Let me know what you think of my 54 gallon reef

[nlreefguy]

This is my 54 gallon reef system. No sump! All HOB equipment right now including eshopps psk-100h skimmer, 2 TLF reactors with carbon and NP biopellets, Eheim 1262 on a hang-on closed loop returning water to the system via two Sea Swirls, Tunze 6045 powerhead (adding a second next week), and all controlled by an Aquatronica controller.

Though you can't see them, there's a fair number of fish in there including a yellow tang, green mandarin, 2 yellowtail damsels (damn them!), 2 ocellaris clowns, one-spot rabbitfish,and a longfinned fairy wrasse. There's 35 coral colonies I think, of over 30 separate species. The idea I'm going with there is a mixed reef setup dominated by SPS.

I've been thinking about adding a sump via a HOB overflow to give me more skimmer options because my eshopps is not really doing it for me and I find it a little on the loud side (not that it's all that loud, but I just dream of an absolutely silent tank, and when the skimmer is off I almost achieve it!)

Sorry about the crappy pic (no photo skills). Let me know what you think and if you have any suggestions!

[hillegom]

It looks good. More pics please
A sump would be good. More water in the system and you can add filters, refug, Bad crabs etc

[nlreefguy]

Here's some more pics. These are not very representative of he colors of the corals. For some reason, I don't seem to be able to take a good pic of the tank. Anyone have any easy tips for picture taking with a typical point and shoot? I'm using a Canon Power Shot SD1000 Digital Elph. Anyway, these pics show you the right and left sides of the tank, as I said the corals are actually a lot more colorful than this with the naked eye.

[nlreefguy]

Oh yes, i forgot to mention that it's lit by a 250 watt metal halide (right now has a plusrite 14000K) and supplemented by a DIY dimming LED actinic strip (works great, by the way, and very cost-effective).

[christyf5]

Tank looks really nice! Maybe try using a tripod and making sure that the focus confirmation is on (or back off a bit and use the highest quality photo setting, then you can zoom and crop later). As well you could try using the white balance. Find something white (say a piece of PVC or something) and take a photo of it in your tank using the white balance setting, that should help with the colors :biggrin:

[scherzo]

The tank looks great.

As Christie said, Don't zoom in just move closer or crop later and check the white balance.

I often find just setting the camera to a "SUN" setting for the white balance works for my bulbs (14K Phoenix)

-jeff

[bvlester]

THat is a nice tank you have there a sump would be a good thing but I know how budgets can get.

Bill

[nlreefguy]

Yeah I'm definitely going to go the sump route. It's just that I'm renting and I have had some issues with tank overflows while using sumps in the past. I figure if I set up float switches in my display tank to turn off the system pump in the event of an overflow failure, that will elimiate that. Don't you think? Also, thanks for the tips on the photography, I'll defnitiely try that stuff. I'm so "camera-illiterate"!

[andestang]

Nice looking set-up :mrgreen: ! What are the deminsions of your tank ?

[hillegom]

You have to set up your system so that if the power goes out, the water that flows back into the sump does not overflow the sump. Controled with vaccum breaks and the original level of water in the sump.
I do not yet have a sump, so could someone with more knowledge chime in here?

[nlreefguy]

yes, as I see it, the two biggest problems would be:

1. failure of the overflow with the subsequent overflow of the display by the system pump pumping the water out of the sump

2. failure of the system pump with the subsequent overflow of the sump with display tank water

If the sump has large enough void space and float switches are installed on the display to turn off the sytem pump, this should elimiate (or at least reduce the chances of) both possibilities, right?

Oh, the dimensions of the tank are 36X18X20. Thanks for the comments so far! Keep 'em coming!

[hillegom]

The DT will never overflow if designed right. Nor the sump
Read this as a starter
http://www.melevsreef.com/what_sump.html

[andestang]

Emergency over flow is a must, float switches and such for pump shut down are nice, but you would not really need them with a emergency overflow set-up. As for a sump over flow(more likely - power outage etc ) such as for when a pump shuts down and the return line back siphons, a margin of available empty space is required to handle this - here a link for a rough estimate
http://www.reefcentral.com/index.php/sump-volume - you could also add a check valve in the return line to prevent back siphoning or add a bleed hole in the return outlet just below your water line in the tank. Just a few quick idea's.

[nlreefguy]

Emergency over flow is a must, float switches and such for pump shut down are nice, but you would not really need them with a emergency overflow set-up. As for a sump over flow(more likely - power outage etc ) such as for when a pump shuts down and the return line back siphons, a margin of available empty space is required to handle this - here a link for a rough estimate
http://www.reefcentral.com/index.php/sump-volume - you could also add a check valve in the return line to prevent back siphoning or add a bleed hole in the return outlet just below your water line in the tank. Just a few quick idea's.

But how would you do an emergency overflow setup in a HOB style overflow?