what do you think of this equip for a 55

[zanemoseley]

55 show gallon seaclear acrylic
55# fiji live rock
40# CC
10 gallon sump
CPR 300 gallon overflow
AquaC Urchin skimmer
Emperor 400 filter
600 return pump
this is what i'm planning on getting soon, do you have any suggestions or advice on any of the equipment, i'm gonna start out with reefsafe FO but i'm gonna upgrade the factory light hood to a DIY hood with T5 lighting and do some corals.
will the emperor provide enough chem. and mech. filtration for the aquarium, is a 10 sump large enough since its only gonna be filled half way, finally is 40# of CC enough to make a 2" bed

 

[krux]

two things stand out to me that i might make some suggestions on.
first, if you can afford it, i would go with a 75 instead of a 55. i really hate the 12 inch front to back limitation on my 29, especially when it comes to aquascaping with lr and corals. i have no sand showing, which limits some of my fish somewhat. the cost will be a bit higher, but i think in the long run you will be much happier with the outcome.
secondly, i would avoid cc and go with sand instead. it is a lot easier to keep looking nice, and not as much stuff gets tied up in it. if you like the coarse grain size, you could get say 60 lbs of sand and 20 lbs of cc to mix in to it (this would be on a 75). i think to cover a 55 you might be a little under 2 inches with 40 lbs. you might buy an extra bag of whatever you end up using, and just don't open it unless you need to so you can just return it.
finally, i question the need for the emperor if you are going to run live rock and a skimmer. i would personally rather put the money from that into 25 lbs of baserock so you can get more height in your reef rockwork.
good luck with your project, keep us updated.

 

[zanemoseley]

well as much as I'd like to get a 75 regular instead of a 55 show the prices are quite a bit more and I don't think I could swing the difference but i could afford a 75 show which gives 5" more in depth but is 4" shorter of a tank and is 60" long, here they are
55 gallon seaclear show tanks 48X13X20 $229
75 gallon seaclear show tanks 60X18X16 $319
75 gallon seaclear regular tanks 48X18X20 $439
so you're saying I don't need chemical or mechanical filtration? how do you filter out larger particles, if there was no need for the emperor I could get about 65# of live rock then
here's the sand i was looking at getting the first link is a semi live sand called Arag-Alive
http://www.***********.com/md_viewIt...product=CS0790
http://www.***********.com/md_viewIt...product=CS0022
how about those sands? sorry if posting those links is a policy violation, if it is i can edit the post.

 

[jumpfrog]

That is quite a price difference. Must the acrylic and manufacturer. The price difference between glass 55's and 75's isn't that great. If you're stuck on acrylic then I guess that is a limitation.
Your LR will provide your biological and believe it or not, mechanical filtration isn't that necessary if you keep your bioload reasonable. As for chemical, you can always throw a bag of carbon in your sump path. For that matter you can put a pad or filter sock in your sump for mechanical as well.

 

[krux]

oh yeah going acrylic things change a lot as far as tank prices go. acrylic has some realy nice benefits, but on more of a budget i would definately look at glass, especially on tanks under 100 gallons where weight isnt as big of an issue. there is also the drawback of acrylic being a lot easier to scratch...
that same 55 in glass is what, 75 bucks? havent priced one myself as i kinda dont like the dimensions, but my glass 29 was 45 so 75 seems about right.
as for sand, i think that aragalifve stuff is kind of expensive. you might want to see if you can get a local reefer buddy to give you a couple pounds of live sand from their tank, maybe order a sandbed kit from an online retailer, and then use cheap old home depot aragonite sand.
alternatively you could buy live sand from here or a lfs.
my main thing is from my understanding of the stuff, that bagged live sand is really just sand, water, and bacteria, there really isnt anything cool living in it. that is, it will cycle your tank fast as all the bacteria are in place, but as for detrivores, sand stirring, and infauna, there will be little to none.

 

[zanemoseley]

so would I be good to go with the 75 show which is 60X18X16 to get the deeper tank for stacking live rock, 75# of live rock, aquac skimmer, 300gph overflow, a heater and a return pump.
would a 10 gallon sump be big enough for a 75 gallon tank since i'll only be putting the skimmer and heater, it seems that i would need too big of a sump

 

[zanemoseley]

by the way i'm getting acrylic because i'm in college and there's a good chance i'll be moving a good bit in the next few years and I want the strength of acrylic, also i have a 5 gallon acrylic tank and a 10 gallon glass tank and I much prefer the seamless look of the acrylic, also my local fish shop's prices on 55's are like $125 which seems like it'd be worth the money for the acrylic off the net

 

[zanemoseley]

sorry for all the posts. one more question, the urchin is rated for 75 gallons but would it woudl it do a GOOD job in a 75

 

[krux]

10 gallons would be fine for a 75 if all you are doing is using it as a place to store your heater and skimmer. might i suggest if you are going to be able to hide the sump away to instead use a rubbermaid container and save yourself a little bit of money (that is of course unless you weere planning on using your existing 10 glass). you will have a bit more flexibility for the future.
the skimmer should be fine. if you eventually decide to run a fuge (highly recommended) the skimmer will become less important as most of your nutrient absorption will come in the form of algae growth.
as for the dimensions, i like the sounds of that tank, although it does seem a bit long for a dorm room (hope you arent going to be trying to fit one of those bad boys in there).
the rest of the stuff sounds good. on a 300 gph overflow, you might want to bolster your in tank water flow by adding on a closed loop, or you can look into getting a overflow that will let you do a bit more turnover, say 500 to 600 gph. on a 60" tank though you can do a closed loop for pretty cheap, which will allow you to route water to both ends of the tank and work around any major rock features. if you can get a good deal on a mag 5 or something on ---- (i have seen them for around 35 bucks) that would be a very viable option. the only cost on top of that is some pipe and fittings, probably another 20 bucks or so, and that way you will not be pushing a ton of water through a 10 gallon sump. ballpark figure that most people shoot for is 10X your volume per hour, which is why i suggest either a larger flow overflow or the closed loop system.
if you want to save a bit of cash, as this is probably starting to push your original budget, you can get your initial 50 lbs of live rock or whatever you had decided on, and then bulk it out with some dry baserock. it will give you more rock to play with as far as structure building goes, and it will in time become seeded by the rest of your live rock, acting just as effeciently in terms of filtration.
here is a pic of my tank. it is a 29 with about 70 lbs of rock for reference. being a 29, it is the same front to back as your standard show 55, and it is pretty much full front to back, with maybe 2 to 3" of exposed sand in front of the wall. incidentally, more than half of this rock is aforementioned dry baserock that i added about a month ago.

 

[zanemoseley]

I think I'm gonna get the larger CPR overflow rated at 600gph which is $87. Also I'm not in a dorm room, I've got an apartment and one whole bedroom is just my computer desk and aquariums.

 

[krux]

excellent choice. given the length, i would also plan to add a powerhead or two for in tank circulation down the line. if possible you want one pointing behind the rocks, along the back wall to keep water flowing back there, and also it would be ideal to place a larger one at the opposite end of the tank from the return.
these can be 30 dollar maxi-jets, nothing bank breaking.
i am envious of your setup as it is developing, i wish i had started a bit bigger myself.

 

[krunk]

all glass 75gallon tanks are only 110$

 

[zanemoseley]

ok I found out that seaclear makes a 60 gallon which is 48X15X18 which gives 2 more inches depth than the 55 but is shorter but is only $10 more than the 55, I think I'm gonna get that because after I added up everything needed for the 75 gallon I found it to be a bit too expensive so I'm gonna go for the 60, here's what I'm gonna get and prices for each
seaclear 60 gallon tank $240
55# live rock $230
10 glass sump $10
AquaC skimmer $164
CPR CS50 overflow $66
argonite sand $70
Mag 7 return pump $55
2 maxi 900 circulators $35
DIY stand $60
heater $30
plumbing $25

[hr]
Total $927
Is there anything I'm missing beside fish and snails. Will the Mag 7 and the 300gph CPR overflow go well together, the mag7 is rated at 420 gph at 5' backpressure, would the mag5 be better which is rated at 250 gph at 5' backpressure. Are the Mag pumps output adjustable to turn the waterflow down. thanks for all your help

 

[krux]

that does look great. thats pretty much exactly the setup i am going to go for on my next tank. i would stick with the mag7 and just get a ball valve to put in the return line so you can cut back the water a tad to make sure that you are not over pumping for your overflow.
also keep in mind you will need to budget a bit for plumging stuff, clamps, etc to link it all together.
i think you will find you like the dimensions on that 60 a lot by the way. good find on it.
only thing i dont see listed is lights, you already got those?
finally on an acrylic tank, you can probably find a place to drill a hole for a bulkhead, and then you could use a piece of scrap acrylic to make an overflow chamber. drilling probably 20 bucks, 5 for the bulkhead, and 5 for the acrylic. save ya a bit of money, and you could go bigger on the bulkhead and get more gph flow. just a thought, you can research getting acrylic tanks drilled here if you want to go that route.

 

[jlem]

For starting out your setup looks really good. A lot can be said for the emporer. It can hold lots of carbon and circulates lots of water. The only difference between a inch or two of C/C and the same amount of sand is that you will want to vaccum your C/C which is easy enough if you plan to do water changes on a regular schedule. A good sump setup will cost you a whole lot more than an emorer 400. I know that the next post will be that a rubbermaid tub is only 5 bucks at the store but do you really want a big tupperware bowl under your tank. For less than 50 bucks you could have great filtration in the 400 untill you decide that you want to spend the hundreds that you will eventually spend on a good sump/refugium/plumping and pumps, and overflow box if your tank is not drilled. Also unless you have an auto topoff you will have to top off your sump often to keep you pump from burning up and to keep your skimmer running consistant. Unless you run over your emporer it will not leak like plumping can. Now I am not saying don't ever go sump. I am saying that you may want to spend the 50 bucks and be happy with what works and then decide after you get the hang of things, and when you do switch like most people do you will have a back up filter which everyone probably should have anyways. Lace rock is really cheap $1.00 lb and after a few months it will look just like live rock. Base rock will also eventually look very nice and is very cheap.
Seaclones are not very popular but mine works like a champ. I have a seaclone 150 on my 125 gallon reef and I love it for only $80.00
How about these apples
Your tank 240.00
live rock 230.00
seaclone 100 70.00
emperor 400 38.00
maxijet 900 18.00 each
tronic heater 18.00
Nice DIY stand and canopy 75.00
Total $689.00

 

[zanemoseley]

I've been thinking about how much extra I'm spending on using a sump and I think for now i'm just gonna go with no sump. I'm thinking of getting a aquaC remora hangon skimmer which is basically the same as the urchin I think (costs the same), I'm gonna spend another $30 on the tank and get the back colored black so the skimmer will hardly be visable, the only thing needed inside the tank would be a heater, also the acrylic tank comes with a lighthood and acrylic top, krux in your opinion I don't need the emperor if I have a good skimmer and 60# of liverock right? I'm sorry to be changing my mind so much and taking up your time but I just thought it would be pointless to spend $200+ just to conceal my skimmer and heater.

 

[jlem]

Sounds like a wise choice. If you are a DIY type of guy go to Garf and look at some of their tanks. All of their rock in their tanks is aragocrete rock and though it takes a good month before it can go inside a tank because of curing time it only cost about 10 cents a pound to make. The empror will barely be visible if you put the intake near the surface and the biowheels are great biological filters to suppliment your rock. On a new tank the more filtration the better is what I think. Your tank will be pretty unstable for awhile and the emporer can help keep it clean with the filter pads, carbon, and additional media baskets.