Building any reefers dream 20H tank

Had a brand new 20 high tank i thought id turn into a reef that u could basically keep any coral in. I bought some equipment:



tunze skimmer, tunze top off, vortech mp20, phosban 150, eheim return pump, ice cap 660 ballast with 4 retro fit t5's and a 1 watt flat mounted moon lite, 100 watt stealth heater and a 4" 86cfm fan. I got 2 uvl super actinics and 2 geismann aqua blue plus bulbs too. I got a reefkeeper 2 and the 15 gallon high sump to go yet.

The tank is drilled out for use with sump cause i dont want this equipment taking up my space in the tank.



I also am sick of buying crap stands so i picked up some tools to start building nice stuff. Im gonna make the stand for this tank out of oak.







I got a 3/8 drill, palm sander, router with plunger, jobsite table saw and a 12" compound miter saw with laser guide. I cant wait to bust out a gorgeous stand to my specifications. Ill try to keep everyone updated.

Oh also giving this setup to my gf for helping me so much with my 90 gallon

 

Anyone have suggestions or comments, wanna make everything perfect.

 

What wattage are the lights? Be very careful with high tanks, they are deceptive. You will need a lot more powerful lights than usual for penatrating deeper.

 

its 1" drain and 3/4" return with flow valve, eheim is rated at 156 gph at 4 feet of head. Thats around 7x turn over in the sump an hour...i want around 4 - 5 and hour to give skimmer time to skim so will prolly have to turn it down. I got a vortech mp20 for flow

 

4 t5's with sunlight supply individual reflectors, 24 watts apiece (25% overdriven with icecap 660) 120 watts (6 watts a gallon if u wanted to figure that way) on a 16" high tank. Im pretty sure ill be able to keep sps and clams almost ne where in the tank.

 

the tunze osmolater is a little confusing with all of its plastic mounting pieces, I just siliconed the 2 mounting tabs for each longer runner for the optical sensor and the overfill sensor to the end of the tank.

I have it connected to a 20 gallon bucket so it last about 2 weeks, i bought an extra pump for it because i started dosing kalk through it, tunze states that it will wear out the pump fast but its been going for a month or so without any problems.

Just a note about the output hose, it has to be placed higher than the water height in your top off bucket, otherwise it will create a siphon and empty the top off bucket down to the height of the output hose, I just have mine empty into the display tank

Its been really a joy sitting back and watching the thing add topoff water. Eliminates a lot of work and its extremely accurate within a couple millimeters. Definately worth the money.

What kind of wood are you going to use for the stand?????

 

I plan on using oak, man that top off unit sounds more complicated than it needs to be. My litermeter 3 was a breeze to set up for top off. I may go get another one of them and return the tunze system. I dont like the output hose has to be higher than the top off bucket.

 

WHHAT !!!!! Did you win the lotto or what
bleeding some cash hard...nice

 

I can't wait to see it in action.