Need help from you guys

mpjmeyer · Sep 30, 2015

ok I am very new to saltwater tanks. My wife and I always wanted to have a beautiful reef tank with vivid colors and unique fish you dont see in the average freshwater tank. I started remodeling my basement and decided to finally engage our dream tank into the wall. The tank will be installed in a corner offering a front and 1 side view with the back and other side in the wall which is going to be our storage room giving me access to all the equipment.

I will be building the stand to support the weight of the tank tomorrow. I also plan on roll painting the back and side black so you can't see into the storage room and to bring the colors out more. Here's the catch....

I will be using a 75 gallon non drilled tank. I spoke with Jeff from lifereef.com who was very knowledgable in the field. I can go either with an overflow box with a sump tank or have everything hang on back. Jeff suggested the CLF1 compact berlin which consista of the overflow, good protein skimmer and sub tank. What direction would be most beneficial for me? I was going to do all hang on back with a Fluval fx6 canister filter but further research suggested that would be a waste of money and I should just stick with live rock and a god protein skimmer for my filteration. Again...I am VERY new to this.

Reefing Madness · Sep 30, 2015

Go with the Overflow Box. If your going to the trouble of having your tank look that good, setting it in the wall, you don't want to see all the equipment setting on the back of it.
Overflow, with Sump.
Gotta go with the Skimmer and Live Rock, for a healthy tank. You can use a filter to help clean up the water. Live Rock and Skimmer, with a Sump is the optimum way to go.
http://melevsreef.com/allmysumps.html

kenniole · Sep 30, 2015

speaking from my own personal experience and stating the fact that I'm still learning in this hobby as well but from my knowledge/experience.

I would definitely go with a sump... you can do a overflow box or drill into the tank with a diamond bit... IMO a HOB skimmer is crap... and a canister filter is just a nitrate factory if not cleaned religiously.

A sump will be able to give you more water volume / space to put your equipment / easier to maintain..

With my very first tank I went and did all live sand / live rock and it was pretty awesome but I did get some unwanted pests on the rock... So with my 2nd tank I went with dry sand / all dry rock and used the raw shrimp method to kick start the cycle... IMO the cycle was longer but I now know exactly what it is that's in my tank .

steve&mari · Sep 30, 2015

Build is looking great and I also would never run a reef without a sump for filtration and to keep equipment in and around.

DeniseAndy · Sep 30, 2015

Sump is the way to go. You sound like you want a nice clean look. You cannot get that with a bunch of equipment in the tank. Plus, added volume of water is always good. I would never run without a sump unless it is a frag tank and not for normal viewing pleasure.