Noob questions

[RabidDragon]

Ok, so I've been on the site for a couple months researching and learning about 2 hours a day. The more I learn the more I realize I don't know. Today I register to post the below.

History: When I was younger (40 years ago) I had fresh water tanks for years but grew bored with them and wanted to move to salt water but the cost and life in general prohibit me from doing so. I now am in a position get a salt tank. I want to skip tendency to go smaller and progress to larger tanks and just get the larger tank and save $$ in the long run.

Questions:

1) I'm looking at a ~200-gallon tank either Red Sea or Waterbox mixed reef build. I want a tank that everywhere you look you see something different. I almost had my girlfriend "sold" on a peninsula style system, but she backed out and now prefers a tank against the wall.​

​

Main tank styles:​

• Wall length: losing the entire back of viewing
• Peninsula: losing an end of viewing

Why are there not more tanks with the overflow located in a single corner of the tank? This would maximize the potential viewing. I figure that if I purchased a tank that had this configuration, I could potentially use it as wall length tank or…. a peninsula style if I get her to change her mind later . I saw a tank build overseas that had this configuration.​

2) At the risk of answering question my own question above, how hard is it to get proper water flow on a 5-6 foot peninsular style tank to the far end?​

3) Chillers: My Florida home has a wildly changing temp range (did I mention the girlfriend yet?) In the summer, my house runs at ~77F when its just me at home, in the winter it can get down into the 60’s due to someone (see above) not liking the heater running..... *sigh*.​

• Fact: The recommended temp range of a salt tank is 78F.​

I don’t know how much heat the LED lights and pumps add to the tank. If the house is at 77F will a chiller be required to keep it at 78F? I strongly suspect “YES”… so how big of a chiller for a ~200 gallon tank? The chillers I’ve looked at don’t really give a good idea of this.​

4) Do Red Sea or WaterBox traditionally have any sales that I might save $$ with the holidays coming up, Black Friday, Cyber Monday for example?​

Thank you for any responses.

 

[Ron Reefman]

I'll tackle this part of your question:

3) Chillers: My Florida home has a wildly changing temp range (did I mention the girlfriend yet?) In the summer, my house runs at ~77F when its just me at home, in the winter it can get down into the 60’s due to someone (see above) not liking the heater running..... *sigh*.

• Fact: The recommended temp range of a salt tank is 78F.

I don’t know how much heat the LED lights and pumps add to the tank. If the house is at 77F will a chiller be required to keep it at 78F? I strongly suspect “YES”… so how big of a chiller for a ~200 gallon tank? The chillers I’ve looked at don’t really give a good idea of this.

I'm in SW Florida, so it's a bit warmer all year round than where you are. And we don't get nearly as cool in the winter.

I run a 90g tank with a 25g sump/fuge. I have 2 Photon led fixtures (due to the 30" front to back dimension. I have a DC1200 main return pump running at 900gpg, a skimmer and 2 medium size wavemakers.

Our house is 80 degrees from mid Spring thru mid Fall. The tank ran 82 most of the time this summer (my first without a chiller). I think that's a bit high, but not a serious issue. However, if we lose power for very long and don't have A/C... well, you know! It's 90+ outside and keeping the tank cool enough is a big issue. So we now have a generator that can run the A/C and most of the house. We have to be careful about running the A/C, refrigerator and stove, especially all at the same time.

Once we can open the house and get cooler outside air in, tank temps go down. I don't need a heater very often, maybe 20 nights a year when the house gets a bit too cold (we don't like running the electric heat either). So a small in tank heater works.

I bought a used 1/3hp chiller and will probably set it up sometime this winter, in order to be ready for next summer. I've had other tanks, bigger tanks, and had a 1hp chiller located out in our backyard. That was great until it failed to turn off one night and chilled the tank down to below 60 degrees and I lost a 120g tank full of sps corals (mostly branching acros).

I hope that helps?

 

[Grill]

I'll try to answer #1... Why are there not more tanks with the overflow located in a single corner of the tank? This would maximize the potential viewing. I figure that if I purchased a tank that had this configuration, I could potentially use it as wall length tank or…. a peninsula style if I get her to change her mind later . I saw a tank build overseas that had this configuration.

You want to skim the surface of the water so the proteins will move down into the sump/protein skimmer. With a longer weir (opening to the overflow box) you can skim more off the surface of the water. If you had a small weir or a tube in the corner of the tank it may maximize your viewing area but wouldn’t be very effective of skimming the surface. Hope this helps. Welcome to R2R.