Setup questions

[OCJoeR]

Greetings all,

We've just purchased a new home and it has what I think is a perfect location for a reef tank, but as I have never had a saltwater tank I naturally want to make sure I'm doing this right.

The house has a den with a fireplace. Next to the fireplace is an indentation that is 4' wide. I was thinking of putting the tank in this indentation (I've located a 48" wide tank). There is a wall of windows that is perpendicular to this space but it faces northeast and thus only gets early morning sun in the summer. My plan was to use the stand that the tank is currently on (which has a large sump under it) and build shelves above the tank that I would build lights into. The lights would, therefore, be above the tank rather than in a hood which sits on the tank. My first question, other than should I just have a beer and let this whole idea pass, is would this work (the lights) and if so what would I need on the top of the tank to keep the fish from leaping out of the tank.

The next questions has to do with what kind of rock can be used. I've had freshwater tanks for many years and have lots of pounds of rock from those tanks. Would these rocks (very porous) be usable in a reef tank?

I'm continuing to read posts regarding what kind of filtration I'll need but these are basic set up questions that I thought I'd start with.

Thanks for any help on this.

Joe

 

[Ron Reefman]

Hello Joe and welcome to Reef2Reef!

First, do you intend to use the fireplace much? If you do, having the tank in a spot where the fireplace could bump up the temperatures may not be a great idea. But some fireplaces have glass doors and blowers to move the heat away from in front of the fire, so it's not an impossible option.

Hanging or mounting the lighting on the underside of a shelf would work just fine IMHO.

Rock used in saltwater tanks is usually old coral which is very porous and filled with holes. Most LFS (Local Fish Stores) sell both live and dry versions of this kind of rock. It's also sold online. There is even man made rock which is good as well. I wouldn't use rock from a freshwater system unless it's old coral. I even take real old coral rock and drill small holes in it so I can place coral frags plugs directly into the rock and let the coral grow out over the plug. In just 3 to 6 months the plugs are covered and you don't even know they are there.

Good luck. You might look through the list of articles here at R2R as I know there are a couple of series of articles about starting up in the saltwater hobby.

 

[Mr Fishface]

I think that sounds like a cool idea. One thing you could do is to make a diy screen for the top of your tank or you could just leave it open with the small risk of something jumping. Here is what I used on my 75 gallon tank. https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/my-diy-mesh-screen-tops-on-the-cheap.164767/

For rock I bought my last batch on amazon. 40 pounds for $44 or something. came really nice and just needed to be hosed off. You might be able to use freshwater rock but you might like the look of the old coral better. Rock is not the biggest purchase you will make so buying new rock, imo, should be considered. Hope this is helpful

 

[Jekyl]

Welcome!
One issue to think about that I ran into with my 48" tank is that it's actually a little larger. I had to remove some drywall to make my 90 gallon 4' tank fit into the 48" area I placed it in. Rocks are a lot of personal preference. You can pay upwards of $12 a lb for wet live rock or as little as a few dollars a pound for natures ocean dry rock off Amazon. It's all about how much work and time you want to put it. The good thing is that there is no right answer. What ever way you do things the only thing that matters is that everything stays alive. Good luck!

 

[LiveWire]

Welcome to the REEF @OCJoeR!!

 

[PRock]

Hey there Joe, welcome to the forum!

One thing I'd echo is the size of the tank. You'll need to be able to get around the sides and behind it from time to time to get to things for your powerheads or mounting magnets, or just to clean, so putting the tank in an alcove that's going to be a tight squeeze that blocks access on 3 sides will end up being a headache in the long run. Also, once full of water, a 4ft tank + rock + equipment can easily end up weighing something like 1500lbs, so I'd make sure your floor can support that.

 

[Peace River]

A lot of good advice shared above - welcome to R2R!!!

 

[OCJoeR]

Hello Joe and welcome to Reef2Reef!

First, do you intend to use the fireplace much? If you do, having the tank in a spot where the fireplace could bump up the temperatures may not be a great idea. But some fireplaces have glass doors and blowers to move the heat away from in front of the fire, so it's not an impossible option.

Hanging or mounting the lighting on the underside of a shelf would work just fine IMHO.

Rock used in saltwater tanks is usually old coral which is very porous and filled with holes. Most LFS (Local Fish Stores) sell both live and dry versions of this kind of rock. It's also sold online. There is even man made rock which is good as well. I wouldn't use rock from a freshwater system unless it's old coral. I even take real old coral rock and drill small holes in it so I can place coral frags plugs directly into the rock and let the coral grow out over the plug. In just 3 to 6 months the plugs are covered and you don't even know they are there.

Good luck. You might look through the list of articles here at R2R as I know there are a couple of series of articles about starting up in the saltwater hobby.

Hi Ron,

We will use the fireplace occasionally but it does have glass doors so that should decrease the amount of heat that is displaced from it.

The rocks I have from my old fresh water tanks are very porous, I'll try to attach photos as soon as I unpack everything (we're moving into a new house this Saturday).

I've been reading as much as I can, considering all the packing and escrow matters, to determine how much more I'll have to spend and how much time it will take to get into this properly.

Thank you for your input,
Joe

 

[Eagle_Steve]

Welcome and we are glad to have ya!!!!! And hats off to ya for thinking ahead and trying to plan everything out. In the end, the pre-planning is always worth it.

 

[OCJoeR]

I think that sounds like a cool idea. One thing you could do is to make a diy screen for the top of your tank or you could just leave it open with the small risk of something jumping. Here is what I used on my 75 gallon tank. https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/my-diy-mesh-screen-tops-on-the-cheap.164767/

For rock I bought my last batch on amazon. 40 pounds for $44 or something. came really nice and just needed to be hosed off. You might be able to use freshwater rock but you might like the look of the old coral better. Rock is not the biggest purchase you will make so buying new rock, imo, should be considered. Hope this is helpful

Hi Mr. Fishface,

I hadn't thought about just building a screen for the top. Thanks.

As I said to Ron, I'll post some photos of the rock I have and see what everyone thinks. But at a buck a pound it may be worth just getting all new stuff.

Thanks,
Joe

 

[OCJoeR]

Thank you to everyone for the greeting.

The tank is going on a concrete slab floor to the weight won't be a problem. But it will be inaccessible on 3 sides, although the depth of the alcove is about 8" deeper than the tank I'm looking at. I just think it would look great in that place, but I guess I'll have to rethink it, maybe.

I'm going to look at the tank on Sunday and I'll make sure I bring a tape measure to make sure of the size.

Joe

 

[Mr Fishface]

Can't wait to see some pictures! My 75 had access on two sides and, I will admit, more access would have worked better. That was more so due to lack of planning than anything though. I had my over flow in the corner i couldn't get to for example. Not great. I think some careful planning could prevent those types of issues.

 

[OCJoeR]

Hi Mr. Fish

I guess one of the things I’m trying to find is a diagram of a tank system so I can figure out what pipes I need to run and plumb. As I said the system I’m going to look at has what looks like a fairly large sump under the tank in the stand. I’m assuming there are at least 2 pipes that will be needed to carry the water from the tank to the sump and back up into the tank. I’ve been trying to read as much as I can about sumps and preventing overflows. I’m still not sure I completely understand what plumbing is required but I’m sure I’ll find it on here.

I’m thinking if I build a shelf 12” to 18” above the top of the tank and secure the lights on the underside of that shelf, I’ll have enough room to get to the back of the tank.

Joe

 

[PRock]

Hi Mr. Fish

I guess one of the things I’m trying to find is a diagram of a tank system so I can figure out what pipes I need to run and plumb. As I said the system I’m going to look at has what looks like a fairly large sump under the tank in the stand. I’m assuming there are at least 2 pipes that will be needed to carry the water from the tank to the sump and back up into the tank. I’ve been trying to read as much as I can about sumps and preventing overflows. I’m still not sure I completely understand what plumbing is required but I’m sure I’ll find it on here.

I’m thinking if I build a shelf 12” to 18” above the top of the tank and secure the lights on the underside of that shelf, I’ll have enough room to get to the back of the tank.

Joe

So depending on how many holes are drilled in the tank you're looking at it could be one of a few different types of overflows.

• 2 holes - you basically have a Derso overflow, with drain with an air vent to cut down on noise and a return. They work, but if the main drain gets backed up for any reason, that's bad news.
• 3 holes and you're looking at something called a Herbie overflow. One pipe is your main drain (which will probably need a gate valve) and ends up as a siphon from your main tank to the sump, one pipe is your backup/emergency drain, (if the first one ever can't keep up for some reason) and then the third is your return. This design can be completely silent, but requires tuning with the gate valve if your flow rates change for whatever reason, and some people find that annoying.
• If you have 4, it's something called a Bean/Animal overflow, which combines the two above to try and build a silent, redundant drain that handles flow rate changes without problems.

Check out this for some more information: http://reeftankresource.com/reef-tank-plumbing-designs-diagrams-sump-overflow-return/

As for mounting the lights, I wouldn't plan on connecting the lights directly to the shelf, but plan on maybe mounting a hanging kit on the shelf - Depending on the lighting it might need to be as close as 6 inches from the water surface.

 

[OCJoeR]

PRock,

thank you, that's exactly what I was looking for. I'll have to see what this tank has to determine what type of plumbing I need.

I haven't researched lighting yet but from what you're saying it looks like that's the next step.

Thanks again for all the info.

Joe

 

[PRock]

Oh, we could talk lighting forever on this forum IMHO, the biggest question is what sort of reef do you want to keep? If you're looking for mostly fish and some easy to care for corals your lighting requirements are completely different than if you're trying to keep an SPS heavy tank. Go checkout the Aquarium Lighting By Dana Riddle section of the forum, they've got everything from the basics of reef lighting to deep discussions about spectrum usage and related chemical isotopes for coloration.