can you review my plans for a new tank?

Hello all!
This is my first post on the site, and I’m just going to get straight down to business. I’m been in the Aquarium hobby for many years, but up until now, I’ve only had freshwater aquariums. I have had many, and have had them thrive. But I’m currently looking into and planning a saltwater reef aquarium..

I’ve done a ton of research on all the topics and products that I need, I’ve learned the science of everything, and believe I have a pretty good first time setup.

If you knew me, you’d know I am an extreme planner. So much so that I’ve listed all the specific products that I need (brand and model and everything), the arrangement of tanks, all the plumbing, settings of each tank. I have even made some diagrams on paint. I have thought of (what I think is) everything.

Let me describe my hopeful setup, and ask many questions:

Basic Setup:
I hope to have my main tank be a 55 or 75-gallon tank, each 48” long and 20” deep. I hope to have a refugium setup next to the tank on display. I am going to school for marine biology and would love to observe the “behind the scenes” of the reef tank. I plan to use an old 10 gallon glass tank I have. I will use a two-compartment sump since my refugium is separate

Main Tank:
A 55-gallon glass tank I have, with stand. I will use water through an “AquaticLife RO Buddie 50 GPD“ mixed with “Instant Ocean & Reef Crystals 50 Gallon” (I’ll make 100G upfront and keep extra in air tight container for top offs) I will use only “Tropic Eden Reeflakes Aragonite Sand 30lb” plus the leftover live sand from however much I buy. I will use ~45 lbs. live rock from Dr.Foster/Smith many people say it is very porous, and not as much is needed, so I think I can get away with 45 lbs. live rock and 30 lbs. base rock for a total of 75 lbs. for the system. (if that’s not enough I will get either 2, 45 lb. orders of live rock or 45 lbs. live rock and 50 lbs. base rock depending on your opinions.) I’m looking at a 48” lighting fixture with 4 florescent blue/red lights and what appears to be one metal halide (I’m awaiting a follow up email.) I plan to fill it with life from the following lists.
Corals:
Mushroom Corals
Leather Corals
Zooanthids
Button Polyps
Fish:
Cardinal Fish
Gobies
Blennies
Gramma
Dottybacks
Clownfish
Coral Banded Shrimp
Reef Safe Eels
Cleaners:
Dwarf Cerith
Dwarf Planaxis
Brittle Star
Serpent Star
Florida Cerith
Florida Fighting Conch
Fuzzy Chiton
Nassarius Vibex
Pencil Urchin
Periwinkles

Refugium:
a 10-gallon glass tank I have. Will receive water from main tank, I will use a ball valve to control the flow (for slower flow through the refugium) I will use a “Super Sucking Siphon” (basically an overflow box) to drain the water as fast as It enters. I will have 2” of live sand, live rock (15 – 20 lbs.), various macroalgae (cheato, red mangroves, red Gracilaria, etc…), cleaners to keep it aesthetically pleasing (Nerite Snails, Dwarf Planaxis, Dwarf Cerith) and of course… PODS! (Pouches from reefcleaners.com look promising.) I will light my refugium with a 6500K CFL and reflective dome from Home Depot.

Sump Tank: water flow: left to right
I will have water coming from the overflow of my main tank into the leftmost compartment of the “Eshopps RS-75 Reef Sump”. In this compartment is the filter sock. I will also add leftover live rock (5 – 10 lbs.) after my tank is filled. I have regular Aqueon Quiet Flow filters (30 and 55/75) that I have thought about taking out the media (filter screens, bio-grid) and filling the filter with bio balls, activated carbon, more live rock, etc… considering the protein skimmer will go in the first compartment. I will use a “Reef Octopus NWB110 4” Pinwheel” protein skimmer. After this chamber, it flows through the sponge. In the next chamber, two things happen. This chamber is where two water sources meet, first from the skimmer side of the sump, and the second from the drainage of the refugium (this way the pods don’t have to go through the protein skimmer, I’ve read that a skimmer is too much for most pods to handle, but water pumps are not nearly as bad.) after the two sources meet, they go into two “Hydor Centrifugal Pump 300” pumps. These two pumps I will keep separated, having pump A flow into the left or middle part of the tank (depending on overflow location) and pump B flow into the right side of the tank (I hoped having two flows would eliminate the need for power heads in the tank.)

Plumbing: starting from main tank
I will have an “Eshopps Overflow Box PF-300” on the back of my tank. I will use 1” PVC pipe to drain the overflow. It will go to two places. I will have a tee in the PVC that allows some of the tank water to go through a ½” (or smaller) PVC to the refugium. (I’ve read it’s best to have refugium water come straight from the tank). The overflow water will also continue in a 1” PVC to the leftmost sump compartment (skimmer and live rock). It will go through the skimmer, to the pump where it will meet back up with the refugium water that will be drained from the refugium using a “Super Sucking Siphon”. The two pumps will pump the skimmed/refugium combo water up to two different points in the tank, hopefully creating enough flow to eliminate power heads. The tube will drain above the water surface (for a few reasons, 1 to not create a siphon in case of power outage, 2 to get a little more “gravity assisted” flow speed and 3 to disturb the surface promoting oxygen exchange and preventing oily layer on top)

Now for some questions!
1. Is the “Eshopps RS-75 Reef Sump” big enough for the setup I’ve described?
2. I know about the 1-2# live rock per gallon for the tank, is it the same for the sump and refugium?
3. If live rock and the protein skimmer are in the same compartment, is there any chance the skimmer will get damaged?
4. should I use a filter with the original media taken out and replaced?
4b. if I should, which size should I use, my the Aqueon 30 or 55/75?
4c. what should I put in it? Bio balls? More live rock? Activated carbon?
5. I know the bar on my tank limits me, but should I put the overflow box in between the two flow sources I plan to have? Or should I put it in the corner with the flow sources in the middle and other corner?
6. Is the “Reef Octopus NWB110 4” Pinwheel” protein skimmer good? Is it going to be adequate for this setup?
7. is the sponge in the “Eshopps RS-75 Reef Sump” similar in result to a bubble trap in the sump?
8. will my two “Hydor Centrifugal Pump 300” pumps at 300 GPH each, be enough water flow to eliminate powerheads?
9. how many snails would you recommend for the 10G refugium? how many sand sifters? How many above sand?
10. my stand is near it’s weight limit, does 20 pounds of sand displace 20 pounds of water?
10b. does 50 pounds live rock displace 50 pounds water? What about base rock?
10c. would you suggest I get a new stand?
11. what is a good timeline to follow when wetting up a tank? I’ve heard you set the water, sand, and rock, wait for ammonia to be 0, set up refugium, wait a month for population to grow, add fish, wait a month and finally add coral. Can you give me some more specifics?
12. what would be a good group of fish and corals and cleaners? (don’t limit yourself to my lists, but try to limit yourself to semi-easy, first-timey creatures.)
13. I’ve heard about having flipped cycles for refugium and tank to balance pH changes with photosynthesis, should I put something to block light between them? Or will one have a “moonlight” effect on the other when it’s on?


Thank you so much for all your time reading and replying. Like I said, I want to learn as much as I can, so don’t hold back. Anything you think I should know about maintaining and setting up a saltwater reef aquarium, tell me. If some of my info is way off, or something isn’t even mentioned here, tell me!

 

Cutting your thread into pieces so it's easier to see my answers.

I'm going to write my message as though you haven't done lots of research (in case you missed something)

I'm sure you've read a lot about zoanthids, but just in case, always take care in moving them, etc. Always wear gloves when your hands are in your tank if you have zoanthids. After doing anything in your tank, wash your hands. Zoanthid toxin can be lethal. If I were you, I'd steer clear of gobies and blennies for a little while, because they mostly eat what's in the sand bed, and you won't have much in there for a while. Brittle/serpent stars are good, and entertaining detrivores. Just make sure you get a color that isn't said to eat fish (black is safe). It's cool to see their little arms waving in the rocks.

Also, you should get a lid for the tank. Glass lid is bad, because it heats the aquarium, cuts the light penetration significantly, limits gas exchanges, etc. I've also read a story that someone's fish tried jumping out, hit the glass lid, and died.. I'd recommend a DIY mesh lid. You can get the supplies from a home improvement store. Just make sure to do a bit of research before choosing materials.

If it's pretty much an overflow box, don't get it. There's no point of having an overflow box AND a sump.. A return should suffice for what you need.

Also, welcome to the hobby!

 

If you can swing the 75, do that. It is much better than a 55 as the extra width allows for better aquascapes. Since you are planning a sump, if you can get one with a built-in overflow that would be dramatically better than a hang-on.

You don't want to top off with salt - use R/O for that.

What are the flourescents? T-5s?

If that fixture has a halide, you can get LPS and lower light SPS (if you can keep your parameters in check).

Notes:
- I would stay away from eels in your first set up - and definitely if you want shrimp. Also, they are escape artists and require every opening to be covered. Doesn't work well with hang-on overflows. They will get in and get through the siphon.

- I wouldn't have more than a few of the fish listed. Salt water tanks have a much lower tolerance for bio-load. In a 75 if you had a gramma, few cardinals/dottybacks and a couple smaller gobies/blennies that would be about it.

- Stay away from most clowns. With a few exceptions they get aggressive, especially in smaller tanks.

Honestly I wouldn't tee a drain to the fuge. Frankly having a refugium above the tank level is the best way to go. That way you pump water up to the fuge and critters drain back into the main tank - safe from pump impellers (at least until they go down the main drain). In my new set up I'm putting a 55g fuge behind my main tank - I'm teeing off a small part of the return water to the fuge and it drains right into the main.. I'm not sure where the "drain directly to fuge" advice is coming from. I actually disagree with that - significantly.

You will likely need a flow pump in the tank - doesn't need to be a big one, but return flows by themselves are usually not enough by themselves for reef tanks.

Not familiar with the model. Will look at it.

It totally depends on the quality of rock and bio-load in the tank. Dense rock you need more, porous less. I like to put as much as possible - especially if I've got room to stick it in the sump/fuge. More is better as far as I'm concerned

Likely not.

With enough live rock and a good skimmer, you don't need any other filtration. Running activated carbon isn't bad at all, but I'd run it in a media reactor.

Doesn't much matter except that it would probably do best on a side opposite the return.

I've never used that model, but I have owned numerous other Reef Octopus skimmers. I've always felt they deliver the best bang for the buck out there.

I'm not a fan of sponges - they get clogged, can be detri traps, etc. Try without and see if you get micro bubbles in the tank first.

I don't think so

Depends on the snail.

Sand is heavier than water. Rock is heavier than water. If the sand wobbles at all then get a new one.

Put your live rock in and you should have enough bacteria to support hermits, etc. Unless you're starting with pure base rock, I'd start by throwing in some high quality base, check params for die off over a week or so and let things settle. If things look good, throw in some hermits, etc. Let it settle. Throw in pods. Let your pod population get out of control. Slowly add more livestock.

For a first time 55g set up (if it were me) I'd go with a Royal Gramma (for color), Bi-Color Blenny (cause they are cool), a pair of tank-bred Bangai Cardinals (I really love them) and maybe one swimming fish like a reef-safe wrasse.

Never a bad idea to reverse the cycle, but the fuge light will be too bright if it is next to the main tank. Even blocking it will likely not be enough. Put it this way, I have coralline algae growing in my protein skimmer which is six feet away from my fuge.