getting back in the game...

[StevenSeas]

Alright Ill bite on this one. I love planning out over-the-top setups for myself and customers its definitely one of the funnest parts of my job.

Tanks - Marineland no longer makes the DD tanks so I would go with either a DSA or Planet Aquariums 300g with PVC bottom. Pre drilled with corner or back overflows (your preference) and also pre drilled fro a closed loop on bottom with 1x 2" intake in the center back and then 4x 3/4" returns drilled on 2' from each end and 1' from the back and the front. And use a reeflo Dart/snapper hybrid pump to run the closed loop with an ocean motions 4 way.

Sump - Id go with a big sump as you will need to accommodate roughly 22.5 gallons of drain down for a tank with the 72*36 footprint. So I would go with a 48x24x16 sump refugium dimensions. That will give you about 35g of extra water holding capacity in the event of power failure. Also you have plenty of spare room to put the equipment. I would run 4x 7" filter socks, skimmer chamber, refugium chamber, to a section for the return pump intake. I would use a reeflo dart/snapper hybrid or possibly a hammerhead pump here as well so that it can feed your reactors, UV and the tank

skimmer - my preference being something along the lines of the reef octo diablo 300 or larger, or potentially the reef octopus POV series. I love the DC controllable pumps on these make feeding easy as well as using ozone easier.

Misc equipment -
UV go with uv sized for 400+ gallons, I like aqua ultraviolet for brands
Ozone - ozotech is a great company they make ozonators for more than just fish tanks and they are commercial build quality and have variable output which is nice when you need to crank it up cuz you over fed or are fighting a disease outbreak
GFO reactor
Carbon reactor
dosing pumps, I like the Bubble magus here cuz you get get 3 and then add up to 11 of them. I would start off running a bacteria source such as Microbacter7, reef biofuel, and a coral food mix
either a Calcium reactor or Kalkwasser reactor dependent on your coral goals, looks like mostly LPS so I would say save your money and go with a kalkwasser reactor
An Auto top off system either by and independent float switch or controller such as the neptune apex or the reef keeper elite.

Lighting, definitely would go with Radions either the Gen2 or Pros. Pros are nice as you will get more pop of color in the LPS from the near UV spectrum that is added as well as a more rounded color spectrum from the extra yellow. I have found that having all the LEDs in the same cluster with the same optics as opposed to multiple clusters has led to much better color blending and color rendition. I would say either 4 or 5 of these lights they cover roughly a 2x2 square. I have a customer with 3 on a 200g and it looks good. I would mount them 10-12" above the water and stager them with 3 in front and then 2 in the back.

And I would go with 4 mp40s for flow. less is better here (less output from 1 point source that is) you dont want to blast your corals with a jet of water you want a moving wall of water. multiples will serve you better.

This is how I plan on setting up my "realistic" dream tank lol

[merlin0883]

Go with Buckeye field Supply on replacing your filters and Membrane. On the 300D you have to ask for them now, they are not a stock item anymore. Being a person who has one if if I was to do all over again I stay with 30" versus the 36". I am 6'4" and I hate the fact I cannot reach stuff in the back. Ace has a 250DD but since he has his as an island he can reach all the way around. Lighting big tanks the edge still goes to MH, but hey if you have the money go for it. I use 3 x 250w MH lumin bright pendants (825 watts total) with Radium lamps that average 16 months before changing.

I hear ya on not being able to reach the back well. An no, mine will NOT be an island tank. So this is a genuine concern. However, it seems that normal 300gal dimensions are 96X30X25. Man. 8' is a LOT of wall space. This is a decision that will have to be made once I know exactly where I am putting the tank.

[merlin0883]

Go with Buckeye field Supply on replacing your filters and Membrane. On the 300D you have to ask for them now, they are not a stock item anymore. Being a person who has one if if I was to do all over again I stay with 30" versus the 36". I am 6'4" and I hate the fact I cannot reach stuff in the back. Ace has a 250DD but since he has his as an island he can reach all the way around. Lighting big tanks the edge still goes to MH, but hey if you have the money go for it. I use 3 x 250w MH lumin bright pendants (825 watts total) with Radium lamps that average 16 months before changing.

I'm not opposed to MH's. I had two 150watt vipers on my 55gal. I had to change the bulbs about every 8 months though, because of the heat I guess. I definitely didn't get the colors that I wanted though. I tried the 10k, 14k, and 20k's. I ended up sticking with a 14k and a 20k, placing most of the orangish/reddish stuff under the 14k, and the bluish/greenish stuff under the 20k. I also had 2-48" HO t5's that spanned it, one actinic and one super actinic. The colors still never really moved me, though! But I like this. Any particular reason you give the edge to MH's over LED's...other than the money! I'm not rich, just want to do it up as perfectly as I can the first time, even if it takes a little longer to get it all together. Also, maintenance, as you all know, is a big money suck. How long do the LED bulbs last? Will I come out ahead on bulb replacements in the future if I get LED's?

[merlin0883]

Alright Ill bite on this one. I love planning out over-the-top setups for myself and customers its definitely one of the funnest parts of my job.

Tanks - Marineland no longer makes the DD tanks so I would go with either a DSA or Planet Aquariums 300g with PVC bottom. Pre drilled with corner or back overflows (your preference) and also pre drilled fro a closed loop on bottom with 1x 2" intake in the center back and then 4x 3/4" returns drilled on 2' from each end and 1' from the back and the front. And use a reeflo Dart/snapper hybrid pump to run the closed loop with an ocean motions 4 way.

Sump - Id go with a big sump as you will need to accommodate roughly 22.5 gallons of drain down for a tank with the 72*36 footprint. So I would go with a 48x24x16 sump refugium dimensions. That will give you about 35g of extra water holding capacity in the event of power failure. Also you have plenty of spare room to put the equipment. I would run 4x 7" filter socks, skimmer chamber, refugium chamber, to a section for the return pump intake. I would use a reeflo dart/snapper hybrid or possibly a hammerhead pump here as well so that it can feed your reactors, UV and the tank

skimmer - my preference being something along the lines of the reef octo diablo 300 or larger, or potentially the reef octopus POV series. I love the DC controllable pumps on these make feeding easy as well as using ozone easier.

Misc equipment -
UV go with uv sized for 400+ gallons, I like aqua ultraviolet for brands
Ozone - ozotech is a great company they make ozonators for more than just fish tanks and they are commercial build quality and have variable output which is nice when you need to crank it up cuz you over fed or are fighting a disease outbreak
GFO reactor
Carbon reactor
dosing pumps, I like the Bubble magus here cuz you get get 3 and then add up to 11 of them. I would start off running a bacteria source such as Microbacter7, reef biofuel, and a coral food mix
either a Calcium reactor or Kalkwasser reactor dependent on your coral goals, looks like mostly LPS so I would say save your money and go with a kalkwasser reactor
An Auto top off system either by and independent float switch or controller such as the neptune apex or the reef keeper elite.

Lighting, definitely would go with Radions either the Gen2 or Pros. Pros are nice as you will get more pop of color in the LPS from the near UV spectrum that is added as well as a more rounded color spectrum from the extra yellow. I have found that having all the LEDs in the same cluster with the same optics as opposed to multiple clusters has led to much better color blending and color rendition. I would say either 4 or 5 of these lights they cover roughly a 2x2 square. I have a customer with 3 on a 200g and it looks good. I would mount them 10-12" above the water and stager them with 3 in front and then 2 in the back.

And I would go with 4 mp40s for flow. less is better here (less output from 1 point source that is) you dont want to blast your corals with a jet of water you want a moving wall of water. multiples will serve you better.

This is how I plan on setting up my "realistic" dream tank lol

Are those tanks acrylic or glass? And does it matter? Plus I can't find them online. I found DSA tanks, but up to like 200gal, maybe 250. As for the sump--I'm looking for a lot more volume there. Maybe a 75-100gallon fuge and also a sump about the size that you describe--IF I can put it on the wall where I want it so that I can plumb through the wall to the garage and seal in a room in there for all this stuff. If not, I'll just have to do an under-tank sump like you described. Also, would you run UV all the time? I was told (way back when) to only run it if you had an algae bloom or ick, because it kills all the good stuff in the water too. And ozone? I've seen a little about it in the past couple of days, but have never seen it in use or had a recommendation to use it. What's the purpose? Don't know anything about GFO reactors. I assume carbon reactors are just a canister full of carbon? Won't that strip good stuff out of the water too? I like the dosing pump idea. What chemicals would you set up to automatically dose though? And I thought a Kalkwasser WAS a calcium reactor??? Is it for alkalinity? Definitely an outo-top-off system. And why LED's over MH's? And someone agrees with more smaller powerheads, I see. Sounded good to me. Sorry for my ignorance in some of these areas. I had an awesome tank at one point. I just want to make the "perfect" tank if I'm going to get into it again, and I've never had any of the reactors and other nice gadgets, so I'm completely unfamiliar with them!

[StevenSeas]

Are those tanks acrylic or glass? And does it matter? Plus I can't find them online. I found DSA tanks, but up to like 200gal, maybe 250. As for the sump--I'm looking for a lot more volume there. Maybe a 75-100gallon fuge and also a sump about the size that you describe--IF I can put it on the wall where I want it so that I can plumb through the wall to the garage and seal in a room in there for all this stuff. If not, I'll just have to do an under-tank sump like you described. Also, would you run UV all the time? I was told (way back when) to only run it if you had an algae bloom or ick, because it kills all the good stuff in the water too. And ozone? I've seen a little about it in the past couple of days, but have never seen it in use or had a recommendation to use it. What's the purpose? Don't know anything about GFO reactors. I assume carbon reactors are just a canister full of carbon? Won't that strip good stuff out of the water too? I like the dosing pump idea. What chemicals would you set up to automatically dose though? And I thought a Kalkwasser WAS a calcium reactor??? Is it for alkalinity? Definitely an outo-top-off system. And why LED's over MH's? And someone agrees with more smaller powerheads, I see. Sounded good to me. Sorry for my ignorance in some of these areas. I had an awesome tank at one point. I just want to make the "perfect" tank if I'm going to get into it again, and I've never had any of the reactors and other nice gadgets, so I'm completely unfamiliar with them!

Both companies will make custom tanks to any deminsions using glass. I would recommend going with a PVC hybrid bottom since the tank is 24+ deep that way if you drop a rock there is a whole lot less chance of the bottom breaking.

If you go with an in stand style sump the above sump system would work very well. It is basically (just larger) what I am running on one of my customers 200g tank and he his having amazing growth, and colors of corals and has a large amount of fish in there as well. If you have the space to do a larger system then thats great and will make life easier but a system like this would work wonders as well.

I recommend running UV all the time. If you have a proper flow through rate the larger animals such as copepods wont really be impacted. Also IMO when you turn it on just to fight a problem you are already in for a battle, I rather prevent losses rather than try to mitigate them. I think the good that it does outweighs the potential bad when you are considering how much you could possibly lose in livestock to ich or corals to an algae outbreak.

Ozone breaks down double carbon bonds in a large carbon chain. The larger the carbon chain is the easier it is for our eyes to pick it up and see it. So ozone breaks these compounds down into much smaller ones which does a couple of things: Makes the water visually clearer as well as leaves a "charged" carbon on the end of the chain which helps it attach better to the polar walls of the bubbles that are formed inside the skimmer. (basically turbo-charges the skimmer) Ozone also acts a little like hydrogen peroxide in that it does help some in fighting pathogens that may make their way into your tank.

GFO is short for Granular Ferric Oxide, which is basically a fancy form of iron rust that absorbs phosphates and to some extent silicates from the water. This helps prevent algal blooms

Carbon as you know absorbs dissolved organic compounds from the water which will result in clearer water with no "fishy" smell

A reactor is the most efficient way to run either of these chemical filtrants as it forces water to pass over each and every granule of filter media which greatly increases the surface area that is in contact with the water and will remove that much more "bad stuff" as well as last longer.

kalkwasser is a way to add calcium (and possibly mag and strontium depending on the kalk used) back into the system. A kalk reactor doesnt have any dosing regulation based on consumption, and is typically tied into the auto top off line. Since this is the case I typically use this to help maintain levels and then dose back up to the ideal level once a week or every 2 weeks depending on the calcium demand of the system.

Initailly I would dose:
Microbacter7
Reef Biofeul
Zooplanktos M or L (food for the LPS)

then once the chemical demands settle out and stay pretty even I would look at adding calcium, strontium, iodine, magnesium, alk, potassium, and trace elements

and dont worry the only way to learn in this hobby is ask and listen to everything with a grain of salt... and very careful planning before taking the plunge... But it is always going to be a fun ride

[alton]

I'm not opposed to MH's. I had two 150watt vipers on my 55gal. I had to change the bulbs about every 8 months though, because of the heat I guess. I definitely didn't get the colors that I wanted though. I tried the 10k, 14k, and 20k's. I ended up sticking with a 14k and a 20k, placing most of the orangish/reddish stuff under the 14k, and the bluish/greenish stuff under the 20k. I also had 2-48" HO t5's that spanned it, one actinic and one super actinic. The colors still never really moved me, though! But I like this. Any particular reason you give the edge to MH's over LED's...other than the money! I'm not rich, just want to do it up as perfectly as I can the first time, even if it takes a little longer to get it all together. Also, maintenance, as you all know, is a big money suck. How long do the LED bulbs last? Will I come out ahead on bulb replacements in the future if I get LED's?

With a 6 x 3' foot print you will have 3 sections 3' x 2'. With the list you have given you are looking at 600 watts of led versus my 825 watts of MH. With my pendants being vented on top they raise the water temp only about 1 to 2 degrees max in the summer, in the winter you will have to run heaters. Three coralvue luminbright pendants, ballast and Radium lamps run about $1K versus $2.5K? Your savings in electricity would be about $340 in 5 years and lamp savings of $720 in 5 years for a grand total of $1,060.

You missed the fun we had a few months ago with which is better LED or MH?

Steven that stinks with the Marineland DD, I guess if something happens with my 300D I will get my choice of which new tank I want? Marinelands warranty has always been great, so I am not worried.

[StevenSeas]

Steven that stinks with the Marineland DD, I guess if something happens with my 300D I will get my choice of which new tank I want? Marinelands warranty has always been great, so I am not worried.

Last I heard was they were clearing them out of the warehouses and I haven't ever heard back on availability so I believe that they are no longer being mass produced. I would assume that they would either give you whichever new tank you want or possibly make you another 300DD, it would just then be "custom". And yes their warranty service typically has been very good through out the years.

And in the debated between LED vs MH there is no true winner on a broad scale just on a personal preference level. And I prefer to be able to change my tank to toilet bowl blue, to red, to green and anywhere inbetween with the change of a dial instead of bulbs ;)

[alton]

I will have to admit the LED colors have come along way and the tanks do look nice.

[merlin0883]

You missed the fun we had a few months ago with which is better LED or MH?

This is unfortunate. I'll try to dig it up. Is it in the general discussion?