Help me plan my tank

[vanished88]

I picked up a 20 gallon long today from petsmart to go in my office. I am still relatively new to saltwater so I would like you guys input on how I should set it up. I will be drilling the tank and using a sump/refug in the range of 10-15 gallons. The tank is 30x12x12. I have already decided on an mp10es for water movement. What would you guys recommend for everything else, skimmer, lights, substrate, ect...

Thanks in advance.
I am also leaning towards getting either an apex jr or apex light tank controller.

 

[crew]

maybe im wrong.. but why spend that kind of money on a 20 gallon tank?? you wont need nearly that much flow

 

[vanished88]

I ended up getting a marineland majesty stand today for free. I ordered one off amazon and it arrived a little beat up. I emailed amazon to send it back and they told me to keep it and they would give me a refund. I dont mind having to do a few repairs since it ended up being free = ).

 

[smallblock]

Vanished88;676027 wrote: I ended up getting a marineland majesty stand today for free. I ordered one off amazon and it arrived a little beat up. I emailed amazon to send it back and they told me to keep it and they would give me a refund. I dont mind having to do a few repairs since it ended up being free = ).

hey hey good deal.

Edit: I guess try to get some 24 inch t-5s, the bulb selection sucks though

Edit: wait a 20 long is 36 inches right? that would greatly improve the selection of t-5 bulbs

 

[butch]

Smallblock;676031 wrote: hey hey good deal.

Edit: wait a 20 long is 36 inches right? that would greatly improve the selection of t-5 bulbs

A 20 Long is 30" long.

 

[smallblock]

I guess I would hang a 36 inch fixture then or make an led fixture

 

[vanished88]

Smallblock;676037 wrote: I guess I would hang a 36 inch fixture then or make an led fixture

I order a diy 36 led kit to go over it. Should be able to run the leds at low current and be able to keep sps and clams = )

it is a 4.25"x23" heatsink. I will be running royal blue, blue, and cool white leds in a 1:1:1 ratio. I went with 80 degree optics so i could hang the fixture high enough to give me room to work in the tank/keep the fixture from getting splashed. I figured 60 deg optics would be over kill since the tank is only 12" deep and I am already running 1 3w led per 10sq inches of surface area.

I know that running this many leds at full current will fry anything in the tank, I decided to use this many so i can still achieve good par at every color temp.

I will most likely be setting up the lights to run around 20k in the morning/afternoon, and increase the intensity on the whites for a few hours in the middle of the day to around 12k for a noon effect.

I decided to go with leds because their was not a big selection of 30" t5 fixtures, and the leds less than a good MH setup and chiller.