopy, sitting AWAY from any walls so the viewer (i.e. me) can see it from all sides. Why waste 4' of viewable space? When I set up my 10G the first time it was in a nook where only the front was visible and I hated it. I have a window that gets about 3 hours of direct sunlight a day, I can use that for supplemental lighting. The room has central AC so temperatures shouldn't be a problem. This design is going to mean a very "clean" system... minimal exposed cords, overflows, pipes and tubes. All of the electrical cables can be collected, velcroed together and run across the floor (with one of those little rubber covers) to the outlets.
Inside the tank, I plan on going without any substrate. I've tried the bare bottom approach on my nano and it's so much easier than sand, plus it looks very cool, like the rocks are floating. To make it easier to keep detritus in suspension I'm going to use live rock pillars (4, maybe?), drilled and impaled on acrylic rods. The rock will include quite a few shelf pieces for coral platforms. Maybe a low rock "island" or two for lower light corals. The sump in the bottom will probably be a 10G (unless I find a cheap 20G), with most of the chamber holding chaeto. As much equipment as possible (heaters, return pump, skimmer, possible auto top-off) kept in the stand/sump.

The first step will be to clean out the tank including all the nasty silica sand at the bottom, sterilize it with bleach, rinse and allow to dry. I'm going to be going with dry base rock from either marcorocks.com or twopartsolution.com for the aquascaping (40lb dry weight, with the 15lb of live rock from my current nano added later), which I can then work on and get set up in the tank before adding water. I don't have the money to buy everything at the same time so the time spent waiting for the rock to cook isn't a big deal.

So, here's where my ignorance comes into play. The topics that I don't know enough about are SUMPS and water movement in a tank that size. How would you recommend that I do the plumbing on a tank like this, keeping in mind that I would like it away from any walls (which precludes closed loops, unless they're very creative)? I don't know if the bottom of the tank is tempered or not and I don't know much about drilling glass. What size return pump (gph) would you recommend? How many and what size powerheads?

Thanks for reading my ramblings!

 

[blind1993]

just tagging along. also if you want a sump it will be extremly hard to make it look clean.

 

[lockeoak]

blind1993;84324 wrote: just tagging along. also if you want a sump it will be extremly hard to make it look clean.

Yeah, it's going to be tricky. I figure my options are either using a weir or, if I can drill the tank, it might be possible to actually drill two holes in the bottom, one for an overflow and one for the return line, and have the PVC for these lines also serve as the center posts for two of the live rock columns, making them nearly invisible. The return line would be capped at the top to push water out of holes in the side (very near the normal water line to prevent siphoning into the sump) for return flow in all directions.

 

[zanski]

hey just to let you know... First off welcome. I think the people on the ARC site are great! Very knowledgeable and friendly

I had a 75 in my old place and it had direct sunlight for 4 hours and my tank temps were off the chart even with the ac blasting in the house. So beware of that problem.

As for a return. Probably go with a mag 7. You could even split the return to make for a little more movement. If you dont know if the glass on bottom is tempered or not, it probably is. lol. So I guess take your chances with drilling the back or in your case I guess there is no back. Maybe a CPR overflow as an option? Probably the best looking sence you will be able to see it.

As far as your PH's, there are all kinds of options, tunze I hear are the best. But in a tank that size (depending on dems) you would be okay with a couple maxi-jet 1200's.

And for the sump you could really use anything from a tupperware container to a glass sump with baffels. Remember the bigger the better with sumps so you will make sure there is plenty of room for 1. all the junk. 2. water volume. Ive seen people with sumps 3 times as big as their display haha! Im sure you will find some huge sumps on ARC members tanks.

Looking forward to seeing some progress. Remember take pictures of everything cause the folks here love build threads!

:yay: :thumbs: :yay: :thumbs:

 

[dakota]

Almost every tank that size that I have ever seen has had a sticker somewhere on the bottom glass stating that the bottom glass is tempered.

The safe bet is that it is tempered glass.

You could drill one of the short sides for an overflow. Place the overflow so the pipe runs down the center of the glass. Then run your return line or lines back up beside the drain line and over the top of the frame. You could build a small enclosure to hide the plumbing and paint the outside of the glass black inside the enclosure so the plumbing isn't visible inside the tank. Assuming 1 - 1/4" Dia. pipe for the drain and 3/4" Dia. pipe for the return, a 4" wide by 3" deep enclosure should hide the plumbing without covering up too much of the view.

If you'd like a more symmetrical look, you could route the return on the opposite side of the tank and enclose them both in 3" x 3" enclosures with a small shelf built out from the stand near the bottom of the frame on each side to protect the plumbing from any bumps and to give yourself a little work surface during feeding or maintenance.

You could also extend the plumbing covers up high enough to mount a cross piece connecting them that you could hang your light pendant from and also conceal its wiring.

You could also mount the control unit of an Aquacontroller Computer to one of the vertical covers and route its wiring down thru the cover to the interior of the stand.

The best option would be a central overflow drilled thru the bottom of the tank. That might not be possible if the glass is tempered and might not be advisable on a tank that has seen some use since it might be more apt to crack.

On a brighter note: a side overflow with the return on the opposite side would give you better flow and not limit your aquascaping options with the need of a large central island to help hide the central overflow.

Just some thoughts..... from someone who thinks too much. Good luck!
I am looking forward to watching this build thread and your progress.

 

[sammy33]

Does your tank have the black frame around the top?

I would use a low profile hang-on overflow and choose one end of the tank to be the "back". Place your powerheads, overflow and pump return on this side of the tank and then the other 3 sides will be clear of any equipment.

Hurricane Filters makes a nice hang-on overflow btw (hurricanefilters.com i think?). For powerheads, a couple Koralia 2's (600GPH each) would be a good starting point. This would give you 1200 GPH total and then a bit more from your return pump.

T5 hanging fixture should do the trick. How deep is your tank?

 

[lockeoak]

Wow, thanks for the input guys. Yeah, I've reached the conclusion that I'll probably use a 3-sided setup with a short side for the overflow, return and as much of the power cables etc. I can hide. I won't try to drill the tank. The short sides are only 12", so not much viewing space lost (it's a long, thin tank) and is 20" deep. I'm keeping an ear to the ground for a cheap sump. The strategy I hear from other no-substrate (barebottom) users is that you want as much water movement as possible, the amount that would cause massive sandstorms in most tanks, so I'll go heavy on the powerheads. Thanks for the hurricanefilters.com tip, those overflows look ideal and reasonably priced. I'm looking at the aquactinics 48" 5x54W T5 fixture, anyone have any experience with it?