twin 90's

[mseepman]

Holy crap is all I can say. Though beautiful work, it is setups like that which make me stress out about how to put together my own big tank.

Rico, I would just focus on Good skimming, excellent lighting and a quality tank. I believe that a 72" wide tank is amazing to look at as long as you have the width to play with. Having that width really makes the difference in having the ability to do a proper display tank...lots of room for fish to swim, lots of room for a variety of corals.

[DaveK]

Originally Posted by mseepman

...

Rico, I would just focus on Good skimming, excellent lighting and a quality tank. I believe that a 72" wide tank is amazing to look at as long as you have the width to play with. Having that width really makes the difference in having the ability to do a proper display tank...lots of room for fish to swim, lots of room for a variety of corals.

Those are excellent points. Get the basic system sound. Plan where you can add all the "goodies" and install them if you need them.

[ricosuave]

I found a 230 gal tank that I like for $1100. If I couple that with my old 75 for the sump, that'll be 305gal, less LR and LS will be back around the 230gal mark. (if I did my math right)
I really like the idea of continuos dosing and have been reading all day. I found two pumps that seemed adequate and reliable, an aqua medic 1000 and a dual head, the reef filler 2000-2 6.5 gpd per head


I believe the reef filler will be better. anyone have first hand experience with them? anyway, they are a little less effective than "batch" wc's. According to what I read around 85%. So the 6.5GPD would be 5.525GPD. 5.525GPD times 7 days is 38.675 gal per week or 16.8%. That should be sufficient, yes?
Champion Lighting & Supply :: Dosers :: ReefFiller :: Reef-Filler 2000-2 6.5 GPD Per Head

[ChuckG]

What happens when you are out of town for two weeks and just one of the pumps breaks?

[ricosuave]

I knew you would ask that...peristaltic pumps use tubing and rollers to mave fluid while this is diaphram driven. from what I understand on the reeffiller200-2 they are two separate pumps(each with its own diaphram). I could use a float switch on the "filling" half of this to prevent any overflow and use a similar float switch in the ro mix barrel to eliminate drawing air that would cut both pumps simultaneously

[ricosuave]

actually now that I think of it I would need to have both float switches cut both pums out in the event of one failing or running out of SW(if I only cut out filler pump the siphon pump would drain the tank)

[ChuckG]

I haven't looked down this avenue yet but I would think that maybe there is a simpler way some how to only use one pump. It pumps water in. "Somehow" an overflow is set up and the overflowed water simply goes down the drain. Done.

If the pump fails or your reservoir empties you won't have a constant water change but you won't have a flooded or empty tank either.

[ricosuave]

Makes sense, and simpler, but with 230g I would be replacing some evaporated water with mix. I would have to check salinity more often, but not a big chore though. one pump would be simpler and cheaper(more money for inhabitants).

[ChuckG]

I've got it. Evaporation is seen in the return section of the sump.

Set an ATO to replenish fresh water into that area for evaporation level with a drain hole.

This would keep your salinity the same and your tank filled to the proper level. Any excess (from pumping in fresh salt water) will be above and beyond the proper level and will result in water being released out the drain hole.

Ta Da.....

[Patrick™]

Actually, just get the liter meter with the remote head. Then run it off a timer at night, when the lights are not on, the time of least evaporation.