New reef system ..84x30x30- ideas..pls comment..thx

[Tropicalresource]

Im in the palnning stages... my plan is to have the tank in my formal living room. Plumbed to the basement.

1- Tank will be 84x30w x24 or 30high no sure yet-Built in overflow centered in the back wall of the tank with 2- 2in bulkheads. 3 or 4 1-1/2 holes drilled in the rear wall. Starfire front glass looking to keep a mixed tank lps sps softs.
2-Im unsure about a stand-i will never use a stand thats avail in store-past bad experiance!!. So im looking to build a serious heavy stand maybe with a welded aluminum "I" beam contruction with some hardwood to make it look nice.
3-Lighting im looking for maybe a mix of 250w halide 400w and sho's- i will build my own lighting controller using a PLC
4-Filtration- will be in the basement - in the past i have alway had large sumps 300+ gal.. so i will do that again..i will use Hayward pool pumps..on an electrical line conditioner to try to help keep the elect bill down(lol)These pumps can handle some good head height. I will use MTC skimmer - a pro cal reactor.. intermitantly i will use low dose's of Ozone. Passive carbon use.
5-Controllers-- i will build all my own controllers using PLC's -controlling lighting and pump speed controls -which will be able to be monitored and changed remotely.
Im figureing this is going to take awhile..so im going to look for the tank and begin to do the sump set-up and electrical first.
Please comment and give me your suggestions!!!

thanks Keith

 

[Phyl]

You can buy some stock tanks now from Marine Land that are 3' front to back, if you have the room. You could do a 6 or 8 x 3 with a 30" height.

With Luminarc reflectors you can do with 3 lights over 8', if I'm not mistaken BillyR ran his 8' long tank like that. We use 150g stock tanks in the basement. They work well for sumps now.

I'd stick with 250w MHs with VHO for actinic.

Welcome back. I'm looking forward to the progress pics. Were you a NJReefer then? What was your username?

 

[blange3]

Here is a link to some 36" wide Marineland tanks, but they have corner overflows.

30' deep is tough to work on for people like me with short arms!

Sounds like a fantastic setup in the making. With that size sump I would use a reactor of some sort for more active carbon filtration.

Keep us posted!

 

[Tropicalresource]

Well im going "sump hunting" this weekend. Hope to find something in the order of 300g. Theres a place on rt 25 in farmingdale ny that has all kinds of large crazy sump-like plastic and fiberglass tanks... so off i go!

Keith

 

[mr_X]

i would suggest much less than a 30" depth, or accept the fact that you'll be using a series of 400 watt halides, and not picking up anything that falls on the sand bed without a snorkel.

my tank is 25" deep, and i'm getting rid of it for that reason.
i can't feed the lps, i can't pick up frags on the sand bed, i can't pick up an algae clip on the sand bed....i can't place new additions without dangling my armpit hairs in the tank

my next tank will have an awesome footprint, but not much height (i'm thinking 21"-23" tops)

 

[onefish2fish]

be careful of a pool pump as i may have oils or lubricants on/in it.

 

[Nickjr000]

I'll agree 30" deep tanks do suck to do anything in. But I have to say they look sweet when your all set up. The belle mead co op Has all the stock tanks you want for a sump. From 90 up to 300 gallons. Man your electric is gonna kill you! Mine hurts. I have 4- 250 mh, 2-6' vho, And return in the basement up to living room

 

[ds4x4]

with a good reflector i would do 250 watt hgalides instead of the 400watt i use with an ok reflector


and i have long arms but still have problems reaching the bottom haha

 

[mr_X]

i use lumenarc mini reflectors. i would consider them good. some of the more light demanding sps don't do well on the bottom. i tried some 20k xm's in a 400 watt fixture with the same reflector, thinking that i can get away with the lower PAR lamp since it was a 400...and my acropora started browning out. i changed out the bulb to a 14k ushio, and the color came back. as i said, my tank is 25" tall.
i seriously doubt you can get away with 250 watt halides on a 30" deep tank, unless you want to keep softies.

 

[ds4x4]

lumenbrights if you have the room should have no problem with 250's. Dr Jim said that he has the 250's on a 30 deep and thought it was a little much at times, not sure which reflectors he has though. at 20k your getting away from the spectrum that makes these corals really grow even though they dont get the POP people say a 20k gives. I use 10k 400watt reflux and anything i have put on the bottom has done fine.

how high were your lights above the water?

 

[mr_X]

now they are much lower, but they used to be about 14" up. i don't think thin air takes away much potency. 8 " or 16"....it's not going to be much different. my tank is 30" from front to back. at the time, the only reflectors i could fit and still be able to use actinic supplement was the lumenarc minis, taking into consideration the bracing around the rim of the tank and center braces. the lumenbrights had come out just after i think.
maybe it's just the low PAR lamps, but the 10k lamps looked way too yellow and completely drowned out the 4 x 54 watt t-5 actinics.

my thought is, if you have to use the very hottest lamps in order to have enough light, then you should have stepped up a bit. i like the idea of having a choice of any lamps i want.

 

[Nickjr000]

My tank is 30" Deep x 6' long I have 4 lumenarc mini's over it with 250w. I have a radium 20 a reeflux 12 radium 20 and a reeflux 12. The color looks great. It's way brighter with all 10k over it but too yellow for me. I recently got 2 6' vho's a 03 and 454 and I'm gonna see how it looks with them and all 10k for better growth. I currently have some montis near the bottom third and they're doing ok. The ones on top 2 thirds grow faster. But i want the bottom third for soft stuff anyway so this works great for me. I debated using 400's on the tank and i'm glad I didn't. If i went all sps 400's would of been ok if i got a chiller, The 250's allow me to keep some acans and softies on bottom and the rest sps, best of all no chiller. With fans the hottest it gets is 81.7 I'm sure with the 400's I would of needed a chiller