Tigahboy's 52g Planning Phase

Howdy,

I'm trying to plan out an upgrade. I could always use a second opinion to catch things I may have missed. So I just wanted to get confirmation or feedback, mainly for the following:

1) 1300 gph should be enough for this set-up, rite? I plan to keep a diversity of things: SPS and softies, LPS, etc.

2) Any suggestions as to a reasonably priced, but good (silent, reliable, etc) external pump to run the closed loop?

3) I like the SCWD a lot, but do you think I should just save some money and use one instead of two?

4) I really like LONG tanks, but don't care much for the height. So I'm basically using the footprint dimensions of a 90g (which is 48X18X24) and just chopping down the height to 14". You think this will look weird? It looks kinda cool in my head, but it could end up looking funky when I finally see it in person.

If you have any other feedback, please feel free to share. Still in the planning stages, so nothing is concrete yet. For lighting, I plan to suspend 2 AquaMedic Ocean Light MH pendents - each will be a 250w DE HQI 20K. I just received one from marinedepot.com today. I want to set it up and see how it looks before ordering the second one.

Oh, and I'm having it custom made from an acrylic guy...I don't plan to do any DIY for this set-up...just connect the tubing and press 'play.' Just trying to make sure I send him a workable diagram.

upgrading alreadY? what's wrong w/the 30g?

haha...nothing. Just want to keep more "centerpiece" type fish. =). I probably won't have it up and running until next year anyway. I plan to gradually gather all the equipment and stuff at a very slow rate.

Oh, and the price quoted for this tank w/ internal o-box and bulkheads is $370. Unless I can find someone else who can make it for me for lower, I will probably go w/ the $370 price. I think that's reasonable anyway for all the work necessary for this tank.

Looks like an awsome idea to me. I've always been curious what a tank of that size with a shallow depth would be like. Let me know if you like it.

With that many gallons I'd say you can upgrade your tang collection to at least 100...maybe 110 if you wanna make them a little cramped.

:

LoL. Indeed. I think making the tangs cramped would be extremely inhumane. So I'll just stick to 99.

bump

Sounds like an awsome set up. Wow, so you went all the way to 52G? That's nice. Have you found a tank with those dimentions? Have you been to Jeff's lately? They might be able to get that for you, right?

I dont think any place sells em in these dimensions...they are somewhat unique. And Jeff's doesn't have it either. I'm getting it custom made by an acrylics guy out in Chino...unless I can find it for cheaper somewhere else.

only suggestion i could make is dont dismiss the 90g so quickly. while the height does add maintanance and lighting issues they just look better. i am sure your going 2X250w mh anyway. it is no coincidence that both jeff's and tong's display tanks are high. they look better. have you ever seen a low display tank in a lfs?

you say you want more 'centerpiece' fish. lets be honest, those types of fish look better in a high tank, they looked 'squeezed' in a low tank.

add to those issues the fact that 'off-the-shelf' tanks are cheaper than 'odd ball' sizes. a standard 90g can probably be purchased at tong's for 120-150.

all these reasons are why i went standard 80g .. 48L X 24H X 17D

the only other thing i would add is when you pipe your feeds INTO the tank, add capped 'y's. this allows future expantion to other tanks or fuges in the future.

nalbar

For the external pump, you might want to look at some of the Sequence pumps (either their Reeflo series or their regular line). I've read very good things about them over on ReefCentral. The newer Ampmaster pumps are also often recommended.

Thanks for the feedback, nalbar. I think my interest in these wider, longer, low tanks was sparked by looking at some prop tanks of variuos vendors. For some reason the prop tanks looked very appealing to me and just thought I'd give a more "unique" set-up a try.

But I do agree that all LFS displays will utilize the tall or cube shaped displays, and they all look great. But like you mentioned, the costs associated with the 90g (not the tank itself of course), but lighting and other necessities will be too much for me...just thiking about buying 50lb+ more live rock alone and the fact that I'll probably have to spend twice as much on the mh lighting makes me dizzy. hahah.

Thanks for the capped Y's idea...Very helpful!

Being as I have a paper to write and I'm at work, I figured that the best use of my time was to mess around with designing your tank.

If these suggestions suck more than anything that has ever sucked before I am sorry, please feel free to take your wrath out on my face.

That having been said, here's how I think I'd design the tank.

(please excuse how bad these drawings are)

The green lines represent pipes with nozzles that can be directed as you would wish.

Thanks, xchrisjb ...I'll check that out.

Being as the red dot where the overflow box used to be is not very good at explaining it's draining power, here's a very simple overflow I saw once on Reef Central.

Wow. thanks for putting in the effort to help me out, Caesar...what is that red dot? My only "wrath" to give is for double posting. hahah.

edit: oh...okay. hahah. didnt see your explanation of the red dot before posting this.

And lastly, the back.

Alrighty, sorry for the double post...I killed it something proper.

Lemmie know if I didn't explain anything or if it's really confusing at some point.

Thanks again for input...I think my current set-up is very similar to that one. I just liked the black internal box idea cuz I wanted to get the background painted black as well so it all just blends in together. I haven't seen the overflow set-up you mentioned at reefcentral yet (probably cuz I dont go there too often), but I'll go check it out. =)

tigah, with a 48 long tank with SPS dont you think are commited to dual 250w mh already? i mean, at least eventually?

originally i went single 250w with a custom pendant. its a softie tank and all is doing well with that lighting, even with the 'dark' ends. but soon i will build the second pendant.

hehe, listen to me trying to convince you of the bigger tank! i just think you will regret not going larger. yes, costs are an issue, but many can be put off. that extra rock could be base for instance. and put under the live rock.

go to tongs in fountain valley and look at their tank selection! i promise you, you wont want a 55 after seeing a hundred tanks for sale under one roof!

thanks for the compliment!

nalbar

Yes, I do plan to get two 250w DE HQI MH if I were to keep the original plan anyway. I just got one of the pendents yesterday....just seeing how I like it before I get another.

Yeah, I dont plan to even start the actual shopping/purchasing of tank until Winter break (so late Dec. - early Jan. 2005). I will definitely check out Tong's, since I have yet to step foot in any of the 2 Tong's in socal.

Hahah...I just had a whole "nalbar is so helpful" post, but I deleted it b/c it started to sound all sappy and crap...hahah. but thanks for all the help and feedback in the past, dude.

the tong's in fountain valley is the only one i have been in. HUGE tank selection. at darn good prices. with or without stands. with or without overflows. corals are kinda expensive but a great selection. i am a goby freak and they always have plenty of unusual ones.

i am a firm believer in dual overflows on 48" tanks and longer. i dont like boxes so i use 11/4 pvc elbows. this allows more rock in the tank.

nalbar

Damn...I just went around my apt w/ tape measure and I don't have a single load bearing wall that can accomodate 48" long tank...my current tank has a closet door to the left of it that won't open if I placed a 48" long X 18" deep tank.

And if I try to cut it down to 46" (which may JUST barely fit), I'd have to get a custom-made stand which would be twice as much as the standard 48X18 (90g) stand.

Oh...another reason for not wanting the full 90g... I move at least once a year (well I have done so at least for the last 8 years- moved 5 times within the last 2.5 years alone) and I must be able to easily transport the tank...hopefully in my honda civic. hahah.

i am a firm believer in dual overflows on 48" tanks and longer. i dont like boxes so i use 11/4 pvc elbows.

So the elbows are inside the tank and point upwards to skim the surface? I'm assuming you have the T-tube w/ hole in the end cap set-up on the outside then?

the back;

horizonal is 11/2 pvc turning to 2" after the second downpipe