48"L 36"W 24"H Reef Tank

[Ilia]

I have been looking at these awesome Japanese tanks and thought of getting a custom tank made instead of the 120 I was thinking of buying. The tank dimensions that I am thinking about are 48"L 36"W 24"H. I wanted to know if this is even a realistic tank to be made?
I f it is than should I go with starphire or acrylic? thanks

[kevinpo]

I'm having 2 - 48"x48" tanks made from acrylic so it is certainly feasible. Glass is a better choice IMO because of durability and heat loss properties if you plan on a high light reef type tank.

HTH,
Kevin

[rededteck]

Those dimensions would create essentially a 180 gallon tank.

There are many pros and cons to acrylic and glass. I currently have a 220 gallon acrylic reef. I chose it as it was lighter, cheaper, and the clarity was supposedly better.

Based on the amount of algae scraping we must do in a tank, If I had to do it all over again, I would have chosen glass.

I cannot give you any advice on starfire glass as I have never owned a tank with this type of glass. I do understand it is much clearer which would probably be worth it!

Good Luck, I would enjoy seeing the pictures of the tank and information on who builds it for you.

[Ilia]

I just called Inter-American and they could make a tank with those kind of dimensions for $650 with starphire glass.

[Ilia]

Now what kind of lighting would a tank like that need? I was thinking of going with a hood from Hamilton Tech with 2 250W 10K halides, and vho's. But wouldn't a tank thta wide need more halides. The style would be Japanese and not a wall reef but instead 2 rock structures.

[Ilia]

anyone have any suggestions/ideas?

[Reefland]

I don't think you would be satisified with just 2 Halides over a 36" wide tank; they would cover the length but not the width. If your stuck with just 2 halides, you would need to go with 400w's and place them about 14" from the surface but if your flexible, then go with 4 250w. On the other hand, if you go with dual corner overflows, you would take up some of the space in the back corners of the tank and probably go with 2-250w towards the front and 1-250w in the back center (since the overflows don't need the light). I was talking with a close friend today and he mentioned doing this on a wider (wider than 24") tank.

Regards,

[Ilia]

I was just on the Hamilton website and I am probably going to go with 400W halides, but there is one problem and it's that they will be 6.5" above the water. So far the shopping list is:

48"L 36"W 24"H starfire tank
400W Hamilton system 2 400W halides, and actinics
Lifereef sump and skimmer
2 Tunze 6000's on a multicontroller
R/O system


My 46G bowfront has a HOB skimmer. I am very skeptical about getting the Lifereef sump because of not understanding how it works and if I will be able to hook it up to the tank myself. I really don't know how many overflows to put on the tank. Because I am being paranoid about there being too many or too little overflows for the sump. I'm great with fish and corals skimmers and tanks, but when it all comes down to a big tank I get lost.
So people feel free to give suggestions and opinions because I'm lost.

[Reefland]

Let's look at a couple of things here.

First is the lighting. Putting 400w halides 6" from the surface is not a good idea. You are going to heat the water significantly and most likely require the use of a chiller which is an added cost, they are noisy and preferrably to be avoided if possible. The 400w bulbs 6" from the surface is not going to give you complete coverage either. Your going to have to do some serious thinking here. Here is what I would do:

Go with the 3-4 halide configuration, maybe 2-250w 10k's in the front and 1 250w 20k in the back (again something a friend mentioned that sounds interesting) or 2 20k's in the back. Or go with 2-400w bulbs and get them higher off the surface; your going to cook something having them that close. Or you could go with 4-250w 10k DE's with 2 actinic tubes in the middle? There are a lot of different options but please do reconsider the 400w 6" from the surface.

Your making a good choice on the LifeReef system, Jeff has always received high praises on the boards and I am sure you will be happy. His work is expensive though so be prepared for that. The good thing about LifeReef is you get everything you'll need to connect your sump/skimmer combo to your tank. That leaves the tank and some other considerations.

24" high is pretty shallow once you add a deep sand bed, you might talk to Mitch and tell him your interested in 27" height. I would go with 2 overflows in the tank too, that would ensure that you can get plenty of flow through your sump. Go with 1.5" drains and 1" returns through the bottom of the overflows, you can make adjustments to the sizes after the bulkheads if desired but this will ensure plenty of diameter regardless of what you choose. I would also do some searches on the board for "closed loop" and incorporate one in your upcoming system. You could go with 2 bulkheads in the back of the tank about mid ways and maybe hook up a couple of sea-swirls to one. If you do the search, you will find a ton of information on loops.

Just some ideas,
Scott Z.

[Ninong]

I would recommend two corner overflows on that tank since it is going to be 180 gallons. You could get by with just one if you wanted to provided it was either a 1.5" or 2" drain. Mitch will recommend two 1.5" drains or one 2" drain for that size tank but you don't have to accept that advice if you don't want to. The Tunze 6000's will give you a lot of circulation in the tank all by themselves. If you decide to go with two corner overflows, make the drains 1.5" so that you will have more than enough capacity if your plans ever change. If you go with only one overflow, make the drain 2" and you might consider placing it in the center rear of the tank instead of either corner. Whatever you think you would like best. Even a single 1.5" drain will provide about as much capacity as you would want to run through an LF1-150 sump anyway. The critical dimension in selecting a sump is the area of the surface of the tank, not the total volume of the tank. Because a tank that is 48x36x24 draws down about 7.5 gallons per inch whereas a tank that is 48x24x36 draws down only 5 gallons per inch. The Lifereef LF1-150 has a total capacity of 22 gallons and it runs half full, so you have an overflow capacity of 11 gallons. That would be sufficient to allow you to draw down about 1.5" in the event of power outage. Most tanks draw down about an inch or a little less.

The Lifereef sumps are very well made. Jeff ships them with all fittings and plumbing necessary to set them up and he provides detailed written instructions in a separate packet with each sump. For a 180-gal tank you will need an LF1-150 with a 24" skimmer. That setup will just barely fit inside a 48" stand, assuming you get the standard setup with the skimmer and both pumps outside the sump. The sump itself is 30"L x 13"W x 14"H and then you add about 18" to the length of the complete setup to accomodate the skimmer and pumps. The way your tank is designed (48x36), I don't think you will have enough overflow capacity in an LF1-150 sump if you get it with the skimmer and pumps inside the sump. I actually have one that I just bought a few months ago and haven't even set up yet. I will be setting up a much larger tank than I originally planned and may be selling my Lifereef setup to get something larger.

I'm not a big fan of Hamilton fixtures, but that's just my opinion. There are so many different ways to light a tank that size that it's really a matter of personal taste in the end. Assuming you go with two corner overflows, my preference would be for three metal halide lamps positioned so that one of them is centered between the two other ones and slightly to the rear of them. Using suspended fixtures, that would require a front fixture with two lamps and a rear fixture with a single lamp. With a tank height of 24" you could go with 250w lamps if you want to. I would choose three 250w lamps for that shape tank over two 400w lamps. But again, it's all a matter of personal taste.

[Ninong]

Scott,

He's going with Tunze 6000's instead of a closed loop or SeaSwirls.

[Reefland]

Are we talking about the Turbelle 6000 Electronic kit? I wasn't familiar with these kits until researching just now, they look pretty nice!

[Ninong]

Originally posted by Reefland
Are we talking about the Turbelle 6000 Electronic kit?

Yes.

[Reefland]

Those look very nice from what I can see on the Tunze website. What is the advantage these have over some Maxi Jet's on a Red Sea Wave maker?

[dattack]

Originally posted by Reefland
Those look very nice from what I can see on the Tunze website. What is the advantage these have over some Maxi Jet's on a Red Sea Wave maker?

They produce a different kind of wave front like the reeftec but supposedly with very low energy consumption. Moreso, the GPH is extremely high considering the flow is dispersed. Seems like a lot of Tunze stream owners swear by it. I just don't like the bulky look on the ends of my tank.

[Ilia]

I appreciate all of your ideas. It's a really big help. I will probably look into a hood that will have 3 250W 10K mh's.

[Ilia]

I'm also kinda not ready to take the plunge into DIY lighting hood. Are there any alternatives?

[Ninong]

Yes, there are several alternatives:

• Get three individual Giesemann Nova II pendants with a single 250w 10,000K HQI DE lamp in each: http://www.giesemannlicht.com/detail.php?id=Nova These cost about $450 each and you would not have any actinic supplementation. But they are cute and effective!
  
• Get three individual similar fixtures from some place like Sunlight Supply and save money. Look up Reef Optix III Plus: http://www.sunlightsupply.com/aquari...flectors.shtml
  
• Get a 120 cm (47.25") Aquaspacelight with two 250w 10,000K HQI DE metal halides plus two 24w Osram PC actinics for the front of the tank: http://www.ab-aqualine.de/eng/index_e.htm And a fixture with only one 250w 10,000K HQI DE lamp to position behind that one.
  
• Order the individual components as a retro-fit kit and pay a local carpenter/handyman type to build a canopy for you. You would need two fans for ventilation, three reflectors of some type, three mogul sockets for three 250w 10,000K mogul base lamps and two or more 110w VHO Super Actinics for supplementation. You would need a ballast for the VHO's and ballasts for the metal halides. These would be mounted outside the hood, either in the stand or elsewhere. You would want the guy building the canopy to give it at least two coats of white exterior enamel on the inside followed by two coats of clear marine grade polyurethane. You would probably want the outside stained or something. Oak is nice but very heavy. Other woods are lighter but don't hold up as well.

[Ilia]

I will go with a hood with 2 250W halides and actinics and a 20K pendant in the back. Any suggestions where I can get the hood and pendant?

[Ilia]

And will I need the actinic supplementation for the hood since I will have 10K's and a 20K? Thanks again you guys are a big help.