Tank Upgrade

I have a eclipse 12 reef tank with 2 perculas, a six lined wrasse and at this point other thank possibly liverock those are the only things I want to move into a new larger tank (haven't bought yet). I have been going crazy trying to decide what tank to get, what sump/refugium to get etc. I would like to have a display tank with as little lines and hoses running behind it as possible! The setup I am leaning towards most right now is a Oceanic Systems 46 bowfront tank/stand/canopy. Any suggestions or advice especially against this? I also would like to just buy a sump/refugium thats already ready and that will fit in this stand..any ideas on this too?

Sorry for the stupid questions..I just want to make sure I do this all right since it will be a MUCH larger setup than my current one.

Thanks!
Mike

 

um well bow tanks might be hard, if ur gona do corals the lighting is somewhat hard to do unless u go with mhs, i would go with a nice 50 gal rectangle (not tall) or maybe a square tank...what exactly do u want to do with it?

 

Bruce..I thought about the bowfront being a problem with lighting, but I do plan to do some pretty powerful lights if possible, but maybe I should still stray from the bowfront even though I like the way they look. I currently have a powercompact in my eclipse and plan to do strong lightning in the new tank as I would like to do corals again..and I like galaxea corals which I am told need lots of lightning (had them in my current tank).

 

well if u can get the mhs there shouldnt be a problem, infact i too like the way the bow fronts look, it makes it so u can put more coral in easily visible places, another good thing is that you can make it look like a "reef island" where there is an under water mound of rock instead of in a rectangle where it is more of a line or rock

 

I have a bow front and 8 pc lamps they fit fine and my coral is doing great. the magnifacation from the curve is great for looking at coral

 

cool, ya i wasnt sure if the the whole fixtures that r sold with pc lights can really cover the whole tank, they might miss some spots but retro fitting will work fine

 

I have pretty much decided on a tank/stand setup, but after visiting a LFS the guy there that I talked to HIGHLY suggest that I don't do a sump/refugium setup and only do a sump as he said a refugium would just be an algae pit and wasn't worth it...and that for extra food (copepods production from refugium) that I should just get cyclepene. I feel like I trust people on this forum a lot more than the guy in the store at this point, but would like some feedback.

THANKS!
Mike

 

Hmmm, ask him to 'define' algae pit.

I have a sump/fuge. In my fuge, I have a 4 inch deep sand bed (DSB) for nitrate control. I have zero measurable nitrates. I have some LR that I could not fit nicely in my display tank. I also have algae. Of course, I put it there. It is Chaeto algae and it is lighted for fast growth. My chaeto removes organics from the water. I have very little algae growth in my display tank, due to the fact that my algae pit competes for these organic nutrients. It is a very efficient (IMHO) way to exporte excess nutrients. There is verylittle nuisance algae growth .

Hmm, as for the food my refugium produces....in there I find feather dusters, copepods, amphipods, snails galore, micro starfish, and I am sure there are tons of planktonic foods made available due to the 'fuge. Snail eggs, feather duster spawnings, if a pod gets mushed by the pump on the way back up, Viola! coral food! ;D

It is a very good return for the time involved to add it! IMVHO! that is! :

 

I knew you'd respond..your sump/fuge setup is what brought me to this site when searching google for setups. :2thumbsup another side note..I assume you have birds especially a grey...i've got a grey with a tude as well as a moustache parakeet who I adore even though he's a lil "slow" haha

So I think you've pretty much talked me into going the sump/fuge route, now I need to decide if I want to build my own setup with my minimal knowledge about the items required or find someone that makes one. Know of any pre-built setups that are worthwhile? I am likely getting a 46gal bowfront oceanic systems setup so would need something that would fit in that stand. (unless someone talks me out of the oceanic systems tank which the LFS did try to get me to get an AGA instead but they didn't carry OS so maybe thats why)

Thanks again!
Mike

 

;D Go ahead! I dare you to build your own! I did! ;D

I would probably do a few things different if I had it to do over, but not much. It was also my first DIY project.

Someone here started their own and they put the 'fuge' portion running the front viewable half of the tank. In other words, the entire front of the tank, you saw the fuge. They then sectioned off behind this viewable portion, so that all the equipment was behind it and more 'out of sight' than mine.

here...
http://www.3reef.com/photos/showphoto.php?photo=202&cat=500&page=4

and here....
http://www.3reef.com/photos/showphoto.php?photo=185&size=medium&cat=500&page=4

Make sure you measure for return pumps, and make the space bigger. I needed to add an additional return pump to my section when I added a spray bar behind the rocks.

Post the questions you have here and see if we can help you design this!

Yes, one beautiful African Grey named 'Rosie' never shuts up! Used to have a Peachface Lovebird, but lost her a couple years ago. She was 11 years old. My grey is now 13!