Setting up a 300 gallon reef tank - need advice

[busbyj]

I use to own a 300 gallon saltwater tank about 6 years ago. The tank was a fish-only tank containing 7 eels and a couple of trigger and puffer fish. I had a wet/dry filtration system along with a protien skimmer. Everything worked great and I never had any problems. Unfortunately, I had to sell the tank because I was moving.
Well, it's been 6 long years without fish And here we are:
For my birthday, my wife purchased a 300 gallon tank. I was in complete shock! I am so excited to get back into this! This time, I'd like to do something a bit different. Instead of having a fish-only tank, I am interested in doing a reef tank.
Question time:
I am looking at the following equipment:
Filtration and skimming:
CPR CY294 Wet/Dry Dual-Skimmer system.
Expansion Sump: 12.5 x 26 x 18
Return Pump: HD70 (1500gph)
RO/DI System: Mako 5-stage Ultra Double RO/DI (200gpd)
Would the above equipment be ok?
Do I need a UV Sterilizer??
I don't yet have a clue about the lighting, so if you want to shout out some advise, go for it
Finally, My tank has 4 holes drilled into the bottom back - two on each side of the tank. Each set of holes are protected by glass walls that go up to near the top of the tank. One is a one inch hole and the other is a two inch hole. I never had holes drilled in a tank before - I've always used an overflow box. Can someone describe how the holes will be used in the above system configuration. The filter has two inputs but only one line going out.
Any and all help would be greatly appreciated.
Thank you for your time!
Sincerely,
BuZZ
http://www.3dbuzz.com
CEO/President - 3D Buzz, Inc.

 

[footbag]

Welcome to the forum!!! Just a few quick suggestions...
I would not get a combo skimmer and wet/dry combo. I have this on my tank and the skimmer is useless and is imposible to clean. Euro-reef skimmers are the most reccomended on this site.
Also a wet/dry is good, but you may choose to make your own sump out of a large tank. You can also add a refugium (seperate tank growing macros with a deep sand bed)these are great additions with or without a wetdry. Do a search if you don't know what a refugium is.
1500gph pump? I'm not sure if that will be enough. Look to turn over the tank volume at least 10X per hour. Thats total including powerheads.
Don't use a UV sterilizer. It kills the plant matter in the water column that feed corals.
RO/DI sounds good.
I am not quite sure about the length or depth of your tank but, you will want to get 400w Metal Halides. You may consider the 250w HQI's. Don't know much about the latter. You can fit a lot in a 300g tank, so I'm sure that you will run out of low light corals quickly if you buy inferior lighting.
The holes and baffles in your tank should act as an overflow. You will probably run a line off of the bottom back of the tank to the wet/dry or sump.

 

[smoothounds]

awesome. Those holes that are protected by glass walls are your overflows. The water pours over that wall and down into those holes where it is introduced to your filtration. A Uv sterilizer will work against you when trying to creat a successful reef. It kills organisms in the water that are beneficial to a reef setup. As for lighting post the dimensions of your tank and we could better help you out because that plays a large roll in the type and strength required for optimum performance. If I were you I would make my refugium out of another aquarium. A refugium is where you grow benificial algae and plant life that will consume nitrate and make your job easier and your aquarum healthier. DOnt chince on the protein skimmer. If you run one run a good one. Other than that welcome to the board and you better post some pics asap. See ya.

 

[busbyj]

Awesome! Thank you for welcoming me to the community. This is definitly a cool place and I plan to hang around daily.
Thank you for your thoughts and suggestions - I am now looking into getting the EuroReef CS12-2 Protein Skimmer.
Could the refugium tank be a 55 gallon? Or is this to small?
I will avoid the UV sterilizer.
As for the lighting... here are my tank deminsions:
96L x 24w x 31h
I know the lighting is very important with reef tanks so I want to make sure the setup is the best.
The tank is empty at the moment as I've got to wait two more weeks before adding water (the tank is only 2 weeks old), but I'll put some pics up tonight after I get home from work
Thanks again!!!
BuZZ
http://www.3dbuzz.com
CEO/President - 3D Buzz, Inc.

 

[footbag]

A 55g refugium would be good, but remember the bigger the better. Get the biggest refugium you can fit. I like fuges that aren't so deep. You can get away with a cheaper lighting system for your fuge with a shallow tank.
I think you would end up wanting 4 400w Metal Halides plus any actinic supplimentation.

 

[footbag]

I don't know much about the HQI's and that is the only reason I stopped short of suggesting them. I have heard good things though. The 20,000k w/no actinic suppliment is a very good idea. If fact thats what I would do if I could do it over.

 

[smt91278]

HOLY S**T

I just bought a 125 and it takes up a huge part of my living room. I can only imagine how much room a 300 gallon takes. Good luck, post pics when you get that Mini-Ocean up and running

 

[busbyj]

Again, thank you all for your help!!
smt91278: You are right, it does take up a large area! I just cannot wait to get it up and running. I know it'll be a slow process, but it will really be worth the wait.
In the pics below, you will see the overflows and the holes I was talking about. If someone has a couple of minutes, could you give me an example of how all 4 holes could be used. Again, there are two on each side with one being 1 inch and the other being 2 inches in diameter. It would be great to have an idea of where send/receive what.
As promised... here are a few snapshots of the tank

Again, thank you all!
Cheers!
BuZZ
http://www.3dbuzz.com
CEO/President - 3D Buzz, Inc.

 

[busbyj]

Wow! How did you know?
Yea, funny thing is, my wife found them on ----... and their operation is in Dickson TN... We live in Dickson TN!! Now what are the odds of that?
To make things even stranger, we found out that their son took some of my animation courses a couple of years ago. I had no idea that they were in the business of making tanks. The world continues to get smaller and smaller every day!

 

[busbyj]

Just checking back in to see if anyone can give me their thoughts on where all the holes should send and receive water from. As I said earlier: there are two on each side with one being 1 inch and the other being 2 inches in diameter. It would be great to have an idea of where send/receive what.
Many thanks!
Jason

 

[pacopetty]

Great looking tank. I can't wait to see it up and running. I just picked out a 240 gal long from them. I just have to meet them somewhere during their travels. It's probably going to be Raleigh, NC in May.
Good luck with your set up!

 

[hhh]

yeah. hey. how much did it cost you. i bought mine for $1085 acrylic and I picked it up in LA. well just wondering.

 

[murph145]

hey there
welcome to the board!
ive had a reef for a lil while now and am upgrading to my new 180G lee mar flat polished tank
anyways heres what i think
skimmer look into an ASM or MRC skimmer as well made very well for half the price of a euro reef .... i just got an ASM-G4 for my tank basically its a cost saving version of the euro reef but i saved like $400! deffinately get a nice big skimmer go bigger than the manufacturer recommends in your case a large one lol
as far as UV goes its beneficial in my point of view i have it on my current 100g reef and got another one for my new 180 soon to be SPS dominated reef tank u can talk to a lot of different people with lots of different vies on this but in general id say 75% of people run UV on a reef tank with no harm its good to kill free floating pathogens and bacteria that can get fish and coral sick and also cloud up your water
as for a sump it would probably be easier for u to make your own out of an old acrylic tank look for a used one then look at the do it yourself forums and search for sumps and see how people make them.... some people just use rubbermaid storage bins to place there skimmer and stuff in ... i have a 36" sump under my tank ud need something double that u can also add some live rock rubble down therre for added filtration
as far as your return pump i think ur gunna need one that does about 2000-2500gph u want it to turnover in your sump but not too fast or dirty water will be passing right by ur skimmer before it has an opportunity to remove it
when doing your plumming use ballvalves and unions everywhere they help

id suggest running carbon from time to time too i run some in a canister on my current tank
u might think about doing a closed loop system on that tank to get some nice flow and so that u dont have all the power heads hanging everywhere
what are u looking to keep in terms of corals??
lots of nice stuff out there i looked it all up and put it on my 180 its a lot of research lol
u may also need a chiller, a calcium reactor depending on your corals and your lighting will depend on what u wanna keep
man there is so much if u got any ?'s shoot me an email murph145"at"aol.com
too much to list but uve got a good start coming to the boards

 

[fishy7]

Hey busbyj, congrats on such a large tank. I would love to have such a large tank but could not fit it in this house. There is always a next. :thinking:
Any who, here is what I did so you can get an idea on equipment...
I am running a 215 gal reef.
Originally Posted by busbyj
Question time:
I am looking at the following equipment:
Filtration and skimming:
CPR CY294 Wet/Dry Dual-Skimmer system.
I went with a Aqua c ev240 with the Iwaki MD40rlt pump. It does and excellent job. It took about 2 months to get the adjustment just so, but well worth it.
Expansion Sump: 12.5 x 26 x 18
I went with a trigger systems 35 gal. I did not do the needed research on this and should have went with a 50gal instead. This sump is working just fine.
Return Pump: HD70 (1500gph)
I went with a sequence pump. Reeflo Dart. I run a closed loop and it's great for turnover. You may want to look at the Barracuda.
RO/DI System: Mako 5-stage Ultra Double RO/DI (200gpd)
Have not invested in one yet.
Do I need a UV Sterilizer??
Not sure, but do a search, I know there are many threads on this topic.
I don't yet have a clue about the lighting, so if you want to shout out some advise, go for it
I took the advice from this website: I went with a Coralife Aqualight Pro 72". I do not want limitations on what I can keep. I went with 3 150W HQI bulbs. 4 96W pc's. They work great. Go with good lighting.
All the equipment I bought is based on advice I received from this site. There is a wealth of knowledge here, probably saved me a boat load of cash. Good luck on setting up your tank! Hope this info helps.

 

[robchuck]

busbyj,
Did you ever get this tank set up?

 

[aw2]

If no one has noticed it already, this thread is 2 years old....I'm not even sure why it was brought back to the surface... :notsure:

 

[ctgretzky9]

Originally Posted by AW2
If no one has noticed it already, this thread is 2 years old....I'm not even sure why it was brought back to the surface... :notsure:

lol...someone was bored and going through threads i guess.

 

[saltfan]

Originally Posted by hhh
yeah. hey. how much did it cost you. i bought mine for $1085 acrylic and I picked it up in LA. well just wondering.
This is how its done. ^

 

[fishy7]

Originally Posted by AW2
If no one has noticed it already, this thread is 2 years old....I'm not even sure why it was brought back to the surface... :notsure:
Shows you how much I pay attention to dates.

 

[murph145]

lol thats funny and i wasted my time typing lol im guna look at the dates from now on who brought this back anyways