New guy with a 75 gall tank and a ton of Q's

[Westpalmwill]

Hello all! I am in the process of setting up a 75 gal tank and fairly new......so far in the last 3 months, I have read a book by bob fenner, done a ton of research on the web, set up a 29 gal tank w live rock..... And still don't know much! needless to say I im here because I need help.....but i am also hooked on this hobby and want to get better!

briefly 29 gal set up
heater, biowheel filter(30-50gal), undergravel filter, and air stone(i also have a hang on back fuge that is basically just a 3 gal sump with a small skimmer on it. (if your wondering about the overkill, I had alot of handme downs and started "just trying it out.") I have 30 pounds of live sand 20 pounds of live rock one damsel, a dozen hermits, dozen snails and a horse shoe crab in a pear tree. I have a nice light with 2 day 2 acintic? and lunar on a timer. I have made many mistakes and learned alot.
GOOD- rocks are very color full, purple green and a purple plant of some sort growing on one, damsel doing great, herms and snails doing well(there shells are turning the same color as the coraline....bad?)
BAD-that I am aware of-sand is turning a rust color to the best of my research it is dia-something, and may be from the nitrate cycle ending......any help here apperciated.

Wow that was alot, I have many more questions about the 29gal, but I will get on to the 75 gal.

I want to construct a reef tank so far through garage sells and such i have obtained a 75 gal glass tank 48x29x20h, black wood stand, another 29g tank for sump\fuge, t5ho light w/ lunars, timer, heater, undergravel filter, 2 402(350gph?) powerheads, 1 250gph powerhead, diamond bits, and 2 -4 foot floresent lamps that came in grage sell.

I am going to make the 29 gal into the fuge using acrilic dividers, and want to drill a hole(s) in the 75 gal and run it in to the top of the fuge...... my questions are
1. what size hole should I drill for the supply and return, how many?
2 should it be gravity fed to fuge or use a pump?
3 what size/gph should i use on return to 75 gal?
4 hard pipe or flex?

I know this is alot and I may not have been detailed enough, and this will probably spur a whole other set of q's......But I really do aperciate all answers/critisim/help!!!!! btw...spelling doesn't count! lol

[V]

welcome bud.First of all, these guys will suggest dumping the bio wheel & UG plates/plenum for marine. Second, you have a range of gear at your finger tips, totally workable.thirdly, you tell us, do you want the fuge to be gravity feed or pumped from a sump into the fuge then back to the sump? Fouth, dimand bits? Glass drill bits of what size? Fifth, diatoms, rust coloured goop that sticks to everything!sixth, Your damsel will be king of the tank in the 75, suggest placing him in last after future edditions. Im sure that cycle messed with his head too...lol Seventh, hard or flex can vary depending on needs & design, PVC is straight forward & almost fool proof. Keep it simple once you get an idea of design & you wont regret it latter. The others will pipe in soon with a whole host of things, so buckle up bud!

[Noobeef]

Well, I started a 29 gallon myself 2 1/2 weeks ago. I'll tell you what I've learned so far and what I'm doing. A lot of live rock and live sand help quite a bit. My live rock is real good stuff though. I found a place that sells fully cured Figi, and that stuff had sooo many critters hitch a ride it was crazy. I think I'd dump the bio wheel. If your sump/fuge has a ton of live sand and live rock in it, it probably does a better job of filtering than the biowheel. I have a 55 gallon power filter that I turned into a mini fuge (which I plan to replace with a CPR Aquafuge when I get the chance [chance=money]) along with a Bak Pak Skimmer. My water levels are clear of nitrate, nitrite and ammonia already after 2 1/2 weeks. That's the setup that seems to be working thus far for my 29 gallon. The water levels couldn't be better. As for your 75 gallon monster...I am still too much of a newbie to give you advice on that.

[PhotoJohn]

I am setting up my 75g as we speak. You want the fuge to be gravity fed and yo want a pump in the fuge to return the water to the display. You do not want the flow through the fuge to go past probabkly 10x per hour, 5x is best. A closed loop or powerheads is the best way to get good flow through the tank. A fuge is for filtration and running all your water though it will drastically decrease its effictiveness, so keep the flow through it slow. With a fuge/sump bigger is better, so if you can run a larger fuge/sump go for ir. You may also want to look into a larger skimmer, I dont know that a bakpak skimmer will fit your needs on the 55. I have a ETS downdraft skimmer and think it is amazing. The venturi skimmers are also wonderful and much cheaper. Dont skimp on a cheap skimmer though, they are considered one of the essiential peices of equipment in a reef aquarium. What kind of lights are you going to run? If you want sps corals you are going to need alot of T5HO bulbs or two 150-250watt HM bulbs. I am going to be running 2 175w MH bulbs and 4 T5 bulbs. I was going to only run 2 T5s but I got a great deal on some T5s off ebay. I am unsure about holes. I am going to have big drains and I am going to put ball valves to slow the flow if needed, I may switch those for gate valves however. I heard gate valves are better than ball valves if tou want to have something other than on and off. Most ppl use pvc pipe and that is what I am going to do as well. As for flow through the 75g it all depends on what you want to keep. Corals will need better flow, think along the lines of 15x to 20x per hour. I am going to use a closed loop to accomplish this however powerheads can also be used.

[wu398]

westpalmwill,
Welcome my friend. I to reside in west palm. If your interested a buch of us are getting together this month to talk shop. we will be meeting in Ft Pierce at resident reef god father here on TR "Amphibious aka Dick " We can address all your concerns. Check out tread tiltled " South Florida How do i find you" your welcome to join us. lots to learn.
Bill

[Victoria]

Welcom Westpalmwill
Not only to the best web sight on the internet but to the best hobby one can have. I recommend you bookmark you first thread. You will be glad you kept it because you will be on the sharpest learning curve you have every been on. Things will look much different in one short year. Take your time and learn from your mistakes we all made/make them.lol.
Used equipment all ways looks like a good deal but most of the time someone has found something that works much better. You will too. This can be a very expensive hobby so beware, you have been bitten by this addiction. Great to have you here and looking forward to watching you system grow...

[Westpalmwill]

Thanks for the posts keep them coming! The meeting sound interesting details!.... As for the sump/ fuge this is my biggest concern right now, I have an empty tank 29 gal that fits in my stand, planing to build it like this:


1. would 420gph be good for fuge with head for 5x change over?
2. no room for additional sump, so im thinking power heads in main tank ok with this fuge?(10x change over in main, 5x through fuge? (or does circulation inmain tanlk not count as change over?)
3 glass cutting bits I have are 60mm(2 3/8"), 50mm(2"), 45mm(1 3/4"), and 38mm(1 1/2")
Where on the main tank is the best place to drill?
4what is the optimal size supply and return holes to fuge? (this is probably determind by return pump size??)
5...in the store i see black glass "caddie corrnered" hiding the bulkheads, and I believe making an overflow, would it be good to do something like this and how is the best way?

thanks!

[Westpalmwill]

[V]

wow, the chance to hear the salty rants of ampage, kings would kill for the honor. Id jump on that gravy boat straight away westpalm, cause that will seriously be an induction into know how!

[lReef lKeeper]

yeah, what i wouldn't give to be a fly on THAT wall !!

[V]

I can just see it now................Im fishing in his prized pond you can see from space, In the left hand one of his coldies that he was planning on saving for thanks giving, a large fly swatter in the right, & occasionally tempted to looking over my sholder to Ampage workbench programs to see him wiping his forhead cause someone just doesn't get the concept of cavitation...lol .

[PhotoJohn]

You may want less flow through your fuge...unless you have crazy headloss that is going to be alot of h20 going through there, think how much water you actually have in there, it isnt 29g. You may also want your chambers taller, you are losing alot of potential water space. You just need enough drain room in the tank if the power goes off. You may want to run your drain into a bubble tower thingie...its a tube just short of the height of the tank that is filled with LR and helps reduce microbubles. Also have you thought about doing a DSB in your DT and your fuge? You can run a closed loop without having a second fuge, you pulmb the pump directly into the tank via a bulkhead. It does no filtration, just moves water. All water movement counts into your water flow. If your closed loop or powerheads do 10x and your fuge does 2x(of the main tank) then you have 12x total turnover. With your lights you will probably not be able to have sps corals. I do not have much experience with T5's as main lighting but I would guess you will need several more for sps corals. You could also screw in some MH lights later if you want some sps corals.

[CarmieJo]

Hello Will and to TR!