Your dream cube tank... equipment? Setup?

[wade]

After having moved to this area from NC, where I had a very large and stable reef, I have finally decided (now that the basement is finished) to look into starting up a new aquarium. However, the monster acrylic tank (7'x 28" x 20") is just too much for a reef right now.

 

So, having never really searched for the ideal equipment for a smaller tank, I am posing a question to all of you:

 

What would be your ideal equipment and setup for an sps tank using a cube or smaller design? (Thinking ~60g cube size or so) Some specific requirements would be: very quiet (low sump, pump, fan, and flow noises) & "clean" looking (ie- it sits in a prominent place and needs to be pretty, tank and stand as focus).

 

Sump (yes or no)?

Water movement?

Skimmer?

Lighting?

Dosing?

Topoff?

 

I have ideas in mind already, but would love to hear what people think these days. Don't worry about costs and such, since this is an ideal system. This is a brainstorming and planning idea.

 

Cheers!

Wade

[Jan]

I like a 90 gallon myself. Even though I have a 75. If you need smaller because of space restrictions than the 60 cube is fine. This is really personal preference.

 

Sump - Yes. NAGA makes some great custom sumps. See vendor forum.

 

Water movement - Yes (The more compact, sleeker and quieter the better. These features are also the most expensive but if you can afford them then go for them). Bruce (screen name escapes me) makes a nice wave maker.

 

Skimmer- Yes, but it can wait about a month or two. Many options to consider. I like the ASM's. Plug and play and they really pull a lot of gunk.

 

Lighting - Yes MH or LED (LED will help reduce heat so you wont need fans)

 

Dosing - Yes. Many options to consider.

 

Topoff - Yes, it's a must have. Plug and play ones are the best for me. Pricey though.

 

Other things to consider

RO/DI unit - see Air,Water & Ice

Refugium - Yes ( I higly recommend to help maintain stable PH. An intergrated sump/refugium system is ideal)

Test kits, of course

Edited August 31, 2010 by Jan

[Chad]

Welcome to WAMAS!!!

 

Hah, I have like 8 answers to this question, and if my old computer hadnt just died, I could provide equipment lists, cost, footprint, electricity costs, and drawings of most of the setups!! (no, I am not obsessed... ok, well, maybe I am)

 

hmmm, 60 gallon sps tank with all in one stand...

 

Tank: 24"cube sitting on a 30x30" stand, incorporate the "silent failsafe overflow" design that has a huge thread on RC

sump: yes, I would skip a refugium, use a eheim 1262 on the return

skimmer: avasts you build it cone skimmer

water movement: 2xMP20s or MP40s

Lighting: 250w bulb with your favorite color, some "more than moonlight" LEDs for sunrise/sunset effect and actinic supplementation

Dosing: with all the space I just saved you in your sump by skipping the fuge, I would put three containers with a three channel dosing pump, one for Ca, one for Alk, and one for an ATO

[Incredible Corals]

Solana 60 gallon cube kit with Ecoxotic panorama led fixtures. Buidling mine this weekend! The tank should be here today

 

Sump (yes or no)? Yes, Solana

Water movement? 1000gpf quite one pump

Skimmer? CPR fuge combo

Lighting? LED

Dosing? nope

Topoff? AGA 10 gal res.

[wade]

Thanks for the responses. If I can, I am going to go sumpless on this system. I understand the utility, but I also understand that keeping that flow of water in that small a compartment is both noisy and a real mess.

 

I worked with Ken Stockman years ago when he was designing the original standpipes (prior to the design being hijacked by a nameless major tank manufacturer), so if I had to do a sump (eg, if a good skimmer doesn't exist without one yet) I would go with an integrated standpipe isolated with a custom overflow to reduce air intake, I can both drill and cut those.

 

Recommendations for specific manufacturers would be excellent. I know some of the newest impeller designs are great for small gear.

 

____

 

And since I totally forgot to do so, as a way of introduction... I have been involved directly in reefkeeping since 1997 - I'm also a co-owner of Pomecanthus Publications, Inc (reefs.org/advanced aquarist). Thanks for the welcome!

[roni]

And since I totally forgot to do so, as a way of introduction... I have been involved directly in reefkeeping since 1997 - I'm also a co-owner of Pomecanthus Publications, Inc (reefs.org/advanced aquarist). Thanks for the welcome!

 

Welcome wade! reefs.org...that takes me back. i think i did a talk on there about 10 years ago

 

A tank like that would a ton of fun. what are you planning on keeping?

[wade]

No idea just yet as far as stocking. My un-thought-through brain impulse at the moment would be to stock with SPS (frags or small colonies)and probably a few small fish. I wouldn't mind having a goby+shrimp or other odd little fish. But fairly low fish loading with heavier coral loading. Hence the desire for major skimming capacity.

 

I know what I would never stock: E. quads, corallimorphia, xenia, caulerpa, valonia (ya right)...

[Chad]

I am just quoting part of what you said, I hope you dont mind, not trying to lose context

 

Thanks for the responses. If I can, I am going to go sumpless on this system. I understand the utility, but I also understand that keeping that flow of water in that small a compartment is both noisy and a real mess.

 

I worked with Ken Stockman years ago when he was designing the original standpipes (prior to the design being hijacked by a nameless major tank manufacturer), so if I had to do a sump (eg, if a good skimmer doesn't exist without one yet) I would go with an integrated standpipe isolated with a custom overflow to reduce air intake, I can both drill and cut those.

 

The "silent failsafe design" that I mentioned is almost 100% silent... the basic principle uses three overflow pipes: The majority of flow (say 95%) going through one of these overflows running at 100% siphon, since there is no air, there is no noise, the remaining 5% of the flow travels through a second pipe set up such that flow is laminar around the outside of the pipe, so no air/water mixing means no noise, the last overflow is not normally used, but is a failsafe if the full siphon line clogs somehow. Since the majority of the water is never mixed with air, there are not many ways to make bubbles, so salt creep and related mess type issues are significantly minimized or eliminated. If you havent played with this type of a setup I highly recommend doing so.

 

No idea just yet as far as stocking. My un-thought-through brain impulse at the moment would be to stock with SPS (frags or small colonies)and probably a few small fish. I wouldn't mind having a goby+shrimp or other odd little fish. But fairly low fish loading with heavier coral loading. Hence the desire for major skimming capacity.

 

hard to do without a sump, just my thoughts, though. I think you can accomplish your really quiet desire and your huge skimming capacity desire as well as low mess desires with a sump... just not using something like a standard overflow.

[zygote2k]

Good choice on tank size.

Marineland makes a nice black seal cube with a compact internal overflow that is very quiet and doesn't have issues with clogging or salt creep.

 

Naga (Jeff) builds the best acrylic sumps in the area and his prices are reasonable.

 

Return pump could be a MAG 5 or 7- anymore than this and you'll have to throttle back the pump. I use a 5 and it's quiet and efficient.

 

AVAST Cone skimmer is the nicest one you'll find at that price and performs well.

 

Circulation could be as simple as Koralias or 2 MP10's.

 

LED lighting is definitely the way to go. Ecoxotic makes a 50w pendant, and if you have an open topped canopy, it can be supplemented with some Ecoxotic Panorama modules for better coloration.

 

I'd control it all with an AC3 or Apex or if the Vertex Cerebra is out- I'd definitely go with it. Touch screen...

 

Top off with JBJ ATO and dosing with a Litermeter 3 or Aquamedic SP dosers.

[ChrisTran]

My previous setup was a 60g cube, 2x2x2 glasscages. Here is the setup.

Sump: NAGA custom sump

Water movement: 2x Tunze 6055 with controler

Skimmer: Deltec TS1250

Lighting: IceCap 250 MH with Lumen Bright 3

Dosing: Aquamedic twin doser

Topoff: NAGA custom tank with JBJ topoff

Return pump: Eheim 1262

Stand/Canopy: Home built

 

 

 

Of course if money is not an issue, you could buy much better equipments.

[ctenophore]

Welcome to WAMAS, Wade!

 

I just saw this new tank mfg on Reefbuilders today:

http://reefbuilders.com/2010/08/30/wilco-designs-starfire-mini-reef-tanks-are-beautiful-little-boxes/

 

Their 52gal looks pretty nice!

 

Justin

[L8 2 RISE]

my ideal set up would be an elos- full system

[wade]

elos... got a link?

[L8 2 RISE]

http://elosusa.com/

[davelin315]

Hey Wade, welcome and glad to see you starting to post! Looks like you got settled in finally and are ready to get back to the addiction! FYI, for those of you who didn't catch it, Wade runs reefs.org, the original site that prompted me to come over to WAMAS through some of our members (school is about to start again so I'll look into writing something up for you, Wade, about our tanks there). If you've ever been over there, you'll recognize his name.

 

My own advice on a tank is some of those cubes out there are awesome - I would go rimless as I really like the slick look. The LEDs that people are building and that are available out there seem to be fantastic and I think that you could get a pretty impressive system by using some of those lights. The fans that would go with it would hence be much smaller (I believe that most LEDs still run better with some sort of cooling system on them) and not produce much noise if any. I'd also go with one of the Avast skimmers - Dan makes a great product and although I've never used a cone skimmer, he is diligent in his research and design - I've got a beast of a skimmer from him that pulls out some incredibly nasty gunk from my system, makes me want to throw up just looking at the neck to the collection cup. Not sure how you'd incorporate one of these into your system if you're sumpless, but I'd talk to him about it - not many people have bulkheaded their homes in order to accomplish what they want in their aquarium!

 

If you are going sumpless, I know that a lot of people live and die by Tunzes, Vortechs, and Koralias, but I prefer a wavemaker (the one referenced above is by bbyatv - Bruce York) and a closed loop. Bruce's product will cost you far less than something else out there and he's got some videos of its performance. I use an Ocean Motions 8-way, but in a smaller system a 4-way would be great. I'd plumb it from the bottom with a closed loop and with a cube I'd run a column up the middle and build around it, which would also allow you to arrange LEDs (if that's what you go with) in a circular pattern.

 

FYI - the people referenced as builders on our site are:

 

NAGA - Jeff Haddock - custom acrylic and glass aquariums and sumps

Avast Marine - Dan Lichens (dandy7200) and Justin Casp (ctenophore) - skimmers and reactors (really fun DIY kits for a lot of things!)

bbyatv - Bruce York - WAV (Wave Action Valve)