The Beginning Of A Small Drop Of The Ocean

[marcandnic]

Hello all,

I have been running a freshwater fish aquarium for the past 2.5 year and I am a massive fish enthusiast, from fishing (sport), keeping fish and even wanting to be a marine biologist as a youngster!

Recently I have pondering what to do next with regards to my current aquarium; go planted, upgrade a biotope etc.

Anyway now I have come to my decision ... I want a marine tank. Many factors pushed me towards this, but mostly I think if it is done properly they can and do look awesome.

The problem ... where do I start! I have never been around a marine build so I have been reading lots of journals on here and over the internet but as I'm sure you all know, each build is different.

My plans can go 1 of either 2 ways.

1)
Convert my current Juwel Rio 180 (I do need to test for copper first)
Paint the back, drill the tank, add a weir, plastic coat the weir.
Knock out the middle part of the Juwel cabinet and reinforce it to allow a sump tank to be placed inside

2)
Buy a ND Aquatics tank - been looking at the 36x24x24 as I have a gap of 40" to squeeze into.
Either buy the cabinet (will take a lot of saving) or try my first DiY cabinet build.

So that is my first obstacle to overcome, but before then I would like to plan out my setup.

From what I have read this is the basics I can understand:

Tank ->
Over the weir and into the overflow ->
Down the pipe through a filter sock into the 1st sump section where there will be live rock rubble ->
In this first section is where I should place the skimmer yes? Skimmer dependent - it should be place on a stand, where does the skimmer output need to be placed? back into the initial section? or can it flow straight into the refugium? -->
Through a bubble catcher -->
Into a refugium where there will be a sand bed, chaeto and live rock pieces which will be held until needed for quarantine tank -->
Through a bubble catcher -->
Return Section of sump which I understand should be as large as possible to help reduce evaporation

Hopefully before the build is complete I will add an auto top-off but I will bug people about that later.


A bit of help (please)

Where do I place a UV sterilizer?
I currently have 2 external filters running on my FW tank - Eheim Classic 2217 and 2213. I have read that you can place nitrogen and phosphate reducers in these but again I am unsure where to place them? Before the sump, after the sump? Or run it straight from the tank and back in?
I plan to use the larger 2217 on the main tank with the 2213 as a QT tank piece of equipment, would that be useful or should I sell the 2213 to add some funds?


I will leave it at that for the moment as I do not want to implode from all of the info.

I thank you for any input/feedback you give to me in advance.

Sorry for all the questions but I really do not want to rush into this.

Thank you,

 

[lljdma06]

Going to move this over to the journal section. I'll respond to it in more detail later. I'm at work now.

L

 

[Donya]

Can't help on the sump stuff as I have never run one on any of my marine tanks, but regarding the UV sterilizer, is there a particular reason why you feel the need for one? I realize that some people who keep super-disease-sensitive fish like to keep one running, but UV sterilizers can actually be a bad thing on some systems. In addition to nuking bad things like parasites (although they won't rid a tank of them, just keep populations knocked back), they will constantly be nuking lots of beneficial things too, like plankton.

I have read that you can place nitrogen and phosphate reducers in these but again I am unsure where to place them?

I don't know about the particular filter you've mentioned, so I can only comment generally. Nitrate removers are usually pretty ineffective if you're talking about things like filter pads. By the time you've got so much NO3 that you'd look for chemical solutions, it's really going to be too much money per amount removed to be worth it in most systems. Generally it's much more efficient to go with some sort of biological solution like a chamber for macroalgae and a small extra light over it.

Phos remover can go anywhere really as long as:
1. It's protected from gunk buildup in some way (obviously you want to keep the surfaces exposed and clean so they can react)
2. It's not in a position to dump dust into the main tank, as dust from both the Al and Fe-based products is alleged to be harmful to some animals.
3. There is good flow past it.

 

[marcandnic]

Hello again,

Sorry about posting in the wrong section, I was too busy trying to get my head around the post lol.

Donya, thanks for your response.

Ok so I think that I am right in saying my macro algae will be placed in the refugium of my sump setup.

I will not bother with the Nitrate remover in the external filter.

I will however use the external canister as a placement of a phosphate remover, it will meet all of the criteria you did mention.

Can anyone recommend where they would run this kind of setup? Before the sump? After the sump? Inline with the sump? By itself?

Many thanks again
Marc

 

[GrayScale]

How big is your sump going to be? I would think that doing it straight from the tank would be the most plausible way. Having the external return outlet go into the sump, seems like it would cause too much flow in the sump IMO. I'm not quite sure how this would work inline with the plumbing.

 

[wildechild_01]

I will however use the external canister as a placement of a phosphate remover, it will meet all of the criteria you did mention.

Can anyone recommend where they would run this kind of setup? Before the sump? After the sump? Inline with the sump? By itself?

Many thanks again
Marc

This is a good idea and I infact do something similar with my 30g, i run an external filter just to run phosphate remover and activated Carbon occasionally. As for placement, It definitely depends on the size of the sump.. if the sump is big enough then i would put it there, in and out i say that mostly because I am a huge fan of not having equipment in the Display if at all possible, with a smaller sump though you would want to run it just like you would a cannister filter on any average fish tank. If you do end up putting pads or floss in it of some time make sure you are changing it regularly, IME bad nasty things build up a lot quicker in filters on SW setups than FW.

Ok Skimmer, first off, don't cheap out on your skimmer and don't be afraid to get a bigger one than you think you need, more skimming is better skimming.. that said research some first my personal favorite is REEF OCTOPUS but like i said thats my preference... yes ideal placement would be in that first section of your sump again depending on size of setup and equipment things sometimes have to move just try to keep your skimmer before your fuge. The Bubble trap between sec1 and fuge is not always needed in fact my sump has a 1inch drop from sec1 to sec2. The bubble trap from 2 or whatever number depending on setup into the return section is important so you dont pump bubbles up into your display tank, it doesnt matter how awesome things in the display are if the water is cloudy due to micro bubbles. Having the larger return is nice as it means you can loose more water before your return pump runs dry. An auto top off system is a great idea but if you cant afford that out of the gate you either need to be very diligent with your top offs or at the very least invest is a float switch for your return pump to prevent it burning out if something does happen.

Can't comment on UV as I've never used it.

And as for DIY stand.. i say go for it... in fact.. DIY your sump too that way you can make it be what you want.

Im sure there is more i meant to say when i started typing this but its dinner time so thats all for now, i will definitely be back to check up on progress.. the only thing more exciting than watching someone set up a marine tank is setting up your own.