Lights, Skimmers And Driving Pumps...

[rabbut]

Ok, so I'm starting a marine tank, 1 foot tall, 2 foot long and 15inches wide. I want to keep soft corals and either a bubble tip or Malu anenomy, along with a pair percula clowns... I am now getting the equipment together.

So far I have two Tunez 6025's (or will do on Friday after delivery) and thats it. Now I am thinking about lighting and skimming. What would be a good skimmer to look at? I'm looking idealy to sit it away from the tank, so I'm thinking about a recirculating type, where I can feed it through hoses to it's location above the tank and back to the tank, without loosing too much preformance, but I can see that I may need to be more flexable here to get good gear... It should be noted that I didn't think about the space these take up when I built the cabinet though, and I'm reluctant to cut holes into it at the sides. There isn't realy space at the back either...

If I go recirculating, the skimmer will be about 40cm above the water's surface, so I need a suitable feed pump that can cope with that head height. I'm thinking mebe a Maxijet MP1200 to feed it, but will that give enough flow?

Lighting, what is the guide line of WPG for buble tip anenomies, Malu anenomies and softies? Also, what spectrum should I be looking at. 14,000K, 10,00K mixture of spectra?

Thanks all
Rabbut

 

[SkiFletch]

Ok, lighting first cause that's easier... I'd reccomend one of two options, either a 4x24watt T5 setup with individual reflectors, or a 150/175watt halide for a tank with those dimensions. Fitting that many T5's over a tank only 15" front to back might be difficult if you tried a luminaire. Retrofitting might be the only option with T5's.

Now the skimmer. Yikes you're askin for a LOT there... Skimmers do not like to be put above the aquarium that far. You'd HAVE to go with a recirculating model, no single pump skimmer with a needlewheel or venturi could handle that much back pressure. I must say I haven't a clue what recirculating skimmers are available in the UK, sorry. But, driving it... It's tough to say if an MJ1200 would do the job. This is kind of out of the realm of my hydrodynamic knowledge, I just don't know how much pressure drop an open-topped column of water like exhists in a skimmer creates. My instincts tell me it might work, but I can't really reccomend one. Either way you'll HAVE to have a valve on the outlet of the skimmer to restrict return water flow to create the backpressure to raise the water level of the skimmer.

A simpler (yet less ideal) solution would be to use a Tunze 9002 internal skimmer. But that of course takes up a lot of room in the display tank. You could creatively hide it with a black acrylic wall if you wanted...

I assume there's no hope for a sump in this setup?

And lastly, how close to the wall is it really? Somethin like a Deltec MCE 300 is a pretty slim skimmer...

 

[rabbut]

I assume there's no hope for a sump in this setup?

And lastly, how close to the wall is it really? Somethin like a Deltec MCE 300 is a pretty slim skimmer...

OK, I have 5mm behind the cabinet, so after cutting a hole in the back of the cabinet, I get about 6-7mm, so not enough for any HOB skimmer The tank sits flush with the back wall (or it will do) so HOB skimmers are out..

The tank stand will be sitting half on and half off a window ledge (with the back of the cabinet shielding the side where most sunlight will hit) out in the porch, so a sump can't go underneath and there is limited space arround the tank for a sump. To install a sump, I'd need to place the sump at the oposit end of the room, and plumming it will be a pain, so I'd rather not... I think I should have given positioning more thought before now

I have access the Red Sea, Deltec, Tropical Marine and Dispergator protien skimmers fairly easily, if that helps? The Dispergators look good on paper, but I can't find anyone on here whom uses them... I might drop my ex-supervisor a call and see what he thinks of them, as he has mentioned them before...

My gut feeling would also be that a Maxijet would do it, hum.... me feels an expreiment comming on at work tomorrow with some pipe and a spare pump

Do you think a set of T5's or a Halide would be better for lights?

Thanks again SkiFletch
Rabbut

 

[SkiFletch]

Those dispergator skimmers look like knockoffs of the Coralife Superskimmer commonly sold here in the US. The recirculating superskimmers are very good items, with the single-pump models being a little finicky. In theory you could put one over the tank, but it's not going to be easy, so beware the possibility of failure. Is there any way you can hang one over the side of the aquarium?

As for the lighting, either would work it really more depends on what you can source and which you'd prefer to mount

 

[rabbut]

OK, spoken to my ex-supervisor, and it turns out that he is running a Derspigator on his. Sounds like a good piece of kit. An experiment at work has told me that a maxijet MP1200 will push water to the required height to drive it. As far as I can tell, the recirculating pump is independant of the inlet water source, i.e if the inlet pump failed, the skimmers pump would keep running, just pushing water round inside, but not returning it to the tank, as the drie pump isn't sending water through... Am I looking at that correctly, or have I missed something? If so, shurely there wouldn't be issues, as the skimmer itself would be at usual operating pressuers, as the maxijet would be taking the strain intead?

I'm antisipating about 600lph of flow from the MP1200 at that height, will that be enough for my 70l tank, or do I need more turnover through the skimmer?

Side mountings aren't realy an option, as I'd either have to still mount a short (no higher than 20-30cm) skimmer at a slight incline to the rim, over the electricals cupboard or cut a hole in the side of the unit at the opposit end, ruining a perfectly neat finish there I'm realy regretting not thinking the cabinet over before starting now

My plan for the skimmer is to sit it on the top of the "hood" and run water too and from it using flexible pipe... The Maxijets can push water to it, though at a reduced rate, and anything that my clogg the pipes will be removed via a sponge over the inlet to the feed pump, so I'm thinking it sould be fine? Is there something I'm overlooking that would complicate things? If more flow to it is needed, can two maxijects be pulmed in parallel to give more flow?

Thanks again
Rabbut

 

[SkiFletch]

OK, spoken to my ex-supervisor, and it turns out that he is running a Derspigator on his. Sounds like a good piece of kit. An experiment at work has told me that a maxijet MP1200 will push water to the required height to drive it. As far as I can tell, the recirculating pump is independant of the inlet water source, i.e if the inlet pump failed, the skimmers pump would keep running, just pushing water round inside, but not returning it to the tank, as the drie pump isn't sending water through... Am I looking at that correctly, or have I missed something? If so, shurely there wouldn't be issues, as the skimmer itself would be at usual operating pressuers, as the maxijet would be taking the strain intead?

I'm antisipating about 600lph of flow from the MP1200 at that height, will that be enough for my 70l tank, or do I need more turnover through the skimmer?

Side mountings aren't realy an option, as I'd either have to still mount a short (no higher than 20-30cm) skimmer at a slight incline to the rim, over the electricals cupboard or cut a hole in the side of the unit at the opposit end, ruining a perfectly neat finish there I'm realy regretting not thinking the cabinet over before starting now

My plan for the skimmer is to sit it on the top of the "hood" and run water too and from it using flexible pipe... The Maxijets can push water to it, though at a reduced rate, and anything that my clogg the pipes will be removed via a sponge over the inlet to the feed pump, so I'm thinking it sould be fine? Is there something I'm overlooking that would complicate things? If more flow to it is needed, can two maxijects be pulmed in parallel to give more flow?

Thanks again
Rabbut

Umm, remember, pushing water upwards is more difficult on the pump when it has to raise a wide column of water (like exhists in a skimmer) as opposed to a thin tube of it... That's the fluid dynamics part I don't get. Either way, yes, the recirc pump is independent of the maxijet. IF the maxijet fails though, you will drain the skimmer and slag the recirc pump, so be prepared for that.

Water flow through the skimmer is nowhere near as important as important as air flow and microbubble creation. Should be fine even with 300lph. Heck, my recirc skimmer on my 65g trickles out at barely 50gph and works great.

Two maxijets CAN be used to increase pressure (and thus flow) but it's not like adding a second one will double your flow. More like adding a second one will increase flow by say 50%.

Lastly, Just in case, I'd put a needle valve on the outlet of the skimmer for more precise control of the return flow and when you do run the skimmer, err on the side of running it dry...

 

[rabbut]

OK, thanks Skifletch for that

I'm currently bidding on a 150W MH light on ebay, so fingers crossed. I will likely get a despigator this Starurday, when funds come through.

All the best
Rabbut