Thanks for singlehandedly keeping the marine section alive here
Nah i wouldnt say i do that. I know there are many others that work equally as hard on here. I guess its just that MM systems is something that i know a fair bit about whilst others run other methods.
OK ill try and answer these as best i can...
i might just get from the hardware, (builders sand)
Be very careful with sand that isnt made for marine use. It can carry Silicates (usually found in play sand to be honest) and other nasties that whilst it might be ok in a freshwater tank, you could get enormous algea blooms with it in a marine tank. I cannot say for definate of course and you have already used it for another tank but i do advise caution
I hope my LFS has them miracle mud systems, i havent seen them before, and hope they can get some, or i just try and make one
Do you mean make your own sump? or your own mud? If its the sump then i can supply you with plans (already been posted on here somewhere) if you mean mud then this is definately a NO NO
The mud system is rich in minerals and trace eliments. I wuld not try and create something like that as the tank will be at great risk.
What is that eggcrate stuff, and why do you use it? Just to keep the rock off the glass? Do you fill the space between the top of the eggcrate and the bottom glass with sand?
The eggcrate is a plastic mech/grid. Its not placed directly on the glass. If you look at the photo ealier in this thred you wil lnotice that its actually on stilts/legs and the front of the eggcrate is covered with a clear acrylic wall./barrier. This puts the rock above the glass and allows flow to get under the rocks for better filtration. The sand is prevented from sliding under the eggcrate by the accrylic barrier. A spray bar is placed under the eggcrate to give a water flow under there and this stops any waste food etc from building up and keeps this area fresh and clean.
I have posted this before but i will include it here to save you searching. This is a simple desgin to create a reefrack.
This simple design would be ideal for a standard "Reef wall" aquascaped tank. Mine differs slightly as you can see from my photos because it is not a flat wall and is more a wave type design (which caused all sorts of problems trying to bend the acrylic
) )
This rack give a good flow rate up through the rock and rhis means that the rock is more efficient on its filtration as the entire surface of the rock can be used rather than 2/3s and the remaining 1/3 is under sand or on glass with no circulation around it.
If you are building a tank from scratch i recomend one. If you already have a tank setup and running they are a nightmare to try and install!
they had that exact same tank-in-3-segments design you drew/Where do you buy a tank like that?
I made mine.
If you have a spare tank thenits very simple. Just get some acrylic or get some glass cut. Then simply silicon it into position. If you want to try this then i will happily design a sump with all the measurements for you and you can put it together following that.
If you do not feel confident in making one then Im sure your lfs can get one for you. If they can get tanks built for people then they can get sumps done also. It probably wont be cheap though. Its cheaper to get a small tank and fit it yourself IMO
Hope this helps
, So hopefully next year i will be doing it
