New 37 gallon tank

[Jmkb02]

So my lil brother has always wanted a salt tank. He has kept several fresh water tanks, but he always came over and commented on my tanks. Well about 6 weeks ago, we all went on vacation and our sis in law accidentally put chemicals instead of food in his lil baby. The long of it, his big tank crashed. Seeing him super bummed gave me the bright idea to go salt. So here we stand today. I had an old set dry sumo that I'm never going to use and figured he could have to get it all started. We decided he wanted to drill it. Long story short, he now has a drilled sweet looking tank that I am jealous of. I however have just a few questions so naturally, I'm asking the people who ain't gonna sell me anything or bs me...

I have a rio 17hf from an old client. The height of his tank is about 50 inches from the ground. Is this just too much flow for this little tank? I want his tank to have good flow, but he does eventually want some corals. Also he has a koralia 240 and a 425 that we picked up from our Lfs. I think the pump does about 1090 at 0 inches.

I have heard that bio balls are nitrate factories?? Can anyone else comment on this? As you can see in the pics we have quite a few in his sump. I have always gone with Lr. I haven't used bio balls in years so any input I appreciate.

I also had a question about making an overflow to hit the PVC. Per say an overflow box in the tank.... Does anyone know where I can get acrylic, black and possibly pre cut? I live in Southern California.

Thanks guys and attached some pics for the progress.



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[Jmkb02]

For some reason the pic didn't attach so...

 

[Beengirl]

Looks good! You're braver than me, drilling the tank yourself. Lol

 

[Jmkb02]

Thx. Any thoughts on pump flow??

 

[Jmkb02]

Well we went with a mag 5 instead. It seems to be doing pretty good on flow without moving around sand. Here's some pics on the tank as we start its cycle.

 

[Jmkb02]

So an update on this tank... The sea anemone is a bigger tank now as he opened up and was way to big. We now have a much smaller and neon green. The stubies still don't like him but maybe they will host soon.