My wannabe cuttlefish tank

[L8 2 RISE]

I figured I would start this as a journal as I dont intend to drop out of this one and I plan on having this tank very soon .

I have been planning out my wannabe cuttlefish tank and have decided a cube is the way to go, probably something like 25X25X25 to 30X30X20 so 55-75 gallons with a 20-40 (whatever fits in the stand) sump/refugium with macro algae LR rubble and LS. I want to have either a central overflow, or just a normal overflow in the back.

If I go with the central overflow I want to have the LR in a sort of pyramid formation around the overflow.
If I go with the normal rear overflow, I plan on having the LR built up into "mountains" on the rear left and right sides with shallower LR in between to form a valley-type-thing, and then have it fade steeply towards the front so that I have at least 6 inches of pure sand if not more.

I would like to have really nice lighting on the tank and from looking at solaris, that looks like something I would like, but from doing a quick search, it looks like it'll cost about
$1,000 for a 24 inch one. That is WAY more than I want to spend, I was looking to spend about $500-$1000 for the whole tank, but I really like the idea of the fade in fade out.

As for a skimmer, I really have no idea, I'm looking for a skimmer thats rated for a 200-300 gallon tank.

I'm looking for the same with the filter, rated for about 200 gallons, I really have no preferences other than that here.

SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO............

on to the ever present questions:

1) Is it possible to have a central overflow?

2) What type of skimmer do you all suggest?

3) What type of lighting would you all suggest?

4) What type of skimmer would you all suggest?


I would REALLY like any and all feadback here, both positive and negative.

Thanks,
Sam

 

[Paradox]

Hey there...

1) Is it possible to have a central overflow?
Yes, you can have an overflow anywhere. Keep the overflow location in mind when choosing how you want to light the tank.
2) What type of skimmer do you all suggest?
Euro Reef, Octopus, ASM, aquaeuro all make good skimmers.
3) What type of lighting would you all suggest?
Solaris is probably the most perfect lighting for a ceph tank. For high end corals, its debateable. They are super expensive though. If your only looking for dimming up/down, they do make dimmable metal halide ballasts and some T5s as well. Even without dimming, my recomendation would be a halide pendant or T5s or both. If you want to have morning dusk effects, you can do it the ghetto way of having multiple lighting sources and have certain ones go on earlier/later with timers. I use T5s and halides and have the T5s come on much earlier then the halides to reach maximum lighting at around 4-5pm.
4) What type of skimmer would you all suggest?
See number 2 =)

 

[DWhatley]

My larger hex has an almost center overflow (Originally it was centered, we cut it off and moved it toward the back but still about 3" from the back wall) and the water stays healthier with less work than any of my other tanks. I think the 360 overflow provides better surface skimming than anything flat and we are working out a design to accomplish this with Octane's new tank. Stuff just doesn't seem to "get away" like it does with good flow and a flat overflow. By offsetting it from the center we were able to build a LR "mountain" around the overflow, hide the return and still have some sandy area in the front. We did use Gorilla Glue and some epoxy to accomplish stable octo proof caves but that is not likely a big problem with the cuttles (having the rocks stationary does mean that anything that dies and is unreachable is feast for the clean up crew).