noob 375 catsharks

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sean92

Gambusia
MFK Member
Dec 30, 2013
16
2
18
austin tx
Hello all, This is my first post on MFK but have been lurking around for years. Any way I have recently purchased my first big tank a glass 96" 30" 30" tank that will eventually(hopefully) have coral cats and was hoping for a few pointers from you guys. For the stand I plan on using 2" tubular steel, do I need to lay plywood or foam under the tank? I've read so many different opinions and honestly started confusing myself lol. The tank has an over flow and is bottom drilled, Can I run pvc straight down to a filter sock then have that drip to a 5 gallon bucket of bio ball? The bucket will have holes in the bottom to flow into my sump? My sump will only be live rock and a return pump. Also my tank has 4 holes for returns do I need that many? I was thinking of running two as returns, one capped with a bulkhead and have one to a valve for water changes. Sorry for all the questions this is my first big tank and I want to do it right. Any info you guys have about anything would be greatly appreciated!!

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Nice tank!!

Yes, you can run PVC down to a filter sock and then into a bio ball set up. It's a very good way to do it. A lot of my current displays are set up that way - stand pipe down to a filter sock (or row of filter socks) into the sump. Biotowers set up in the sump as well.

I personally would lay a sheet of foam insulation down to help avoid pressure points on a glass tank of that size. Well worth the couple bucks you'll spend at Home Depot or Lowe's.

As for the other holes/returns - use as many as you'd like. Having a water change line is a great idea. I always try to plumb in a drain valve to make water changes easier to pull off. One thing I will say is maybe figure out use of a stand pipe to go about half way up the water column from the bulkhead you use for the drain. That way if for some reason the valve fails or gets bumped open a little, you only drain half the tank instead of having sharks flopping on the wet sandy bottom.
 
Thanks for all the info zoodiver, I will defiantly put foam under the stand! Awhile back I found a post where you said protein skimmers are not "mandatory" for sharks. As off right now I don't have one, would one greatly improve the quality of life for my marine buddies? Would they be just as happy/healthy with out one? The price of a good skimmer is more than what I paid for the tank lol
 
Skimmers are mechanical filtration, so there are other ways to pull debris out of the water (like a good filter sock).
A side benefit of a skimmer is they keep the disolved oxygen levels up. On a tank of this volume, there should be more than enough gas exchange at the water surface for the sharks you are talking about without needing to add extra bubbles.

The up side is that you can always add one later if you'd like to.
 
I think I will just use a smaller micron sock like 25-50 and put up with changing it daily till I get a skinmer. I was looking at flow charts for my over flow, since it is bottom drilled would it be "gravity flow,average pressure or high pressure?" I'm trying to get an idea for my return pump and the numbers can change quiet a bit just by pressure! Sorry if I'm killing you guys with question
 
I have no exp with this but from what I can think it depends on where the overflow pipe is like as if your pipe is right under the surface then there won't be as much pressure. It just depends on how tall your overflow pipe will be


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I use the over the side PVC overflows. I can run a water pump up to 300 gallons per hour on a 1 inch PVC overflow pipe. But I usually stay around the 250 gallon per hour range for 55 gal tanks. And around 100-150 for 20-30 gal tanks. As far as using a PVC over flow through the bottom of your tank I don't think it would really matter what size pump you use as long as its not too extreme. But there should be some other guys that can give you more info on that.



Note: How ever high your over flow pipe is that is were your water level will be. Sometimes a 1/8-1/4 inch higher.
 
I'm new to all of this so sorry if I'm not making sense lol I have an overflow box and there is 3 holes drilled in the bottom of it so I don't think I will have piping? I thought the over flow box would fill up and I would literally have a bulkhead and maybe 6" of PVC running straight down to my sump? Any one have ideas on lighting? I was thinking a 72" beamworks led
 
I personally like the pvc overflows better. And i have always liked the marineland led lights. They give a great shimmer to the tank and the fish look great under them.

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The marineland 72" LEDs are $1200 dollars and the beam works 72" are $250 I can't see a $950 dollar price difference maybe cause I'm a noobie lol btw I'm not planning on a lot of coral or anything so I don't think I need anything special?
 
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