Custom 90 Gallon Reefer

[Hampton]

Hi,

My name's John and I'm an Aquaholic. (Hello, John) I'm a thousand plus post-er over at another site, but I was just introduced to this one. I would love to contribute some day, but like most new posters, I'm here for some advice. My 90 gallon tank is over a decade old, scratched, and a poor design. It has several wide glass support plates across the top which serve to reflect my MH light out, and draw heat in.

Goal - I need to replace the tank with a 48" X 18" X 24" high glass tank with an open top and an over-the-back overflow built in. I don't want to waste internal tank space with boxes and overflow systems. If I could get one with fingers cut in the back and a box glued on the back with two bulkheads, that would be perfect!!!

I have 4 65 watt PC's (2 50/50's and 2 actinic), 2 250 watt MH HQI's, and moon lights, 29 gallon 'fuge, tons of LR, sand bottom, Euro Reef RS 100 skimmer, sebae, perc's, blue tang (kids) strawberry basslet, lawnmower blenny, neon goby, 2 emerald crabs, SPS, LPS, softy's, watchman goby in 'fuge, Chaeto,...Flow is about 10 gph pg.

I would appreciate any help with designing/acquiring a new tank. Thanks in advance, and I hope I can return the favor soon.

[SueQ]

Hi John! Welcome to the club:P From the sound of it, your tank is about the same age as mine... Which if you have the same overflow as mine, I could understand why you wouldn't want another drilled tank. But, the newer overflows are a lot slimmer! In fact, I rec. you contact Mr James about his 90g that is for sale. The overflow is very compact and he's got it priced to move!

[Mr James]

Yes indeed, it is for sale. I am asking $150 for tank and canopy. I have other items to go with it if needed. No offense, but I can' imagine "wanting" to go with an over the back drain. I have another guy that is interested, but I haven't heard back from him. You could drill an existing 90g in the back, but then you need some room bwtween the tank and the wall for the plumbing. I had a 20H that way and it was ind of a pain. Once you have internal plumbing, I swear you'll never go back.

I am home today, Monday, Oct 9, because of the holiday if you want to come and check it out. I will PM you with my number. If today isn't good, there is always next weekend. Also when you come, I can show you how my tank is plumbed to give you an idea of what you might try.

BTW, if you get my stand too, there is enough room on top for storage of misc. stuff, plus enough room underneath for a LARGE sump. You'll have to see it to understand.

[Hampton]

I thank both of you for your replies and help. I am currently designing a tank to be built. It will have a Calfo overflow, but I'm trying to get an EXTERNAL version built. It will also be drilled for an extensive closed loop.

I'm open to suggestions as to who to have build my tank for me. Any Panama City (or nearby) experts?

[Mr James]

Good talking to you the other day John!! I was thinking about your tank today. You should shoot for a 120g if you want it to fit in a 4' space. The 2' width is much better for aquascaping, more room in the front. Then, if you do that, you can add an extra 2' onto the length and have a 180g, like mine!! And then if you do that, you might as well.... Oh, sorry. Got carried away. According to Calfo's book, the teeth should extend the lentgh of the tank, or pretty close to it. Man, when the time comes, I'd love to help you design it. You can try www.glasscages.com and see what they say. I don't know of too many custom glass manufacturers, especially locally. Now acrylic is a different story, but they can be expensive.

[Hampton]

James,

Good talk, thank you. The overflow will be coast to coast, but no teeth. I'm currently working with glasscages. They have limits as to what they will build, within their comfort zone, so I have to come up with a design within those paramets. We'll make it work.

Read this: http://archive.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=8315337#post8315337

It's the best thread in the history of aquarium forums, well, according to me, anyway.

[Mr James]

The 240g we ordered from them didn't have teeth either. But you can make a piece of acrylic and glue it onto the overflow, thus creating your own teeth. I'll check through my archives and see if I can find a picture of what I am talking about.

[Mr James]

Or, do you even want teeth?? I'd be worried about fish and snails entering the overflow.

[Hampton]

James,

No teeth. The details about the surface molecules damming up against the teeth and effectively reducing the overflow length by a factor of 4 (for 1/2 teeth along length) are in the link.

I came up with a solution to no teeth - Have a horizontal overflow the length of the back wall (coast to coast), and have a second glass piece above it about 1/4" the entire back length of the wall - I'll dub that a horizontal tooth.

Here's my plan: 90 gallon rimless tank with the back wall 1" lower than the other three. 1/4" above the back wall, one horizontal tooth the length of the tank - it can have a couple of small supports.

Attached to the back of the tank by silicone is the overflow box. It is the entire width of the tank too. It has 4 holes in the bottom which T off into two which lead to the sump.

I'm referring to this as an External Calfo design, though it should be called a Hampton.

The key principles are:

Long Horizontal overflow for max skimming.
No vertical teeth which would impair skimming.
External box for minimum intrusion into the tank.
1 Horizontal tooth to keep most critters on Display side.

The tank will have 5 holes drilled in the back for a closed loop flow system.

What do you think?

[Mr James]

How big do you plan to make the holes in the overflow?? You don't want too much flow going through the sump. Your main flow should be in your closed loop. Other then that, it sounds like an adventure.

[Hampton]

James,

Excellent question. Right now, I thinking 2 - 1" outflows, and 4 - 1" returns. I'm planning on a Oceans Motions (thanks for the advice) SS to give me some variation. I haven't picked a pump yet, but I better do that now to determine the hole sizes. I can't really imagine using over 1500 gph for the loop. What do you think?

[Mr James]

For the drains I would do 2 x 1" = 1200gph +/-, and the returns I would do 2 x 3/4" with a GenX PCX 40 which was 1200 gph =/- head (that's what I used on my 75g and it worked like a charm). As for the closed loops, I would do the OM Super Squirt on a Sequence Dart, 2 x 1.5" drain (maybe 1.25") down and returns as specified through the OM SS.

[Hampton]

Thanks again James. You'd really pump 25+ times flow per hour into this thing? A Dart puts out about 2800 gph. That, plus the 1200 = 4000 gph. Divide that by 100 gallons total and you get over 40 times!

[SueQ]

Hey John! You should come to the next meeting:)

[Hampton]

Thanks,

I'll consider it.

[Mr James]

Don't forget about head loss, especially with that SS. Read about the folks using it on their 75g's and such in the Filtration Forum. Sequence runs the quietest (I know from experience), has lowest wattage and moves some serious flow, plus backsa it up with a 3 year warrenty (I think). You can always turn it down. AND, you could tee it off and run it through your chiller (if you get one).