300 gallons of sanity

[nylogger]

It has been 2 years since I lost my last tank. A 120 gallon LPS tank with a 100 gallon sump in the basement. The tank came to a sudden end when my dog was attempting to hide from a thunderstorm. He crawled under the stand and pulled a return hose and its was over, all over, the family room that is. I came home to a dead tank, wet floor and wet dog.

I sold everything, and swore I wouldn't start another tank. Well I have the bug again and decided to go big. I am having Aquariums For You build a 72x36x30 glass tank. Expected delivery is Mid-May, in the mean time I am building a stand and gathering equipment. I will try to keep track of my build on this link, and I will be looking for suggestions and open to opinions for all of you that have been there before me.

Much more to come!

Jim

 

[Nickde123]

Sounds nice Jim I have a tank beng build from them also 4'x3'x2'

 

[mpoletti]

That is a terrible way to lose a tank. Good luck and those are nice dimensions.

 

[Untamed12]

Maybe go with PVC plumbing this time....

 

[Nanook]

Welcome back Perhaps have an equipment room that is closed off with a door so the dog can not get in

 

[nylogger]

The new stand will be totally enclosed. I never quite "finished" the last one, so the accident was on me.

My new tank will have the bulk of the equipment in the basement and be pvc'd to and from. The last tank also had pvc terminating at a barb for the last few feet to the tank. Under the stand will be 2 closed loops and thats about it.

Nick, we will have to compare notes on our experience with AFY. So far they have been helpful and prompt.

I will be giving a list of equipment, both purchased and planned later today.

 

[nylogger]

My equipment list so far includes:

Tank:
72x36x30 starphire glass built by Aquariums For You

Lights
Giesemann 72 in MOONLIGHT 3 x 250 Watt HQI - 4 x 80 Watt T-5

Skimmer
Reefflo 250

Pumps
2 Sequence Darts for closed loops
Sequence Hammerhead

2 Wavey Seas for return

2 Oceans motion 4 ways fore closed loops

2 Rubbermaid Troughs for sump

 

[mcliffy2]

Very nice size tank - love the width (just ordered a 60x36x26 myself). The equipment list looks good. I would suggest vortechs or tunzes instead of closed loop, but thats personal preference. The other thing I'd wonder is if the HQIs will spread to cover the width, but if you use T5s with good PAR (i.e. not just actinics) you should be fine.

 

[nylogger]

I thought long and hard about the closed loops myself, and decided to go with it. Time will tell if it was the right thing to do! The lighting could be an issue, but I have 2 things on my side. I do not plan on going heavy on SPS and some of the species, not to mention the look I want, requires area of lower light. I can always add a row or 2 of t-5's or spot lighting.

 

[Bax]

I'd love to have 36" of depth to play with!

Sounds like a great project!

 

[ReefEnabler]

Good luck on your large build!

I am also currently having a tank made by AFY, a 220: 72x24x30.
Its technically late already but I kinda kept changin my mind about things like overflows and closed loop placement. I'm very happy with their customer service but have nothing to say about quality yet. Here's to hoping

:beer:

 

[rlxwcapt]

nylogger, I am working with Los in designing his tank. it is a 360 96 x 36 x 25 with 2 Om4way. I have worked long and hard with Paul. We have a CAD drawling of our tank. I love the giesemann light. I think we would have gone with the reeflo but Los wants the skimmer in the Tank. I look forward to watching your thread.

Nick

 

[nylogger]

I appreciate the thoughts, hopefully we can help each other out.

 

[Jflip2002]

Good luck with this one logger. I wish the best with it. The equipment list is already looking impressive. I wish badly that I could afford a high end Giesemann rather than the Eco fixture =(

GL!

 

[Haffs09]

Tagging along on this one. I plan on setting up one very similar in size.

 

[nylogger]

Still in the gathering phase: I bought a Kalk stirrer, its my first and I have questions. I plan on dripping RO into the kalk, then to the tank, using a litermeter. Should all my topoff water be kalk? I am guessing 4-7 gallons a day. the other option would be to drip some kalk and some pure RO. I know its a test and see situation, but a suggested starting point would be helpful. Also, my setup may be effected depending on which way I go.

 

[Doug864]

Why would you go with vortechs or tunzes instead of a closed loop?
Regards,
Doug

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=12071872#post12071872 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by mcliffy2
Very nice size tank - love the width (just ordered a 60x36x26 myself). The equipment list looks good. I would suggest vortechs or tunzes instead of closed loop, but thats personal preference. The other thing I'd wonder is if the HQIs will spread to cover the width, but if you use T5s with good PAR (i.e. not just actinics) you should be fine.

 

[nylogger]

a lot of guys don't want to chance the extra holes in the tank.

 

[NanoReefWanabe]

the flow from tunzes and vortechs is no where near as laminar as that of a closed loop...they are much more dispersed...plus like mentioned you dont have to worry about 10 extra holes in your tank...

 

[nylogger]

where near as laminar as that of a closed loop

Wow, now thats a vocabulary! Laminar??