150g fowlr

so i have finally gotten around to getting most of every thing i need for my tank. i have been hunting on craigslist off and on for months looking to find every thing i need for the tank. i found this 150 tank that came drilled for over flows and also 2 close looped holes. i also got a 55 gallon tank that i turned into my sump with 1 set of baffle with a bubble trap since i figured this just gone to be a fowlr tank i wont need to set it up for much more and if i end up needing to it wont be hard to change stuff around any way. for the return im using an internal pump that i beleive will do 2k gallons an hour and then for the closed loop system i got to little giant 4-MDQX-SC that i believe will do 1k gallons per hour each. so first i dunno if that will be to much movement for the tank but again ill have ball valves on them so if i need to dial them back i will be able to. for the skimmer i got is a Berlin XL protein skimmer it is rated up to 400 gallon tank so it should do the trick for me. the stand i built myself and plan on also building my on canopy, my first question is how should i go about lighting this tank? its only gone to be a fowlr tank so dunno how much/what kind of bulbs i need. my last and seems to be the hardest thing to find is the live rock ill need. i have looked all around online and have also made some of my own but just don't like the look of it and want to either find base rock or live rock mainly from craigslist. here are some pics for ya, let me know what you think


sump

skimmer

 

off to a great start..

If I may offer some advice on that sump, raise the baffles a little to get a higher water depth and more water volume in the system..

 

cool keep us updated

 

Off to a good start. I'm just a little concerned that your stand won't be strong enough to hold all the weight. The manufacturer of my 150 says it weights 250 lbs empty, and nearly 3000 lbs full.

Jake

 

I was just thinking the same thing.

I'll go out on a limb and say that I'm sure that that's not enough to hold the weight -- judging by the photos as it stands right now. No way.

 

If you want the front to be open like it is, your going to need at least 2x8's oriented perpendicular to the floor not parallel like whatever the base is on there now. I would never fill that thing up with water the way it sits. building a canopy is really easy, just get some 1x8 pine planks, a sheet of sanded 1/4" plywood and some hinges and your good to go.

That sounds like an awful lot of flow going into a FOWLR, are you taking to account the head loss? Powerheads in the main display tank would save you a lot of electricity.

For lighting, it really depends on your budget. You could go super cheap with shop lights, but there going to spawn algae like crazy. A pair of 6' retro VHO's would be nice, and cheap if you could find them used, and allow you to keep some mushrooms and other very low light demanding corals.

keep looking around for live rock, I got mine for $.50 / pound off craigs when the exact same stuff is $8-$10 / pound in stores. When I was looking, I sent e-mails to everyone with a full tank setups on craigslist asking if they would just sell me their all their rock, and I hit the motherload.

~Will.

 

thanks bama, skimmer says it works best between 6-8inches of water and i have the baffles at 8 inches also cant raise the skimmer om the sump since it's also really tall. so i figured that is all i can do, could i still raise the baffles?

 

thanks...will do!

 

the corner limbs are 4 by 4 pressure treated lumber and 2 by 4's are the 2 center brasses, i will also have brasses in front of the sump just took them out to show u guys the sump. do u think that will work and if not what should i go with?

 

there will be 2 2 by 4's in front of the sump just took them out to show u guys the sump. thanks on the canopy that is what i was like what i was thinking. ya those the are flows that they say on the book for that height. ill look into the retro VHO's i defiantly don't want to have some huge algae problems with this tank. ya i found 1 guy that was selling for .75 a pound but i was too late but defiantly gone to keep looking.