Please Help With Spec'ing Parts

[RipSlider]

Hello.

After mothballing it and selling much of the stuff back to the shop I got it from a few months ago so as to concentrate on my FW tank, I've now landed a new job where I can work from hom a lot. This means that I would like to re-start my dive into Marine.

The original stuff got scrapped becuase it was simply too noisy and the tank is in my hom office/spare bedroom. I knew that it wouldn't be silent, bu didn't expect it to be so bad. I also couldn't get the sump levels and pump returns balanced in a way that I felt was safe.

Therefore, I'd like some suggestions as to specifics that I should purchase and best practise on setting up if at all possible?

The spec's that I would like to go for are:

Tank: 1,200 l approx.
Tank Type: Fish with Live rock/Live sand. Possible add a coral or two at a much later date.

Planned filtration:

1x 3 foot sump - 3 part.
Section 1 - inflow - Live rock frags and feed from skimmer
Section 2 - Deep Sand Bed - no phelum
Section 3 - Return pump, heaters etc etc

1 x 3 foot fuge
small amounts of sand, some macro algae ( Cheato ) and poss small amount of LR frag.

Chemical filtration: small external filter ( probably ehein 2234 ) filled totally with PolyFilter

Lighting: T5 only

Myquestion is what specific items should I get???

With no corals, I do no think I need a huge turn over of water, so I will be looking for quiet pumps that can turn over the tank about 10-15 times an hour. I will probably also need some quiet powerheads.

I also need a quiet or silent way or getting the water OUT of the tank in the first place. Durso pipes seem to be the best way, but hat specifically should I get? Pre-made? Home made? what size diameter of piep etc etc

What size of pipe should be my general piping diameter? 2" 2 1/2" etc etc?

Should I use wet pumps or dry pumps for the main water movement.

I have been reccommended to use a DelTec AP702 skimmer. Is there anything shorter and wider that would skim the same amount of water? I could do with the height?

I think I want my fuge to turn over at about 3x an hour, and to have a feed direct from the first chamber ( before the skimmer ) and to feed in top the third chamber, so that the water is not skimmed. What mechanism would be best to do this safely?

How does everybody work out the safe levels to use in the main tank/sump mechanism. How do you calculate how make sure the sump does not over-flow if power cuts? This is something I couldn't work out to do in a way that I fel confident with. What are the ky measurements involved.

Damn..... far too many questions.
Grovelling apologies.

I hope someone can help.

Steve

 

[andywg]

Quiet in tank powerheads would be Tunze. They are not cheap, but save buckets in the long run from very low wattage. And in this hobby, most people who have been in it for years say they would have saved a fortune if they had bought the best at the start.

You will probably still need a fair turnover in any area with Live Rock to ensure there are no deadspots. That is why 20x is usually quoted (even for FOWLR) to ensure no food or detritus can land and rot in the tank. Now here the actual turnover isn't as important as areas hit by powerheads. This is again where Tunze work well as they send out a far wider stream, meaning less PH in the tank for the same area. Add to that that the better ones can be remotley controlled and you see why they are considered the Rolls Royce of powerheads.

I usually plan the sumps to have about 2-3" clearance between working height and the top of the tank. If your display tank is particularly large in surface area then you might want to add a little more. For flow rate I usually allow up to 2,000LPH through 25mm and then work on that scale (so 3,000LPH will get at least 32mm pipe, maybe 40mm).

If you have a large enough tank, you are always best oversizing the drainage so you can easily upgrade later. Make a durso and you should be happy (the in tank ones are quieter than a miniweir with most of the pipe outside)

Dry pumps are usually more efficient. Try looking at the Sequence series of pumps. They have one that pushes about 9,500LPH for only 95W.

To keep the fuge slower and less filtered, you could always mount it above the tank (if room permits). Some feel this gives a better chance of pods and other inverts surviving the trip from fuge to tank as it will overflow into the tank rather than be pumped (others say plenty survive pumps and UV).

On sump basics:

If you have a weir inside the tank, like this (picture from www.dursostandpipes.com)

You can see the black line that forms the weir wall. The water flows over this into the space beyond. When the power is off, the water will only fall to either the top of the weir (if water flows over the top of it) or to the point of the lowest slot cut in it (if you use a "grate" style to let the water flow through).

Also, by having the extra "reservoir" beyond the weir, the water will fall a shorter distance, thus making far less noise going over.

To ensure you don't over fill, if you fill the tank with the return pump off, once the tank gets to a level it will start overflowing into the sump. If you fill up until the sump is pretty full, then you know there isn't enough water to overflow the sump if the power goes off.

I hope some of that helps.

Obviously the final say in how the tank is setup will depend on the inhabitants chosen (lionfish have very different requirements to sharks or rays).