I want it glass. At this size, it won’t be impossibly heavy, and even with starphire on two sides, it’s probably cheaper than acrylic. I’m leaning toward having Crystal Reef Aquatics build it; it seems they do nice work and they’re close enough I can go pick it up myself with my truck. I like that they protect the structural silicone and provide an ABS bottom to protect the bottom glass.
What’s it like?
The idea is either a 180g or 210g, either would have a 72″x24″ footprint and a eurobrace. There’s a post in the way, so I can’t do a full-length external overflow box, and I want the full-length box for the surge capacity (keeps the water level from rising much during the surge as long as the plumbing can drain it fast enough). So I’ll have a slim internal box (from the surge tower to the far end), maybe 1.5″x6″x64″ (WxHxL) and a healthy-sized external box (maybe 8x8x36) connected by large openings in the glass, perhaps 3-4@3″ or even a 3x30″ rectangular cutout if they’re willing to cut that.
So what’s the turnover?
When the return is running, I’ll be getting 900gph from the sump, plus the surge (50g in about one minute), that’s about 4000gph (for a minute or so). note the 150gph that’s going into the fuge will normally add to the 900gph, so the display’s non-surge drain rate will be about 1050gph, but during a surge, that 150gph can’t add to the surge since it’s all through the same pipe, it just makes the surge last a few seconds longer.
How’s the surge work?
My plan is to have a black acrylic tower on one corner for the fuge’s drain, probably 6x6, maybe 4x4. It will have several cutouts from about 4-8″ up from the bottom to let the water out, and the tower walls will extend above the water line a bit, but obviously below the eurobracing so it can overflow to the display if needed when surging. Most of the time, the water and pods will trickle through the holes at the bottom, tending to push water from the bottom corner of the tank up and over the weir. I’ll have this pipe come in through a hole drilled on the side near the top with a vent above water level to allow the siphon to start during the surge, but most/all water goes down into the tower. I’ll probably have it end down near the bottom of the tank, and the tower will go all the way to the bottom with the holes cut above the sand level.
The return line will be 1.5″ from the pump (Cor20 is 1.25, but I want room to grow), Tee off to the fuge (with a ball valve) and another line to the side of the tank opposite the surge tower (with gate valve), and probably split to two 1″ lines that are drilled in the side, maybe 6″ below the water. I’ll have a Tee on one before it enters the tank wall so I can run a little pipe up over the edge of the tank to a backwards check valve per Melev’s design in the 400 reef.
I’ll start with the two Radion 30′s mounted long-ways at approximate thirds of the tank, or I may actually do 4 radion 15s. Then as I add more, I’ll move things around. but I kinda like the idea of someday having two radion 30s shifted away from the viewing sides (straight down) and put the XR15s so they are above the starphire panels and angled away/into the tank (three along the long side, one on the short side).
One heater (200w?) will get stashed near the surge tower/overflow and set to a lower temp as a backup, probably undersized so it can’t overheat the tank if it tried, target maybe 76 degrees as a max capability.
The two WAV pumps will probably start on the back glass pointing mostly forward so the surge/fuge comes from one end/bottom, the returns come from the other end (probably using the VCA flow accelerators) and the circ pumps are perpendicular. I expect I’ll add a couple more circulation pumps, especially as the coral grows. Maybe a couple MP40s, maybe more WAVs, we’ll see.
I’ll probably start it with about 1.5″ of dry large-grain sand (maybe 1-3mm) and maybe 10lbs of the fines from my 29g. The rest of my 29′s fine sand will go to the fuge. I’m thinking I’ll start with about 50lbs of Life Rock Shapes and about 50lbs of Life Rock shelf and a pair of the Life Rock 24″ arches, plus a few rocks from my 29g (the rest of the 29′s rock as the fuge wall). The uglier pieces will go in the fuge. I’m thinking I want about 100lbs, maybe only 75lbs in the display. more swimming room for fish and growth room for corals. the rest will do just fine in the fuge :)
