PDA

View Full Version : My New Plan For My Next Tank


Tony B
18-01-06, 14:05
I'm in the planning/buying stage of my next tank. I'd love to hear what you would add or change to my planned set up and why.

I'm peed off with my tank at the moment - I've decided im going to strip it down and re-do the whole thing. I'd be interested to hear of any tips or advice you could offer so that I could incorporate this into the design to help make maintenance/environment better.

My main reason for being un-happy is it's too loud with gurgling water, maintenance of calcium + ALK, water changes, plus no auto top up. Also I want the stand to be about 4ft high, so with the tank it will be just over 6ft tall and yes, that means a set of steps to reach into the tank.

I'm going to buy a new tank with only a slight increase in size from a 5x2x1.5 to a 5x2x2, the reason for this is I hope to move house at some point after the summer and this tank will be an interim measure to keep me happy and it is small enough to move to my next home where I can use it as part of the sump on my future system.

This 5x2x2 system will have three sumps; a 10 gallon auto top up resovoir / kalk dosing system with a peri pump, a 20 gal mixing reservoir for mixing RO and salt for easy water changes, the third sump will be about 30 gallons with 6inch DSB with Chaeto for nutrient export.

Some of the equipment is over sized by some people's opinion, the rational for this is to transfer onto my future system.

My plan so far:

Auto top up = Tunze

Pumps
Closed loops = 3 Sequence 10000 used on closed loop
Return pump(s) = TBA. Thinking about two more Sequence pumps - water will give about 5 foot head from sump.
Peri Pump = TBA

Skimmer = Could be Aqua Medic Turbofloter 5000 twin or Deltec 703.

Lights = Arcadia series 3 2x250 halides + 4 T5 tubes

Power cut contingency plan = X4 1400va APC UPS units

Calcium maintenance = via 10 gallon auto top up/home made kalkwasser reactor device and or calcium reactor

Quieter running = Durso to feed sump

Home made stand, about 49 inch high.

Look forward to hearing from you guys/gals! :wave:

Tony B :thanx:

JasandJules
18-01-06, 14:12
Sounds interesting...

Would it be worth just doing all the planning for your new house and not setting this tank up ? Set up a small nano in the meantime to keep the marine juices flowing....

That way you may change the plans/size of the tank depending on the new house and what room you may have etc...

Tony B
18-01-06, 14:23
Originally posted by JasandJules@Jan 18 2006, 14:12
Sounds interesting...

Would it be worth just doing all the planning for your new house and not setting this tank up ? Set up a small nano in the meantime to keep the marine juices flowing....

That way you may change the plans/size of the tank depending on the new house and what room you may have etc...
Too late, I've already starting buying stuff, got 3 sequence pumps from CGA last week...Now I'm itching to get things going... :wub:

Truth be known I'm not at all happy with my current tank. :angry: I did plan to just add an auto top up and CA reactor to this, but it would look messy and I'd rather do it all again and be happy with it. I also want better nutrient export with plant matter taking out Phos and Nitrate.

It can all be taken with me to my next home, so it's not so much of a waste of time/money, plus as aforementioned, the tank will become the sump and lots of the hardware will be re-used.

I'm toying with the idea of a Nano for the office though!

Tony B :thanx:

JasandJules
18-01-06, 14:30
I can really understand that..

I assume then you will have to search for a house where the tank fits... I would prefer to wait (well, I say that now...) because then IF I found a house where a nice 8*3 could go.........................

Tony B
18-01-06, 14:43
Originally posted by JasandJules@Jan 18 2006, 14:30
I can really understand that..

I assume then you will have to search for a house where the tank fits... I would prefer to wait (well, I say that now...) because then IF I found a house where a nice 8*3 could go.........................
I'm only now planning for this 5x2x2, this is just to keep me happy for now. I hope to have this done and my fish and corals/inverts moved in within the next 12 weeks (much sooner if I can take some time away from work).

Annika and myself both want a nice size lounge in our next home, so I hope to go a bit bigger than this 5x2x2. After the house move I'm thinking min of 6ft long, 3ft wide, 42inch deep of water. Maybe bigger, obviously don't want it to take over the lounge. I'd love about 8 or 9 foot long, but I will just have to wait and see what size lounge I end up with.

Will have to make do with the 5x2x2 for now though... so back to the planning... :idea:

Tony B