Had leak now redoing it, ideas?

midna · 11/13/2007, 10:50 AM

I have been lurking around for a long time now and reading about how to set up my own tank. Anyways, my dad has his own tank and has been following the advice of the local fish store to no avail. He recently had a leak in one of his overflow boxes that was hard to fix and so I now have the opportunity (and permission) to redo the tank. He wants to do a reef and fish tank.

His previous setup was the large tank with the only water movement coming from to large inlets from a pool pump in the basement pushing water from the sump to the tank. No internal water movement at all! The sump is a larger glass tank with a skimmer and the place where he mixes in the salt. He does have an RO/DI source and there is a large white bucket sitting in the corner of the basement room for the tank filled with it. There is a small refugium, but it doesn't do much as there is nothing in it and the water doesn't flow through it (?!).

Above the tank there is a little bit of metal halide lighting and some fluorescents for color.

Here are the pictures of the tank as it stands now.
http://flickr.com/photos/20192426@N03/ Has descriptions and a better layout of pics.

I have about $5k to redo the lighting, plumbing, and just about everything else. We plan on taking the rock out, running small pvc pipes to place the rocks on and to provide water movement within the tank. The challenge is that the tank is visible on two sides and bends around a corner so hiding the plumbing and such is going to be a challenge.

So that's what we have and want, any ideas for water treatment/management, lighting systems, anything else?

irishsea · 11/13/2007, 11:34 AM

Man that looks like a large tank, how big is it? If it's over the 180gal mark ' think you would be better trying the large tank forum.

steven_dean17 · 11/13/2007, 11:46 AM

i would look at several tunzi pumps with rock covers. i would also act like i had 3 different tanks and move water accordingly. what kind of volume are you dealing with? you might need several different types of water movers to prevent dead spots. ive seen systems with plumbed rock work and they still require something else to move the water.

midna · 11/13/2007, 03:11 PM

The main tank is around 650g I believe and so I'm going to guess over all the total volume will be near 1000g when we are done.

blackheart · 11/13/2007, 03:24 PM

SWEET TANK MAN!!!!

you need to spend 2.5 K on pushing water alone (2-3 tunze 6100's and a tunze controler)

3x250watt double ended hqi bulbs magnetic ballast for each (or 3 400 SE)

6 T-5 true actinic guismans

a HUGE H&S protien skimmer (or ATI)

Calcium reactor

you got some work ahead of you son

fishworm · 11/13/2007, 04:12 PM

wow. never seen a tank like that before. pretty cool.

get a large volume RO/DI unit for making top off water. it's probibly going to use a lot.

11/13/2007, 10:50 AM	#1
midna Registered Member Join Date: Apr 2007 Posts: 53	Had leak now redoing it, ideas? I have been lurking around for a long time now and reading about how to set up my own tank. Anyways, my dad has his own tank and has been following the advice of the local fish store to no avail. He recently had a leak in one of his overflow boxes that was hard to fix and so I now have the opportunity (and permission) to redo the tank. He wants to do a reef and fish tank. His previous setup was the large tank with the only water movement coming from to large inlets from a pool pump in the basement pushing water from the sump to the tank. No internal water movement at all! The sump is a larger glass tank with a skimmer and the place where he mixes in the salt. He does have an RO/DI source and there is a large white bucket sitting in the corner of the basement room for the tank filled with it. There is a small refugium, but it doesn't do much as there is nothing in it and the water doesn't flow through it (?!). Above the tank there is a little bit of metal halide lighting and some fluorescents for color. Here are the pictures of the tank as it stands now. http://flickr.com/photos/20192426@N03/ Has descriptions and a better layout of pics. I have about $5k to redo the lighting, plumbing, and just about everything else. We plan on taking the rock out, running small pvc pipes to place the rocks on and to provide water movement within the tank. The challenge is that the tank is visible on two sides and bends around a corner so hiding the plumbing and such is going to be a challenge. So that's what we have and want, any ideas for water treatment/management, lighting systems, anything else?

11/13/2007, 11:46 AM	#3
steven_dean17 Registered Member Join Date: Aug 2007 Location: scott depot wv. Posts: 601	i would look at several tunzi pumps with rock covers. i would also act like i had 3 different tanks and move water accordingly. what kind of volume are you dealing with? you might need several different types of water movers to prevent dead spots. ive seen systems with plumbed rock work and they still require something else to move the water. __________________ The Dali Llama is my "Ommmmmboy" Current Tank Info: 75gal. reef

11/13/2007, 03:24 PM	#5
blackheart Registered Member Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: Daytona Beach Posts: 892	SWEET TANK MAN!!!! you need to spend 2.5 K on pushing water alone (2-3 tunze 6100's and a tunze controler) 3x250watt double ended hqi bulbs magnetic ballast for each (or 3 400 SE) 6 T-5 true actinic guismans a HUGE H&S protien skimmer (or ATI) Calcium reactor you got some work ahead of you son __________________ I have been cycling my tank for a month now with 75lbs of live rock when do I add the salt???? click the red house to see pics of my old tank....the better pics are at the bottom :D Current Tank Info: Back to the drawing board!!

11/13/2007, 04:12 PM	#6
fishworm Registered Member Join Date: Sep 2007 Location: Strafford, Missouri Posts: 154	wow. never seen a tank like that before. pretty cool. get a large volume RO/DI unit for making top off water. it's probibly going to use a lot. __________________ If it aint a cichlid, it aint worth eatin'. Yeah. Wait, what? Current Tank Info: 75 gallon reef in the works. also have a 150 gallon FW tropheus/petrochromis tanks and a 125 gallon SA/CA cichlid tank.

11/13/2007, 11:34 AM	#2
irishsea Registered Member Join Date: Dec 2003 Location: Eíre Posts: 317	Man that looks like a large tank, how big is it? If it's over the 180gal mark ' think you would be better trying the large tank forum.

11/13/2007, 03:11 PM	#4
midna Registered Member Join Date: Apr 2007 Posts: 53	The main tank is around 650g I believe and so I'm going to guess over all the total volume will be near 1000g when we are done.