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I will go for Reeftek Ts1 or orca 80 for your size tank, normally go for a skimmer that is rated for double the water volume you have in your tank.

You have 160L tank if I remember correctly so go for skimmer rated @ 400L that is a reeftek ts1 or orca 80.
My 2c
 
I would suggest the TS2 from reeftek - it is over kill for your tank but trust me with a skimmer the bigger the better. Another thing - they can be rather expensive so go bigger cause once marines bite you are def going to want to go for a bigger tank!!!! then you will at least have a big enough skimmer for the new tank.

As crispin said - drill the over flow in the left corner - it's the best and trusted way to do it!

Go for a 3 stage sump 1st skimmer, 2nd DSB (Bigger the better) 3rd return pump. (Return pump go for 4-5 times turnover) so for your tank you can go for a 1500lph pump. Remember that you don't want a "river" flowing through and over your sump, you want a nice steady flow.

Then of course you will need 2 heaters (better than one if it had to up) for your tank 2*150w will do just fine.

You may need cooling fans or a chiller unit - it can get rather hot where you are and the lighting used on marines gets far hotter than on tropicals. We use a mixture of T5's and MH.

As for substrate for the tank - don't use the usual "chunky" gravel used in tropicals. Tropical tank benefit from the chunky stuff - marines will suffer from the chunky stuff. You want something that is sugar fine - cause you at the coast, why not just use sea sand (Wash it well first) You can even use this in your DSB

Oh and don't forget test kits for testing and monitoring your parameters!

Hope this helps - I have left a few things out here - don't want to kill you with information
 
Thanks I have remeasured and calculated the volume of my tank and sump combined to be 400lt, I have a friend in the glass industrie so the 50mm hole in my DT is sorted as well as the glass that I need for the compartments for my sump.
Recap of sugested setup......so far.
DT 280lt (with side overflow 50mm to be added)
Sump 120lt (three compartments 1. skimmer, heater & LR 2. DSB 150mm LS 100mm water 3. return pump 1500l/h)

Pls let me know if i'm getting this wrong....
 
Sounds good make sure of the skimmer and how big it is so that the 1st com is big enough for the skimmer to fit in ,and then you will see how big you can make the DSB.
 
Hi Linley, welcome to MASA - glad you joined and on the right track - we will help you all the way ;)
A reeftek TS1 is rated for 400litres, so it will not really do for your setup. I would suggest a reeftek TS2, rated for 750litres.
Or you could look at other makes of skimmers rated for 700 - 800 litres and see what deal you can get. Also browse through the classifieds to see if there aren't any bargains there and ask on the sponsor's forum for quotations.

Keep us updated :wave2:

PS: Read the link in my signature - some good beginner info there :thumbup:
 
Thanks I intend on doing this sloooowlyyyy, this is expensive so I dont want to be buing components that will end up in my garage colecting dust becuase they are underrated for the task at hand.

What type of lighting and howmuch will be suficiant for the sump?
 
Linley said:
Thanks I intend on doing this sloooowlyyyy, this is expensive so I dont want to be buing components that will end up in my garage colecting dust becuase they are underrated for the task at hand.

What type of lighting and howmuch will be suficiant for the sump?
Click to expand...

You only need lights for the sump for the following reasons:

1 - for you to see if you wanna work and it is dark in the sump's cabinet
2 - if you wanna grow macro algae on top of the DSB called chaetomorpha - good to use as nutrient export.
3 - if you wanna keep coral frags

Generally we put normal energy saver globes over the macro algae with a kelvin rating of 4000 - 6500K. The chaeto grows lekka under them. I use two - depends on the size of your DSB.
 
I will first get my skimmer before I start with the sump layout so that it will be dimensioned corect, this will help to maximise my space for the DSB.

I'm spending allot of time reading the other threads to gather knoledge and info, this has been an real eye oppener for me and I feel quite comfortable with the knoledge that there is so many experienced and keen poeple here willing to share info and guide new members. I apreciate this greatly and I'm sure this going to be a most remarkable journey!!! THANKS GUY'S!!
 
That's why we're here - to help. And we don't charge for it, it's free - so use us before taking advice from any petshop as some of them just wants to make a quick buck by selling you wrong or outdated stuff - our sponsors are clued up though ;)
 
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