New to Salt water

[punkroc701]

Hi everyone. First off I am new to salt water aquariums and will be on here alot over the next month or so with questions which I will try to keep in this entry so not to have 50+ message boards going. My name is Chris and I live in Virginia. I am a disabled vet from the Air Force. I deployed with the Army to Afghanistan and apon returning got a medical discharge. I am married with 2 children (one with me one with my ex). My 2 year old has a 5 gallon hex tank with some freshwater fish and she loves it.

I have always wanted a salt water tank and decided to look up some DIY stuff for aquariums and found a few that told how to build your own, then how to build your own filter sump systems and so forth, so I began my build on 31 January 2010. I have the wood frame set up I need to build the overflow box for the sump filter so I can fiberglass everything and continue with my build.

The tank will be about 26 Gallons (2ft long x 1ft deep x 19in tall). I have the acylic for the front and the rest will be wood. I have been looking for some kind of sump calculator so I can build a sump filter for this and have not found one. I do know that I need to cycle 260 gallons an hour for this size tank and found a water pump that will allow this just not sure on the size of the filter system itself. Any ideas? By the way this will be a mostly reef tank with maybe a clown and some criters to help clean (shrimp, hermits, ect.). Thanks for any help.

[gregr]

Howdy- and thanks for your service- and I'm sorry that you got hurt over there.
This probably doesn't exactly answer your question but maybe... The sump can (and definitely should) be as big as you can make fit. Also- when you were choosing the return pump did you factor in head loss?

[punkroc701]

That does kinda help. I wasn't sure if there was a set gallon for a sump depending on aquarium size or not. I am looking at a 300gph pump so I figured that should cover any overhead lose.

[gregr]

I think you'll want to max out the available space for that sump assuming it's going in the stand under the tank (while allowing space for all the plumbing of course). In a small system like yours it may be hard to fit in all the stuff-- protein skimmer, return pump, heater, etc. In terms of height it needs to be tall enough to hold the extra water that will fill the sump when the water level in the tank drops to just below the overflow (like when the power goes out or you turn off the return pump to clean, etc.). Most of the sumps I've owned have only been 16" tall- that's tall enough to hold the water and still leave plenty of room to reach in and clean out the sump when necessary.

[punkroc701]

Thanks for your help. It will take me a bit to get to that point with as little as I am able to build onto it. As I have more questions I'll continue this thread. Again thanks Greg you have been a huge help.

[gregr]

You're welcome. It's a great hobby with a great payoff. There's so much to learn but I think that's partly what makes it a great hobby. If it were easy it wouldn't be so satisfying.

[punkroc701]

Hey Greg, I ended up posting a new thread in the DIY section since most of my stuff will be DIY. Would you mind taking a look and giving me some insight? Thanks again for all your help. Oh and I got my overflow box and fiberglass work done today. I'll try and post a picture.

[gregr]

I'll go take a look but I bet you dollars to doughnuts the folks who hang out in that forum know tons more than I do about DIY projects. I have some tools, I do some work... and my wet/dry vac gets a lot of excercise

[punkroc701]

Hey Greg,

Wanted to say thanks for all the help in the begining (might as well still be the beginning as I am already changing tanks). I tried a nano 5g but have been told I need to go bigger as I am new to it all. So looking into a 55 now. Gave up the build for now. Not ready to try anything larger then a 55 and if I build it that is what it would end up being. Anyway thanks for pointing me in the right directions.