Startin my new 180 G fish bowl...

[shullat]

Well here it goes...
I have finally been able to convince my wife that is was a necessity for my mental well-being to start a new tank. And not only that but it had to be a big one...
So she has finally agreed to the idea...and things are finally moving.

So lets start with the basics....

The tank will be a cube 180G cube (40*40*26) AGA with no built in overflows or anything of the sort. If you ask me why, I'll simply answer that I live in Saudi Arabia and I can't really guarantee that the quality would be up to par and the lack of equipment available here is a big problem.

But hopefully building a glass box should be ok.

So heres a sketch of the tank with dimensions.

[shullat]

For the moment I do not know whether I will keep my 55G as is or convert it to fresh water, I'll see down the road what to do. For all those who don't know my tank here it is:



My Blue hippo has died since that picture, but not to worry tang police I have two tangs in my tank...

Actually it will never happen again...I do believe that tangs need alot of space to swim. I have seen while diving schools of Purple tangs here in the Red Sea just swimming along the reef .....without ever making a U-turn after four feet.

[shullat]

So back to the new fish bowl.

The sump is as follows:



The total capacity is 47 Gallon, with an area for the refugium of 13.9 G.

Circulation from the tank will be from two Tunze retrofit overflows capable of a combined 634G/hour, so roughly X3 the water volume. Which should be sufficient right?

In case of a failure the sump should also be able to handle the extra 21.5 G of water.

If there is anything wrong in what i say so far please let me know...

Circulation form the sump to the tank will be handled through a Tunze recirculation pump (roughly 800G/h)

[shullat]

Circulation within the tank will be handled by two Turbelle streams 6100 with 7095 multicontroller rated at 6340G/H. So total flow will be 6700G which is roughly X37 the tank volume.

This should hopefully be enough flow for an SPS dominated tank....Yes or No?

Skimming will be handled by a Tunze Comline skimmer 9015 rated at 316G. The skimmer will be placed in the right end of the of the sump. I have also ordered the retrofit on the skimmer for "operation in aquarium cabinet" as they so nicely put it.

[shullat]

Calcium reactor wil be, yet again, another Tunze product, the Comline Automat rated for 264G. Hopefully it will do the trick. It'll be hooked up to a Ph controller which I will get locally...Chinese brand but then its working fine so far.

The reactor will be placed in the second chamber of the sump after the baffles.

[shullat]

For the stand, I wanted something quite low but big enough to hold the sump as well as a another tank for top offs (20 L*16 W*16 H) of 22 Gallons which I estimate should be enough for a weeks time. If its not enough i will add a second one behind it. the second one would be placed a little bit higher and be gravity fed, if the first one runs low the second one would start flowing into it.

The overall dimensions of the stand will be 41 L*41 W*22 H. I have taken into consideration the hieght of the skimmer and reactor, and given enough allowance to remove the cup.

Heres a pic of how i will place the things inside the stand. I want to have doors on both sides for easy access to the topoff tank and the sump.

[The Reefer91]

sounds good. can't really give you much advice due to the fact i don't have my reef yet, but i'll help bump the thread

[shullat]

Today is the first day for the big fish bowl
Email will be sent to France to confirm the order for the Streams, reactor, skimmer, osmolator, pumps, plumbing, overflow box.

Why Tunze? well because theres nothing available here and I can't order from the states because most sites do not export and from those that do .....shipping cost is practically as much as what i order.

So I had to order from France...being half French...what can I do. Well basically it was simpler to order everything from one supplier so i said to myself lets just go with one brand.

I wish they could at least finance my tank.

[shullat]

Tank, Stand, Sump and and top off tank will all be made locally.

For the lighting I still have two things to figure out.

First of all how much of it and secondly how (should i build a custom top with retrofits or go with a ramp)?

This actually is where i need help....how much light should i have for an sps tank. I was thinking first to get two reeflux retrofits 250W 14,000 each....is it enough?

Can anyone help out on this. The only problem is that it has to be convenient to ship as I'll have to order it also...

[shullat]

Hummmmmm.....where is everyone i need help on the lights.

Please...

[reverendmaynard]

Do you have local access to pvc plumbing parts?

If you do and have the time and confidence to try it, you can make a lot of this stuff DIY. You'll save a ton of money.

[shullat]

Originally posted by reverendmaynard
Do you have local access to pvc plumbing parts?

If you do and have the time and confidence to try it, you can make a lot of this stuff DIY. You'll save a ton of money.

Plumbing is not an issue, everything is available locally. Actually all the raw materials are easy to find here. I will do all the plumbing, but I also wanted to keep things simple.

Plumbing will be kept to a bare minimum from the two overflows to a T junction with valves of course, down to the sum with another T to the refugium and then the main Tunze recirculation pump will go back to the tank.

Auto top off will be handled by the osmolator from the top-off tank directly into the sump.

I'll also be getting a 1/2 Hp Azoo chiller/heater with temperature controller that will be plumbed into the first chamber of the sump through a 1 inch bulkhead and returned into the second chamber through another 1 inch bulkhead. I will also create a drain on the 1st chamber, refugium and second chamber in case i ever need to empty the sump out later on.

For this I have Melev to thank, good amount of very very useful information on his website.

the prob as mentionned is the amount of light. Im really stuck on that one. Any help?????

[reverendmaynard]

That's a pretty deep tank. You might want to supplement the mhs with 4x3' vhos. Should be able to run those on a single ice cap 660. In that case I'd use 10k mhs with actinic blue vhos.

[shullat]

Originally posted by reverendmaynard
That's a pretty deep tank. You might want to supplement the mhs with 4x3' vhos. Should be able to run those on a single ice cap 660. In that case I'd use 10k mhs with actinic blue vhos.

the question here is how much should i go with the MH. On my current tank i have a 250 MH 10k light. Growth seems to be excellent in the tank.

Should i go with 2 * 400 W? or 2*250 W?

[shullat]

Well so far I'm really glad that so many people have helped me with the lighting issue...



For the time being here is what i think the plumbing will look like.


So water will flow from the tank into the sump, where I'll have a T with valves for easy removal.

the chiller will be placed beside the sump, I'm thinking 1/2 Hp i hope its sufficient. But it will be for later. The chiller pump will draw water from the 1st chamber and returned in second chammber where the calcium reactor and recirculation pump are. I have one question her, I dont want any bulkheads so the plumbing will go over the side of the sump down to the chiller and on the return back over the sump edge and into the sump. I hope I am making sense. What kind of pump would be necessary for that in terms of flow?

And on the side the top off tank which will be controlled by the Osmolator.

I hope things are fine like this.....please give me any sort of input.

[shullat]

Can someone please advise me on the lights?

[reverendmaynard]

Perhaps a post in the lighting forum will get a better response.

I'm not much of an expert on lights, and gave you my best guess. Sorry.

[shullat]

Well thanks Maynard.

Finally decided on the light. I will get 2 * 400W MH 10K retrofit coralvue. And add some 4 * NO fluorescent tubes available here.
Which means no more open top and having to build a hood for the tank.

Well anyhow email was sent to the guy who will make the tank and if everything goes well, in three weeks I'll receive all the equipment directly from Tunze, the lights from the states and a tank with no leaks.

[shullat]

well finally got the quote on the tank.....very expensive
glass tank SR 6500
tank hood and stand SR 1800
sump SR 2800

which makes a very expensive total of around 11,000...which in dollars is 2,750

Im sure for that price i can order it from the states and ay for shipping.

well anyhow waiting for another price from another shop hopefully it will be less.

[reverendmaynard]

Sounds good. Keep us posted.

[Anemonebuff]

$2,750 for a custom tank, stand, hood, and sump sounds pretty cheap to me. I'd say that is a good price.

[suasponte2/75]

I'm w/ Anemone, that's a pretty good price for a custom tank. I paid close to that for my 180G and all my specs were pretty norm. (6'x2'x2') whereas you have a nice custom cube set-up (although I do live in California - the land of expensive things ). You also have a sump to boot!

As far as lighting, 2x400's are a good choice since you'll only be running two and the tank's pretty deep (26"). This way you won't be limited to coral/invert placement.

Here's a link to my tank's progression. Perhaps we can learn from one another .

Keep Reefin'

Minh

http://reefcentral.com/forums/showth...hreadid=770619

[clutch]

well my tank is 25 " deep and i use 4 250 giessmann HQI bulbs 14500 nice and white with a little blue. I use a Icecap electronic ballast. I supplement with 2 atinics 4' and 2 superdaylight 4'. I have upgraded to these light from mag ballast 175mh. I would say much nicer. My frag tank i run 10000k bulbs for growth.

[shullat]

thanks for the info guys...
Well the same supplier called me again yesterday, reduced the price by approximately $ 300. I forgot to mention that was the price for acrylic.

He also gave me the price for glass which is considerably cheaper tank SR 3,000
sump SR 1,500
stand and hood SR 1,600
total SR 6,100

which in dollars is $ 1,625, alot more affordable for my poor wallet. Especially since all the Tunze equipment is already for $ 1850. Sniff sniff there goes my credit limit.

Well tomorrow should be leaving for a week to France, finally get to see some snow, no more sand storms and sunny skies.

Keep you posted on the progress.

[shullat]

Ah one more thing...having a problem on my current tank, my colt coral has been shriveled up for the past two weeks and lying on its side, any idea what the problem could be. It has not decomposed or anything, but just shriveled up. Parameters are all fine. My leather coral in the far right corner has also gone from approximately 6 inches in diameter to 2 inches.....in diameter and height. Everyday it is shrinking more and more.

Any idea as to what could be wrong. I have not changed anything in the tank.