Maxreefer's Frag Tank....on the bigger side

[MAXreefer]

Decided it was time for a new project and what could be better as a nice frag tank.
Goal is not to go into the coral business but to experiment a little.
One of them will be to get a few SPS frags from the same colony, place them under different light sources from T5 to LED and observe the eventual differences in growth and coloration.

Stand and tank arrived today. Sump didn't fit in the truck anymore and will be here tomorrow.

Tank:
Dimensions: 8' (9' with the overflows) x 2' x 1'
2 overflow boxes (each box has 2 drains)
4 returns (2 on each side of the divider)
The tank is divided in 2 sections. one for SPS and one for LPS.
The divider doesn't go all the way up in the tank so the water can flow across the whole tank.


Sump:
Also 8' feet long but not as wide as the tank to fit the stand
The sump has 2 big sections left and right and one smaller section in the middle for the return pumps.


Total water volume will be around 220-230 gallons


I will post a few sketches later regarding my plan for the plumbing. Input and advice as always welcome.
Will post also a list of the equipment I am going to use.

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[Reefing8EZ]

Whoa, thats a BIG frag tank! :smile:

 

[Ninjapotamus]

Awesome =) I love the fact that its obviously a custom design

couple of questions:
1. I cant see from the picture but I don't notice much bracing? I hate euro bracing with a passion... especially on a frag tank... but it will need something for sure. I build a 7ft frag tank out of a old truvu and thought "its very shallow it wont need bracing" but it ended up bowing quite badly after time. Had to take it down and add minimal bracing to fix it. Is that black divider glued in to provide some sort of bow protection?

2. Again I can only guess from the picture, but how high are you planning on running the tank? For convenience I have found that shallower frag tanks are so much nicer. Generally around 10 inches of water is the most convenient. I build my racks about 5 inches up and that way I can reach in and manipulate the corals while wearing a pair of nitrile gloves WITHOUT getting water in the glove. If you don't mind putting your arm in the water constantly then this is a non-issue, but for me I found I worked on the tank much more if I could constantly reach into the tank without soaking myself.

3. How much GPH on the return pumps are you expecting? Adding any additional flow?

thanks! looking forward to more updates!

 

[MAXreefer]

Awesome =) I love the fact that its obviously a custom design
couple of questions:
1. I cant see from the picture but I don't notice much bracing? I hate euro bracing with a passion... especially on a frag tank... but it will need something for sure. I build a 7ft frag tank out of a old truvu and thought "its very shallow it wont need bracing" but it ended up bowing quite badly after time. Had to take it down and add minimal bracing to fix it. Is that black divider glued in to provide some sort of bow protection?

Good point and I discussed this already with the guy who build the tank and we are going to add 2 smaller supports one in the middle of each section

2. Again I can only guess from the picture, but how high are you planning on running the tank? For convenience I have found that shallower frag tanks are so much nicer. Generally around 10 inches of water is the most convenient. I build my racks about 5 inches up and that way I can reach in and manipulate the corals while wearing a pair of nitrile gloves WITHOUT getting water in the glove. If you don't mind putting your arm in the water constantly then this is a non-issue, but for me I found I worked on the tank much more if I could constantly reach into the tank without soaking myself.

Planning on 10 inches also. Right now the overflow part of the tank sits close to 11" but we will change this also to get 10"

3. How much GPH on the return pumps are you expecting? Adding any additional flow?

added my equipment list below

 

[MAXreefer]

I did some more work yesterday and started to organize some of the equipment next to the tank.
Made also a list of the equipment I am considering. Those are just thoughts and I probably will change my mind a couple times when I get feedback here in the thread before I do the final purchases.
Still working on my plumbing sketches.


Skimmer:
• Elos PS2000. I have the PS1000 on my Elos System and really like this skimmer a lot.
• Royal Exclusiv Alpha 200 Cone Protein Skimmer
• ??? so many more good options


Return Pumps:
• 2 x Sicce Syncra Water Pump 3.0. With 3 feet head loss I still should get about 650 gph. Running this one on my Elos also. Never had an issue with it and uses only 48 Watt
• 2 x Ocean Runner 3500 Water Pump by AquaMedic. Good pump also but uses 65 Watt


Powerheads:
SPS section
• VorTech MP40. Like them but probably not an option as I would have to mount them on one side
• 2 x Tunze Turbelle Nano Stream 6095 Wide - High Flow Water Pump. Flow rate: 2,000 to 10,000 l/h (528 to 2,642 USgal./h)
• 2 x Tunze Turbelle Nano Stream 6055 - High Flow Water Pump - Flow rate: 1,000 to 5,500 l/h (264 to 1,453 USgal./h)
• Tunze Turbelle Stream 6105 - High Flow Water Pump * Flow rate: 3,000 to 13,000 l/h (792 to 3,434 USgal./h). All Tunze can be controlled with my Profilux which is a nice bonus.
• 2 x Sicce Voyager HP 2800 - High Flow Water Pump Powerhead, 2,800 GPH in conjunction with their wave maker

LPS section:
• 2 x *Koralia EVOLUTION 1050 together with the Hydor Koralia Smart Wave Circulation Pump Wave Maker.

Controller:
• Profilux IIex. I still have this one and will keep it. No need to change to something different


Dosing:
• Profilux 4x Dosing unit. Have this unit also and works great. Controllable with the Profilux IIex

Lighting:
SPS section:
• 6 bulb ATI T5 fixture. Still have this one.
• EcoTech Radion XR30W
or
• Aqua Illuminations SOL Super Blue

LPS section:
• 4 bulb T5 fixture

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[jverna1]

That is awesome!! I really like the idea of the two different lighting options. Cant wait to watch your progression.

 

[MAXreefer]

This morning I placed the mats under the tank and put the sump in place.

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[MAXreefer]

Having vacation it is a good time to start working on the plumbing and getting the equipment.


I am looking into several options for the lights.
As mentioned I want to experiment a little and going to use one LED and one T5 fixture over the SPS partition to observe color and growth under different light configurations.
I still have a ATI 6 x 54W HO T5 fixture which I want to use on this setup.
Here are my thoughts. Input or suggestions very welcome!!


Option 1:
I think 4x24W should be plenty for the LPS. I would have to use some acrylic sheet to cover up the part that is under the 6 x 54W to get less light intensity for the LPS

Option 2:
Is 6 x 24W enough for SPS? Yes it is a somewhat a waste to use the 6x54W over LPS but I want to use this existing fixture. Maybe I just will run it with only 4 bulbs.

Option 3:
Same as in Option 1. Just using the Ecotech LED's.

Option 4:
Same as in Option 2. Just using the Ecotech LED's.