Sump question ... Lighting question.

[dansemacabre]

(this question got lost in another thread)
If I'm making my own overflow (syphon-style, w/ PVC piping) how on earth will I know how many gph the overlfow is? If the magdrive 7 powering the skimmer is ~700gph, then I assume I want an overflow that is at least 700gph, but not much more. Which means the pump that pumps water out of the sump needs to be around 700gph after I factor in height, right? I'm not really sure, so I have to ask.

I have a question about lighting. For my 120 gallon (used to be 100, I broke down and got the 120 instead ), I will eventually want it to be a reef tank (it will start as a FOWLR). So, in order to avoid having to buy these expensive lights twice, what do you recommend? The dimensions are 72" long, 18" wide, and 20" tall. What is the difference between VHO and PC? I'd like to avoid MH if possible, and retrofits are fine with me. I'm pretty sure the original hoods coming with it are 3 24-inch hoods. Should I do 3 x [4x55w 24"] hoods, or is that absurd or what? I really haven't a clue. Thanks everyone, for all of your help. This is a great website. =]

Since I'm terrible with plumbing I will let someone else help you with that, but from what I understand the overflow tube should be the same diameter of the return pumps to equate the flow. As well it will depend on the distance from the pump to the top of the return to properly calculate the desired GPH of the pump needed.

Hopefully someone will correct the mistakes.

As to the lighting I'm not sure why you would not want the MH as it will allow you just about any coral you see. VHO/PC lighting would be somewhat restricting with certain SPS coral and clams.

To get proper coverage you would actually have better luck with 2x95w VHO bulbs placed end to end along the tank (2 sets front and back) or possibley 4x110w VHO stagered (better option).

The max output for a PC bulb is 96w at 32" so I don't think on a 120 gal your going to get much "bang" for your buck.

Cheers
Steve

[dansemacabre]

Thanks, steve-s. Ok, well, if I did go w/ MH (pricey!) what would you suggest? If I did the staggered 4x110w, how do you suggest they be staggered? Thanks again, for the info.

P.S. - I think now that my sump one was a dumb question. I think that was long as the overflow if large enough to handle the water pumped and then some, it's all fine. I'll probably make 2 overflows as well, so if one gets clogged, I have a fail-safe. A new question to the sump-gifted out there...since the sump will turn over the tank at least 8-10 times every hour, do I just need powerheads for wave-action in the tank? Thanks!

[fishfreek]

While your mag 7 might put out that at 0 head your gonna have some kind of head on your return pump so the auctal amount of water flowing into the tank from the return lines will be lower than 700 GPH. Usually a 1" U tube will process close to 600GPH.

The rule to follow is to make sure your overflow can handle the water comming out of your pump at the specific head pressure your dealing with. Measure the height from the pump to the top of your tank and thats the head height. Look you pump up on the intenrnet to see how the pump flows at that given headheight.

There seems to be quite a few topics about sumps as of late and you can also find an article on sumps in our articles area.

[alrmc4]

do some research on t-5 lighting much more economical than the mh and appears just as good here is a link of a german aquarium that has pulled the mh and gone to the t-5 with great success.
http://www.korallenriff.de/leuchtstofflampen.html

Originally Posted by dansemacabre

Thanks, steve-s. Ok, well, if I did go w/ MH (pricey!) what would you suggest? If I did the staggered 4x110w, how do you suggest they be staggered?

If you where do include the MH, then the 95w VHO actinic would make a better choice. Two along the front (end to end) and the same on the back edge. Then you could have the 3x175w MH running down the middle being the main light source. The MH will cover a 2x2 sq area so they should be spaced two feet apart running along the length.

If you decided on the 4x110w VHO stagered, I would do 2x 03 and 2x 10,000 k :

-----03------
.........----wht-------
----wht------
.........-------03------

Cheers
Steve

[dansemacabre]

fishfreek: I'm going to use a pump larger than mag7 for the return. The mag7 is for the skimmer in the sump.

alrmc4: I'll look into it, unfortunately I don't know German. Time to find that translator page...

steve-s: I'm assuming that on both the MH/actinic mix and the staggered VHO 4x110w configurations, I'd have to use a home-made/custom-built hood, because the tank is 72" long. So...assuming the middle of the tank is represented by | should the staggered VHO look like

------- 03 ------- |
.........................| -------white-------
-------white-------|
........................ | ------- 03 -------

or would I have 2x36" configurations, and simply have two of them on the tank? Thanks again, everyone, for all your help.

Originally Posted by dansemacabre

steve-s: I'm assuming that on both the MH/actinic mix and the staggered VHO 4x110w configurations, I'd have to use a home-made/custom-built hood, because the tank is 72" long. So...assuming the middle of the tank is represented by | should the staggered VHO look like

------- 03 ------- |
.........................| -------white-------
-------white-------|
........................ | ------- 03 -------

or would I have 2x36" configurations, and simply have two of them on the tank? Thanks again, everyone, for all your help.

No, if you are just going to use the VHO I would suggest the 110w to give you a little extra umph. The 110w bulbs are 46.5 or 48" in length and would not fit that way, more similar to my diagram.


If VHO with MH then it would be this configuration instead.

-----95w 03----- end caps -----95w 03-----

.............MH............MH..............MH

-----95w 03----- end caps -----95w 03-----

Cheers
Steve

do some research on t-5 lighting much more economical than the mh and appears just as good here is a link of a german aquarium that has pulled the mh and gone to the t-5 with great success.

alrmc4,

They are using both means of lighting in the tank they have...the testing was done with HQI MH on one side, and T-5 on the other. They concluded as shown below, that a mixture of either halogen and T-5's or HQI MH and T-5's were prefered after the testing..

No doubt that the T-5's are bright, but it is the glimmer effect thaat duplicates the sun, that is either desired or often has proven to promote more growth..? is this true? I don't know first hand... In all tests I have read about, the MH is the closest thing to Mother Nature you can get right now for our tanks...

From The http://www.korallenriff.de/leuchtstofflampen.html website

After we and T5-Beleuchtung
experienced HQI lighting six months long next to each other, us the
best lighting for our aquarium seems to be a mixture from both
components, either a pure T5-Beleuchtung in connection with
Halogenspots, in order to simulate the "Kringeleffekt", or however a
HQI lighting in connection with T5-Roehren. We are sure that the
offerers of HQI Aquarienlampen will equip their housings in place of
conventional fluorescent tubes soon with the many more effective
T5-Roehren.

[alrmc4]

timbo:
http://www.korallenriff.de/Mohr/hauptaquarium.html

If you go to this site korallenriff--this is a sort of german reef central. There's a page there somewhere that has links to various german aquarists setups. About 25% of the tanks are T5 only. They are very nice

It is definately impressive by all means....

Not enough for me to change my mind about MH though...