New project planning, opinions please

r2d2

Member
Hi all, after a couple of years dry, mean with no tanks at all, I'm planning to setup a new tank and want to know your opinion on the general idea and planning.

This is going to be an island in living room, so it would be visible from one side and other. Tank measures 78" long x 16" wide x 35" tall, although water level would be around 30". So basically this would be a 170 gal tank.
I know it's a narrow and tall tank, lighting and LR design would be difficult, but not impossible.

My last tank (75 gal) had serious problems of high temperature and by consequence high electricity bills, main reason to quite it. High temperatures was a combination of lighting, sump pumps, filters, etc, etc and a chiller helped with electricity bills.

New project facts:

FOWLR and some soft corals and inverts, so lighting requirements will be relatively low.
No sump! Don't want large pumps that heat water and consume more W.
Led lighting. Again, no heat, no W. Thinking on Marineland models.
Lots of LR, about 60 or 70 lb.
Deep sand bed, about 3". Some LR will be berried in sand to serve as founding to upper LR and help with anaerobic filtration.
An internal partition filter with a basic mechanical filter, room for a skimmer (optional) and a recirculation pump for about 6 times an hour change.
A couple of internal power heads to increase water flow.

So... what do you think??? :thumbup:
 

DianaKay

Princess Diana
RS STAFF
I think it sounds EXCITING :D I'm along for the build :thumbup:
...& I am voting for skimmer inclusion for the record :yup:
 

r2d2

Member
There is a convenient change on this project.
My supplier called to ask if I want a wider, shorter tank and I say YES!!!

New measures will be 78" long x 20" wide x 27" tall

I think it's a way better option cause rockscaping will be easier and light will penetrate better through bottom.

New water capacity 158 gal aprox.
 

BigAl07

Administrator
RS STAFF
Sounds like a FUN project.

My only input is STAY AWAY from Marineland "Reef Capable" LED lighting. IMHO someone needs to call their hand on "Reef Capable" because some coral require almost no light (some don't at all). I've seen SOOOOOO many people complaining and posting negative reviews after having those lights over a coral tank. They would be fine for a reef tank if ALL of your coral were plastic decorations and didn't need light to survive.
 

AC273

Member
This sounds like what I did with my 60g tank. It is visible from all sides, so the live rock took a long time to sculpt and make them free standing. I absolutely LOVE it now that it is done though. It was completely worth the extra effort to sculpt and build nice rock formations. Just a hint in this area... I used a lot of lace rock and a mix of coral affix and epoxy to create my structures and then cultured the tank with a little live rock from my other tank. It took longer to build up the bacterial colonies, but the rock formations end up being more stable if you can do them dry. Plus lace rock is 1/3rd the price of live rock and no hitchhikers!

Also, I would recommend a small sump even though you say you don't want one. I tried going with no sump to start, but decided I didn't like the look of packing the equipment into a section of the tank. I created a 5.5g sump (yes you read the volume right). It just houses all my equipment and uses a very small 10w pump to return water. The sump doesn't need a lot of flow since you are just using it for equipment purposes. It also ensures you have a stable water level in your tank and you can hide an auto top off then as well. I have absolutely no heat issues. Lighting is LED and T5, so I think your choice of LED is a good one. If you don't want to break the bank but want some decent LED lighting, look into reef breeders value lights. They have adjustable channels and I know others have had a lot of success with them as well.

Looking forward to seeing your pics on this project!!!
 

DaveK

Well-Known Member
Hi all, after a couple of years dry, mean with no tanks at all, I'm planning to setup a new tank and want to know your opinion on the general idea and planning.

This is going to be an island in living room, so it would be visible from one side and other. Tank measures 78" long x 16" wide x 35" tall, although water level would be around 30". So basically this would be a 170 gal tank.
I know it's a narrow and tall tank, lighting and LR design would be difficult, but not impossible.

My last tank (75 gal) had serious problems of high temperature and by consequence high electricity bills, main reason to quite it. High temperatures was a combination of lighting, sump pumps, filters, etc, etc and a chiller helped with electricity bills.

New project facts:

FOWLR and some soft corals and inverts, so lighting requirements will be relatively low.
No sump! Don't want large pumps that heat water and consume more W.
Led lighting. Again, no heat, no W. Thinking on Marineland models.
Lots of LR, about 60 or 70 lb.
Deep sand bed, about 3". Some LR will be berried in sand to serve as founding to upper LR and help with anaerobic filtration.
An internal partition filter with a basic mechanical filter, room for a skimmer (optional) and a recirculation pump for about 6 times an hour change.
A couple of internal power heads to increase water flow.

So... what do you think??? :thumbup:

This post represents strictly my personal opinion of what your doing. Please don't tank any of this personally. Some of the considerations are major, others are more design considerations for looks.

With the tank being 35" tall, it's going to be almost impossible to clean easily. Do you really want to be involved with maintaining a tank that is that high? You'll need almost every tool mounted on a rod of some sort or need to dive right in. I would recommend keeping the tank to a maximum hight of about 24", so you can reach in and work on anything you need to. You can compensate by making the stand a little higher.

The width of the tank at 16" is way too tight for a tank that is going to be viewed from both sides. The new specification at 20" is better, but I'd recommend 24" if you can do it. In a tank viewed from one side, you can lean some of the rock on the sides of the tank to get height. With two sided viewing, you need to support everything from the center. Even so, expect to do a lot building to create a framework to support the rock.

Note that as soon as you add corals to the system, it's no longer a FOWLR. Since it's a big tank, and it's going to be difficult to get anything out once you put it in, you are also going to need a quarantine tank.

I know you said you don't want a sump, but seriously, what other kind of filtration system can you use that is going to filter the volume of water your looking at? Are you going to go out and get a bunch of large canister filters and a flock of hang on the tank skimmers to filter the water? And then several heaters to heat the water? All that mess hanging on the tank? Simple put, in my opinion you need a sump. You are going to need to drill the tank, install overflows, and returns. A closed loop or two may be needed if you don't want circulation pumps in the main tank. There really is no other good way to do this.

In a tank this size I would avoid a deep sand bed. It's going to be expensive to buy all that sand It will also be tough to clean. If your thoughts are to keep fish that burrow, then set up a section for them and use 4" of sand there. Keep the rest of the sandbed minimal. It would be nice, but not required to add a refugium to that sump your going to need.

LED lighting is the way to go, but your going to have to layout for something that's decent, even if you just plan soft corals. You have a deep tank, so even for soft corals, your going to need some good light. The Marineland models, even the one they claim is for reefs just doesn't cut it. They use only 1w LEDs. Now if you want to not have corals, they you could use the Marineland lighting, but I think even then you'd be disappointed. Personally, I'd go with something like Aquaillumination or EcoTech modules. Yes, either of then are expensive, but you get lighting you can fine tune, and you can go with only a few modules to start with and add more as needed.

At 60 to 70 lbs, you don't have nearly enough live rock. Your current tank size, 78" x 20" x 35", works out to about 236 gal of water. With a tank this size, you need not go with the standard rule of 1 lb of rock per gal of water, but you will need at least 150 lbs of rock. More would be better. You could use a lot of dry base rock to save money. I highly recommend that you do not bury any of the rock. The best way is to construct supporting structures to put the rock on. You actually want it just a little above the sandbed, so you can keep the sandbed clean. Expect to need to use one method or another to fasten the major rocks together.

Good luck!
 
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