180 Gallon Reef tank info
- Thread starter detane
- Start date
king_neptune
Active Member
Originally Posted by DETANE http:///forum/post/2973838
Hey whats up everybody. I just picked up my 180 gallon tank and had a few questions.
• How big of a Sump pump do i need? 3000 gph pump?
• How big of a Sump tank refugium do you recommend?
• To Skim or not to Skim (PROTEIN SKIMMER)?
1. Pump only needs to accommodate the max water flow to keep your sump at peak performance. If you only need 500gph running through your skimmer, then 500gph water flow it is. A way to increase your over all water flow from return pump to tank is to split the drainage from the display to either end of the Sump, and let the return chamber be between. This lets you effectively double the water flow throughout the sump, and also lets you tweak as you see fit.
An example is my system. I only need 500gph for my skimmer, and 720GPH for my scrubber(which drains into the fuge) So I have a 1800GPH return pump in the middle that both ends flow into via baffles. 1220 GPH is ideal. I have "T" valves that increase or decrease the flow as I see fit on the drainage and my return pump also has a valve on it that restricts the water flow as I see fit. This allows me to split the return line at the top and have multiple return jets, since I have a larger than normal amount of water flow through the sump.
2. %20 or better. Id get a 40gal long or 55gal long.
obviously 55 gal is better than 40.
3. I have a skimmer myself, but if I can get away with it I'm going to keep it off as much as possible. If it aint broke don't fix it. Skimmers are great, but if you can function without them, why not? Almost no one will agree with this final statement, pretty much everyone is universal on the topic of skimmers, but hey, that's the beauty of this hobby. Your free to try all kinds of different stuff.
Bottom line, I would recommend a good skimmer, but I don't think that it is the end all be all of filtration, that is up to your overall system.
Any of this didn't make sense to you check out my build, Ill be getting into the final plumbing sometime later this week, but I do have detailed photos of my sump and fuge design.
https://forums.saltwaterfish.com/t/349033/neptunes-125-reef-diary
Hey whats up everybody. I just picked up my 180 gallon tank and had a few questions.
• How big of a Sump pump do i need? 3000 gph pump?
• How big of a Sump tank refugium do you recommend?
• To Skim or not to Skim (PROTEIN SKIMMER)?
1. Pump only needs to accommodate the max water flow to keep your sump at peak performance. If you only need 500gph running through your skimmer, then 500gph water flow it is. A way to increase your over all water flow from return pump to tank is to split the drainage from the display to either end of the Sump, and let the return chamber be between. This lets you effectively double the water flow throughout the sump, and also lets you tweak as you see fit.
An example is my system. I only need 500gph for my skimmer, and 720GPH for my scrubber(which drains into the fuge) So I have a 1800GPH return pump in the middle that both ends flow into via baffles. 1220 GPH is ideal. I have "T" valves that increase or decrease the flow as I see fit on the drainage and my return pump also has a valve on it that restricts the water flow as I see fit. This allows me to split the return line at the top and have multiple return jets, since I have a larger than normal amount of water flow through the sump.
2. %20 or better. Id get a 40gal long or 55gal long.
obviously 55 gal is better than 40.
3. I have a skimmer myself, but if I can get away with it I'm going to keep it off as much as possible. If it aint broke don't fix it. Skimmers are great, but if you can function without them, why not? Almost no one will agree with this final statement, pretty much everyone is universal on the topic of skimmers, but hey, that's the beauty of this hobby. Your free to try all kinds of different stuff.
Bottom line, I would recommend a good skimmer, but I don't think that it is the end all be all of filtration, that is up to your overall system.
Any of this didn't make sense to you check out my build, Ill be getting into the final plumbing sometime later this week, but I do have detailed photos of my sump and fuge design.
https://forums.saltwaterfish.com/t/349033/neptunes-125-reef-diary
coralreefer
Active Member
Originally Posted by King_Neptune http:///forum/post/2973841
1. Pump only needs to accommodate the max water flow to keep your sump at peak performance. If you only need 500gph running through your skimmer, then 500gph water flow it is. A way to increase your over all water flow from return pump to tank is to split the drainage from the display to either end of the Sump, and let the return chamber be between. This lets you effectively double the water flow throughout the sump, and also lets you tweak as you see fit.
An example is my system. I only need 500gph for my skimmer, and 720GPH for my scrubber(which drains into the fuge) So I have a 1800GPH return pump in the middle that both ends flow into via baffles. 1220 GPH is ideal. I have "T" valves that increase or decrease the flow as I see fit on the drainage and my return pump also has a valve on it that restricts the water flow as I see fit. This allows me to split the return line at the top and have multiple return jets, since I have a larger than normal amount of water flow through the sump.
2. %20 or better. Id get a 40gal long or 55gal long.
obviously 55 gal is better than 40.
3. I have a skimmer myself, but if I can get away with it I'm going to keep it off as much as possible. If it aint broke don't fix it. Skimmers are great, but if you can function without them, why not? Almost no one will agree with this final statement, pretty much everyone is universal on the topic of skimmers, but hey, that's the beauty of this hobby. Your free to try all kinds of different stuff.
Bottom line, I would recommend a good skimmer, but I don't think that it is the end all be all of filtration, that is up to your overall system.
Any of this didn't make sense to you check out my build, Ill be getting into the final plumbing sometime later this week, but I do have detailed photos of my sump and fuge design.
https://forums.saltwaterfish.com/t/349033/neptunes-125-reef-diary
+1.
theres nothing else to say
1. Pump only needs to accommodate the max water flow to keep your sump at peak performance. If you only need 500gph running through your skimmer, then 500gph water flow it is. A way to increase your over all water flow from return pump to tank is to split the drainage from the display to either end of the Sump, and let the return chamber be between. This lets you effectively double the water flow throughout the sump, and also lets you tweak as you see fit.
An example is my system. I only need 500gph for my skimmer, and 720GPH for my scrubber(which drains into the fuge) So I have a 1800GPH return pump in the middle that both ends flow into via baffles. 1220 GPH is ideal. I have "T" valves that increase or decrease the flow as I see fit on the drainage and my return pump also has a valve on it that restricts the water flow as I see fit. This allows me to split the return line at the top and have multiple return jets, since I have a larger than normal amount of water flow through the sump.
2. %20 or better. Id get a 40gal long or 55gal long.
obviously 55 gal is better than 40.
3. I have a skimmer myself, but if I can get away with it I'm going to keep it off as much as possible. If it aint broke don't fix it. Skimmers are great, but if you can function without them, why not? Almost no one will agree with this final statement, pretty much everyone is universal on the topic of skimmers, but hey, that's the beauty of this hobby. Your free to try all kinds of different stuff.
Bottom line, I would recommend a good skimmer, but I don't think that it is the end all be all of filtration, that is up to your overall system.
Any of this didn't make sense to you check out my build, Ill be getting into the final plumbing sometime later this week, but I do have detailed photos of my sump and fuge design.
https://forums.saltwaterfish.com/t/349033/neptunes-125-reef-diary
+1.
king_neptune
Active Member
it takes courage to say skimmers can be skimped on^^
But people have been indoor reefing for hundreds of years....granted the old Victorian aquariums had to be stocked constantly cause they never lasted.
This hobby wasn't really feasible till turn of the centuary, and the last 50years have brought an explosion of new tech. SKimmers are relitivly new in the grand scheme of things, but they caught on fast becasue they are great. Great, but not mandatory.
But people have been indoor reefing for hundreds of years....granted the old Victorian aquariums had to be stocked constantly cause they never lasted.
This hobby wasn't really feasible till turn of the centuary, and the last 50years have brought an explosion of new tech. SKimmers are relitivly new in the grand scheme of things, but they caught on fast becasue they are great. Great, but not mandatory.