The planning begins

[SeaDog]

So, after 2 years of getting my armpits wet in my 110 gal x-tall I'm going to downscale. As much as I love the look of the 110 it's proved to much of a pain to work with and the lights I need to get to have a reef are mucho $$$.
After a bit of research the lights I have seem to be best suited to a 75. (2 x 175 MH and 260W of PC).
So this time I'm gonna do some planning because I have learnt my lessons in the rushing in depart the hard way.
To that end I'm going to ask you good people to comment and advise me as I go along. I'm not going to do anything new or experimental, I'm just determined to get it right first time round for a change .
So, first of, any comments on the tank I'm looking at or my lighting estimations?

Next, onto the plumbing / Drilling.

This is probably the bit I'm most worried about getting right. I'm thinking of a Calfo style overflow box made from glass cut to size. The box will have 2 x 1" bulkheads returning to the sump.
I'm thinking of drilling for 2 closed loops (although I'll probably use on pump to supply both for now). I'm going to use a SCWD on the returns for a bit of random flow. The loop suction will be 1" and returns 3/4".
Any comments on pipe sizes?
I'll attach a couple of pics to show you what I'm thinking of.
Any of the sizes look bad?
All comments welcome
Many thanks
Steve

[Doug1]

The 75 is a nice compromise size but I wish I had gone with a 120 for the extra 6 front to back its only 3" taller at 24" as opposed to 21"
Are you doing a deep sand bed or what? if not you could adopt the rock rack with built in spray bar to raise the rock
OK on the squids, ya know the bigger the pump the faster they cycle back and forth, might work on the returns better than on the closed loop. You prolly dont want to spend a ton but have you looked at them Ocean Motion devices, I think they are called, look neat
Most importantly what are you hoping to focus on coralwise in this tank?

[SeaDog]

Thanks for the quick reply Doug

Some answers for you...

I'm going to reuse the existing stand so the tank has to have a footprint of 48 x 18. As much as I'd love the longer tank, it's something for the future.
I did look at the rock rack idea and liked it. I'm planning on a ssb of 1 to 2 inches (I'm just not into the BB look). I thought I might use one of the closed loops for a bottom rack / spray arrangement but I'm not sure how that will work with the sand. Thinking about it I just realised I need more holes .

This all going to be on a fairly tight budget so I'm thinking it will be the SCWD for now then upgrade to the Ocean Motion devices next time round.

As far as corals go I'm not planning SPS at all. Just softies, LPS and perhaps an anenome.

Thanks again Mate

Steve

[SeaDog]

Dang, forgot the sump returns, gonna have to figure that out now!

[SeaDog]

OK

Done some re-thinks and some changes to the plan.

I'm not going to drill for the returns, they will go over the top.
I'm going to drill one cls return on the bottom of the tank for a rock rack / spray bar thingy. Hopefully it won't cause a sand storm and if it does I'll just plug it.

Steve

[motorslave]

You can still use a spray bar with a sand bed. It may cause the sand in the back to push out a bit, but if you dont see it and the back stays clean your good! You can limit the flow to the spray bar so as not to send the sand everywhere. You could do what ever you wanted with the upper returns and this can all be done with one good pump. Maybe like this....

[motorslave]

Its a realy effective set up. Its a BB tank but you could make it do what ever you wanted in the tank. You could raise the spray up , drill the holes where you need the flow and the pipe is actually pretty simple.

Robert

[SeaDog]

That's just the sort of reassurance I was looking for , thanks mate
Thanks for the Pics...say a thousand words!
Nobody has said anything about the sizes of the bulkheads so I think today is the day for ordering the hole saws.
Thanks for the help so far folks

Steve