OCTO Classic 200-INT in a Waterbox 130.4?

[ZzzDerekzzZ]

Hi all,
My name is Derek, and this is my first conversation on R2R, although I've been reading the threads here for a couple of months now, and have found some very valuable information here.

I hoping that one of you really smart reef tank people could give a Newb some advice on my Waterbox 130.4 set up.

I'm relatively new with the Aquarium thing; I had a 40 gallon aquarium about 1 year ago, and recently decided that I wanted something more interesting... so about 3 months ago I had my local Marine Aquarium shop set me up with a new Waterbox 130.4 with few bells and whistles. Do to my inexperience I let them pick out all the components and set this aquarium up for me. I now have many Apex Neptune components, a 25w UV Sterilizer and a OCTO CLASSIC 200 INT that’s taking up an estimated 85% of the floor space in the Skimmer Chamber of Waterbox my sump. (See Sump Diagram) With my heaters and Apex ATK set up in there I have very little space for anything else. As of now I'm still trying to figure out how to place some media in my Sump for bacteria to grow upon!

The Waterbox 130.4 has a 96.3 Gallon Display Tank with a with a 30.6 gallon Sump… I have very many rocks piled up in my display tank, with some live rocks mixed in from my old 40 gallon system. Minus my rocks, I have roughly estimated my total water volume at 115 gallons.

A couple of days ago I turned on my OCTO 200-INT Skimmer for the first time and it lowered my Sump volume by quite a bit, so I just shut it off to mix up a couple of Gallons of Red Sea Coral Pro salt to make up for the water volume change in my system when I kick on the power to my skimmer. This Skimmer has been sitting in my sump turned OFF up until the other day.

Over all my local aquarium shop set me up with a very nice set-up and I'm quite happy with my beautiful Waterbox 130.4 and all my wicked cool Apex Neptune equipment, but I’m thinking that I've been set up with a OVER SIZED Skimmer for my Waterbox 130.4; I currently only have 4 fish, 6-10 Emerald Crabs, 2 shrimp, hermit crabs, snails, a Pink Tube Anemone, Rainbow BTA, some corals (Zoanthids, Acans)... and with a huge Green Hair Algae problem that I imported form my old 40 gallon system

Mainly I'm writing for some advice on what adjustments, tweaks and or modifications I may make to this OCTO Classic 200-INT to help it work in my inexperienced opinion “undersize system” Keep in mind that is my 1st experience with a Skimmer. Perhaps a higher or lower the recommended operating depth? (Reef Octopus owner manual says 7.9 to 8.7 inches for this Skimmer) I have installed an air valve to make air adjustments (I watched a few YouTube videos) but have not tried any modifications or air adjustments yet.

I'm planning in the not to distant future to down size my Skimmer for a DC model with a much smaller footprint, a skimmer that I can control the pump's power through my Apex Fusion app. I believe that a DC Skimmer will better grow with my reef tank's bio load, although I still need figure out how to do that "DC Pump Control" thing on my Apex, also I just purchased 2 Neptune Apex Sky lights recently (Skys not hooked up yet) so I really can't spend money on a more realistically sized DC Skimmer at this point in time: I need to find a way to get a few months out of this OCTO Classic 200-INT Skimmer

Thanks

Derek

PS I live near a Freight Yard, and the noise coming from my OCTO Classic 200-INT *located in my living room) is so loud that it drowns out the sound of the nearby Freight Train engines at night time from my bed room! … that OCTO Classic 200-INT helps me sleep at night, but its not so pleasant to listen to other than that… lol.

 

[blaxsun]

Have you configured and set your skimmer up per the instructions in the manual? If not, that might explain at least some of the noise. You do want the water level in that portion of your sump to be within the operating range that they suggest (fairly important if you want it to perform as it should). Check to make sure the skimmer isn’t touching anything that could be amplifying any vibrations. You can also try inserting a food-safe silicone pad under it to help dampen noise as well.

If you’re looking for a really quiet skimmer, the Nyos Quantum 120 might work for you (I have a Quantum 160 for my 200-gallon and it’s whisper quiet).

All you need to run it on your Neptune is an outlet that you can switch on/off (you want your skimmer to run at 100% so it performs consistently) - forget the pump control thing.

 

[ZzzDerekzzZ]

Have you configured and set your skimmer up per the instructions in the manual? If not, that might explain at least some of the noise. You do want the water level in that portion of your sump to be within the operating range that they suggest (fairly important if you want it to perform as it should). Check to make sure the skimmer isn’t touching anything that could be amplifying any vibrations. You can also try inserting a food-safe silicone pad under it to help dampen noise as well.

If you’re looking for a really quiet skimmer, the Nyos Quantum 120 might work for you (I have a Quantum 160 for my 200-gallon and it’s whisper quiet).

All you need to run it on your Neptune is an outlet that you can switch on/off (you want your skimmer to run at 100% so it performs consistently) - forget the pump control thing.
Hi Blaxsun,
Thanks for reply and advice.

I try to run the water depth in my Waterbox 130.4 Skimmer Chamber at 9". That depth is about 3/4" above the spill wall into my Return Pump Chamber. This is how I’ve been running my sump for the past 3 months with my OCTO Classic 200-INT skimmer turned OFF.

Just prior to turning ON skimmer the other day, I measured the depth in my Sump’s Skimmer Chamber and it was 9-1/16 (9.062) deep, but when I turned the skimmer ON and adjusted the BIG RED wheel until the small rolling bubbles came up to base of the Collection Cup, the water in my Skimmer Chamber dropped to about 7-5/8" (7.625)

With that water drop I made up a small batch of saltwater and placed a 11/16 (.6875) inch spacer under the skimmer… although my wife is now missing one of her 11/16 tall soft plastic (or hard silicone) plates that she purchased from Target

With my OCTO Classic 200-INT Skimmer turned ON and adjusted with the small rolling bubbles up to base of the Collection Cup, I used my new saltwater mix to refill my Skimmer Chamber back up to 9"... and with my wife's plate now underneath the skimmer, it is now sitting in 8-5/16 (8.312) depth of water; the Reef Octopus Owner's Manual says the OCTO Classic 200-INT should be sitting 7.9 to 8.7 (8.300)

*as I said I had a lot of noise coming from my OCTO Classic 200-INT: Vibration humming, Air howling coming from the skimmer’s Air Silencer, water splashing into my sump from the Gate Valve… and IMO vibrations from the basic design of these types skimmers. Again IMO this design is not very structurally and or harmonically stable; hanging a heavy External Pump, way out off the side of Plastic skimmer body that shaped like a Tuba is not a very rigid and or harmonically stable design… but what do I know.
To quiet things down:
A) I used the Reef Octopus supplied in the box "50mm to 1-1/2 Coupling" and inserted it into the water exit on the Gate Valve. I then attached a 1-1/2" 90 Degree Street Elbow to direct the water flow exit to down and underneath the water line in my Sump.

B) I then attached the Reef Octopus supplied silicon Drain Hose to the nipple on the Air Silencer. That hose is supposed to be used for the Drain Line to drain Skimmate from the base of the Skimmer Cup, but I attached that hose to the nipple on the Silencer and added a Air Flow Valve. As of now I have not turned down the air flow. The addition of this this hose and adjustment valve has muffled the air HOWLING sound that I was hearing.

C) My wife’s 11/16" height adjustment plate that I used upside down under the skimmer base; that plate is like a hard rubber with some flexibility, and it being upside down also helps it act as a shock absorber and has dampened some of the vibration noise I was hearing.
D) As far as the Heavy Pump that’s hanging way out off the side of my skimmer’s Tuba like plastic body, I'm planning on placing some sort of silicone support underneath that Heavy External Pump to help structurally support and dampen that situation.
As of now I can no longer hear the skimmer in my living room from my bedroom… as long as I keep the door closed.

The main point of my original posting is that I think that my OCTO Classic 200-INT is to big for my Waterbox 130.4 system. Reef Octopus says that the mid range capacity for the design of this skimmer 317 gallons… and I'm trying to figure out how I can get this to work effectively in a 130 gallon system.

 

[ZzzDerekzzZ]

I'm sorry for posting incorrectly here, this is my first time using R2R.

I try to run the water depth in my Waterbox 130.4 Skimmer Chamber at 9". That depth is about 3/4" above the spill wall into my Return Pump Chamber. This is how I’ve been running my sump for the past 3 months with my OCTO Classic 200-INT skimmer turned OFF.

Just prior to turning ON skimmer the other day, I measured the depth in my Sump’s Skimmer Chamber and it was 9-1/16 (9.062) deep, but when I turned the skimmer ON and adjusted the BIG RED wheel until the small rolling bubbles came up to base of the Collection Cup, the water in my Skimmer Chamber dropped to about 7-5/8" (7.625)

With that water drop I made up a small batch of saltwater and placed a 11/16 (.6875) inch spacer under the skimmer… although my wife is now missing one of her 11/16 tall soft plastic (or hard silicone) plates that she purchased from Target

With my OCTO Classic 200-INT Skimmer turned ON and adjusted with the small rolling bubbles up to base of the Collection Cup, I used my new saltwater mix to refill my Skimmer Chamber back up to 9"... and with my wife's plate now underneath the skimmer, it is now sitting in 8-5/16 (8.312) depth of water; the Reef Octopus Owner's Manual says the OCTO Classic 200-INT should be sitting 7.9 to 8.7 (8.300)

*as I said I had a lot of noise coming from my OCTO Classic 200-INT: Vibration humming, Air howling coming from the skimmer’s Air Silencer, water splashing into my sump from the Gate Valve… and IMO vibrations from the basic design of these types skimmers. Again IMO this design is not very structurally and or harmonically stable; hanging a heavy External Pump, way out off the side of Plastic skimmer body that shaped like a Tuba is not a very rigid and or harmonically stable design… but what do I know.
To quiet things down:
A) I used the Reef Octopus supplied in the box "50mm to 1-1/2 Coupling" and inserted it into the water exit on the Gate Valve. I then attached a 1-1/2" 90 Degree Street Elbow to direct the water flow exit to down and underneath the water line in my Sump.

B) I then attached the Reef Octopus supplied silicon Drain Hose to the nipple on the Air Silencer. That hose is supposed to be used for the Drain Line to drain Skimmate from the base of the Skimmer Cup, but I attached that hose to the nipple on the Silencer and added a Air Flow Valve. As of now I have not turned down the air flow. The addition of this this hose and adjustment valve has muffled the air HOWLING sound that I was hearing.

C) My wife’s 11/16" height adjustment plate that I used upside down under the skimmer base; that plate is like a hard rubber with some flexibility, and it being upside down also helps it act as a shock absorber and has dampened some of the vibration noise I was hearing.
D) As far as the Heavy Pump that’s hanging way out off the side of my skimmer’s Tuba like plastic body, I'm planning on placing some sort of silicone support underneath that Heavy External Pump to help structurally support and dampen that situation.
As of now I can no longer hear the skimmer in my living room from my bedroom… as long as I keep the door closed.
The main point of my original posting is that I think that my OCTO Classic 200-INT is to big for my Waterbox 130.4 system. Reef Octopus says that the mid range capacity for the design of this skimmer 317 gallons… and I'm trying to figure out how I can get this to work effectively in a 130 gallon system.

 

[blaxsun]

Honestly, that’s way way to much work/tinkering. You shouldn’t have to add water to the skimmer (at all), or mess around with water levels to that extent. A riser is perfectly acceptable if you’re happy with the water level in your sump and need to adjust the height of the skimmer.

You mentioned the noise from the gate valve, and I can’t help but wonder if that might be loosely related. Did you go through the full return pump/gate valve adjustment to get the water level in your overflow set correctly?

 

[ZzzDerekzzZ]

Honestly, that’s way way to much work/tinkering. You shouldn’t have to add water to the skimmer (at all), or mess around with water levels to that extent. A riser is perfectly acceptable if you’re happy with the water level in your sump and need to adjust the height of the skimmer.

You mentioned the noise from the gate valve, and I can’t help but wonder if that might be loosely related. Did you go through the full return pump/gate valve adjustment to get the water level in your overflow set correctly?

When I turned on that OCTO Classic 200-INT the water volume it consumes up into the tapered tube area lowered the volume of water in my Sump by an estimated 1.25 gallons, so yes I did want to re-top off my sump with salt water... I didn't want my ATO replacing all that saltwater with RO.

The only real noise coming from the Gate Valve was the water flowing from it and splashing into my sump... I did fix that sound with and elbow that exist the water beneath the water line now.

I did check all the plumbed fittings to make sure everything is snug.

 

[ZzzDerekzzZ]

Have you configured and set your skimmer up per the instructions in the manual? If not, that might explain at least some of the noise. You do want the water level in that portion of your sump to be within the operating range that they suggest (fairly important if you want it to perform as it should). Check to make sure the skimmer isn’t touching anything that could be amplifying any vibrations. You can also try inserting a food-safe silicone pad under it to help dampen noise as well.

If you’re looking for a really quiet skimmer, the Nyos Quantum 120 might work for you (I have a Quantum 160 for my 200-gallon and it’s whisper quiet).

All you need to run it on your Neptune is an outlet that you can switch on/off (you want your skimmer to run at 100% so it performs consistently) - forget the pump control thing.

I've been watching quite a few YouTube videos and I think that I really like that MJ-SK400 Maxspect JUMP Protein Skimmer... it's size rated in the range of my Waterbox 130.4

I'm just concerned with one video I saw that shows that upon loss of power and or if the overflow switch get tripped the MJ-SK400 Maxspect JUMP, when it turns back on it resets itself back to 100% So I'm trying to figure out if how and if I can use my Apex Fusion app to control that skimmer's operation without worrying about it kicking on at 100% after a power loss.

 

[ZzzDerekzzZ]

Just took this pic

 

[blaxsun]

Most skimmers are set to run @100%. If the skimmer is DC and supports IOTA (which also means it needs to have wireless connectivity), then you may be able to control it through Apex.

 

[Tamberav]

Hi all,
My name is Derek, and this is my first conversation on R2R, although I've been reading the threads here for a couple of months now, and have found some very valuable information here.

I hoping that one of you really smart reef tank people could give a Newb some advice on my Waterbox 130.4 set up.

I'm relatively new with the Aquarium thing; I had a 40 gallon aquarium about 1 year ago, and recently decided that I wanted something more interesting... so about 3 months ago I had my local Marine Aquarium shop set me up with a new Waterbox 130.4 with few bells and whistles. Do to my inexperience I let them pick out all the components and set this aquarium up for me. I now have many Apex Neptune components, a 25w UV Sterilizer and a OCTO CLASSIC 200 INT that’s taking up an estimated 85% of the floor space in the Skimmer Chamber of Waterbox my sump. (See Sump Diagram) With my heaters and Apex ATK set up in there I have very little space for anything else. As of now I'm still trying to figure out how to place some media in my Sump for bacteria to grow upon!

The Waterbox 130.4 has a 96.3 Gallon Display Tank with a with a 30.6 gallon Sump… I have very many rocks piled up in my display tank, with some live rocks mixed in from my old 40 gallon system. Minus my rocks, I have roughly estimated my total water volume at 115 gallons.

A couple of days ago I turned on my OCTO 200-INT Skimmer for the first time and it lowered my Sump volume by quite a bit, so I just shut it off to mix up a couple of Gallons of Red Sea Coral Pro salt to make up for the water volume change in my system when I kick on the power to my skimmer. This Skimmer has been sitting in my sump turned OFF up until the other day.

Over all my local aquarium shop set me up with a very nice set-up and I'm quite happy with my beautiful Waterbox 130.4 and all my wicked cool Apex Neptune equipment, but I’m thinking that I've been set up with a OVER SIZED Skimmer for my Waterbox 130.4; I currently only have 4 fish, 6-10 Emerald Crabs, 2 shrimp, hermit crabs, snails, a Pink Tube Anemone, Rainbow BTA, some corals (Zoanthids, Acans)... and with a huge Green Hair Algae problem that I imported form my old 40 gallon system

Mainly I'm writing for some advice on what adjustments, tweaks and or modifications I may make to this OCTO Classic 200-INT to help it work in my inexperienced opinion “undersize system” Keep in mind that is my 1st experience with a Skimmer. Perhaps a higher or lower the recommended operating depth? (Reef Octopus owner manual says 7.9 to 8.7 inches for this Skimmer) I have installed an air valve to make air adjustments (I watched a few YouTube videos) but have not tried any modifications or air adjustments yet.

I'm planning in the not to distant future to down size my Skimmer for a DC model with a much smaller footprint, a skimmer that I can control the pump's power through my Apex Fusion app. I believe that a DC Skimmer will better grow with my reef tank's bio load, although I still need figure out how to do that "DC Pump Control" thing on my Apex, also I just purchased 2 Neptune Apex Sky lights recently (Skys not hooked up yet) so I really can't spend money on a more realistically sized DC Skimmer at this point in time: I need to find a way to get a few months out of this OCTO Classic 200-INT Skimmer

Thanks

Derek

PS I live near a Freight Yard, and the noise coming from my OCTO Classic 200-INT *located in my living room) is so loud that it drowns out the sound of the nearby Freight Train engines at night time from my bed room! … that OCTO Classic 200-INT helps me sleep at night, but its not so pleasant to listen to other than that… lol.

You don’t need media in your sump. Just look at all the rock you have. It does the same thing.

Biomedia seems like one of those big waste of money in this hobby if you have rock.

FYI I have a Octo 200 INT regal in my 80g and it works well. I have a fish load and feed heavy and I added it after the tank was set up for awhile. It isn’t noisy after it broke in… aka slimed up with use.

I probably wouldn’t use such a big skimmer but got it used for 100 bucks and hard to turn that down.

 

[ninjamyst]

Your scape will create problems in the long run. Its too high.

As for your skimmer, oversized skimmer is fine. Allows you to get more fish and feed more. If you are worried about toooo much nutrient removal, you can run the skimmer only half the day.

And if you ever upgrade to a 200g, you don't need to buy new skimmer.

 

[ZzzDerekzzZ]

You don’t need media in your sump. Just look at all the rock you have. It does the same thing.

Biomedia seems like one of those big waste of money in this hobby if you have rock.

FYI I have a Octo 200 INT regal in my 80g and it works well. I have a fish load and feed heavy and I added it after the tank was set up for awhile. It isn’t noisy after it broke in… aka slimed up with use.

I probably wouldn’t use such a big skimmer but got it used for 100 bucks and hard to turn that down.

You got a great deal on that OCTO 200 Regal

I do have a ton of rock in my display tank, with almost as much Algae growing in the display now too, so I'm sure that I've got a good batch of bacteria upstairs, although my sump has no media for Bacteria to take hold of; About 30% of my current rock was live rock from my old 40 gallon tank. At first I was happy to see green life growing on my new dry rock... but now I'm thinking I better start working on that, this past Monday the Algea 1/2 way closed up my drain when I didn't pay attention for a few days (2 kids in High School and Middle School Football) and the water level in my display tank ran up a little higher than I like I have to stay on top of clearing Algae from my display tank drain. I've been treating with Vibrant for 2 months with more and more Algae growing in every week! I'm new at this and actually kind of like the green life in my tank too... but enough is enough, pluse for some reason the reef tank community kind of frowns on the Algae thing. I have 0 Nitrates, 0 Nitrites & 0 Ammonia... and I never had the Tank Ammonia, Nitrate, Nitrate spike either. I think all the Live Rock & it's Algae I took in from my old tank had something to do with that. I did pick up some plastic looking Bio Media Balls yesterday.. they're about the size of ping pong balls. I'm still thinking about if I should chuck them into my sump.

The nose is a lot less noticeable tonight, perhaps I'm getting use to it, or its breaking in a little as you say.

 

[ZzzDerekzzZ]

Your scape will create problems in the long run. Its too high.

As for your skimmer, oversized skimmer is fine. Allows you to get more fish and feed more. If you are worried about toooo much nutrient removal, you can run the skimmer only half the day.

And if you ever upgrade to a 200g, you don't need to buy new skimmer.

Most skimmers are set to run @100%. If the skimmer is DC and supports IOTA (which also means it needs to have wireless connectivity), then you may be able to control it through Apex.

To hook up a DC skimmer to Apex:
This video says you don't need Wifi.
You need a cable that has 1/8 male stereo jack plug to RJ45 plug.



As I said I'm new at this and I'm in the process of still trying figure out if what he did will work on that MJ-SK400 Maxspect JUMP skimmer I've been looking at.

 

[ZzzDerekzzZ]

Your scape will create problems in the long run. Its too high.

As for your skimmer, oversized skimmer is fine. Allows you to get more fish and feed more. If you are worried about toooo much nutrient removal, you can run the skimmer only half the day.

And if you ever upgrade to a 200g, you don't need to buy new skimmer.

Please explain the problems with the high scape... I've been wondering about that as far as corals go in the future. I'm going to burn out everything growing up there (Algae) when I hook up my 2 Neptune Apex Sky lights

 

[blaxsun]

To hook up a DC skimmer to Apex:
This video says you don't need Wifi.
You need a cable that has 1/8 male stereo jack plug to RJ45 plug.

Great, give it a whirl then - hopefully it works. I was referring specifically to IOTA device control through Neptune, which does require WiFi.

 

[ninjamyst]

Please explain the problems with the high scape... I've been wondering about that as far as corals go in the future. I'm going to burn out everything growing up there (Algae) when I hook up my 2 Neptune Apex Sky lights

1. You are preventing coral vertical growth. Usually you should have SPS up high and most SPS can achieve lot of vertical growth as they turn into colonies.
2. As you said, you will burn anything that high. So you either leave it bare or you have to turn down your light to accommodate the high part and make the low part of your tank suffer.
3. Wall of rocks, in my opinion, does not look good. The trend now is create arches and branches that show off the depth of the tank. Minimal rock work. Let your corals grow and fill the space instead.
4. When doing large water changes and taking water from the display, you are exposing your corals more than if the scape is lower

Rule of thumb is to not exceed 2/3 of your tank water height.

 

[Tamberav]

There are some light tolerant corals and clams. Maybe acclimate some zoa's slowly up and see how they do since they stay short.

Depends what your plan is for corals though. It isn't a SPS scape for sure...

I expose all my corals when I 100% water change a pico

It looks like it is time for some serious CUC!

 

[ZzzDerekzzZ]

There are some light tolerant corals and clams. Maybe acclimate some zoa's slowly up and see how they do since they stay short.

Depends what your plan is for corals though. It isn't a SPS scape for sure...

I expose all my corals when I 100% water change a pico

It looks like it is time for some serious CUC!

A couple of months ago when my Algae was much less, I added 6 or 8 more Emerald Crabs, Hermits, a Coral Beauty that wouldn't eat anything but my Algae, I aslo started 2-1/2 months ago with 10ml of Vibrant evey 2 weeks, then every week, and now 3 weeks ago I upped my Vibrate to 15ml per week; My Emeralds are getting fat, my Coral Beauty died 3 weeks ago (2 days after he started eating Mysis, Brine & Emrerald Enttee) I pick that Algae off with my fingers, Algae Sraper on the back wall, suck it off with a baster, blow it off with my fans and it just keeps growing like Mad!

I'm only feeding 4 fish now ( 2 small Clowns, 1 Madrian Goby, 1 Hawk Fish) I tried adding 10 Blue Coral Chromis but they all died, 3 dying within hours, 3 dying within 2 days, the 2 other lasted 2 weeks

I'm feed my 4 fish less than 1 cube of frozen per day; I slice a little off a little Emrerald Enttee, Brine and Mysis from each cube every day (in all less than 1 cube per day) with some occasional flakes and or 5 or 6 pellets for the clows perhaps every 5 to 7 days. My my Bottle Nose Hawk and Fire Shrimp like larger chunks of regular frozen shrimp (along with the Mysis) I have a Yellow Banded Coral that hides and rarely see (I hope he eating my Bristle Worms) 1 itty bitty Candy Stripe Pistol Shrimp that I last saq the day I released him 6 Berghia Nudibranchs that eat all my Aptasia (Nudibranchs probably starved to death by now)

I also feed my some regular frozen shrimp, Brine and Mysis to my Anemones and Acan... and some spot feeding of Reef Roids for my Acan, Zoanthids and 2 tiny mushrooms.

I'm thinking about picking up a wrasse next.

 

[Tamberav]

How often do you feed reef roids? That stuff is potent and I wouldn’t bother feeding it when you have algae issues. Your zoas and mushrooms don’t need it.

 

[ZzzDerekzzZ]

1. You are preventing coral vertical growth. Usually you should have SPS up high and most SPS can achieve lot of vertical growth as they turn into colonies.
2. As you said, you will burn anything that high. So you either leave it bare or you have to turn down your light to accommodate the high part and make the low part of your tank suffer.
3. Wall of rocks, in my opinion, does not look good. The trend now is create arches and branches that show off the depth of the tank. Minimal rock work. Let your corals grow and fill the space instead.
4. When doing large water changes and taking water from the display, you are exposing your corals more than if the scape is lower

Rule of thumb is to not exceed 2/3 of your tank water height.

I've been wondering about all that and you've got me wondering lot more now...Lol

I was thinking if I could somehow defuse the intensity of the light at the rear of my tank where the rocks are high, and let the light shine through normally to the front half of my tank where the light needs to penetrate more deeply... I haven't decided what I want to do yet as far as types of corals go, and what SPS vs other coral type are I haven't got my Big Coral Picture figured out visually in my mind yet. I've liked Rocks since I was a kid, they're no to complicated and they're easy to stack up

I very well may break down my rocks and come up with something different (for the most part this rock structure is not my creation, it was set up for me) Funny that when they set up my Aquarium; what I think is my best, finest and by far largest live rock, that I have from my old 40 gallon aquarium, got stacked up on the back wall in this aquarium where I can hardly see it. I paid big money for that chuck of live rock when I purchased it 1-1/2 years ago... and it's totally covered with beautiful colorations of coraline Algae too. I've been thinking about redoing my rock scape just so I can see my favorite rock!