I am building my first ATS on a 180 saltwater setup and am hoping to get some design feedback from more experienced users. The tank will be heavily stocked with 20+ fish and mixed soft corals. Option 1 10" drilled pipe (fed by 3/4 full siphon tee'd to flow 300 gph) 10x10 screen 200 sq in total, roughly 8 cubes per day Both sides lit by a 45w CFL in round reflector or 36w LED grow light https://www.amazon.com/TaoTronics-L...1507655652&sr=8-1&keywords=taotronics+36w+led Cons: bottom 1" screen will be below water line (black line on the tank) Option 2 20" drilled pipe (fed by 3/4 full siphon, full flow from eheim 1262 return running about 600 gph) 20x6 screen 240 sq in total, 10 cubes per day Both sides lit by 2 ~23w CFL in round reflectors, 4 total 1 for each 10x6 area. I am not sure which design to go forward with, any insight or advice is appreciated! Here a shot of the full sump area for reference, the 40B will be plumbed into the acrylic sump, i have reserved the area in the acrylic sump to add a skimmer if needed.
Dipping the screen below the waterline will keep it quiet and keep splashing down - factor that in no matter what (1" is good) also keep in mind that your screen capacity will be limited by the light, if you don't put enough light on it to match the screen size that you determined based on feeding. Have to keep this short - busy day...just wanted to chime in with initial thoughts
Thanks for the reply and for the all the great resources! Here is the current mock up, this screen will be roughly 12x10. I originally planned for a control valve feeding the scrubbed but in this configuration the space does not allow it. Current plan is to set the flow at a constant rate by the number and size of the holes in the pipe. Based on some calculations twelve 7/32" holes in the 3/4" pipe will flow 403.2 gph with 1 ft of head pressure. The scrubber is tee'd off a 3/4" full siphon with a gate valve downstream of the tee (dual overflow, other 1" hole will be emergency, on the other side will run 3/4" return and 1" siphon tuned down). I am a little worried that the tee'd line might not get any flow from the siphon unless I back the pressure up with the gate valve, does anyone see any issue with this set up?
Herbie sort of, The tank is a dual over flow with 1" and 3/4" holes in each. Plan is to run (3/4" siphon, 1" dry emergency) in one drain and (3/4" return, and 1" siphon) in the other.
Running 2 siphons in separate (non-connected) overflow towers is, from what I understand, nearly impossible to balance out. There might be a better arrangement than what you listed, but not sure what. You can probably get away with one siphon (I would recommend only one) and then retain the other 2 for backup and emergency. If you have enough flow down the siphon, then the scrubber won't suck air in and muddle the siphon. Then if something clogs either the drain end of the siphon or the scrubber end (or both) you have a safe path
