300 gallon, help with planning

[xanthurum]

I am in the beginning stages of planning a roughly 300 gallon tank and I would love some help from everyone here. I previously had a 280 gallon with about a 120 gallon sump built into my wall in NC. Since I moved to AZ 3 years ago I have had this idea but it is now time to get serious.

The tank will be a room divider and the space it will occupy is an arch measuring 100.5 inches. I am going with a single overflow on one end since this will give the greatest amount of viewing space. I am thinking a minimum of 24 inches wide and no more than 28 inches tall.

The plan is to go with a somewhat open aquascape involving pillars to allow for swimming space and some large coral colonies. Mixed corals with a heavier lean towards sps.

As far as livestock is concerned there will be a few Acanthurus species namely Achilles, Clown, and a few others. Zebrasoma like a Purple and maybe another Black like I had in the old tank. Anthias some designer clowns and whatever else to a small degree.

So far it Radions are winning in the light category for me as well as probably 2 mp60's. Help me by suggesting what I should do for all other equipment. It has been a few years since I have been fully submerged in this hobby and I need advice on what to research. So if you were doing this and money was of no concern what would you do? That's not to imply I am wealthy but I don't cut corners when it concerns my tanks.
1. Return pumps
2. Sump options (sizes, manufacture, separate refugium, lights)
3. Skimmer?!?
4. reactors (how many and what kind I hear phosphates can be bad in AZ)
5. RO/DI I will surely need one at home
anything else you can think of or any advice regarding all aspects of the tank.

 

[xanthurum]

75 views and no advice yet, please help!

 

[toothman]

That is easy and hard.

Halide, vho or t5, vho is better. hamilton fixture is what I have. If you want radions you wil need pulse start ballast or electronic

Hammer head return pump

125 gallon tank in basement or remote area if you have. You do not need any special shape sump.

Top off with ato brand, pump and additional water tank required

Bubbleking 250 or 200

Tunze pumps, vortech pumps are too noisy.

Kent ro/di, slow is better for best water quality. 2 di chambers.

I prefer dosing vs. ca reactor, ca in container 1, baking soda 2, mg in 3

No refugium

Zeovit reactor, zeovit basic 4

 

[viggen]

Hard to suggest a pump w/o knowing head loss. Hammerhead is noisy... Ok if in a basement but not so good if it needs to be quiet. Laguna, red dragon, Hagen/fluva seas etc are all quiet but can't deal with a lot of head pressure

Sump - not sure the space available but simply modifying a 125-150g tank is easy.

Skimmer - I am a fan if reef dynamics, made here in the states and easy to get parts if needed. He can also make a sump to properly house the skimmer. Xrc 500.3 would be sweet on your tank. Bubbleking also makes great stuff however body volume is quite a bit smaller vs similarly prices reef dynamics. But they make excellent stuff

No suggestions on your other two questions.....

 

[ca1ore]

I recently setup a new 265 and went with the following:

1. ReefBreeders LED lights - a pair of photon 32 units
2. A Vortech MP40 on each end and a Jebao 25 along the back
3. I'm still using an older ASM G4XX skimmer, so cannot give you much guidance here, but I'd probably go AquaMaxx
4. A PanWorld 150 as my main return pump up from the basement - not completely quiet though.
5. Multiple Two Little Fishies 150 and 550 reactors for various media
6. Am running a waterfall ATS
7. Spectrapure 50 gpd RODI unit

As far as a sump is concerned, I am running a 75 for my tank which is a tad undersized. probably would go with a standard 125 next time.
5.

 

[mayjong]

I recently setup a new 265 and went with the following:

1. ReefBreeders LED lights - a pair of photon 32 units
2. A Vortech MP40 on each end and a Jebao 25 along the back
3. I'm still using an older ASM G4XX skimmer, so cannot give you much guidance here, but I'd probably go AquaMaxx
4. A PanWorld 150 as my main return pump up from the basement - not completely quiet though.
5. Multiple Two Little Fishies 150 and 550 reactors for various media
6. Am running a waterfall ATS
7. Spectrapure 50 gpd RODI unit

As far as a sump is concerned, I am running a 75 for my tank which is a tad undersized. probably would go with a standard 125 next time.
5.

pic!

 

[ca1ore]

pic!

FTS and Sump

 

[xanthurum]

Here is where the tank will go. The windows will be tinted, but this part of the house faces east and I have a covered patio so at most it gets an hour of direct sunlight in the am.


All the plumbing and equipment will be underneath so a quiet pump is a must. Max head will be around 6 feet so I am not concerned with that. Thinking of a fuge along with the sump. Overflow will be on the window side with the
MP60's on the opposite side.
What are thoughts on UV, good or bad?
QT will be one 55 gallon kept in the bar area of the house.

I had an ASM G4 on my old tank and loved it.

 

[ca1ore]

UV - at worst it does nothing, at best it reduces parasite 'pressure' and keeps the water clearer. I always run one.

 

[viggen]

With only 6ft of head no need for a noisy hammerhead

Waterblaster, Laguna, red dragon, Hagen seas all offer pumps that would work. They are quiet and reliable. The red dragon and Hagen pumps are based off of the Laguna pump.

Dimension wise go as wide as you can especially since its viewable from both sides. Going 30in wide or wider will make aqua scraping much much easier and also be better for the clown tang and Achilles when they get full grown. My regrets with my tank is I didn't go 120x35x36.... I went 120x30x30 and that extra room would of given my fish so much more room to swim.

Skimmer wise the asm skimmers did perform ok especially with some minor mods. I had the g3..... It really depends on the money you are willing to spend and also the sump space you have to install the skimmer....

 

[hobbzz]

I recently set up a 300 gallon. Ive had vortechs and tunze in the past. Vortechs are loud and unreliable compared to tunze. Tunze also makes pumps with wide flow outputs as wide as 4'. Just takes longer to get that wide compared to the vortech. Im running 3 6105 with wide flow nozzles and one 6155. So if silence is important, do not get vortechs. Tunze are silent even when turning completely off and back on every half second.

I went with am ATB 10.5 deluxe for a skimmer. Silent and does a great job. And I only have 9 fish in there right now.

For a return I went with a laguna 1500. They have since renamed it the 1350 because they found it didn't put out the 1500gph they thought. Its also silent without and sound dampening either. Ill likely be switching it out for the 2000.

For sump I would do as big as you can fit. And use standard used glass tanks and just add baffles. My tank came with a 70g poly sump and I added another 75g for a fuge, and for an ATS to drain into.

 

[NaClTDog]

Please don't beat me, I have a jebao wp40 on one end of my 300dd. It makes a nice wave, however it is not as sexy as the vortech's. it does the job and left me with more fish/coral money!

 

[xanthurum]

Thanks for the info so far at least i have some more input on what to look into. I just picked up the 55 gallon and it is up and running, with the QT running it might get the push going to start a build thread sooner.

 

[toothman]

I have a better prospective with a remote sump. Royal exclusive make probably the best pumps on the market and are almost dead quiet, they are expensive though. The hammerhead will be to noisy for under a tank. The next best thing is a Dart pump, it moves about 3500 gals and is quiet, I have 2 under my tank for closed loop. Putting it on a sea swirl would be nice. If you are worried about noise vortech is out, tunze is much better. As far as lighting, I have seen some fantastic tanks with led however I personally have a led tank at my office and halide at home, the halide works much better for me.
I have set my tank up many ways in the last 10 yrs, and my most recent method is fugeless, the fuge is another thing to keep clean and maintain and really doesn't do much, they look cool and sound like a good idea. I decided to take my fuge off when I disconnected it for 2 months and ran it separate from you tank, after 2 months I tested the water in the fuge and it tested no better than the main tank. It did not reduce nitrates at all.
Not a fan of uv
Skimmer again, dead quiet bubble king or vortech. The red dragon motor really is the driver of a skimmer and I thing it is the best, both have red dragon.
I realize there is many ways to set up a successful reef tank, good luck.


Here is a picture taken last week of part of my tank.

<a href="http://s382.photobucket.com/user/eralff/media/photo17-1.jpg.html" target="_blank"><img src="http://i382.photobucket.com/albums/oo268/eralff/photo17-1.jpg" border="0" alt=" photo photo17-1.jpg"/></a>
<a href="http://s382.photobucket.com/user/eralff/media/photo18.jpg.html" target="_blank"><img src="http://i382.photobucket.com/albums/oo268/eralff/photo18.jpg" border="0" alt=" photo photo18.jpg"/></a>

 

[hobbzz]

The red dragon pumps use laguna motor blocks. If the rd dies the laguna is a direct replacement. So no need to get a red dragon or flowstar for a return.

 

[toothman]

interesting, I thought it looked suspiciously like a red dragon pump. I have the red dragon on my skimmer but have not used their in line pumps. The dc 1200 seems very close in wattage and output to dart. Not sure about db rating. Seems like waveline dc 1200 may be a winner. I do like my dart pump, sequence really has good customer service.

 

[viggen]

fwiw when I used a dart pump it was noisier vs my vortec mp60's

kept the mp's..... ditched the dart

 

[albano]

The tank will be a room divider ... I am thinking a minimum of 24 inches wide and no more than 28 inches tall.

The plan is to go with a somewhat open aquascape involving pillars to allow for swimming space and some large coral colonies.

IMO, you should go wider and shorter... A 'room divider' tank had 2 fronts, and if you leave just 6" of open front space on each side, you are left with less than 12" of rockwork/corals. 30" wide or more would be better.
As for tall, 24-27" should work nicely.

 

[toothman]

A review of the mp 60 By Dana Riddle
Noise
Noise tends to distract from the initial impression of a reef tank and be a major annoyance if the aquarium is in a 'quiet area' such as a bedroom. When the pump is in the constant speed mode, the motor's sound is constant and, to me at least, is something of a white noise and barely noticeable. When in any of the variable speed modes, the motor ramping up and down makes the noise become apparent. I checked the motor noise when in short pulse mode with a sound meter. Results 55 to 65db.

The dart is 52 to 60 db,
The red dragon is 46 db.

Although I have my darts under my tank enclosed by 4 walls making it quieter, I personally think if one of my darts go I will try a red dragon pump. Tunze powerheads make almost no noise.

Agree with Albano, tank should be wider, my tank is 36" wide and would not want it less.

 

[xanthurum]

The problem with wider is my windows if i go over 26 inches it will start to overlap the windows and i am not moving them. As far as height my last tank was 30 inches and i will never do that again. I would love 36 inches wide but i just don't think it's in the cards.