300g+240g in wall build... questions for the setup

[glarior]

Currently working on my in wall build to house a 300g and 240g aquariums. Wall should be done in the next week or two. I want to run both tanks from one sump and plan to build a custom sump. The 240g will be reef only and the 300 will be banded shark/ray. Everything below is me thinking, planning and trying to design my new setup.

I have been curious to what people use for filtration on large tanks.

I was thinking fluidized filter with K1 instead of 500+lbs of live rock, large LED algae scrubber, plenums on the bottom and deep sand beds. The fluidized filter because I can buy media for $200-300 vs LR for $3/lbs which is over 1.5k. I will have a fuge in the sump.


In my thinking, correct me if I am wrong, fish produce ammonia, the K1 does nitrification leaving me with nitrates which is consumed by the scrubber and plenum also converts nitrates to nitrogen.

What do you think?

What do large aquariums usually use for filtration?

 

[Dadekster]

From what I understand sharks and rays are messy eaters and tend to make it hard to keep water quality high so combine that with a reef setup and it seems like you are making more work for yourself? I would go with separate sumps and that way you can focus on keeping your reef setup up PnN low and not have to worry about it so much with more of a FOWLR for the shark/ray setup. Either way running two systems that size isn't cheap. Good luck

 

[Loserland]

from what i understand sharks and rays are messy eaters and tend to make it hard to keep water quality high so combine that with a reef setup and it seems like you are making more work for yourself? I would go with separate sumps and that way you can focus on keeping your reef setup up pnn low and not have to worry about it so much with more of a fowlr for the shark/ray setup. Either way running two systems that size isn't cheap. Good luck

+1

 

[glarior]

From what I understand sharks and rays are messy eaters and tend to make it hard to keep water quality high so combine that with a reef setup and it seems like you are making more work for yourself? I would go with separate sumps and that way you can focus on keeping your reef setup up PnN low and not have to worry about it so much with more of a FOWLR for the shark/ray setup. Either way running two systems that size isn't cheap. Good luck

Not cheap at all! Can buy huge tanks on craigslist for cheap but always forget all the extra items you need. The tank is the cheapest part.

Yes, sharks/rays are very messy eaters and need high quality water.

Reason I was thinking of joining two is being able to have the parameters equal and utilize the LR in the reef.

Plus, the sump will only fit under the 6ft tank.. I won't have room for another sump. That is why I was seeing what others use.

Do they just use lots of LR or some use the K1 media in a fluidized sump setup?

 

[Lavoisier]

Do they just use lots of LR or some use the K1 media in a fluidized sump setup?

I have only been back in the hobby for a year and a half or so but I see LR/Skimmer on the large tanks with the various reactors and UV when I follow builds on RC. I had never heard of K1 media and when I googled it the technology seems to be used primarily on freshwater rather than on reefs. Hope that helps.