New Tank

[OSA]

I'm putting together a saltwater tank for the first time an its a big tank the measurements are 10' L x 30" W x 4'1" T made with 2" acrylic. There are holes already in the base for the pumps an filtration. I'm concerned on what size pump an filtration units I would need for this tank to run properly. It is going to be setup outside to a restaurant so it will see sunlight all day but it will be enclosed at the top an bottom for the equipment to be secured from the weather elements an so that people can not feed them. I will appreciate any help I can get on this matter. Thank you

 

[Bryce E]

You want to move about 4 or 5 times the total water volume per hour. Sounds like your tank is about 600 gallons so you're going to need a very large pump. Something rated for 2,400 to 3,000 gallons per hour. As far as filtration is concerned the bigger the better. And when it comes to filtration I always try to get double what something is rated for. For example if your tank is 600 gallons get a protein skimmer rated for over 1,000 gallon tank etc.. hope that helps. I love big tanks and I hope it turns out great.

 

[geridoc]

Prolonged sunlight like you describe can create serious algae problems. You might want to include a substantial algae scrubber in your design, or at least a phosphate removal reactor (you'll need a big one). Personally, I prefer the algae scrubber approach since the scrubber will deal with a lot of water problems (nitrates, metals, etc) that a phosphate reactor won't. Another issue: completely enclosing the tank may lead to gas exchange problems, and may make controlling pH more difficult. Try to design some location in your system where there will be a flow of air over the water surface. This is usually at the surface of the display, but could be a fan-driven flow over the surface of the sump. Good air-flow will increase evaporation, so be sure to include an auto-topoff system connected to an RODI system. 600 gallons is a great size tank - changes will occur fairly slowly, so it should be easy to keep the tank under control and water conditions good. Good luck, and please start a tank-build thread so we can watch.

 

[flower]

Prolonged sunlight like you describe can create serious algae problems. You might want to include a substantial algae scrubber in your design, or at least a phosphate removal reactor (you'll need a big one). Personally, I prefer the algae scrubber approach since the scrubber will deal with a lot of water problems (nitrates, metals, etc) that a phosphate reactor won't. Another issue: completely enclosing the tank may lead to gas exchange problems, and may make controlling pH more difficult. Try to design some location in your system where there will be a flow of air over the water surface. This is usually at the surface of the display, but could be a fan-driven flow over the surface of the sump. Good air-flow will increase evaporation, so be sure to include an auto-topoff system connected to an RODI system. 600 gallons is a great size tank - changes will occur fairly slowly, so it should be easy to keep the tank under control and water conditions good. Good luck, and please start a tank-build thread so we can watch.

+1

And welcome to the site!