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My first reef: 50 gallon bowfront


Kaplanm

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So my tank gets delivered tomorrow, but I checked it out in the store. I fell prey to one of the classic blunders, only slightly less know than never get involved in a land war in Asia. I failed to get complete specs on the stand prior to purchasing the tank. So instead of having room for a 20gal sump I find I only have room for maybe an 8 or 9 gallon sump.

I'm hoping someone has an idea. The space measures 16" X 16" X 18"ish. I want to squeeze in a refugium, protein skimmer, auto top-off, and heater elements. There are small shelves to either side of the cabinet, maybe 4" X 8". I figured I could use one of those for a reservoir for the top off.

Any thoughts?

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Made the judgement call. I returned the stand. I'm going to get ahold of DSA to see if they can custom build a stand that works, but failing that, does anyone know a good cabinet maker who could do a custom stand locally?

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Great news! Contacted DSA and if turns out the stand that was shipped to me was an old model. They're sending a new one that will hold a 20 gallon sump. Hopefully arriving on Thursday. Photos will follow soon.

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So I once again find myself in a jam. While the stand now fits the 20gal tank, it would require excessive clearance behind the tank (8") in order to jockey its removal. I see three options.

1). Put the sump in so that it cannot be removed.

2). Place the tank excessively far into the room.

3). Scale the sump back to a 10gal.

Am I dooming myself by forcing the sump to be static?

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Decided to go with the sump I can't remove. I only intend to be in this apartment for a year and then it's on trio bigger and better. I'm willing to gamble that in a year an off the shelf standard tank won't fall. Sump design and u u trial pics will be posted tomorrow.

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Getting ready to make a big hardware buy, thought I'd get some thoughts. I'm planning on LPS/SPS for this tank. Reliability is tantamount to budgetary reasons. I'm in an apt. and trying to minimize risk as much as possible. My tank has a single drain and dual returns.

Right now I'm looking at a pair of 50W Jager heaters
A Mag Drive 9.5 return pump
a Coralife Super Skimmer Needle Wheel for 65 Gallon

and a pair of 36" Build My LEDs.

My big ??s are would a Eheim Compact+ 3000 return be better, or would a Reef Octopus 4" Needle Wheel be better for a skimmer?

I know I'll need some additional circulation, I've just not decided quite yet on what I'm planning to do for that.

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