- Joined
- Mar 28, 2020
- Messages
- 41
- Reaction score
- 52
Well I took the plunge into salt water, should have probably started smaller, but hey if you can't beat em, join em.
The tank is a used acrylic tank I got off a local keeper here. It measures 10 ft x 4 ft x 2.5 ft tall it was built by tenecor out of Arizona. It has an overflow on each end. Originally he had a gravel filtration system that fed off the bottom, but I'm going to be doing sand so that didn't bother me (I'm just plugging the holes)
The Plan is to do a mixed reef tank with some of every coral, I've drawn out some aqua scapes and now its time for reality to build them and figure out what they are going to look like. I picked up about 500 lbs of live sand and about 700 lbs of dry rock so I'll start the aquascape soon
The Sump is a 180 gallons (6ftx2ftx2ft) and will be located behind the tank in my garage. The advantage of having it in there will be ease of maintenance as well as keeping any noise in the garage rather than in the house
I went with a duplex return pump system because of the dual overflows. It adds a little security to the system. I'm going to put some heaters in the sump as well, but being acrylic and because its infloor heat where the tank is (and garage) it shouldn't be an issue of heat.
Protein skimmers I went with dual RSK 900s, again for ease of maintenance as well as reliability.
I'm adding a refugium to the sump as well as this build I'm going for more of "ecosystem" rather than "controlled area".
Flow through the sump will be approx 6000 GPH and the flow in the tank will be approx 30,750 GPH coming 3 powerheads and 2 wave pumps. I'd like to use MP60s but based on the end overflows I don't think thats possible.
Now lights are something that required a bit of research. I'm going with 5x Kessil AP700s to start. I chose the kessils because I like their control method as well as the spread they offer. I looked at hydras and radeons but given the depth of the tank, kessils seem to have a bit more ability to reach imo. I may need to add more in the future but for now the light pattern off five of these should given a nice spread that will allow me to put different types of corals at different depths without worrying about being too bright.
As far as dosing is concerned, I haven't gotten that far but that sounds like a problem to figure out after the tank is set up. As far as initial set up goes, is it better to mix the salt directly in the tank or premix and then put it in the tank? Directly in the tank would be easier but I can do either.
if any one has any recommendations or ideas, I'd be glad to hear them as this is my first time doing salt and I'd rather learn the easy way than the hard way
The tank is a used acrylic tank I got off a local keeper here. It measures 10 ft x 4 ft x 2.5 ft tall it was built by tenecor out of Arizona. It has an overflow on each end. Originally he had a gravel filtration system that fed off the bottom, but I'm going to be doing sand so that didn't bother me (I'm just plugging the holes)
The Plan is to do a mixed reef tank with some of every coral, I've drawn out some aqua scapes and now its time for reality to build them and figure out what they are going to look like. I picked up about 500 lbs of live sand and about 700 lbs of dry rock so I'll start the aquascape soon
The Sump is a 180 gallons (6ftx2ftx2ft) and will be located behind the tank in my garage. The advantage of having it in there will be ease of maintenance as well as keeping any noise in the garage rather than in the house
I went with a duplex return pump system because of the dual overflows. It adds a little security to the system. I'm going to put some heaters in the sump as well, but being acrylic and because its infloor heat where the tank is (and garage) it shouldn't be an issue of heat.
Protein skimmers I went with dual RSK 900s, again for ease of maintenance as well as reliability.
I'm adding a refugium to the sump as well as this build I'm going for more of "ecosystem" rather than "controlled area".
Flow through the sump will be approx 6000 GPH and the flow in the tank will be approx 30,750 GPH coming 3 powerheads and 2 wave pumps. I'd like to use MP60s but based on the end overflows I don't think thats possible.
Now lights are something that required a bit of research. I'm going with 5x Kessil AP700s to start. I chose the kessils because I like their control method as well as the spread they offer. I looked at hydras and radeons but given the depth of the tank, kessils seem to have a bit more ability to reach imo. I may need to add more in the future but for now the light pattern off five of these should given a nice spread that will allow me to put different types of corals at different depths without worrying about being too bright.
As far as dosing is concerned, I haven't gotten that far but that sounds like a problem to figure out after the tank is set up. As far as initial set up goes, is it better to mix the salt directly in the tank or premix and then put it in the tank? Directly in the tank would be easier but I can do either.
if any one has any recommendations or ideas, I'd be glad to hear them as this is my first time doing salt and I'd rather learn the easy way than the hard way