15/36 Gallon Reef Design Possibilities (Display Fuge)

[Teebo]

Before even starting my pico as a SW entry I decided to return that tank and go in another direction more long-term to be able to keep the things I want. I am almost finished gathering everything I need to start a high-tech planted tank, I just need my in-line heater and CO2 valve. I have a CO2 reactor, SunSun canister with an upgraded Eco-396 pump, and a UV sterilizer. The tank is a National Geographic 15.8 gallon bowfront.

 

 

In the meantime I have had a growing riparium that I am having fun with and running out of space for more plants. It is a National Geographic 8.5 gallon bowfront, I could double my size if I used the 15.8 gallon. The idea was to have a low-tech "Jungle Style" tank with driftwood and leaf plants being this riparium...then have a "Japanese Style" tank with just rocks, carpeting plants, mosses, and grasses with open spaces using small schooling fish. I will have to combine them eventually and just keep one freshwater tank; a high-tech riparium. At least this way I can stop using Excel daily if I transferred the entire external system to my riparium, CO2-UV and all in-line hardware.

 

 

To replace the 15.8 I started looking at slightly larger new tanks, I ended up finding this SeaClear 36 gallon bowfront acrylic tank that fits the stand I was using perfectly. That is when I thought about going saltwater again after just backing out of the pico idea. If I went through with my freshwater tank merge I will have a spare glass 8.5 gallon bowfront that I would really like to use as a sump/refugium for the 36 gallon reef.

 

 

I happen to have a spare 8.5 gallon for this photo that I am selling, this would be the plan BUT instead of the 15.8 gallon on top in this photo it would be the 36 gallon tank. I would divide the 8.5 gallon sump tank the long way so I can square the back off and have a bowfront display on the sump. I would use the shallow front bow section for microalgae, anything alive that may help the sump such as inverts/fish, I would repopulate my pods in the sump and hide the equipment in the rear using a wall of mangrove trees along the divider. Heater, mechanical filtration, skimmer, etc will go in the rear I can even use hang on units such as a skimmer as long as none of this is seen in my display tank above. Ultimately with 36 gallons in the long term after it is established I want a pair of trained Mandarin Gobies, the key will be pods in the pump and trained to eat prepared foods. Not sure if I can keep a pair of Clown Fish with the Mandarins, and an Anemone all in a 36 gallon?

[vlangel]

Hey teebo, that is a very interesting concept you are presenting. As soon as i saw those planted FW tanks, i thought to myself, "this person should do a macro algae display tank!" I am thinking that you will want to divide the back half of the sump, 1 side as a drain that then flows to the front of the bowfront sump to the display fuge and then to the other side of the back for the return. A few cautions that i am thinking of is an 8.5 gallon will be really close as far as handling the water that drains back into the sump from your 36g display. A slightly bigger sump might be necessary. I have a 36g display and when i had a standard 10g sump there was not a lot of extra space between the high water line and low water line in the sump. If you fill the sump too high then when the return pump turns off the sump will overflow with too much water draining from the display. But if you don't fill it high enough the return pump will be in danger of either sucking air or worse not be submerge enough to run when the return pump is turned on. With that small of a sump you will definitely need an ATO so evaporation does not run the sump dry. The next thing to consider is making sure your macro algae can not clog the path to the return portion of the sump. I am sure you can come up with a way that the flow will not be inhibited so thats not a problem, just something to think about. Very cool idea though.

[Teebo]

Thank you for the support and advice, things to worry about are good food for thought. I will surely use an ATO system for the sump, but I am determined to use this 8.5 gallon tank so you brought up some good points I will have to focus on. Overflowing that small sump could be avoided somehow with some type of valves couldn't it? I have not really put too much thought into that, possibly I will have to/can change my flow rate to suit the sump? If the flow is too low I can assist with better powerheads in the display or something. I will only light the front bow portion of the sump.

 

This entire project will take a year to complete before I can even begin cycling, it may get costly during the startup.

[vlangel]

If you are willing to have slower flow from the return pump (and plan to make it up with powerheads in the display tank)a smaller return pump can be used, which may allow for for smaller diameter tubing which will result in less water draining from the DT (at least in the lines). It will probably also mean that you wont need the water to be running as high in the return chamber to submerge the return pump.

I am guessing you are drilling the tank for the overflow since its rimless?

[Teebo]

I am not sure I have not bought the 36 gallon tank yet, unless you mean the 8.5 for the sump I do have a local glass shop that can do that for me if need be. Once I have both tanks I can decide better how I want to plumb it.

[superbluetang]

Looks like a good setup there. Keep up posted. As for the Mandarin, It think you should avoid it unless you have a well established tank with a lot of copods.

[Teebo]

Yes that is what I said, I am waiting until I am ready for Mandarin but building with the size intentions. I will keep everyone updated as I progress.

[NathanC]

cool im in the progress of a 30 gallon which is currently a planted but will become salt. I am definitely following.

[Teebo]

So I am back on this project, but I decided against the 36 gallon tank I am just going to use the two glass tanks I already have.

 

 

I did buy a more compact stand though, just for perspective the top tank is a standard 10 gallon and my 15.8 gallon tank will fit perfectly on top.

 

 

Here is my 8.5 gallon next to a standard 10 gallon, the width is the same and so is the depth at the center but the corners are rounded down 3/4 of a gallon on each side for a total loss of 1.5 gallons.

 

 

I have quite a bit of room behind the sump/refugium that tempts me to use it so that as much of the equipment is out of the display refugium as possible. I have a few ideas about connecting two 2.5 gallon tanks together back here. I could also run reactors, and HOBs back here.

 

 

This is the only design I could come up with that partitions the skimmer from the refugium so the critters do not get sucked up. The red is stage one and blue is stage two with a partition between the two. Basically I would be running an AIO as a refugium connected to my display. White rectangle is a filter pad, black rectangle is a HOB skimmer, black circles are heaters (one for backup set to lower temp), and the grey rectangle is my return pump. Just the nature of a sump means the refugium is constantly surface skimmed too. Any thoughts?

[Clown79]

Are you planning on mandarins in a 15g?

[Teebo]

Likely not, even though they are a small fish if I put one in a 15 I would have quite a challenge keeping enough pods even with an almost 10 gallon refugium. If I do I will make sure it is trained for prepared foods first. What do you think?

[Clown79]

They don't do well in small tanks, thats why i asked. Trained or not, they eat constantly. They need larger systems. They can deplete a system of pods in no time.

 

They shouldn't even be sold imo, they should be left in the ocean as more die than survive in aquaria.

 

One member dedicated their system to mandarins and it was costing them about $40/mnth in pods.

[Teebo]

Thanks for your input, I know they don't really have a stomach so I was not sure if I could get away with dumping pods into the refugium a few times a year.

 

That was my future goal, to dedicate a system to a Mandarin but if after that it STILL requires $40 a month in pods that is discouraging

[Clown79]

A few times a yr won't be enough.

There is a Mandarin keeping thread on here, theres a lot of detailed info on keeping them.

[Teebo]

What is practical in a 15 gallon display? What about a shrimp and Watchman Goby pair? Can I have a Sexy Shrimp in the same tank as a cleaner? Obviously I am not going to put a Tang in this haha but it may be enough room for clowns? Inverts are always a possibility, not really trying to fully stock its bioload.

[Clown79]

I have 2 clowns in my 15g, no issues at all. I have a cleaner shrimp, pom pom crab, hermits, snails.

[Teebo]

I think a good approach since I am going in this direction, is to start the bottom tank first and run it as a standalone planted SW tank. Then I can eventually run my display, after I have some greenage built up and practice some basic SW maintenance. I can even test some low lighting corals in there under my low kelvin refugium lighting to help provide nutrients for the plants, then move them up to the display once they are linked.

 

I am watching videos on planted SW aquariums, and I think that is a great transition from my high tech planted tanks!