Hello everyone. I'm new to this forum and I'm still very much a novice to reef aquariums. I'm having an 80 gal AIO custom reef aquarium built to my specs. Before this I've only run nano reef tanks , 2 15 gal columns and a 29 gal. I'm deciding on my equipment at this point in time and would like some of halls thoughts on what I've chosen. So far I'm going to run 2 Sicca 3.5 664gph pumps, with one 4" sock filter in one corner of the overflow and a filter medium cartridge in the opposite corner. This will give me a flow of 1224 gph with 4 adjustable directional nozzles. I've yet to choose a protein skimmer still deciding whether external or internal yet. I know you should average between 8-10x your gallon capacity for your filtration flow but would like to run a Lil extra for those corals that need a Lil more flow. Please give your opinion on this as all input will be appreciated. Ty
New to the forum
- Thread starter Shannon
- Start date
JohnVH
Reefer Madness
Welcome
ErinCahir
Sausage Wrangler
Hello and welcome!
Reef octopus makes some great skimmers. They're definitely worth looking into.
Reef octopus makes some great skimmers. They're definitely worth looking into.
Tyvm I truly appreciate it.
Ty very much I truly appreciate it. I was researching some of those then I was going to go with the Tunze comline Doc protein skimmer but I'm not too experienced with either one
JohnVH
Reefer Madness
Flow rate can be affected by several things.
Your flow rate will be diminished by the amount of head height (the distance between your pump and the point that water is returned to the tank as well as any 45 or 90 degree bends in the return plumbing if any. Also diameter of your plumbing can affect flow rate.
I am curious as to why you are going to run 2 return pumps for an aquarium that size just seems like more things to plug in and one more thing that could go wrong.
I am running 1 Mag 9.5 on my 70 gallon and between the head height, bends in my plumbing and the diameter of my PVC I am getting about 600 GPH flow.
As for the skimmer if you have a sump which I’m sure you do I would go with an internal Skimmer
+1 ErinCahir Reef Octopus makes great skimmers. It’s always a good idea to over rate your skimmer if you have the room and the extra money. I am currently running a SWC 160 Cone Skimmer on my 70 gallon. Be aware that as with many cases in this hobby you get what you pay for.
Your flow rate will be diminished by the amount of head height (the distance between your pump and the point that water is returned to the tank as well as any 45 or 90 degree bends in the return plumbing if any. Also diameter of your plumbing can affect flow rate.
I am curious as to why you are going to run 2 return pumps for an aquarium that size just seems like more things to plug in and one more thing that could go wrong.
I am running 1 Mag 9.5 on my 70 gallon and between the head height, bends in my plumbing and the diameter of my PVC I am getting about 600 GPH flow.
As for the skimmer if you have a sump which I’m sure you do I would go with an internal Skimmer
+1 ErinCahir Reef Octopus makes great skimmers. It’s always a good idea to over rate your skimmer if you have the room and the extra money. I am currently running a SWC 160 Cone Skimmer on my 70 gallon. Be aware that as with many cases in this hobby you get what you pay for.
Well the aquarium I'm having custom built is basically the acrylic replica of innovation marines Nuvo SR 80 being that it has 2 built in overflows one on each side, which each overflow has a sock filter compartment , protein skimmer compartment next to one , the return pump compartment in the middle , reactor compartment and heater compartment next to the other. The tank height itself is only 16.14" and my 4 returns are right at the top of the tank with 2 directional nozzles to each pump
Everything is self contained , there is no sump , the back part of the aquarium is actually a 6" x 48" x 16.24" overflow with compartments for all accessories. The actual depth of the total aquarium without the compartment is 18" and with the overflow is 24" I'm just trying to stay as close as I can with a proven system, I just upgraded the pumps from 2 474 gph to the sicce 3.5 660 gph pumps which are almost completely silent
JohnVH
Reefer Madness
Sounds like fun, enjoy. For your skimmer get the best sized for the compartment Tunze makes good stuff.
Ty hopefully I will lol, now I'm just trying to figure out my lighting, I was researching the EcoTech XR 30 Gen 3's but having a 48" long aquarium I'd have to run 2 of them and at $750 each plus another $90 for the light mounting bars that's gonna sting a little, so I'm looking into the AquaLife XS-UV Reef 46" 246 watt LED system @$800 , just trying to research if that would be sufficient enough especially in a shallow reef aquarium
JohnVH
Reefer Madness
EcoTech are great but the price!! If you can afford it go for it. I am sure the AquaLife would do fine for a shallow reef. The options are wide with LED I am running a Maxspect Razor 160 watt on my reef tank at 24 inches high and my clam and corals are doing great. Beware, like the Skimmer with LED's you get what you pay for. Two things you should never skimp on for your reef tank is the skimmer and lighting for your corals.
You sound like you are off to a good start. Do your homework and research and cycle your tank, keep up with the maintenance and you will do great. There's a lot of very knowledgeable and helpful people on this forum.
Good luck
You sound like you are off to a good start. Do your homework and research and cycle your tank, keep up with the maintenance and you will do great. There's a lot of very knowledgeable and helpful people on this forum.
Good luck
mariobrothersleeve
squirrel
Welcome aboard!
Ian
Reefing newb
Hey Shannon, welcome to the forums :)
salt_for_brains
Alabama Reefer
Hi and welcome to LR!
Ty I appreciate it.
Aquarian
Reef pro
Hi welcome to Living Reefs!
