Allow myself to introduce myself

[bostoneric]

Hey everybody, just thought I'd finaly chime in after some time just lurking here without saying anything..

first let me explain my background..
I have a decent freshwater background. my current tanks are...
90gallon loaches only tank.. have about 10 different kinds of loaches of various sizes.. the entire tank is stuffed with driftwood. nice large family of fat clown loaches..
30gallon cube live plant only tank..

anyways... I'm thinking of moving into SW and I have been reading and reading.
I would like to do a smaller tank with live rock and about 4 or 5 fish max.

I'm going to go very slow so my first step is the design of my tank..
I have two 33long gallon tanks (48x12x12).
I will turn one into the refug.

I know water flow is a great thing. my 90 gallon turns over approx 10x's ever hour. I want to design my SW tank to flow as much as possible.

ok so I know having a refug is prolly the best thing you can add along with powerful lighting and water changes.
so here's a crude paintshop pic I whipped up.
http://images.rdefined.com/albums/album138/refug.sized.jpg

ok here's how I see the tank going.
from the skimmer on the right I would like to use 2 or 3 U tubes that flow into the refug tank. I wanna try to move as much water as possible. from there I think the rest of the drawing is simple to figure out..
I didnt add everything to the drawing (heater in refug, lighting over main tank)

now my noob quesitons.

1. how much water flow should I shoot for?
2. the return pumps where should I have the return nozzels aimed?
3. lighting for the main tank and lighting for the refug.
4. approx lbs of live sand and rocks I can put into each tank?
5. any other pointers would be very very helpful.

thanks guys..

[Andrew]

[welcome]

[Im SpSing]

Hi and welcome to RC.

We'll start off with the live rock/live sand question-A good rule of thumb is 1-1.5 lb.s per gallon for live rock. The live sand varies upon how many inches deep you want your sand bed, or if you even want one at all.

Every answer to the other questions completely depends on what you plan to keep. fish, soft corals, hard corals? each has different requirements


Hope you do well,
Ryan

[bostoneric]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=6454972#post6454972 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Im SpSing
Hi and welcome to RC.

We'll start off with the live rock/live sand question-A good rule of thumb is 1-1.5 lb.s per gallon for live rock. The live sand varies upon how many inches deep you want your sand bed, or if you even want one at all.

Every answer to the other questions completely depends on what you plan to keep. fish, soft corals, hard corals? each has different requirements


Hope you do well,
Ryan

I'm hoping to do soft corals, polyps, mushrooms, prolly a goby/shrimp couple, six line wrasse and a pair of clowns maybe.

[Mikeeal]

I bring this up because it sounds like you are planning on high flow through the sump, which isn't the best idea. You will almost always end up with a micro bubble issue, which sucks. I'd do a high flow display with a low flow sump.

Also, it sounds like you are planning on u-tubes/overflow box. I think that's a bad idea. I would guess that 95% of people using overflow boxes, wished they hadn't, but it's now too late. A predrilled tank would be much better IMO.

As far as lights go, it's entirely up to you. But with the refugium, I say don't get all fancy and spend a bunch. Just get a lamp with a screw in PC bulb or two. The algae wont know the difference, but your wallet will. Check out Melev's site for info on his fuge lights.

[MAreefer1]

<img src="/images/welcome.gif" width="500" height="62"><br><b><i><big><big>To Reef Central</b></i></big></big>

I would aim some nozzles torawards the middle of the tank so that they will cirrculate nicely...lighting:get a MH, you might think there expensive, but youll end up paying more if you buy a cheap light, and then want to upgrade






Since you live in Boston you should join the BRS( boston reefers society) theres a meeting about every other month, to every month, theres a frag swap and levtures too, the next meeting is unnofical but said to be on january 28 in quincy, chek the sight for further detail, i highly suggest becoming a member... www.bostonreefers.org

[phenom5]

1. how much water flow should I shoot for?

with softies/ zoos/ shrooms i'd shoot for around 10-15x turnover.

2. the return pumps where should I have the return nozzels aimed?

first thing i noticed on your design...2 return pumps? not needed, go with one return pump and split the return line. i'd have the return outlets in the back corners. you can add a SCWD or OM 2-way to your return if you wish...SCWD's are pretty cheap, but people have mixed reviews, OM 2-ways are more expensive but also more reliable. you don't need to have either, just thought i'd throw that out there for you. also, make sure you have siphon breaks on the returns.

3. lighting for the main tank and lighting for the refug.

lights for the display depend on how much you want to spend. metal halide is your best option, but you really don't need that much light for softies/ zoos/ shrooms...but that'd give you options down the road. T5's are a good second choice to MH, but are pretty expensive. PC's will be fine for softies/ zoos/ shrooms and if you have enough light some LPS down the road.
for the fuge, just about any light will do. you can pick up a cheap grow light or 2 at home depot that will work fine.

4. approx lbs of live sand and rocks I can put into each tank?

1-1.5 lbs/ gallon is a good starting point for the live rock in the display. then you can trow some LR rubble in the fuge. not sure on the sand, i'm a BB guy myself. here's (http://www.reefcentral.com/calc/SandBed.php) a sandbed calculator.

HTH :thumbsup: