TatumFan
Non-member
Hi all,
I'm mulling over a tank upgrade and wanted to get some feedback from members here. I would really like to have a tank filled with acropora, and I'm also looking to have a clean, "professional aquascape" display with minimal equipment. I've been going through the various tank-of-the-month threads on forums, tank features on ReefBuilders, and tours of various coral growing facilities, and trying to parse exactly what makes commercial aquaculturists have much higher growth rates and survival rates than I do. I would really like to achieve spawning in my system, but I feel like I need to bolster my growth rates and general coral health first.
So.... first on my list is the necessary volume of water: it seems that the largest volume of water tends to grow acropora the best. Is this because of availability of elements needed for growth, characteristics of fish kept in bigger tanks, stability of salinity, lack of shock experienced from 5 gallon water changes, or the character of water flow across a long distance when larger pumps are involved? I'm targeting at least 80 gallons for the display and 4' of length.
Related to volume is height; in my opinion, deeper is better for aesthetics, and possibly for inducing fish spawning behavior, but does a low surface to total volume ratio mean less O2 for corals and therefore less optimal conditions for acros? It seems commercial operations always have really low tanks where acros are right on the water line, or just a few inches below it. I think this would help with dissolved oxygen, in addition to being economical, but it's not the best for viewing, unless it's a top-down lagoon tank.
Water flow: I'm considering closed loop pumps instead of powerheads. If I can drill the tank and just have a few eductors in the display instead of powerheads, it would keep things clean and be one less wire in the tank. It seems the best hobbyist tanks have a lot of powerheads in the tank and a lot of churn at the surface of the water. I havent seen too many tanks built around eductors, but I'm hopeful they can match or exceed the flow from a powerhead.
Filtration: please correct me if I'm wrong, but SPS should be very efficient at nutrient export and capturing small particles given the amount of surface area they possess, and therefore minimal additional filtration should be needed. My ideal nutrient export comes in the form of coral growth! If possible, I'd prefer not to have a sump, but a sump and large skimmer seem to be a common denominator for virtually every successful hobbyist and commercial operation. Alternatively, if I were to have a sump, I'd be looking at a large skimmer, possibly some sort of biological reactor, and no filter roll.
Lighting: LED bars.
Sorry for the wall of text. I'll sum it up with these two questions: Do I actually need a sump and skimmer for a roughly 100 gallon SPS display system? Has anyone here used a closed-loops instead of powerheads on their display tank?
I'm mulling over a tank upgrade and wanted to get some feedback from members here. I would really like to have a tank filled with acropora, and I'm also looking to have a clean, "professional aquascape" display with minimal equipment. I've been going through the various tank-of-the-month threads on forums, tank features on ReefBuilders, and tours of various coral growing facilities, and trying to parse exactly what makes commercial aquaculturists have much higher growth rates and survival rates than I do. I would really like to achieve spawning in my system, but I feel like I need to bolster my growth rates and general coral health first.
So.... first on my list is the necessary volume of water: it seems that the largest volume of water tends to grow acropora the best. Is this because of availability of elements needed for growth, characteristics of fish kept in bigger tanks, stability of salinity, lack of shock experienced from 5 gallon water changes, or the character of water flow across a long distance when larger pumps are involved? I'm targeting at least 80 gallons for the display and 4' of length.
Related to volume is height; in my opinion, deeper is better for aesthetics, and possibly for inducing fish spawning behavior, but does a low surface to total volume ratio mean less O2 for corals and therefore less optimal conditions for acros? It seems commercial operations always have really low tanks where acros are right on the water line, or just a few inches below it. I think this would help with dissolved oxygen, in addition to being economical, but it's not the best for viewing, unless it's a top-down lagoon tank.
Water flow: I'm considering closed loop pumps instead of powerheads. If I can drill the tank and just have a few eductors in the display instead of powerheads, it would keep things clean and be one less wire in the tank. It seems the best hobbyist tanks have a lot of powerheads in the tank and a lot of churn at the surface of the water. I havent seen too many tanks built around eductors, but I'm hopeful they can match or exceed the flow from a powerhead.
Filtration: please correct me if I'm wrong, but SPS should be very efficient at nutrient export and capturing small particles given the amount of surface area they possess, and therefore minimal additional filtration should be needed. My ideal nutrient export comes in the form of coral growth! If possible, I'd prefer not to have a sump, but a sump and large skimmer seem to be a common denominator for virtually every successful hobbyist and commercial operation. Alternatively, if I were to have a sump, I'd be looking at a large skimmer, possibly some sort of biological reactor, and no filter roll.
Lighting: LED bars.
Sorry for the wall of text. I'll sum it up with these two questions: Do I actually need a sump and skimmer for a roughly 100 gallon SPS display system? Has anyone here used a closed-loops instead of powerheads on their display tank?
