Just some questions

[BelleMorte]

not sure if this is the right place for the questions as it is about equipment. My husband is building me a sump and he calls the other tank he is using a fuge but i call it a nano tank. I will try to post some pictures when i get home as I don't have them with me at work. Right now we have in the main tank a fluval canister filter I think a 400 (can't remember off the top of my head) and a protein skimmer. I have argued with him that we will still need a filter of some sort when he gets the builds done not just a protein skimmer. Am I right or is he right? Or shall I wait for answers after I post some pictures?

 

[Andrew McFadden]

Waiting for pictures cause I'm confused. Lol

 

[BelleMorte]

Okay finally figured out how to add pictures from my phone to here I hope this helps. Mind you these are a bit outdated as he has adding tubing and stuff testing everything before he involves our main tank

 

[Ingy]

Is the middle tank going to be windowed for viewing or closed off. I think the term Nano just refers to smaller tanks. If its not a DT (operative word being display) it isn't really a Nano.
The middle tank has the lighting and if is part of a 2 tank sump system it certainly looks like it would be a refugium (aka fuge).
Is the water flow going to go to the lower sump first then up to the next level before returning to the DT?

 

[AquaRick]

Sweet looking stand and sumps\fuges in there!

As for the lover's quarrel, he is right. Once you get a good skimmer going in there, you can ditch the canister. With enough live rock and flow + a good skimmer, you're going to have one great system. You can however keep the canister and use it to put your media in, but it's definitely not "needed" with the skimmer.

 

[BelleMorte]

@Ingy the tank with the lights is going to be a dt/ fuge for seahorses. The water will go from that tank to the lower tank then into the big tank.

@AuqaRick Ty but my husband built it all and is also building a new lighthood for big tank so I cam have some corals eventually. I plan on having live sand and rock in it

 

[AquaRick]

Very nice! This hobby is a lot easier when the significant other is on board with the lifestyle/addiction

 

[BelleMorte]

What skimmer do you recommend for it as the size will play into placement of it and such.

 

[AquaRick]

What skimmer do you recommend for it as the size will play into placement of it and such.

How big is your tank? Looks like a 54g corner tank maybe? I'm a really big fan of reef octopus skimmers. They do an awesome job and are pretty cost effective. I like the Diablo XS 160 skimmer. It's their upgraded line of skimmers and for good reason. I also like the small footprint. I use it on my 60g cube and it fits well in my 20g sump.

Regardless of your skimmer choice, make sure to check the skimmer footprint and see if it'll fit in your sump and cabinet

Octopus Extreme 160 Protein Skimmer - English

 

[BelleMorte]

Okay cool I will point my husband to that sight he deals with all of that. It is acutally a 32g corner tank they don't make them anymore and i caught it on sale at the lfs with the original stand and all the stuff to start up a sw tank. Since my house is 100 years old we do not have a lot of space for huge tanks.

 

[AquaRick]

Oh ok, good to know. If it's a smaller tank like that, you may want to look at their 4" model:

Reef Octopus 4

 

[BelleMorte]

Well it looks like we might get one of them he is thinking the smaller one. Thank you Rick for all your input on it is there Anthony else you would recommend?

 

[AquaRick]

Are you going reef, or just fowlr right now? Have you thought about lights? If reef, 1 LED fixture would suffice. You can also look at T5s, though I'm a fan of LEDs and how cool they run. Extra $ up front, but it's kept me from buying a chiller and saving $ monthly compared to other lights.

 

[BelleMorte]

We are looking to go reef asap and have looked into LEDs along with T5's. At least that is his plans lol.