Looking to Upgrade- Need Answers/Suggestions

[gofor100]

Hello Everyone,

Not to bore you with the details, but my wife and I are looking to move into our "permanent home" in the next 1 to 2 years, and me being the opportunist that I am, figured that would be an excellent excuse to upgrade my tank.

I haven't yet concluded whether this will be an open top with the lighting suspended above or enclosed (with a canopy), but either way, I think that I prefer having splash guards around the top (since I live in earthquake land/CA) and have decided that the tank will be around 72"L X 30"W X 30"T. So here's a few questions...

1) Having said that, is Euro-Bracing probably the best (maybe only) bracing method I could go with?

2) I've determined that the tank will be made of glass (not a fan of easy scratches since I like having sandbeds), but have yet to decide whether it is even worth doing starfire glass or standard glass. This will probably be my final upgrade (I know we all say that, and don't mean it, but my wife will literally kill me if I go much bigger than this... ), so I'm definitely willing to put down some extra money if the starfire makes any appreciable difference when not standing side by side with standard glass. Also, how thick should the glass be? Opinions/Thoughts?

3) With a tank this long (72"), and me keeping a mixed reef (with SPS) does anyone have any suggestions on powerheads that are strong enough to provide sufficient wave action if placed on opposite ends of the tank? I'm assuming I'll get a lot of Tunze and Ecotech powerhead answers, but wanted to see what specific ones you guys have on your tanks (heard of the new MP60 and wasn't sure if dropping some benjamins on that is worth it rather than getting a couple of MP40's). Also, I'm not thinking of drilling returns into the back wall of the tank, but rather put some Korallias and/or Tunze powerheads placed along the back for constant flow into the rocks (mainly to save on energy costs), but can be swayed if you guys feel that it would be more energy efficient to drill some return lines in the back and have one or two external pumps feed them.

4) With a tank this tall (30") and a sandbed of probably varying between 2-4 inches, would 250watt MH lamps along with T-5 supplemental lighting be strong enough to keep Maxima/Crocea clams at the bottom? If not, I might make the tank slightly shorter (say between 26"-28") since I don't want to step up to the 400watt MH and prefer the look of clams on the sandbed.

5) What dimensions do you guys have on your overflow on a comparable-sized tank and where are they placed (i.e., one center overflow, two off-centered overflows, etc.)? Also, what size bulkhead would you recommend considering that I will probably be looking at a pretty high tank volume turnover rate.

Sorry this was so long post, but obviously, I have A LOT of questions!

[gofor100]

Anyone???

[gofor100]

Really? No input?

[skh]

I'm afraid I don't have answers to your questions but I was curious about your idea about using gutterguard for the tank to help in the event of an earthquake. I don't follow the purpose of this. Is it to keep fish from sloshing out of the tank?

Also, if you don't want return holes drilled in the back of the tank, how are you going to return water from the sump? I don't think you need a full-scale closed-loop system but a return line on the back from the sump seems necessary.

[afernandez]

I think you should do starphire. 72*30*30 you will have to brace it some how I tried to do 25" tall but cood not do it without some kind of brace. Personally I don't like 30" tall b/c Its a pain to get some thing if it fall in(frag or anything on sand) but maybe your a tall guy with long hands lol. But alot of ppl like the 30" and light will depend on wat your keeping but u can get away with 250 putting sps on top. For plumming returns you should look into the large reefs section they have really good ideas how to hide plumming and returns and all that good stuff. Good luck hope this helps

[gofor100]

Originally Posted by skh

I'm afraid I don't have answers to your questions but I was curious about your idea about using gutterguard for the tank to help in the event of an earthquake. I don't follow the purpose of this. Is it to keep fish from sloshing out of the tank?

Also, if you don't want return holes drilled in the back of the tank, how are you going to return water from the sump? I don't think you need a full-scale closed-loop system but a return line on the back from the sump seems necessary.

You mean the "splashguard"? That mainly is what eurobracing looks like, where there is about 3 or so inches overlap around the whole inside/top of the tank so that when there is a "real wave" in the tank when a big earthquake hits, the water doesn't slosh outside the tank and is mostly kept inside. I've had this happen before on my 60 gallon, and lost a couple of gallons, which made a mess on the floor among other things.

Also, it's not that I don't want return-line, since I'll have that plumbed into (and coming out of) my overflow containers (which will be inside the tank- have yet to decide whether there will be one or two along the backside of the tank). I just didn't want a full-scale closed-loop return system (for the purpose of creating circulation) since that would require external pumps and more energy which equals more monthly costs for me.

Feel free to ask any other questions if I wasn't clear on some of the things I described.

[gofor100]

Originally Posted by afernandez

I think you should do starphire. 72*30*30 you will have to brace it some how I tried to do 25" tall but cood not do it without some kind of brace. Personally I don't like 30" tall b/c Its a pain to get some thing if it fall in(frag or anything on sand) but maybe your a tall guy with long hands lol. But alot of ppl like the 30" and light will depend on wat your keeping but u can get away with 250 putting sps on top. For plumming returns you should look into the large reefs section they have really good ideas how to hide plumming and returns and all that good stuff. Good luck hope this helps

I'm seriously considering the starphire... although, you make a good point about the 30" height... I might reduce the height to 28" (or maybe less), not only because of the difficulty it would create in me trying reach the bottom in case anything falls, but also because of the livestock I'm thinking of keeping on the bottom.

I've reached out to the large reefs section (thanks for reading my mind) and will hopefully get some good insight from them as well.

Thanks!