300 Gallon SPS Dominant Mixed Reef Build

[JosephJ]

Hi, I'm starting a 300 gallon build. I have the tank, stand and will be adding a canopy. I'm posting on here to get more experienced reefers opinions and ideas. The tank is 96" L 30" D and 24" H. I wanted to start with the lighting. I currently have a 60 gallon reef with 2 Radion pros on it and wanted to reuse them. I'm considering additional radions and supplemental T-5 light to help eliminate shadowing. Attaches is my first stab at the lighting layout. It would be mounted on rails inside my hood. I've also included all dimensions in inches. Thanks for the help in advance.

Joe

 

[JosephJ]

Red Boxes

Red Boxes

I forgot to mention that the red boxes around the radions are echotech's claimed coverage area for the radion pros.

Thanks

Joe

 

[Raoul5Duke]

I've got only 4 Radion Pros over a 96" tank and I'm keeping SPS, anemones, clams just fine (IMO), so what you have planned should be more than enough possibly not necessary. Check out the 80/20 rails, the channels make it easy to slide the lights around to get optimal coverage.

 

[JosephJ]

How deep is your tank from front to back?

 

[JosephJ]

Here is another design. Once again it may be a bit of overkill.

 

[Raoul5Duke]

96"x36"x24" (L,W,D). I don't keep any SPS around the perimeterof the tank (~4-5") but LPS & Softies do well. You can alwayst add more later if needed. You can see my light rack, etc. if you check out my build thread.

 

[JosephJ]

Ild love to check it out, can you post a link to the thread?

Thanks

 

[Raoul5Duke]

Here you go:
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2405698

Several cool build threads in this forum, also there are other ideas for mounting lights if you look in the Ecotech Marine forum.

 

[JosephJ]

Your light rack looks really nice and sturdy. Would you send me a list of materials used or something showing the build?
Thanks
Joe

 

[JosephJ]

I've been looking into this 80/20 stuff and it seems that is only available over the internet. Were you able to source the stuff locally?

Thanks

 

[Raoul5Duke]

I had to order over the internet. Try Ebay instead of the 80/20 site. The rails were very easy to cut to needed lengths with a hack saw. The hanging kits were the standard ones from Ecotech marine. Also, check out the Ecotech forum. There is a thread showing how different people hung their lights, that's where I got the idea from.

 

[JosephJ]

Well the summer has flown by. I have made a lot of progress on the equipment side. I finished staining the stand and finally have that and the tank in the house and out of the garage. I had a custom sump build by a local company here in Colorado. Jeff at Lifereef built me a skimmer and calcium reactor. I picked up to mp60's for the sides and will use the two mp40's I already have on the back. I picked up the new echotech return pump to give that a try. I'll begin plumbing and aquascaping next week and hope to have water in it the following week. I'm considering sea sweeps for the return pumps. Does anyone have experience with these? Are they worth the money? They seem to have positive reviews online.

Thanks

Joe

 

[JosephJ]

As far as plumbing goes each overflow box is drilled for a 1" and a 1.5" bulkhead. I'm planning on running the two 1" bulkheads as the primary and the 1.5" bulkheads as the emergency overflow. Does anyone see any issues with this?

Thanks

 

[NeverlosT]

incredible, your equipment choices are awesome. I cant wait to watch this one come together.

 

[JosephJ]

As far as actuators to lift the hood when I build it, does anyone have any recommendations either good or bad?

Thanks

 

[nuxx]

Great start, can't wait to see more