Dhayden Posted December 2, 2006 Share Posted December 2, 2006 OK. Been planning a new tank for a while. Waiting to still see if I stay in town, looks promising but will know definite in a few weeks. Anyway. I am looking to build my "dream" tank. I love my nano but it is a "little" too small, i have my 2 - 3gals. to keep my still nanoing The new one will be made by me out of acrylic, mostly because of cost. 3/8's or 1/2 inch. 30x20x18h, basically right around 50gals. It will give me the depth I would like with out a 24" or higher height. I think glass would be very expensive. I figure I can make it myself for under $200.00 Take a look at my plan, forgive the picture,(wow it is blurry) I am no cad drawer but i think you will get the idea. Basically 20L sump with a mag9.5 return pump using a SCWD for the return with 3/4" pvc. A 1" drain. T off the mag to restrict flow a little, and also T it off into a fuge on one side of sump for a slower fuge flow. One Sieo 1100 in the middle of the back facing straight out. This would give me close to 2000gph. I can buy a controller for the sieo down the line to vary flow. I think the flow is ok, I have never dealt with or built an internal flowbox. Also light, I was going to rip about 2 lights I already have to give me about 320watts. Although I was wondering about MH, I have a 150HQI. Why do people use HQI vs the reg bulbs? I would have to worry about UV glass with the HQI. Also whay electronic vs mag balast. I was thinking of upgrading to 1-250, or 2-175's, that would give me 528watts, maybe a little too much... Please give input or ask more questions, this will be at least a 5-600 dollar project, I just dont want to throw it all away I know its not much comared to what some spend, but try explaining that to the misses hehe. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
caferacermike Posted December 3, 2006 Share Posted December 3, 2006 I like a lot of what you drew. The few things I'd suggest are minimal. First since the fuge is going to gravity feed back into the sump why not just bullhead a TEE going both to the sump and the fuge from the suction line? You could put a ball valve heading to the fuge to limit the amount of water. I'd normally say to do it as you did but last week I helped set up a 22g cube with a SCWD and a Mag 7. The output was very low flow. I'd say let the entire Mag 9.5 hit the tank. IN fact I'd ditch a Mag for an Eheim right off the bat. Mags run way hotter than Eheims and consume twice the electricity. Running hotter does not help the tank and double the wattage for no reason isn't nice on the wallet. The next thing I noticed while setting up the cube was that the owner did a little custom calfo type overflow. I'd recommend it for your cube. Since you are building it from acrylic you can easily drill holes with an ordinary drill. The nice thing about the calfo was that the overflow box did not need to go all the way to the bottom of the tank. You can easily bring the returns back in with an overflow half the size of a regular one. This increases the tank space. Now he also wanted a Seio pump after seeing the low output of his Mag. The first thing we both thought was how nice would it have been if he had made the front piece of acrylic from the overflow hang down a few more inches so that he could have hidden the Seio behind it with only the discharge hole visible from the front. I have poorly drawn a sketch. I hope it makes sense. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dhayden Posted December 3, 2006 Author Share Posted December 3, 2006 That is some great stuff, I didnt know the difference between the pumps. I was going to bottom drill the tank, but I do like the way he has the sieo there. That is a whole lot of flow down low in the tank. How do you think the horizontal bulkheads work verses the vertical ones at the very bottom? would not be as clean looking but less complicated to plumb inside the tank. I am still scared of having a acrylic tank. Heck I have scratches all over my glass one . I was debating trying to find a 58 oceanic or one from glasscages. Although they would not have the depth that I quite want. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
caferacermike Posted December 3, 2006 Share Posted December 3, 2006 I keep my big pumps near the bottom of my tanks. People think I'm nuts. Actually a lot of people openly say I'm nuts. I'm glad my master plan has been working for me. But I do it so that crapola does not accumulate on my sand beds. I still have flow up near the top as well. Side mounting bulkheads works just as well as mounting them in the bottom. A whole lot of the super reefers have been doing this lately to make closed loop set ups. A large suction line leading directly to a remote pump that delivers the pressurized water right back into the tank via multiple returns. About the main drawback I've noticed is that the tank will need to be out from the wall because of the pipes running down the back of the tank. Glass versus acrylic. Tough choice. I'm a strictly glass sort of person, but yet I bought a 400g acrylic recently. Only because the price and timing worked out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dhayden Posted December 3, 2006 Author Share Posted December 3, 2006 Yea, the whole calfo design is interesting. Kinda like Melev used on his cube. The maniford would keep me from maybe needing the SCWD. Not same thing i know but maybe the lone sieo would produce enough surges with a controller. Again plumbing would be simpler. Those Ehims are kinda pricy too, hehe. What about a quiet one pump, pretty low wattage. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kingfish Posted December 3, 2006 Share Posted December 3, 2006 quite ones run as warm as the mags, if you don't expect to see a chiller under your xmas tree, think about and eheim 1260, even if you buy it used, it is a great long lasting pump. Another alternative is the aquamedic oceanrunners. they are an under publicized pump that runs cool and pumps out a good flow as long as there isn't much head pressure Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dhayden Posted December 3, 2006 Author Share Posted December 3, 2006 Hmm. Those Ocean Runners are more in my price range too. Thanks Brian. What do you think as far as Calfo Manafold (hell of a pump to run one of those thing) vs a power head of two with a controller. Price is probable a little better with the one pump, and the manafold would tank up now tank space. I am thinking the design above to go towards a classic calfo system. run the overflow across the back, ditch the SCWD, and run the manifold on a closed Loop. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dhayden Posted December 3, 2006 Author Share Posted December 3, 2006 Ok this is kinda fun :0 played with paint and here is "final" design. Right now I plan on having 150w HQI 12 or 14k 120w Atinic 03 CF I also have another 48w CF to play with not sure what K to put in there Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.