Hey Everyone,
Glad to show my face once again on here. After my 125 reef went crazy with algae and could never get it right... I took some time off of everything except for fish. Couldn't just have too many empty fish tanks laying around!
My 125 is now and will remain a cichlid tank. 2 blue texans, 3 firemouth, and 3 red terrors. Has a couple plants that I recently got so they are growing in there.
The only fish that made the journey from reef to my current salt tank were two 3 stripe damsels. I am not fond of them at all but I have had them since 2009. So I figure I will just keep them around for a while longer. Don't really want them in there because I would like to get some different fish for the reef once it is going again and I know those two will not like the now tank mates...
Right now the tank (35 gal long 48" long, 12.5" wide, 13.5" tall) only has those two fish and rock in it. Right now I have only been using a 48" PC to light the tank. I do have a 4 bulb 48" T5 setup that I will be using on the reef once I replace a blown cap in the ballast. I have a tank that I plan on using for the sump that is 29.5" long by 12" wide by 12.5" tall. It has a whole drilled in the bottom with a bulk head in it. The tank came that way. So my plan is to drill a hole in the bottom shelf of my stand when put a 90 coming through that and the putting that right into the inlet on my Iwaki WMD-20RLXT and then have that pump up into the display. Not sure how I am going to plumb that as of yet so if any suggestions... let me hear them! I have a 3 spigot spray bar I built on my 125 and wasn't sure if I was going to go that route again or not.
I have a Red Sea Berlin skimmer powered by a Mag 5 that I will put in the tank. I can't fit my other skimmer under the display tank with the stand. My other skimmer is a coralife super skimmer 220.
My main problem right now is figuring out how to layout and design my sump and what all I should do with it. For sure it will be doing skimming. I also want a spot for a filter sock. I plan on bringing each overflow into one pipe before it enters the sump. I am just not over sure how I should design the flow through the sump and if it will be slow enough to a refugeium section in it or if that would just be a pointless waste of space.
When it comes to corals. I want to do corals like zoas, candy buttons, hammer corals, brains, and definitely acans again. I will deal with the corals once I get the tank setup and verified that it isn't going to have any problems like my 125 did! I am saving up for a good controller to put on the tank so that I can have probes keeping a strict eye on everything and be able to see my levels of everything on my phone or online.
Anyone have any ideas on how I should design the sump and my return?
Here are some pics of what I am starting with. I will be building a canopy to hold the T5's.
This the tank I have for the sump. It is upside down right now. Once it is under the tank, the bulk head will be on the right of the tank.