120g reef build

im planning on having LED lights for the refugium and for the main tank

 

i just had a thought and wanted to know what you guys thought of it.  I was wanting to do a DSB in my refugium, but feared that i might disterb the sand so i came up with this.  what if i silicone eggcrate vertically across my refugium in my sump so it was about 4in from the bottum of the tank and then filled it with 5in of sand so that only 1in of sand was above the eggcrate....what are your thoughts on this?

 

mine is built the same way and have a fuge with no probs but i run a clamp light with a 100 watt cpfl

 

I don't have a answer for the deep sand bed..
but your stand is coming along great
: )

 

thnx man..after the stand is done ill start on the canopy and then the LEDs

 

If your new to what your doing I would pass on the dsb for now. I have never tried one myself but from what I have read they can be problematic if your not careful. I would try and keep things as simple as you can.

 

well i recieved one of my 3 heatsinks for my LED lights today...i bought it sooner so i would know how to make my canopy...this monster is 12in long 10in wide and 2.75in tall...i originally planned to put 30 LEDs on a heatsink, but by looking at it i might be able to put a few more than that on it

 

i picked up my aquarium for AE today...looks alot bigger in person. got the stand set up in my room and the tank sitting on it...the oak trim is not on the stand yet.

 

looking really good man. Have you put any thought as to what kind of equipment your going to be using like skimmer powerheads and such? from the looks of the tand it seems a 40breader would make a nice sump and still leave plenty of space to work.

 

ya i want a 40breeder sump and that will leave me almost 2ft of space in the stand for other stuff...i want 2 eheim pumps for returns, 2 of the bulk reef suply GFO reactors and the octopus skimmer that is rated for 250gallons.. will also have to get the neptune apex unit to run my LEDs and of course 2 vortech mp40s /DesktopModules/ActiveForums/themes/_default//emoticons/smile.gif.....does anyone else want to pick up the tab for this equipment? lol still trying to figure out how much power i want each return pump to put out

 

I would just run 1 return and split it off, and get the brs duel reactor unless you really want 2.

 

i want the 2 seperate, personal preferance i guess

 

I'm doing the same build that you are, I chose to run the 1 Eheim and split it between the 2 , I have a feeling with 2 pumps, you plan on reducing the flow on each pump as may push alot of water back through the refugium.. Up to you on what you want..

 

i was going to use a gatevalve to reduce the flow and have both pumps equal the amount of flow i wanted...reason for 2 is incase one fails i have a backup

 

the canopy is almost done and all that is left is to drill out the top of the stand, then i will try to find someone with LR or BR for sale and start my cycle

 

so we finally get all the cardboard off of the aquarium and i go to clean the dust out and my worst feer comes to life.....the is a 4in long crack in the bottum corner of the tank /DesktopModules/ActiveForums/themes/_default/emoticons/sad.gif..will have to call AE on monday.

 

Double check that it isn't the silicone, the workers who make tanks get pretty sloppy on the bottoms and they leave a little bit on the bottom corners that looks like a crack. I've had a few people tell me their bottom was cracked when it's just a little silicone.

 

Also, if it was a 4" crack, it would most likely have spread the entire length of the tank by now.

 

i will try to prop the tank up so i can feel under it...if it is silicone then its a perfect resemblance to how glass cracks

 

Yea it looks really close to broken glass. If it's just silicone you can scratch it off. Broken glass will have the same hairline fracture on one side of the pane as it does on the other, so it will have a mirror crack that you can see from the other side too.