Beginner to saltwater aquariums

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You might want to look up coast to coast overflows, where it goes from one side of the tank to the other.
 
Sniperhank said:
You don't want to have everything plumbed at the bottom of the tank. Besides the bottom pane being tempered glass and a pain to drill, if there was a power issue or something similar all of the water will drain out of the tank. Compare this to having the overflow out the back or sides of the tank, where once the water level drops below the overflow there is no longer any loss of water.
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Yes, I seen how they would apply a pipe in the bulkhead at the bottom and raise it towards the surface, then apply a weir kinda sectioning off the corner of the tank. I was reading and most people who did it through the side we're saying they regretted it and wished they had went through the bottom. Most bc they could put the tank flush with the wall with no pluming coming off the back of the tank. That is what I didn't understand. Once u plumb the return, from all methods iv seen u have to run the plumbing behind the tank or beside the tank, unless again u want to drill from the bottom and put a 90 or something at the top.

One question on the herbie method. U have the primary overflow then it has a secondary over flow above it incase the lower one clogs. U apply the weir box around the overflow to keep fish and critters out. Since the lower has to be your primary u create a waterfall for the tank water. The point of it seems to be it's quietness, but that doesn't seem like it would be quite! Does anyone use the herbie method on their salt tank?
 
If any has a schedule 80 bulkhead through the back of their tank for their overflow with a street 90 on it directing l flow down the back of the tank into the sump, can u tell me how far it sticks out from the back glass of the tank? How far would I have to sit it off the wall?
 
Do you have any reason not to go out the side? I couldn't imagine the bulkhead to 90 being more than 6".
 
If I went out the side of the aquarium instead of the back, I wouldn't be able to have a properly sized overflow box. Needs to be around 30 inch. The tank is 18in wide. Also, if I went out of the side, I think it would look really bad.
 
do you have a upper lip for that tank , just with eye view in a pict , I would be concerned about it holding water without a blow out looks like a old snake tank .
 
54seaweed said:
do you have a upper lip for that tank , just with eye view in a pict , I would be concerned about it holding water without a blow out looks like a old snake tank .
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It's a 100 long. Was setup with saltwater for nearly 15 years from previous owner. It's half inch thick glass, so it's as far from a blow out as possible in the aquarium world for its size. Iv had it filled in my basement for couple days now. No leaks, and it's a beast. Very solid if u can imagine a 6ft long tank with half inch thick glass.
 
Do you have any updates on the tank? Like stated above, attaching some glass braces on the top would not be a bad idea.
 
I'm waiting for my whole saw bit to come in. Ordered 3 sch 80 1.25 inch bulkheads for my herbie setup plumbing. Got the Q2 protein skimmer, got a spectra pure RODI unit, and got a 55 gallon im going to use for the sump. Tank was filled and held water for 2 weeks. I am planning on attaching a 4 inch piece of glass on each end of the tank. Just as safety precaution. Not a full euro but just on the ends to help support the seams.

Iv got plans for the stand, but I want to make sure I can successfully drill the tank before I build it in case I bust the tank. I checked it and it doesn't appear to be tempered. The holes are 2 1/4 inch for the sch 80 bulkheads, so those are some big dang holes.

Once drilled if successful I'm going to build the stand then plumb it. Searching around now for places to get my glass baffles for the sump.

That's where I'm at.
 
Shanetweedz said:
Sounds like everything is really coming together!
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Yep, it's coming together slowly but together non the less. I had to do a lot of work to the tank. Iv scraped and cleaned it multiple times. Then went around the entire tank with cerium oxide to help with some of the fine scratching. It's looking very nice and clean now, I will attach pics later.
 
Sniperhank, I like your simple look at things, which I want simple for many reasons. I don't want to complicate the sump but I want it to function best as possible. Here is my design as of now.

55 gallon sump.
I'm going to apply a piece of glass about 6 inch wide with two 4 inch holds which I want to use to hold 2 4inch filter socks. In that same chamber I'm going to have the protein skimmer. The Q2 calls for 7-8 inches of water depth. My skimmer chamber will be 11 inches deep with the skimmer setting on a 3 inch lift block. After that they will just be a single baffle with 11 in height. Then the refugium. The refugium level will be 10 inch deep. At end of refugium will be a bubble trap. First baffle will be 11 inch high and one inch off bottom. Second will be 10 inch high sitting on the bottom, which will keep the refugium at 10 inch, then the 3rd baffle being 11 inch high one inch off the bottom. Then the last chamber will be the return pump.

The 55 gallon being 4 foot should allow for a large refugium area where I can add reactors or whatever I need when I need them.

I will attach a pic of the simple design I plan to build mine from. It was a bulk reef supply layout I found and seems very simple.

What u think?
 
1488826771849.jpg
This is the sump design im leaning towards. Only difference will be the piece of glass with 4 inch holds drilled when the two inlet pipes will feed into.
 
Everything sounds well put together. Though this is something picking peanuts out of poop, may I suggest a DIY algae turf scrubber over a refugium? I have gone this route myself and really like the results. I saw better nitrate levels with it, though that might simply be just my system and the increase of lighting to make it possible. But the main reason that I like these new ATS is that they help bring more oxygen into the system as it removes more CO2 due to the waterfall nature.
 
Sniperhank said:
Everything sounds well put together. Though this is something picking peanuts out of poop, may I suggest a DIY algae turf scrubber over a refugium? I have gone this route myself and really like the results. I saw better nitrate levels with it, though that might simply be just my system and the increase of lighting to make it possible. But the main reason that I like these new ATS is that they help bring more oxygen into the system as it removes more CO2 due to the waterfall nature.
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I will do some research and see what I can come up with, I am
Not familiar with a algae turf scrubber.

I'm trying to
Determine how I'm going to drill this tank. I will have two 1 1/4 inch PVC for outflow then one 1 1/4 inch for the return. The sch 80 bulkheads are really big. From what I have read I will need an overflow box around 30 inch in length to give the system adequate water based on the return pump and size PVC I'm using. I wouldn't mind a 30inch over flow box if it was shallow, but if I drop 3 inch from the rim prior to
Drilling, then having to lower the full siphon hole due to herbie design I may end up with a 30in x 9 inch overflow box inside the tank. That's just to dang big and eats up more volume than I would want.

I'm just not able to picture it in mind. Hole saw bit will be here any day so I will play around with it and see what I can come up with.

Appreciate the advice!
 
Sniperhank said:
Everything sounds well put together. Though this is something picking peanuts out of poop, may I suggest a DIY algae turf scrubber over a refugium? I have gone this route myself and really like the results. I saw better nitrate levels with it, though that might simply be just my system and the increase of lighting to make it possible. But the main reason that I like these new ATS is that they help bring more oxygen into the system as it removes more CO2 due to the waterfall nature.
Click to expand...



So in a nut she'll it's a device that grows algae, then the algae is used to absorb ammonia, nitrate, etc?

I was planning on growing algae in my refugium. Was just going to mount a light inside the stand and put it on a timer. Wouldn't this do the same thing?
 
When it comes to algae, yes it does. The goal is the same with both a refugium and an ATS.
As I stated earlier, I like ATS because of the additional water movement that they cause. The water falling down like it does increases oxygen into the system and removes CO2. Maybe it's overkill...maybe it isn't as effective as I envision it...but the more CO2 exchange I can bring into my system the better.
 
I'm struggling finding somewhere to cut my glass. I know a guy who owns a local shop but all he can do me is laminated glass, which would be fine I guess, just everything seems so expensive. For 4 baffles 12x 11 inch "not exactly what I need" run me $75. Iv got a few quotes online and it's about the same plus $40 for shipping
 
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