280g FOWLR Tank Diary

kylev · Mar 8, 2010

Ok the time has come for me to start ordering up my equipment for my new 280gallon tank setup.
I am going into the LFS to pay for my new custom tank that should be ready in around 2 weeks from then. Its going to be an L tank with the inner dimensions against the wall of 3'x4' x2'wide x2'tall. Therefore the outside face of the tank will be 5'x6'.
I am going to use a close by closet to hold all of my equipment/sump/QT tanks. I will need to extend the closet into the garage a couple extra feet to make adequate room. The sump is going to be ~150gallon black pond container that a lot of LFS use for LR with a 55gallon qt elevated above it.
I also will be constructing a stand for the tank but am waiting for the arrival of the tank itself to begin construction on that. Any suggestions here? I was leaning towards doing a nice dark wood finish.
Right now my current fish list is;
Queen, Emperor, Blueface angels
flame and coral beauty dwarf angels
pair of clowns
sohal tang- last fish
yellow belly hippo
blonde naso
blue spot or tiger jawfish
male leapord wrasse, after tanks real matured ?????
starry blenny
saddleback butterfly, and one more butterfly possible a raccoon or threadfin
I plan on using 2 tek elite 48" 8x54 HO T5 lights for my lighting
What I need help with right now is finalizing my equipment list so i can start ordering some goodies.
Protein Skimmer- Reef Octopus DDNW-150 Recirculating Protein Skimmer; would this be sufficient or will it need help by another skimmer or should a larger one be used all together, space will not be an issue here
Heaters-Not really sure just know that i need roughly a 1,000 watts. I've been finding a large variety in costs on heaters and am not sure as to whats worth the money.
Edit: thinking about 2 Finnex 500w Digital Titanium Heaters
Pumps- I am leaning towards two Dolphin 7500 Amp Master External Pump. I am figuring the two pumps would be nice to always have a back up and these are adjustable so I should be able to get the flow i desire after running my plumbing
Controller-I was pondering the idea of a Reef Keeper Elite, does anyone have thoughts here and whether or not its worth the money? I tend to have to leave quite a few weekend throughout the year so would like my tank to be as self sufficient as possible and really like the ability to easily monitor it when i'm not at home.
Auto top off- Have no ideas here yet.
Powerheads- There will be a return on both ends of the tank, with each one being ran by their own pump. I'd like to stay away from additional power heads but would add if needed, any thoughts here?
This is just a rough list of a few items I'd like to start ordering but all input and suggestions are appreciated. I dont want to cut any corners so any thoughts or ideas on additional equipment etc that could be of help is always nice.
thanks and once pieces start arriving i will post pictures

kylev · Mar 8, 2010

Heres a couple pictures of what I am going to use as my sump. I figure on putting two dividers into the sump which would break it into three chambers. The first chamber will be for the overflows to plumb to, the center for the refuge and the third for the return pumps to draw from. I'd place the protein skimmer in the first bay and the heaters in the last bay with the majority of the volume in the center refuge. Any thoughts here?
In the one picture you can see where its already leaking at the bottom where there's a drain whole with a cap. I plan on sealing this up real well with silicone and such but could this work as an easy way to draw water out for water changes? Or would to much good stuff from the bottom of the sump be lost doing water changes this way?
thanks

hefner413 · Mar 10, 2010

I'm along for the ride.... sounds like a great build...
I don't know if the drain would be that helpful for water changes. I would simply add a T to your return line to divert water away that you want to discard. Another option is: Many people use the water that they take off during changes to just put into the QT. Personally - I just have a T that drains my discarded water to my "slop sink" in by basement. It siphons off 55 gallons from my DT in about 2 min's for my water changes.

kylev · Mar 10, 2010

Thanks Hefner-I like your idea about adding the T to my return I'm pretty possitive thats what I will do, but i think i will just make it so i can run my waste out of my garage door and disperse it that way. I want to make my maintenance as easy as possible in order to ensure that i wont get lazy and slack off on my housekeeping. Plus then i could completely seal of the drain and not have to be concerned with a leak occuring.
The tank is now under construction so as soon as I recieve it pictures will be posted.

kylev · Mar 12, 2010

The tank is about 1.5 weeks away from being at my door.
56 views and one repsonse lol all input is appreciated
thanks
kyle

hefner413 · Mar 12, 2010

one of the biggest things that I'm going to be sure to do with my future "big tank" is to make sure the sump is sitting in a tray that it can overflow into to prevent making a mess. Then you put a water alarm in the tray that will let you know that it has overflowed.

kylev · Mar 12, 2010

thats a real good idea thanks Hefner. I will be doing that for sure

hefner413 · Mar 12, 2010

kylev · Mar 12, 2010

Hefner-thanks for the links there is a ton of good information in there especially enjoy the 240 in wall shallow reef that is using the same sump container, which gave me a much better picture of how i can set mine up.
I just gotta pull myself off of the computer though so I can go outside and finish my porch so once the tank arrives i have no distractions

hefner413 · Mar 13, 2010

Ahhhh... the addiction. Once it's in your blood, you're stuck. I can't wait until my wife and I find land to build our house... b/c then I can finally put up my dream tank. I don't think she knows that we're going to have to budget quite a bit for the tank... yikes

kylev · Mar 13, 2010

The addiction is the only way i can even attempt to justify spending this kind of money to watch fish swim in my living room. My previous tanks wont even compare to the costs of this one.
I also really like the stand that A_Thrice built for his 210. I think might have to borrow some ideas from him. I just don't what I am going to use the space under my stand for yet, maybe just storage cause the sump and qt will be in the closet

rcreations · Mar 13, 2010

The initial investment is pretty big but after that it isn't so bad and if you're good and your fish don't die, there comes a point where all you're buying is salt and food. Unless you then decide to set up more tanks around the house.

kylev · Mar 13, 2010

The other tanks around the house are going to get me, I allready want a japanese dragon moray eel in ~75g species only tank next
But I hope to do things right and keep my fish alive so i don't have to watch them die and spend extra money

gtdarock · Mar 15, 2010

Hef, that was some good links you posted, WOW ! This hobby gets you so addicted, that it makes you want to have many tanks around the house

Good luck with everything Kylev

kylev · Mar 16, 2010

thanks GTDA
this hobby is like doing crack once you start your done for

crypt keeper · Mar 17, 2010

Never had a tank this big so not much input but how much longer till you get it? did i miss the size, i know the gallon amount.

kylev · Mar 17, 2010

The tank should be done in less than a week now, hopefully. The dimensions are at the top of my intial post. Its going to be an L tank wrapping around a corner. But any input is always welcome. My previous tank was only 40gallons so I'm real fresh at a tank this large as well.

kylev · Mar 26, 2010

The tank is taking longer than expected and wont be done till next week now.
I want to order up my pump though and am considering the Dolphin 1200 3hp pump. I am figuring on Ting off to two returns with a total of about 16' of return line. The max total volume would be 380g. Does anyone have expience with these pumps? Noise level? Adequate turnover? Other suggestions?
I am also considering biting the bullet and paying extra for (2) ATI 48" 6x54 powermodule T5's. I want to stick with T5's, but are these worth the extra money I dont want to regret going cheaper and would they be sufficient for fish only and the random coral i might try to keep uneaten?

hefner413 · Mar 27, 2010

I haaaaaaaaaate delays. So frustrating.
Do the T5 fixtures have MH's? I have only had T5's, but replacing so many bulbs can be a pain. I figure that when I get my larger tank, I'll do a mix - a few large MH's and then a few T5 actinics.
I dunno about the ATI's though. I've always gone with the retrofit kits. Seems to me - most important thing is the reflectors and the bulbs. IMO, wasn't worth the extra $$ to buy a large expensive fixture.
You going to add lunar led's?

kylev · Mar 29, 2010

Thanks for the suggestions Hefner.
I like the ATI's for their looks as well though, I plan on hanging the lights so they will be seen and want a nice clean look. The power consumption of the T5's vs MH helps my decision as well, since the tank is allready going to hit the power bill hard enough. Any bulb combo suggestions, I was thinking about 2 actinic and 4 1200k Giesemann bulbs in each fixture or maybe 3 and 3 in one just to make it different.
Some lunar leds's would look real nice, do you have any you reconmend? Are there ways to put them in the fixture?
Thanks

280g FOWLR Tank Diary

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