I need lighting opinions for a 54 gallon corner! Please help!
 

Hey guys I recently had a ich outbreak in my tank so I tore my whole tank down to nothing and put my 2 clowns royal gramma yellow tang and coral beauty in a 30 gallon qt currently running copper. Long story short now is the time to pimp out my dt while there are no fish in it. So I am looking to buy an affordable led reef capable light. The one I keep going back to is the Marineland bar for around 180 or so I think. That is about what I am looking to spend but I really want something that will get into the back corner of the tank especially since I will start growing corals and the back is black. Please give any diy ideas you can come up with.:rollface::rollface:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Dimmable-165...item5658ce27ed

That is the unit I have on my 54 corner, took the optics off for 120 dispersion.........provides full coverage front to rear side to side.


In case you don't know, here is a link to the "corner club" thread -
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/sh....php?t=1698273

Steve

Thanks so much and I did not know about that club. My aquarium is all glass brand any idea if the back Is tempered as I want to drill it?

Normally just the bottom is tempered, I know on mine it it has a tag saying the bottom panel is tempered. You should be fine drilling one of the side panels.

OK thanks again so when adding a sump what size overflow box and bulkhead should I get and how many gph on the pump?

The return pump depends a lot on your head pressure, how many feet of pipe will be between it and the tank.

Most people use a 1" bulkhead, and they are good for about 600gph.

OK thanks I have to go about 4 feet vertical to the top of the tank from the sump any pump suggestions or gph suggestions

You need to decide if you want in the sump or external pump.

You want 3-5X the tank volume going thru the sump per hour.

What is the GPH of your skimmer pump?

O well I currently have a 300gph canister filter works fine but I want to build a compact sump with the pump inside. I just want to do this because I want extra water volume so it's more stable and I I want to put all my crap underneath. So I'm looking to build an overflow in the back corner basically at a 45 then run a 1" bulkhead so I can be sure it will flow plenty and about a 10 gallon sump. I plan to hang my hob reef octopus skimmer on the side of the sump so the only thing in my tank should be power heads I would say I am looking to move around 400gph then. Does that clear it up as too what a reliable pump would be for the sump?

A 10 gal or a 15gal tall is the only two tanks that will fit under a 54 corner tank. I used a 10 gal for a couple of months before recently swapping to the basement sump.
For internal pumps, you can use either a RIO 2500 or 3100, a Mag 7 or Mag 9, or one of the new DC pumps.

I put my skimmer and heaters in the sump, nothing in my display tank except for 2 power heads.

Awesome that is what I am looking to do is just a regular 10 gallon under it only problem is my tank is gonna need a 6 inch stand so the skimmer doesn't sit on the floor. Have you ever put a hob skimmer on a sump? Does it work good? I figured I would do it and the fill the rest of the skimmer chamber like full of bioballs? Does that sound like a good idea or could there be a better location for bioballs or just none at all?

No bioballs..........they do nothing but contain detrius and make nitrates.

Put some live rock rubble or chaeto in the sump, put a light on it opposite your display lights.

I have a 10gal sump, all baffled and ready to go, for sale..........but shipping is not an option.

I have a 10 gallon just have to glue in baffles. What do you have in it for a pump?

How long have you had the lights and how are they holding up?

I used a Rio 2500 when I used that sump.

3 months now, no problems at all. Swapped out the fans for with silent ones, and that's it.