my setup that im looking at

mboswell1982

mboswell1982

Active Member
sweet sweet, and im talking about how much live sand ill need total :p not just for the sump LOL and i was thinking roughly 25 lbs of LR for each tank, then taking what, maybe 20 additional lbs and crushing it for the refugium? or should i do even more than that? and what is the effectiveness of a chaeto? would that be something i should look into? or just go with what you've outlined?
 
crimzy

crimzy

Active Member
Originally Posted by mboswell1982
http:///forum/post/2835442
sweet sweet, and im talking about how much live sand ill need total :p not just for the sump LOL and i was thinking roughly 25 lbs of LR for each tank, then taking what, maybe 20 additional lbs and crushing it for the refugium? or should i do even more than that? and what is the effectiveness of a chaeto? would that be something i should look into? or just go with what you've outlined?
Chaeto is the macro algae, and yes I'd have some in there. Chaeto helps to break down nitrates in the system. Your suggested amount of LR should be fine.
Gotta go now. If you have more questions, either post or PM them to me and I'll answer them tomorrow. Good luck.
 
mboswell1982

mboswell1982

Active Member
sweet thanks man, and ill do that, now that i can PM people LOL.
ok, so this is what we're looking at now.
2x 20g long tanks
1x 40g sump/refugium
2x koralia powerheads rated at 400gph
1x easy pro mag drive pump rated at 600gph
1x coralife surf skimmer needle wheel protein skimmer or
1x reef octopus nw 110 needle wheel protein skimmer
70lbs live rock-25 for each tank, 20 crushed for sump/refugium
70lbs live sand, 20 for each tank, 30 for sump/refugium
ok, does anyone have any idea on what size heater i should use or anything else i should add to this list?
 
ca161406

ca161406

Member
look at the octopus NW series skimmers...cheaper and a billion times better than the coralife skimmer....
crimzy got darn near everything covered so thought id throw that in.
also if it was up to me i would have the tanks at the same lvl with an over flow on each tank going to the sump and have a split return line to the two tanks.
i just think it would look nicer with them level to each other
 
mboswell1982

mboswell1982

Active Member
im actually looking at both designs, but, im thinking that with the stand design me an my gf's dad can work up, its gonna look pretty amazing but, im doing up several different designs so we can see what we got to work with. and the price i found on the coralife wasnt bad at all, only 103.99 and 72.99 for the mag drive, still cheaper than using the canister filter i was going to originally LOL
 
ca161406

ca161406

Member
but what im saying is going with a coralife skimmer is like using a windows 95 with dial up...and going with the octo is like vista with dsl.... the difference is performance is a huge diff
 
mboswell1982

mboswell1982

Active Member
Reef Octopus NW 110 Needle Wheel Protein Skimmer, is that the one guys? its rated for 90g, so im figuring it will work in my tank no problem, and its only about 45 bucks more than the coralife one i was looking at.
 
mboswell1982

mboswell1982

Active Member
also, how about a heater guys, what size, what kind, what not would u recommend, throw some out there and ill look em up :p
 
mboswell1982

mboswell1982

Active Member
ok, here's the second design, and i labeled it this time LOL so ill break it down
1) tank 2
2) tank 1
3) stand
4) sump/refugium
5) return for tank 1
6) return for tank 2
7) intake for tank 1
8) intake for tank 2
ok, and another question, gimme some ideas on lights guys LOL i was thinking just some standard T5's. MH are kinda outta the price range for now, so T5's are gonna have to do it :p
 
rotarymagic

rotarymagic

Active Member
Ok I got your PM.
Ok. I'm rather confused as to what you actually want to do with your tanks.
Are they for fish only or reefs????
If you're going to fish only... get some 29gallons as they have more height, but the same foot print of a 20long. It will allow a couple more fish per tank.
Also are you doing two tanks because she wants to go one direction i.e. sps only and you want to go lps only or what? fish only on one tank and reef on the other?
There's alot of questions to be answered before I can really give you any good advice, but that last rendering isn't bad. I'd personally put both drains on one end of the sump and split the returns off a single pump to simplify.
 
mboswell1982

mboswell1982

Active Member
i think we're going to do fish only to start, and then we might end up turning them reef when we set up our bigger tank next summer. but, the fish we are looking at putting in them are all reef safe LOL. oh, and on the topic of fish, im gonna have a pair of b&w o clowns, a pair of shrimp gobies, and a pygmy cherub angel in mine, and she's gonna have a pair of shrimp gobies and some kinda anthias, or maybe a wrasse, she does like some of the reef safe wrasses. and i like the 20 longs over the 29's cause of both space and weight lol, that 20 gallons you save by goin with the 20's over the 29's, well, thats about 200 lbs, roughly LOL
 
rotarymagic

rotarymagic

Active Member
Originally Posted by mboswell1982
http:///forum/post/2835551
i think we're going to do fish only to start, and then we might end up turning them reef when we set up our bigger tank next summer. but, the fish we are looking at putting in them are all reef safe LOL. oh, and on the topic of fish, im gonna have a pair of b&w o clowns, a pair of shrimp gobies, and a pygmy cherub angel in mine, and she's gonna have a pair of shrimp gobies and some kinda anthias, or maybe a wrasse, she does like some of the reef safe wrasses. and i like the 20 longs over the 29's cause of both space and weight lol, that 20 gallons you save by goin with the 20's over the 29's, well, thats about 200 lbs, roughly LOL
To be honest each tank weighs about the same when emptied... It's not like you can carry a stocked tank full of rock, sand, and water anyway since it'll bust.
Your fish will enjoy the extra height of a 29. You could do some cool stuff with two tanks. I'm getting ready to unveil my tunze tank lol... I'm still finishing my aquascape and all that...
 
mboswell1982

mboswell1982

Active Member
sweet, cant wait to see it man, and there's one other factor to going with twin 20's over 29's lol and that is that the 29's are roughly double the price of the 20 long, when i checked em out at petsmart that is LOL
 
rotarymagic

rotarymagic

Active Member
Originally Posted by mboswell1982
http:///forum/post/2835553
sweet, cant wait to see it man, and there's one other factor to going with twin 20's over 29's lol and that is that the 29's are roughly double the price of the 20 long, when i checked em out at petsmart that is LOL
oh man... get on a local forum, buy one used lol.. can't beat a used 29 in good shape for $15... buying stuff new is for noobs. lol.
 
mboswell1982

mboswell1982

Active Member
i might just have to look into that, the local craigslist up here sucks for tanks though, they're either cracked or way over priced LOL but it has been a while since i checked LOL
 
rotarymagic

rotarymagic

Active Member
Originally Posted by mboswell1982
http:///forum/post/2835556
i might just have to look into that, the local craigslist up here sucks for tanks though, they're either cracked or way over priced LOL but it has been a while since i checked LOL
yeah you gotta watch out for guys trying to sell broke stuff...lol.
I wish someone would buy my freakin 48inch light so I can get it out of my apartment, but apparently its too expensive even at a used price...ughh...
 
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