My old system was quite heavily stocked, so I decided early in 2002 that a new home would be required.  so the following, is the ongoing saga of my 200gallon system. There is loads of info covering all aspects of this system dotted throughout this section and others such as the DIY, and H&T sections so feel free to prowl around at your leisure.

When looking at a new system I decided to first write down a list of items that had bugged me about my old one from the start and make sure that the new one took these items into consideration....These were-

1 Size (my older system was only 12" front to back, this caused allot of problems where circulation and aqua-scaping are involved.) so I decided eventually that a bigger 72 x 24 x 24 (145 imp gall) system was called for.

2 Sump. As above, I had been running without a sump for a 'LONG' time now and it p****s me off immensely, so this was a major consideration,,,,after doing a few drawings to work out cabinet space etc I settled on a 48 x 12 x 18 sump which gives an additional 35 gall to the system putting total water volume close to 200gall. The sump house will contain the sump itself which will hold a compartment for a DSB (deep sand bed). A Deltec AP850 skimmer (for those of you that aren't acquainted with these skimmers yet. 'They are superb' The sump house will also carry a DIY Ca reactor (see DIY section) and all the usual return pumps etc.

3 Circulation. I am a firm advocate of the theory that the long-term success of some systems is strongly connected to whether there is sufficient flow within the tank itself. Also that in-tank turnover and sump turnover are completely separate issues and should be treated so on a sump based system such as mine. To this end, I did toy with the idea of using my old favourite of multiple powerhead's down the back corners, but instead decided it was about time I took on board some of the newer methodology and went for closed loops instead. Not fed from 1 large main pump as most do, but simply by using four higher output pumps mounted just below the tank drawing water out and down then strait back up to exit via triple holed return pipes down the back corners and under the rockwork as a flushing system. the big benefits of this are, reduced heat build up due to the pumps being outside the tank. and noise reduction simply by having less pumps in total.

For those not acquainted with reef-tank methodology, I would suggest reading up on Circulation. in the 'Hints and tips' section. This section gives more detail as to the reasoning behind my proposed methods. This is one area that many people underestimate during the outset , consequently buying undersized power heads, too few, or badly designed ones. The consequences, are that you end up with a suffocated and mucky tank that isn't keeping itself clean,,,,(Refugium or grass bed tanks are an exception here obviously which rely on different methods for nutrient export)

So I ended up with the following.

5 x Aquabee 3000 pumps set up as closed loops on the main tank giving a total output of 15,000 ltrs/hr

2 x Aquabee 3000 return pumps from the sump giving a total of 6,000 ltrs/hr

This gives a total water turnover / motion of 21,000. ltrs/hr or 4615 gall/hr

 This comes out at 26 x the entire system volume/hr

The diagram below represents the full circulation system as seen from the rear.

Pump 'A' Is the feed pump for the Deltec skimmer

Pumps 'B' Are feed pumps for the five closed loops which flow as follows.

1 3000lph out under the main rock formation via a covered spray bar.

1 x 3000lph out through a spray bar running down the inside of a reef column construction.

2 x 3000lph vertical corner returns with 3 adjustable nozzles on each ( 1 top, 1 middle, and 1 bottom)

1 x 3000lph flowing out through a buried tube along the front of the in-tank sand bed. This has three adjustable nozzles poking out along its length pushing water at 45deg upwards from the bottom front to the top rear of the tank across the rock faces.

Pumps 'C' Are the two main sump return pumps exiting via two nozzles mounted in the back panel. each one is rated at 3000lph. A minimal head of only 1m applies so there is only a little loss in output.

Because I have an extensive  collection of LPS corals I needed to keep water motion to sensible levels due to the more sensitive nature of LPS corals. Most of these will end up further down in the tank in slower areas of flow whist the top areas will be dominated by SPS corals which require a higher flow rate. It should be remembered that flow rates of 30-40 x tank vol/hr are not uncommon in SPS tanks however as I said above I thought that this might be a bit overkill in a mixed system. but it still goes to show that circulation is one area to be considered early on, rather than after the water has gone in.

                                 This is a diagram of the proposed main plumbing minus the closed loop sections.

As you will notice, the sump design is a bit different, with the DSB held out of the main sump flow and fed via a tee off from the main overflow pipe work and from the outflow from the skimmer. To understand the reasoning behind this design have a look at the these two sections...  Circulation.  and  Separator sump/DSB The only alteration I have made to this design which isn't shown on this diagram is to remove the Ehiem 1260 skimmer feed pump from inside the sump and move it to the skimmer compartment fed via a bulkhead fitting where the pump used to be at the other end of the sump. This is to cut down on heat transference by keeping as many pumps out of the water body as possible

This next diagram shows the proposed reef structure. It was very important that I kept rockwork away from the back of the tank in an effort to keep circulation going as much as possible. To this end I opted for a fairly low and very open rock structure ending at one end in a column that stretches up to the waters surface. the top of the main structure will be dominated by mainly Acro's with a few clams nestled in between. Whilst the column will have various branching and table corals growing out at various levels. The lower more shaded and tranquil areas of rockwork will be where I place my collection of LPS corals combined with various polyps and a small selection of mushrooms. You will notice from the diagram that the rockwork is raised up from the base of the tank. This has been done by creating an 'island' of supports and egg crate with a retaining wall around to keep sand out from under the rockwork. This will enable me to effectively place the LR on an island which raises it out of the shallow sand bed to prevent areas of trapped detritus.  some pieces of rock will be allowed to come into contact with the sand bed in order to promote migration of worms etc, however the main purpose of this sand layer will be cosmetic rather than for filtration which is taken care of by the DSB in the sump. The big benefit, is that I don't have to worry about crud collecting under the rockwork, or having areas of sand that are compacted due to rock pressure. Effectively the sand bed is spread around these islands up to the top of the retaining wall, and 'up-to' rather than under the rockwork. depth will only be approximately 2" deep, the bed will consist of sugar fine Aragamax calcium substrate or P52, so that it promotes critter life but at the same time remains nice and white, unlike the coarser coral sand which can 'and does' collect and clog with detritus making it appear dirty. Here is a peek at the proposed structure:

These are some pic's of the new tank as of November 2001. As you can see, I'm on the verge of getting some water in there now.

This photo was taken during filling. with the lighting canopy on top minus its outer panelling.

Continue onto page 2 for further work that is under way.

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For info on my DIY Cabinet /Separator sump etc

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