300 RR Setup

[H2Ocean]

I'm buying a 300 gallon tank from glasscages. 96 x 24 x 31 Tall. I know there will be different opinions to this but I will look at all and try to find the best for me. This tank will be a reef tank and I will b keeping lps, sps, clams, etc..... I want to get this tank drilled and everthing before it leaves but want ideas so I can let them know when I call back. Thanks for your help.

[hobogato]

i have a 240 long as a room divider in wall, and since you can see thru the front and back, i had the overflows put in the ends. if you are only gonna have the front and two ends visible, i would have it drilled in the back for a calfo overflow and maybe closed loop system for flow.

[hammondegge]

Welcome to MAAST H2! are you in austin or SA or......

[LoneStar]

I second the calfo if its not a room divider. Can't beat the surface skimming capabilites on it!!

[H2Ocean]

I'm at Ft Hood

[H2Ocean]

So what are the exact words I would tell the people at glasscages. Does anyone have a drawing or something that I can go by showing how the closed loop will be hooked up? Sorry so many questions but have no help here b/c of a deployment. What would be the recommended pump and size for this?

[Ram_Puppy]

H2Ocean, welcome!

Your asking some pretty detailed questions that take a little bit of research. Have you ever had a salt water tank before? do you have a frame of reference to go by?

If I was going all out on a 320 gallon tank, and I do mean ALL OUT, I would probably do something like the following:

1) Red Dragon Pumps
2) 2 Closed Loops - both on Oceans Motions 8-ways
A) Place intakes for closed loop apprx halfway up the back of the tank (or sides if it's a see through)
B) Some of the closed loop returns I would drill up through the bottom to be hidden in live rock structures
3) Calfo Overflow (don't worry, the guys at glass cages will know what this is and do it right)
4) Front Panel (at least) would be StarPhire Glass (low iron, better clarity)

This all assumes you are practically made of money of course.

[H2Ocean]

I have had a 125 sw tank but it was not RR. There will be StarPhire glass on the front panel. This will not be a see through tank but I need it as close to the wall as possible. It will also have a 100 gallon sump down under. Everything will have to be under the stand.

Ram Puppy, what do you mean a frame of reference to go buy? And I'm not made of that much money so lets try to keep this somewhat practicle. :roll

My stand will be a 96 x 24 x 30 tall with the extra doors on the side.
If I can do just one closed loop I will probably go with Sequence ReeFlo Dart Pump. Would this be adequate? Is there a better suggestion out there?

[GaryP]

First off, welcome to MAAST.

Your tank sounds very similar to falcondob's here in SA. If you get a chance to get down here I would suggest contacting him and I'm sure he would be happy to let you check it out.

My best suggestion? Get lots of help to move it. We had about 10 guys to move his. We could have done it with less, but it wouldn't have been fun. Even with all the help I left some knuckle skin on his door jam.

From what I have heard about Tom at Glass Cages, I would suggest you tell him exactly what you want. He's not the greatest in the world about helping someone out that isn't very specific. Send him some specific drawings of exactly where you want the holes drilled and what size. I agree with the earlier comment about going with a Calfo. Tom will not build an acrylic overflow. Glass only. So unless you can get him to figure out how to build a glass one for you, you may have to get one made locally. I think the weight of the glass is going to be an issue. There are a couple of guys here that can build one for you or you can make your own. I know several of the guys here with Glass Cages tank have had acrylic veneers made to cover their vertical glass overflows. The inside of the glass overflows are almost impossible to clean and become an eye sore pretty quickly.

[H2Ocean]

Thanks for the welcome.

Thats what I'm trying to get at. I'll go with the Calfo, but have no idea about how many holes I would need, what would be the best place to put them, and what size... Does anyone have a drawing or something that I could look at???

[gjuarez]

The glass that glass cages uses is not the real starrphire. Its just low in iron. Good luck with the tank. I agree with Gary on having someone local build the acrylic overflow.

[matt]

I would suggest you do a lot of reading; here, on reefcentral, and a few books. You could start with Shimek's "The coral reef aquarium" which is a small book aimed at the beginner, it's great, then move on to Anthony Calfo's books. Believe me, the more reading you do, the fewer headaches you'll have.

Your biggest equipment purchases will be lighting, water movement, and filtration. You'll want to thoroughly research each one before you buy anything. So many people in this hobby, including me, have put together systems without solving the various issues completely, and usually that means buying something, which then means you need to get something else to solve a new problem, etc....

I have a couple of suggestions about lighting and the other equipment, but you should definitely just take these and others as directions for researching. A tank that size will cost alot of money, and you only want to buy things once if possible. Anyhow, think about 4 MH bulbs, either 400W mogule base, preferably with luminarc reflectors, or 250W double ended mini pendents. They might have 400W DE fixtures out now; if so, look into those. The mini pendents are the easiest to deal with and will generate the least heat. The money you spend on those might be saved by avoiding a chiller.

For flow, the sequence pump is great, but if you're keeping stony corals you'll want more. An easy solution would be a few of the tunze powerheads; get the biggest ones they make. They have to sit in the tank, but they'll save you a bundle on electricity down the road.

For filtration, you should consider a big protein skimmer; I personally feel that the big beckett skimmers are really hard to beat and are more powerful than the recirculating "euroreef" type, but that's my opinion and others will disagree. Think about a beckett skimmer that's about 5 ft tall with a couple of beckett injectors. You won't regret owning one.

Of course you'll want to plan out yur plumbing with a large sump and figure out to the best of your ability how you'll route all the pipes, etc, before the tank arrives. If you can't do that, which is really understandable, you might consider not getting it drilled until you have it at home. That's assuming getting it drilled after you buy it won't void the warranty and you can get someone to come to your house to drill. If I had to guess, I'd say 4 holes for 1.5" bulkheads along the back wall, high up, would be fine for a calfo style overflow. There's lots of info about it in his book. I'd be tempted to not drill the bottom or anywhere low on the wall; a leak could be devastating. Many people do that, though, with no problems, so the choice is yours.

Have fun!!!

[falcondob]

First off, welcome to MAAST.

Your tank sounds very similar to falcondob's here in SA. If you get a chance to get down here I would suggest contacting him and I'm sure he would be happy to let you check it out.

I agree..Welcome to MAAST. Yes, I have a glasscages, 300gal, 96x24x30, starphire-like glass on 3 sides. This was originally going against the wall, wife turned it into a room divider, so I had to improvise.

First, I would suggest NOT buying the furniture (hood and stand) from glass cages. It ok, but for what they charge (plus shipping), you can get something much nicer custom built. There are several MAAST members that do it. Second, if you are going to do everything under the stand, all I can say is, God Be With Thee. I did that and I still have a closet next to the tank and I am on medication. Just a heads-up. ;)

No exactly how and where you are going to put it. Take into consideration water, electric, and, possibly even sewer when you look at placement. A 300 gallon reef/sps/lps/clam tank needs lots of electricity and lots of water. Minimally you need (IMHO) at least 1600-1800 watts (maybe more) of MH light and some actinic supplement. I have Lumenarc reflectors and that allowed me to come DOWN 200 watts and increase the amount of light in the tank. That will heat your tank pretty good, so fans and a chiller are in your future. Be prepared for utility bills you really didn't expect.

You are getting a BIG tank. Buy a skimmer that matches it. Buy a really good one and save your self a lot of headaches. I now have a Euroreef in-sump with two sedra pumps. I wouldn't trade it for any other skimmer (maybe a little bigger Euroreef). Others will have other recommendations on a skimmer, I will stick with Euroreef. You don't want a skimmer you have to babysit.

RO/DI, Kalk Reactor, Calcium reactor, auto top off, temp controller (or tank computer), light timers, phosban reactor. All these are probably optional for most people, but required by me. (Especially the temp controller. Talk with Richard at CB Pets about that one. Temp flucuations, I am convinced, killed a powder blue and a really great chevron tang.)

Closed loop seems to be the way most people are going. I have two tunze 6100s. I like the flexability of the powerhead. I run a Dart return pump on two 1 1/2 drains and returns. I have a 40-50 gallon sump and a 70 gallon fuge. The fuge has made a big difference in the number of pods I have in the main tank.

Let me know if you have any questions. If it can be screwed up, I have probably done it. (I am one of those hard-headed learners.)

Good luck, it will be a blast!
John

[captexas]

Basically what everyone is trying to say is there are no real cookie-cutter answers to drilling a tank or best placement of bulkheads. It all has to do with your situation/location of the tank and what you have planned for the tank as far as livestock and equipment. Once you decide on livestock (fish only or full reef), then you have to decide on equipment needs and then how you can set everything up. You will have a very difficult time setting everything up inside the stand so you need to have as much planned out beforehand. Make drawings of what will sit where and where pipes/tubing need to run. Take your time so you look at as many things as possible. It's difficult to think or plan for every little thing, but the more you do now, the easier it will be to set your tank up and the happier you will be with the end result.

[LoneStar]

Check out the Large Reef Tank forum on www.reefcentral.com

There are lots of write-ups on there to read up on. Even those that do not have large tanks like they do, can learn alot about managing and setting up systems, just on a smaller scale.

[H2Ocean]

Thanks for everyones help

[falcondob]

Thanks for everyones help

That is what MAAST is, and should be, all about! :D

[don-n-sa]

The glass that glass cages uses is not the real starrphire. Its just low in iron. Good luck with the tank. I agree with Gary on having someone local build the acrylic overflow.

yep you are right...glasscages does not carry "starfire" glass , starfire is a name brand for a kind of low iron glass...if you want to pay four times the price then go for starfire, if you dont then just get low iron glass...I have seen the two side by side and could not tell the difference.

[H2Ocean]

I have seen them both myself and I agree