150 gallon tank build

[jet]

This is my first saltwater tank. I would love to reef but it will start out fish only. I have only my 150 tank, single over flow, stand, canopy, and Skimmer. Im gonna to be doing this on a budget. I have a 10 gallon tank that I thought I could use as a sump but found out in was to small. Any and all suggestions and tips on equipment will be greatly appreciated.

 

[mrs.octavia.rollins]

A 10 gallon sump is way to small. I have a 125 gallon reef tank with a 55 gallon sump. Depending on what type of fish you want I would throw rock in the tank first & cycle it without fish. Like Tangs for instance need rock to swim in & out of & whole for them to hide in since they get scared & stressed easily. Plus with Tangs you want to wait a long time to put one in until your tank gets established. If your going to eventually do reef I would start with Instant Ocean Reef Crystals & also look into a RODI system. If I new about that system before I used tap water I would of bought one from the get go, since I got brown diatom that was horrible! Good luck on your new hobby!

 

[Mr. D]

Maybe a 55 or 30 go sump and use the 10 as an ATO system

 

[jet]

Maybe a 55 or 30 go sump and use the 10 as an ATO system

What is an ato system?

 

[Stephen Rollins]

Automatic top off

 

[mrs.octavia.rollins]

Automatic top off

You beat me too it

 

[jet]

So I bought the tank used it doesn't leak but the glass was cloudy so I used a sponge, a Scrapper, and vinegar to clean it. Done it before but one side is still cloudy the rest of the tank came clean. Any more ideas?

 

[mrs.octavia.rollins]

So I bought the tank used it doesn't leak but the glass was cloudy so I used a sponge, a Scrapper, and vinegar to clean it. Done it before but one side is still cloudy the rest of the tank came clean. Any more ideas?

Soak it in vinegar.. Don't use a scrapper or anything like an SOS pad or your scratch it. We soaked ours in vinegar & it came out clean & not cloudy like it was. Ours was one hot mess since the previous owner (of our freshwater) didn't maintenance or clean it for a year.

 

[crister13]

You can use a glass scraper if the tank is glass. It won't get scratched. Acrylic gets scratched very easily though.

 

[jet]

So I soaked towels in vinegar and let it soak for close to 12 hours with no results. Glass and towels were still wet this morning.

 

[jet]

Its crazy, it looks worse after soaking in vinegar

 

[Stephen Rollins]

Might need to try and take a razor blade to it with vinegar. Once I used CLR and a razor blade. I know people don't condone it because of the chemicals. But mine worked out fine. I just made sure I rinsed and rinsed and rinsed it out numerous times. Had no issues

 

[jet]

What size of return pump do I need from my sump up, my tank is 72" long 28" tall 18" front to back. Double corner overflows? I haven't plumped anything, my sump tank is 45 gallons. I bought a used tank for my sump to. Its 36" long 12" Front to back and 24" tall. I have yet to put in baffles have been searching this forum and images on internet for ideas, I want dorsal pipe to tread to bulk head ball valve after bulk head then followed by a union then t to one down to my sump. The return is where I need help with. Pump and plumbing please and thank you.

 

[Ingy]

Assuming your overflows are using 1" pipe, that would provide 600gph each. You will need to T them into at least a 1.5" pipe for about 1000gph total. Do you don't want to exceed that number for your return after accounting for headloss. A ball valve can be used in the return line to reduce the return flow so you don't pump your return section dry.

 

[jet]

I'm staring to build my sump and do all my plumbing this weekend, in my sump I will have a refug, protein Skimmer, and the media like pads, carbon, phosphate and ect(anything I should or shouldn't put in would be great). I was looking at doing a DIY algae scrubber in my first section of my sump with my Skimmer. Any guidance on the dos and don'ts of the sump would be awesome. I want cheato live sand and live rock in my refug.

 

[Mrc8858]

Unless your gonna go with a dsb then skip the sand in the sump.

 

[jet]

Deep sand bed?

 

[jet]

Anyone ever tried these? http://www.hero-ledstore.com/led-re...md-led-bulb-200-degree-100w-equal-p-3871.html

 

[Sniperhank]

Never seen those lights before. If you are thinking about them on your sump, just get a clip on work light and bulb. Cost me 8 bucks to light my fuge.

 

[jet]

Never seen those lights before. If you are thinking about them on your sump, just get a clip on work light and bulb. Cost me 8 bucks to light my fuge.

I have lights for my fuge. I was wanting to use it on my tank.