55 Gallon Acrylic - Several Purchase/Setup Questions

[iChillum]

Folks,


Well, it's been a long time since I was involved with this community...nearly 5 years now! I had a silicone seam give out way back when, and after the stress of losing livestock along with everything else...I bowed out of the hobby gracefully for a while.

I'm finally back, and just recently purchased a used 55 gallon custom acrylic tank to get back in the swing of things. Yes...I went acrylic to help satisfy my fears of having another leak. I feel that I'm fairly versed all things considered, however with the collective hive-mind here on the forums, I figured I would get a wealth of good advice! I was thinking of splitting this into several different topics...but I'll give it a shot at the huge consolidated view. I have a lot to accomplish since I am once again starting from scratch, however here are the items I'm working on now that I would like your review of:

Acrylic Buffing (polishing)
The tank appears to be structurally sound, and as of now I've been slaving away at scraping down all of the salt creep and coralline algae off the tank. Once this is completed, I'm considering buffing (online people seem to be offended when saying that, so for you "haters"...POLISHING) out the tank since there are a considerable amount of scratches. None of them are what you would call a gash, or too deep...as an example my fingernail is not caught on them when rubbing over them.

• What grit of wet/dry sandpaper(s) should I be using? 2500? I realize this question is somewhat subjective, and is purely based on the scratches themselves...but are there grits types that you use in succession, that you find to be a chemistry for success?
• Online materials are stating that purchasing a headlight buffing kit is a good compound for use with acrylic aquariums. Is this true? If not, is there a good compound I should be buying for the final "buff"?

Filtration
Here is the scoop. Previously with my 75 gallon aquarium, I ran with a 20 gallon refugium which had a 120 gallon skimmer, live rock/sand/chaeto. While this route sounds rater attractive to me...I have been leaning not going this route because of the following factors:

1. Building a refugium
   1. Previously I was fortunate enough to have picked up a homemade refugium before, and it worked well serving it's purpose. Retail refugiums seem to be rather price-prohibitive...and looking through DIY plans online I feel a little leery about the glass cuts, silicone etc.
2. Possible overflow
   1. If it's not obvious, I still have whiplash from having over 100 gallons go onto my floor as I vigorously tried to save my livestock. With the mindset of trying to put together a highly effective tank while still having somewhat of a relative budget, I'm not sure I would have the funds to invest in a valve system to make sure the water stops flowing at a certain point.
3. 2-year old toddler
   1. This is an ongoing fear with several facets of the tank, but I have the equivalent of a drunk dwarf running around my house every day who has a penchant for destroying things. If I were to make a refugium it would reside under the tank. If this was an option, I would probably have to child-lock the doors on the stand...but figured this was something I just wanted to throw out into the wind.

If anyone can satisfy my concerns and prove me wrong...I am still secretly in love with refugiums. Note that with this 55 gallon, I see this as my re-initiation into the marine world...and if the addiction takes hold, I can only imagine bigger tanks and prospects in the future!

My current consideration has in fact been a hang-on skimmer:

• AquaMaxx HOB-1 : http://tinyurl.com/8yovg77

It has good ratings from users, is rated to 75 gallons which overcompensates a little bit for livestock, and is not part of the refugium schema. From here I was evaluating additional media filters to use as a supplement. With only 55 gallons of water, I'm of the opinion that I should really focus on strong filtration so I can have a reasonable amount of livestock and not have to constantly monitor ammonia levels.

Here are my final thoughts and questions...

• Do users have experience with the AquaMaxx HOB-1, and if so was it satisfactory?
• Without a refugium, are there any suggestions on additional filter media filtration that would complement the skimmer?
• Are there folks on the forums that can make a refugium with their eyes closed that can give me courage if I decide to go that route?

Lighting
This is an area that is sure to get a healthy amount of dispute, since it seems everyone has their own take on lighting that they hold onto affectionately.

As you all can already see, I'm planning on a relatively low volume of water with 55 gallons and no refugium...so heat is going to have to be at least somewhat of a consideration. It will be housed on the main floor of my house, and should NOT be in a "natively" hot environment.

With price, heat, and every other consideration I've evaluated against I'm currently checking out T5 lighting. I would love for someone to point me to information otherwise, but LED sounds pretty exciting although once again price-prohibitive.

Currently I'm evaluating:

• Coralife Lunar Aqualight Quad T5 HO : http://tinyurl.com/7cwsng8
  • 48" L X 9.5" W X 2.5" H
    2 - HO T5 10,000K bulbs
    2 - HO T5 actinic bulbs
    4 - LED bulbs
    54 Watts

With this, I also have the added perk that Petco is having a Independence Day sale for 20% off through tomorrow :heh:. It has high user reviews on most sites including Marine Depot...

• Does everyone agree that this should be sufficient lighting for softies and maybe an LPS or two?
• Is 4x 54watt bulbs overkill for 55 gallon vs. 75?
• Does anyone own the fixture that can speak to the heat experiences?

View attachment 7760

I think that is a good beginning to my quest, and I appreciate any and all input. I brought a wealth of humility to the table...so sharpen your teeth as necessary! I'll leave you all a quick photo collage I put together of my old tank (which I also added as my avatar). Brings a tear to my eye to see my old livestock...and I was able to achieve some amazing things with just compact florescent back when.

Thanks again!

 

[a bag of it]

I'm still relatively new to this hobby, but one thing I'd recommend for sure is investing in some LEDs. They will pay for themselves very quickly between savings on the energy bill as well as bulb changes.

 

[iChillum]

I'm still relatively new to this hobby, but one thing I'd recommend for sure is investing in some LEDs. They will pay for themselves very quickly between savings on the energy bill as well as bulb changes.

Thanks for the quick reply a bag of it! Are there any examples you could provide for pre-manufactured hoods, etc.? I'd really rather not do any wiring or homebrew items if I have the choice :hat:

 

[iChillum]

Oh...and I guess if anyone was curious, here is the tank that I'm cleaning up right now. I've been a little lazy so I only have about 25% of the coralline algae and salt off haha:

[attachment=61896:name]

 

[a bag of it]

reefkoi, one of our sponsors is the exclusive retailer of the EVO series of LEDs. They seem to be some of the more affordable units. Ecotech Radion are at the other end of the spectrum, pretty pricey, but many say they're the best. AquaIllumination is coming out with their new Vega unit, which may reduce the price of their older Sol unit. This should be enough info to get you started with your research. I've been researching LEDs for a few days now, and I'm not even planning on getting any for a few months lol.

 

[iChillum]

Awesome...I'm researching them now.

At least in my initial investigation, it appears that the EVO 200 has 100 LEDs at 2 watts a pop (200 watts). The hood I'm looking at is probably 225 watts or so with the lunar LEDs. Unless I'm reading the power consumptions incorrectly, running it through the calculator it would be just short of a $20 savings annually.

For the LEDs, I quickly took a look at some of the videos that reefkoi has up on YouTube...and there isn't a doubt in my mind that the output versus consumption on those appears to blow everything else out of the park.

Being that the hood I'm looking at is $289, and the EVO 200 is $499 with only a $17 annual savings on electricity (mustn't forget the price of bulb replacements)...it still seems like sort of a high-end solution? Is this reasonable? Also, is it fair to say that in terms of light density and lumens LED is the winner...however T5s still might be a cheaper solution overall with less optimal results?

Sorry I'm so inquisitive...but inquiring minds want to know :whoo:

 

[a bag of it]

I'll let some of the more experienced users reply with more details, but from what I understand, the majority of the savings come from the bulb replacements. I know t5's are cheaper, but replacing MH bulbs every 9 months at over $100 a bulb for nicer bulbs, it certainly adds up. Maybe one way to look at it is that evo should last over 10 years without ever having to spend another dollar. The difference in price would come out to only $21 a year, so the electricity savings alone would pay for it. Tack on the additional bulb replacement savings and it should be pretty clear how much you'd be saving.

 

[303travism]

You could run 2/ 120watt evo's over your 55 that's what I have over my 90 and it does good over a 55 it will do great!

 

[303travism]

This is how I mounted my evo's I did mine in a hurry with a little more thought I'm sure it could have been mounted a little cleaner

 

[Haulin Oates]

Yeah, 2 200s over a 55 would be overkill, unless your growing SPS on your sand bed!! I have 438 total watts over my 120, and its bright! I have 2 120 evos, an aquaufo, and 2 T5s. Half the time the aquaufo isn't even on.

 

[303travism]

Yeah, 2 200s over a 55 would be overkill, unless your growing SPS on your sand bed!! I have 438 total watts over my 120, and its bright! I have 2 120 evos, an aquaufo, and 2 T5s. Half the time the aquaufo isn't even on.

More like sps in the sump lol! But all jokes aside 2/200 over a 55 you would have to acclimate every coral you ever put in there.

 

[a bag of it]

When did he say he wanted to do two?

Sent from my AT&T Samsung Galaxy Note

 

[303travism]

When did he say he wanted to do two?

Sent from my AT&T Samsung Galaxy Note

I just made the assumption cause I don't thin you would get 4' of coverage out of 1 200 watt the edges of your tank would have dead spots and you would spend just as much getting supplement lighting.

 

[CRW Reef]

I think Jack's post was a typo and meant to maybe say 2 - 120w evos. But I could be wrong

 

[Black Bart]

Man that's quite funny.. I have an identical 55g acrylic and stand in my garage I'm tryin to get started!! So I'll follow ya close and show my progress and we can compare notes! I'm attempting to build a custom 20g refugium. Plexi is quite pricy tho.

 

[iChillum]

Well first off, I missed having such an interested and responsive community...you guys are awesome! :rockon:

303travism

All great considerations, and thanks for the great pictures on the hood mount since I'm thinking about doing something similar! All things considered, going with (2x) EVO 100s looks dreamy, but is rather contrary to the concept of frugal I was going for lol. Just to also throw it out there, I'm leery on SPS until the addiction takes hold and I get a larger tank. With their light demands, as well as general sensitivity to the levels in your tank...I'd sort of like to wait till I'm playing with a larger water volume so I have a little grace in my step.

a bag of it
Thanks for having my back, but to be fair I didn't explicitly rule out two lights either :hippie:. But, with the proposed solutions I'd be looking at $6-800 which I'm not sure I'm committed to or not yet. Granted, nothing is OFF the table...I just hope that users can set aside the inevitable reef smug to discuss the T5 options as well lol.

Black Bart

Sweet! It's always good to know that you aren't in it alone. I'll be really curious to see how your refugium endeavor goes. Since the equipment is going to be purchased in stages so I know I'm getting what I want rather than compromising, filtration will still be a bit out.

EVERYONE ELSE

Keep the suggestions coming! I knew lighting was going to send the thread onto a tail-spin (and yes, I should have maybe done separate threads like I eluded to before) , so don't forget to weigh-in on the acrylic repair and filtration topics!

And well...to keep my mind busy I poured in another 90-minutes of "take a knee" scrubbing on the tank. Probably 1-2 HRs left before I can fill this guy with water and decide if buff/polish is worth it. (Lights currently on are just (2x) T5s that came with the tank...don't get TOO excited!)
[attachment=61897:name]

 

[303travism]

There was a group buy on here awhile back on 120watt evo's we got them for $200 each there was another one for some Chinese 150watt that I'm pretty sure everybody was happy with they had built in timers and were dimmable I can't remember what they paid for the but I think it was a little over $200 each but keep your eye out there's always units coming up for sale.

 

[SteveT]

Acrylic Buffing: I just recently bought a 450G acrylic tank, and got it for a considerable deal because it was pretty scratched up. I have been in the process of sanding out the scratches and buffing it out, and I am pretty happy with the results I have gotten. I started with the 3 step novus polishing solution. This stuff works well on very very fine scratches but it became apparent after my first go that any scratch that you can see from more than 3-6in away you will need to sandpaper it out. I used 1500 grit followed by 2000 grit wet/dry paper on all the scratches then went back over with the Novus 3,2,1 to get rid of the fog from the sanding.

Sump/filteration: The pre-made sumps are defiantly pricey. Even if you don't want to deal with glass acrylic cutting and silicone / weldon ect. I am sure you could find the materials and someone on this site to help with the cutting / gluing for much cheaper than a pre-made sump. The other benefit of this is you are in charge of the dimensions of the baffled off sections, so you can customize to a skimmer footprint, or have a bigger area for refugium or whatever.

Lighting: I am going to suggest LED lighting as well. As others have been saying; 1W of LED light is going to give you more PAR or usable light than 1W of T5 or MH. I was running a 8 bulb 54W T5 unit over my 75G and I recently replaced it with 2 120W Radions that are currently at 75% peak power and are just as bright to my eye (probably more PAR) than 432 total watts of T5. So to get the same amount of light you can use much less wattage, saving in power. The real savings however, is not having to replace bulbs for 5+ years (I was spending on average 28.00 per bulb every 6mo or so). Also something to consider in summer months is how much heat MH and T5 produce in comparison to LED's. I see all these threads pop up over the summer about running chillers and big fans over the tank and having to make Ice RO water to put in the sump. I don't have to deal with any of those issues with LEDs on my tanks.

 

[iChillum]

303travism

Sweet! Group buys are always a good deal...now if I can only exercise that kind of patience is a more valid point of consideration.

SteveT

Congrats on being the first to weigh in on filtration and the acrylic repair :tennis:. What you have said gives me hope that sanding should be pretty easy...Once I do my water check on the tank I'll decide definitively on if it's what I should do, or of course just be lazy.

Luckily I have some time before I move into investing on filtration, so I'll troll the forums to see who might be able to help out a fellow reefer in cutting and gluing for a sump/refug. I've been trying to fool myself into just going with the hang-on skimmer...but would really prefer otherwise as it would seem.

And okay okay!!! I'll start looking at LED lighting...I was just begging for the gospel with this post and I suppose it'd be rude not to listen :lalala: