initial ideas for my temperate reef well rocky shore

I have a planning application for an extension on my house to get through first - no its not becos the tank will be massive it is the only place I can put in a 36in tank.

My plan will be to have a 36in x 20in x 20in tank which will be a UK rocky shore biotope. I have been looking at circulation and I have decided on a closed loop from the sump into a manifold at the top of the tank. The return pump will be external. I am planning to gravity feed into the chiller from a T off the drain into the sump. I will have two drains on the tank - two stand pipes on either side of the tank - the second of these will drain into the skimmer and will drain into the small sump.

I think that the sump will be around 24in x 18in x 18in - a small sump which will take all the feeds from the chiller and protein skimmer and will be sent up to the manifold at the top of the tank - several outlets which will provide the tank with plenty of flow

I am not going to have any other equipment in the main display - the manifold and the two standpipes - which will be covered by natural stone or even artificial rock made from cement and oyster shell - following the examples here

I have a long lead into this system and so I would like to know what other people think. My reasoning with this sort of design is to keep as much equipment as external as possible and as energy efficient as possible.

My Lighting will be my reef aquarays - reef blue and reef white on a sunset timer - My extension will be made probably next year. I have just dismantled the old reef tank today and I have come to the conclusion that the home office should not be the place for cold water or temperate marine tank.

The extension is on the north side of the house so I would like to plumb the chiller outside in shade to keep it working well. I may have to reconsider the wood burner in the kitchen which may be very close to the area where the tank will be situated

What chiller are you using? the setup should be nice?

How big is the extension on the house going to be?

I like how you want to keep everything external. Good idea, at least for looks.

I hope that this will help to reduce heat in the water and it will also look great (fingers crossed). I am also keen to prevent damage to plankton in the tank.

I am looking at the eco cooler for my chiller - expensive but much cheaper to run
http://www.theaquariumsolution.com/deltec-eco-cooler-medium

I am looking to place this outside on the north side of the house - gravity fed from the tank and then back through the wall into the sump

plenty of stuff to figure out

waiting for the new plans to come through - it will probably be around 6m x 15 or 20m

we can change around the kitchen lay out etc to fit in a dedicated fish room lol

J

Oh, I see.