[jafoca]

I am about to get a prop tank set up and am wondering what to do about the filtration setup.

The tank is a used ~33 gal tank I got from Preuss this weekend, and I will be running a 20Long sump that has been divided into two sections, one (where overflow will enter) is going to be 1/4th of the tank and is about 10" tall in the 12" tall tank. The other 3/4ths of the tank will house the return pump (a mag 7) and an ASM mini-g skimmer (and heaters, and ato).

So about the filtration...

Firstly, I am planning on only having frag racks in the display to keep it as tidy as possible.

In the sump should I bother with any substrate at all? I have some agra alive sand, but I figure since I will not have any sort of DSB it is highly unnecessary to have any sand at all. What do you think?

So the other problem is the configuration of the bottom chambers. I am going to have ~15-20 lbs of LR in the bottom to provide the filtration for the whole system. Should I have this in the same chamber as the return or the overflow? Same for chaeto (running a fuge for nutrient export) - return or overflow chamber?

Oh... incase you are wondering I will be running 4x36" T5HO over the display and a CFL flood light over the fuge.

Thanks,
Nick

 

[reefone]

put the rock and cheato in the drain side.leave the return side with nothing in it so the pump doesnt suck junk up.

 

[patedship]

Dont you feel a mag 7 is alittle much for a 30 gallon tank? You may run into problems.. what is your drain/overflow rated for?

 

[jafoca]

I don't really... I ran a mag 9.5 on my previous 20Long tank. If the flow is too powerful (will find out tomorrow) I will simply ball valve it. Oh... also should add that at this time the mag is running a mag 5 impeller. For some reason I thought I had a mag 5 instead of a 7, so ordered the wrong impeller =X Oh well, it is working fine for mixing my water right now, so whatever.

I am planning to add at least one powerhead to the "display" section too. Cant decide to try a new Hydor Korilla or a MJ Mod....

 

[heckman71]

Just a thought….
The flow might be high depending on what the objective is, I am guessing SPS?...If you run a SCWD on the Mag 7 and it will knock the flow down considerably. Two bird’s one stone. Why buy another pump when you could spend less and accomplish more?
I firmly believe that the flow is much more reduced then the manufacture claims.

 

[patedship]

Just want to add, if you do put a ball valve on there make sure there is a second pipe for flow, preferable back into the sump. Back pressure on the pump is the quickest way to burn it up.

 

[jafoca]

Just a thought….
The flow might be high depending on what the objective is, I am guessing SPS?...If you run a SCWD on the Mag 7 and it will knock the flow down considerably. Two bird's one stone. Why buy another pump when you could spend less and accomplish more?
I firmly believe that the flow is much more reduced then the manufacture claims.

Yeah, I ran my old setup with SCWD on a 20 gallon tank with mag9.5. Really, I am going for pretty high flow, just because that is what I have. I think the only problem will come if the flow is too much for my overflow, in which case I may need to ball or downgrade pumps. Mag drives are pretty tolorant of backpressure, as that is what they exprience with head loss, and they do pretty well with head loss. The mag9.5 I had on my old setup had plenty of back pressure because of the SCWD (they are VERY restricted), and it survived fine.

At any rate, I am running the return pump with some kindof screwy plumbing, then using it as a spraybar. I think this will make the flow wide and not concentrated, which will be just fine for my corals.

I am actually doing this for LPS and zoos. I might try SPS, but don't hold me to it. I'm not a big fan yet.

 

[jafoca]

put the rock and cheato in the drain side.leave the return side with nothing in it so the pump doesnt suck junk up.

If I put the rock in with the overflow wont it be exposed to a lot of air bubbles, which would be bad and make the wrong kind of nutrients build up, and turn it into a nutrient producer in the long run?

 

[jafoca]

any more opinions?

 

[jafoca]

I got this setup running, and I must say it seems pretty good sofar. The pump is in no way overpowered for the tank size, in fact I can not really see much currents happening at all. I don't know if this is good or bad, I can always add that Korilla if I decide I need more flow, but right now I can not see the skirts of my zoas I added to the tank moving and they are only 1/2 tank length away from the return.

The overflow is adequate size to the pump, although it is loud because I didn't think I would need a durso. The water does seem to rise above the top of the standpipe, but funnels down in fine.

Zoos I added were open and happy within an hour of transferring from my display. Hopefully I will have noticeable growth soon.