Equipment specification questions???

[IndianaMedic]

This is my first saltwater tank, its some expensive stuff. So I decided to research it and build everything myself. I have read all the DIY articles and skimmed through some of these forums to get some information but there are a couple things I dont understand about the mechanics of things.

My tank is a 42 gallon flat back hex, FOWLR. I havent even put water in the tank yet im still just getting things together. But I want to make sure im getting everything right before ruining the carpet.


My protein skimmer is made from acrylic and PVC from home depot. Its 3 inches in diameter and 14 inches long, I created it by looking at other commercial protein skimmers and just guessed at the size, I used an old air pump that a friend gave me and it doesnt seem to blow the bubbles that the skimmer videos on youtube blow.

Can anyone tell me what size air pump I would need for a skimmer this size?

My sump is a 10 gallon tank from walmart with acrylic plates glued in the left one taller than the right creating a cascade effect. The tallest compartment is for the protein skimmer and the middle compartment is the refugiumwith 2 lbs of live rock, the last compartment is where my submersible pump is.

Will 60 gph be enough for this or should I try and pump more?

Lastly I built my overflow system out of some tupperware containers that I found at meijer, I read somewhere that you can use plastic pot scrubbers as the filtration in the back compartment... the hose I am using for water transfer is 5/8 inch.

Will 5/8 inch hose be enough to move the water like it should and will plastic pot scrubbers work for the back of the overflow?

I have saved a bundle doing it all this way. So far ive only spent about $100 on everything and its almost completed, (hopefully it works)

Any other suggesstions people have for a system like this would be much appreciated.

Matt

[demonsp]

What do you want from this aquarium?
Do you know the fish you want?
DO you want coral?

[bertoni]

To Reef Central

If the skimmer is a countercurrent design, it's very small. Can you post a picture?

The tank will need more like 500 gph of flow, at the low end, higher for some corals.

[IndianaMedic]

the tank is a fish only with live rock, ill do a reef tank later on when I have that kind of money...

the skimmer is a counter current design but I basically copied the diminsions of commercial skimmers for what they recommended for my size tank, I dont have the collection cup ready yet and the sump tank is still under construction, this is a work in progress and it only progresses a little more on payday

do I really need 500gph? that seems a bit extreme for a 42 gallon tank

[bertoni]

500 gph is on the low end for recommendations. The usual guess is 10x-30x the tank's capacity per hour, so 420-1260 gph.

I don't think the skimmer is going to be very effective, but it will add aeration.

[IndianaMedic]

Skimmer Design Concerns

The water flow rate through the skimmer
The height of the skimmer
The amount of air pumped into the reaction chamber of the skimmer
The diameter of the skimmer




1) For optimum skimming, water flow thru the skimmer should be sufficiently slow as to allow interactions of an air bubble and organic waste. The best designs for this are skimmers that employ water moving against the flow of bubbles. These are called counter-current skimmers. However, slow is a relative term.
2) Make the skimmer reaction chamber as tall as possible to maximize the contact time that the water has with the air in the skimmer. Pump as much air into the reaction chamber as possible.
The key to injecting air is twofold: a) maintaining the smallest sized air bubbles, and b) reducing any potential turbulence of the air bubbles in the skimmer reaction chamber.
3) The diameter of the skimmer must be increased in proportion to the amount of water being skimmed. The larger the amount of water to skim, the wider the diameter of the skimmer should be.

This is whats posted on the "New to RC forum" sticky and these are the rules I followed, so are these rules inaccurate?
It also states that 2 tank capacities per day is sufficient, which is why 500gph seemed excessive.

But like I said, im new to this.

[bertoni]

Where is the two tank volume per day rule? I can fix that.

The usual countercurrent skimmers from the better manufacturers tend to be multiple feet high. That was one of the driving issues behind the newer designs: saving space and making the skimmer fit in a sump.

[IndianaMedic]

well thats the problem really, I cant have a 6 foot tall protein skimmer in my living room with my tank, it needs to be more practical. So theoretically if my skimmer doesnt work well what will have to happen and how often?

just more tank cleaning, more sickness or what?



and the 2 volumes per day is on the skimming 101 instructional under the 3 rules close to the bottom, that paragraph makes the statement.

Here is the link
http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/20...ture/index.php

[bertoni]

Oh, that rule is for flow through the skimmer. I thought you were asking about total flow in the tank. Never mind, I was confused.

The six foot skimmers (although many were more like 3-5') were a big issue. For your size tank, 2.5' might be big enough. Hard to say.

Lots of people run nice tanks without skimmers at all. A refugium can help, along those lines. A skimmer can be a good safety net, though, and yours will provide aeration, which can be very handy.

[Scuba_Steve]

With a fowlr a skimmer isnt a HUGE importance. I would still recommend getting or building a better one though, but if the budget requires it can wait. I agree I dont thing that small skimmer will do much, but its worth a try. For flow you want a pump that can pump around 150-250gph at the head height your aquarium is at. That should equate to about a mag 3 without checking. Now in your display you want more flow. Seeing you wont be keeping coral 10x per hour is sufficieant, but more would be better. I would try for 20x or higher personally, and 30-40x is ideal especially for corals.

Plastic pot scrubbers work well on freshwater systems, but in a modern saltwater tank, 1 1/2-2lbs of live rock per gallon, and sufficient flow is the best filtration you can buy. Adding mechanical filtration only creates a place for nitrates to harvest.

Money saving suggestion? Get some good dead base rock and seed it with live rock. I am a firm believer you can save alot by diy, but you may want to look up some plans on skimmers here in the diy section.

[IndianaMedic]

I actually got those plans on here and other DIY sections on skimmers.. the sump and overflow ideas I got from my local pet store.. they have what appears to be a 75 to 90 gallon salt water display only reef tank with a DIY system built underneath that is fairly small... their tank is beautiful... they just did their first water change in over a year and claim to never have to touch the tank.

That is where I managed to get alot of my information from, they have several types of DIY contraptions in there and their tanks are all beautiful

as far as lights are concerned, I cant afford all the fancy halide light systems... I was going to go with a wide spectrum flourescent and a blue actinic, will these be ok?

[bertoni]

For a FOWLR, the lights are for your viewing pleasure. That set of bulbs should produce a reasonable look, but personal taste is the big issue here.

[IndianaMedic]

yeah I read that the blue actinic pretty much brings out the colors of the fish and whatnot...

I planned on having live rock in the refugium as well as in the tank, I doubt I can afford 80 lbs at once since my local shop sells it at $7 a pound.. and I have heard horror stories about buying live rock online.

I was going to give it all a shot, get my water right, get my flow right, keep some live rock and then throw some damsels (sp?) in there.. the guy at the shop recommended them because they are cheap and hard to kill...

I just want to get the tank and the filtration in place, pumping and water tight, my next step is to add my substrate and live rock and just see how things go for a week or 2 with that...

with so much time and money being invested already Im alright with being patient with it all.

[bertoni]

I wouldn't add damsels to the system. It's not necessary, and they can carry diseases. They're also aggressive and can be hard to catch. I just add the live rock and wait.

[IndianaMedic]

cool deal, thanks for the advice...

ill throw some pics up when I get it together, should be a month or so