Gannet Posted January 14, 2008 Report Share Posted January 14, 2008 hey guys, well planning has started on my reef tank, now just want to make sure im getting my head around how all this works, this is going to be a proges thred once the ball gets rolling ok the plan is: Tank: 1200long 450high 600wide, on sump (sump uknown size atm) Skimmer:AquaC EV-180 skimmer thanks to david b, (havnt payed for it yet ) Lighting: 1x150w MH and 2x 4ft T5's Flow: a resun wave maker from P-Aquira, and possably another type of power head to mix the flow up a bit. Live rock: unkown how much im going to need to fill it Corals: mainly softies and LPS, no acros or anything to advanced yet Fish: small "comunity reef fish, i.e clowns, cardinals etc. how dose all this sound? i will keep you up dated as time goes on coments welcome to help me out Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wasp Posted January 16, 2008 Report Share Posted January 16, 2008 Hi Gannet, that all looks pretty good you've obviously done your research! Only thing slightly unstandard would be the lighting, you have a bit less than normal, however the corals you suggest keeping can do well under this much light, you can experiment with the best placement of them and find out where each one will do best. Also the flow arrangement you suggest will probably be OK, many of those corals don't like too much flow. Good to see you are starting out with a decent skimmer, the skimmer is probably the most important part of your filtration system. The way an aqua c works is it has a very chaotic bubble chamber with bubbles of all different sizes. This can make the skimmer hard to tune at the fine end if you want dry skimmate, and some people don't like aqua c's. But the trick is to run them fairly wet, and they will keep the tank nice and clean and perform fairly well. They can be a bit erratic, so when I had an aqua c I had an overflow pipe out of the collection cup running into a bucket. Plus, I had a float valve in the bucket that would turn the skimmer off if the bucket got too full, just in case. So obviously the skimmer ran really wet. When I was doing things that way, with very wet skimming, was when I had the cleanest ever tank, and also the best coral colours and healthy corals I've ever had. For live rock, just put in whatever amount looks good to you. Under do it if anything, because as your corals grow they will fill up the tank and get way over crowded if you started out with too much rock. If you have a lot of fish you will need more rock for filtration, but sounds like you are going to be sensible with this and not overdo things. yes, small "community" type fish are the best / easiest / happiest in a tank your size, no reason why you could not keep a bubbletip anemone with some clownfish in it, provided it is nearish to the halide to get enough light. As well as the community type fish, you would be able to keep a small yellow tang in this tank. It might stay small but if it did get big you could sell it. Good luck it will be great to watch your progress! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gannet Posted January 16, 2008 Author Report Share Posted January 16, 2008 now looking at 2x 150w MH so i can get a better spread, and making it a standard 4x2x2 ft tank... tank builders? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wilson Posted January 16, 2008 Report Share Posted January 16, 2008 nice one Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
davidb Posted January 16, 2008 Report Share Posted January 16, 2008 what pump were you running the Skimmer with wasp? when i was using it, i was using a 1060 and I never found it erratic? I found it much harder to skim wet than dry with it too... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wasp Posted January 17, 2008 Report Share Posted January 17, 2008 Hmmm... I can't remember what the pump was called, it was a brand Jansens used to sell but now they don't. When I imported the skimmer, the remora pro, I didn't want the American pump so i wouldn't have to use a transformer. However I discovered I couldn't get one here with the correct flow + headpressure, so had to go a bit more powerful than recommended. Perhaps this was the problem. I got all my info from an Aqua C thread on RC that was running in those days, a lot of people were upgrading to more powerful pumps than recommended, and a lot of people were having problems with eratic skimming also, so I assumed this was just part and parcel of this brand of skimmer. Find it odd though that you found it hard to get it to skim wet though, was the 1060 the right specs, especially head pressure, for your skimmer? now looking at 2x 150w MH so i can get a better spreadGood plan. Even this though is fairly minimal light but will do. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
markoshark Posted January 17, 2008 Report Share Posted January 17, 2008 I'm using the same. I'm looking at adding a 250w in the middle. but i'll do that in winter Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
davidb Posted January 17, 2008 Report Share Posted January 17, 2008 The Remora is the HOB model though aye Wasp. The EV180 is here Oh and If you wanted to Skim wet Gannet, you could switch the Eheim 1260 for a Mag7, but when you are getting the Skimmer plus the 1260 for $300 I wouldn't complain :lol: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gannet Posted January 17, 2008 Author Report Share Posted January 17, 2008 i just read that, and it said that i can put it inline... dose this mean i can use 1 pump to go from sump to skimmer and then on to tank? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
davidb Posted January 17, 2008 Report Share Posted January 17, 2008 No. The water level has to be below the gate valve Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
davidb Posted January 17, 2008 Report Share Posted January 17, 2008 Read http://www.proteinskimmer.com/EV180.pdf Page 5 I think will explain it all Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
davidb Posted January 17, 2008 Report Share Posted January 17, 2008 Pg 4 I mean Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gannet Posted February 23, 2008 Author Report Share Posted February 23, 2008 **UPDATE** the parents have alomst got the house sold, and i have been given a tank. 1.12m long 0.85m wide 0.55m deeps so 520Litres, just need to get it drilled and put the over flow on it, this now means that im going to need to get more lighting now, as the skimmer is still ok (that reminds me david i hope u still got tht waitin 4 me) what lights now? 250MH?? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
reef Posted February 23, 2008 Report Share Posted February 23, 2008 2 x 150w will be more than enough. or 4 x 54w t5s will also be enough lighting for most corals. The aqua c should be ok for a average skimmer, would have spent more on a skimmer as you will end up upgrading it soon . If you get soft corals you will need quite a bit of flow otherwise the leathers will not do well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wilson Posted February 23, 2008 Report Share Posted February 23, 2008 go for the MH 150 or 250 watt would be fine Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gannet Posted February 26, 2008 Author Report Share Posted February 26, 2008 here is a dogy pic of the tank one question about the putting the over flow in, will i need to cut out a bit of the euro bracing to get into to it? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
livingart Posted February 26, 2008 Report Share Posted February 26, 2008 why do you have to cut euro bracing? why not do overflow like on the reef tank? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gannet Posted February 26, 2008 Author Report Share Posted February 26, 2008 to get my hand into the over flow if i need to pull sumthn out it Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
livingart Posted February 26, 2008 Report Share Posted February 26, 2008 why not do overflow like on the reef tank? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wilson Posted February 26, 2008 Report Share Posted February 26, 2008 looks good Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gannet Posted February 26, 2008 Author Report Share Posted February 26, 2008 coz i dnt want to lose a fish via the over flow. thanks wilson, slowly goes it Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
camnbron Posted February 26, 2008 Report Share Posted February 26, 2008 could you get a piece of glass cut and have it step around the overflow section? Thats what the tank builder did for my tank. Heres a picture: It has no brace into corner but a piece joining the 2 braces outside of the overflow Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
reef Posted February 26, 2008 Report Share Posted February 26, 2008 get a hang on skimmer then you dont have to worry about a overflow, Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
livingart Posted April 5, 2008 Report Share Posted April 5, 2008 gannets tank setup he still hasn't got camera going Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gannet Posted April 5, 2008 Author Report Share Posted April 5, 2008 tank specs changed a little bit, tank 4ft x 50cm x50cm sump 1mx45cmx45cm lighting 2x250 MH 14K (new bulbs going in soon) skimmer Aqua-c EV-180 powered by an ehime 1260 tank flow is 2x resun 15000A wave makers Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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