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Hello,

I will be purchasing a new tank in the near future to upgrade from my latest 3ft reef. Some details of the equipment are listed below, but would like some recommendations on the circulation products and the skimmer.

Tank Size: 4ft X 2ft X 2ft
Sump/Fug Size: Standard 3ft
Lighting (Tank): Aquamedic Aqua-sunlight (2 X 250w MH, 15w Moonlight, 2 actincts tubes)
Lighting (Fug): 150w MH (on 24hrs)
Circulation: 1 or 2 Tunze 6060/6000 pumps (circulation in main tank), 400l/ph (circulation for fug), and return pump...I got no idea yet
Skimmer + Pump: Recommendation Please
DSB: 10cm DSB for Fug. and 6cm for Tank
LR: About 10kg for Fug. And 20kg for Tank (Already have quite a lot of LR in 3ft)
Cabinet: Pine cabinet(stained) with doors (no hood)
Heater: 2 X 300w Jager Heaters
Drilled Holes: 2 in and 2 out
Calcium Reactor: Recommendation Please

The tank is mainly for SPS, clams and a few softies. My current 3ft is getting quite small as the corals are growing quite fast, thus the upgrade.

I am greatful for you important recommendations.
Steve


[span class="edited"][Edited by mangoR34 2004-07-27 03:34][/span]

Your new tank is 120g right? i say 2 pumps one on either side of the tank on different sides (one on the left side one on the right side)

As you know, the more flow you have in the tank the better, especially when it comes to SPS. With SPS, the minimum tank turnover you want is 30 X an hour. Most people shoot for 50 X an hour when the tank is SPS dominated. I would go with 2 of the Tunze streams with the controllers.

How many overflows does the tank have and what size? This will make a big difference in the return pump size.....you can have the biggest pump in the world, but if the overflows cant keep up it doesnt matter.

For the light, if you dont like a yellow color to your tank then I wouldnt get the Aquamedic 10K bulbs.....they are very yellow, even on my tank with all the actinic that I have over it. I do get great growth but Id rather have color.

Skimmer.....have you looked at the Aquamedic turboflotors? They are an excellent mid priced skimmer. What price range are you looking at.....low, middle, or high end?

I strongly agree with the moderator in Aqua-Medic's turboflotor. I use them in my Aqua-Medic Reef 500's and they are brilliant, especially for the price.

I quite like the Aquamedic Turbofloator 1000 Multi SL, but not many suppliers in Australia stock aquamedic. I dont have a overflow on my tank, just 2 holes so water goes down and 2 holes to return it. But, I have one problem, if I have a blackout, then the sump will overflow and the tank will become dry.

Very easy way to fix that problem Sir Mango.

Durso standpipe, or stockman standpipe. I prefer durso's, but thats just me. You should be able to find the homepages for both of them by doing a google search.

I don't reccomend lighting the fuge with a MH light. It's money spent in the wrong place.

I'd suggest some 6500k FLourescen tubes or 6500k PCs.

Having a 'weir' (overflow) pipe is really a must. The worst case scenario would be a power outage or return pump failure and you have a complete disaster. When I first got marines, my tank's return pump went and I lost the filtration for a week - that was bad enough to lose everything but then if there was no weir, I'd have flooded my whole living room. The wife would have killed me as well as the dead fish.

I don't know much about the "Weir" pipe, but I do know the Durso is effective, quiet, and easy to make.

I second the Durso.

Now, im just thinking just a pipe as the return that hangs on top of the left of the tank, and the two innlets as the same. I dont get how the Dursos work. Can someone please explain to me?