NEW Tank build starts here
 

Well it has been a long time coming but my 24" cube has now left the building, our 3 year old is asking "daddy where have the fishes gone?" and I am left trying to explain they are on holiday while Daddy builds a bigger home for them.

So my corals are at Fish tails in Ottawa having a rest and Concept Aquariums are in the process of building a 36x32x24 tank with the Euro brace made out of one single piece of glass (WOW).

The specs will be as follows

tank size: 36x32x24
Sump: 36x20x18
Sump location: Basement
return pump: TBD
Tank style: dominent LPS but with a few tasty SPS
Lighting: GHL Mitras
Flow: Likely 2 x MP10WES
Control: GHL ProfiLux full configured.
Skimmer: CSC 250

The tank will be the GHL demo and test tank for all new products launched. We then will be doing another system after this for all Ecotech products, my last tank has been running the Radion for a year now, and we will be putting the new Radion Pro on this tank.

I was going to use Marco Rock but Seacare have been cooking some great pieces of LR for me now for a few weeks so I will be using this now.

Aquascaping, I am thinking of a small low level canyon with an arch for the SPS.

Of course photos to follow as things get going.

Sounds awesome Michael!! Can't wait to see it developed.

Pump choice?


approx 175 gal total volume
10' head
prefer in sump but will consider in line.
Low wattage if possible

What are your suggestions?

Water Blaster Hy-drive pumps.

For something quiet and reliable RD 8.2 is probably the right size. Waveline DC-10000 is also probably big enough although I haven't seen any pump curves just that it does up to 16.4 feet. Water blaster is another option although I haven't heard too much about them and you'll need the biggest model. These can all be used in sump.

so the next question is turn over rate of water an hour, so I can then decide pump size.

The average google answer seems to be 10x an hour

For me it depends, 10x is probably a good ball park within reason but the larger the tank to more this becomes impractical if the goal is efficiency and low noise. Going up 10ft I wouldn't aim for more than 1000 gph so a little under 10x in your case. Make up the rest with MP10s or whatever.

What's your overflow and plumbing plans?

You want your return pump to match your skimmer output.

There is no point in putting 10x the flow through your sump if your skimmer isn't going to be able to handle the water volume that is moving through your sump.

Since you are planning on an LPS dominant system with a few SPS and you are already going to be running MP10's then there is no need to get crazy with your return pump, just have it match or be a little less then your skimmer pump.

i.e. your skimmer pump is pushing X amount GPH, then your return pump (factoring head loss) should be X amount.

You're know they are interdependent right? I never understood this approach, design you're sump properly and it will trap lighter organics in the skimmer chamber regardless or display tank turnover. I'd base my tank turnover more on the size of the display and what's needed to effectively surface skim filter out suspended particles/debris.