Equipment List for 400 gallon plus System

[antciam]

Contract is signed for the new house. We are just waiting for current house to sell before new house construction starts.

I am starting to build a equipment list for the new tank. New tank will be roughly a 120" x 30" x 30" mix reef tank.

I want to see what equipment others are using. I am really interested in Reactors, protein skimmer, and heaters.

Once construction on the new house starts I will start a build thread.

Thank you!!

 

[leicaguy]

Royal Exclusive is the way to go for Skimmer, in my opinion, this has proven to be the best I have used in 45 years of marine/reef hobby

 

[Reel North]

I'm actually looking at doing a 450g. I'll just be using my Lifereef 36" skimmer, and buying an extension for more contact time. I bought everything for my 220 so that I could scale it up when I upgraded.

For under a grand, you just can't beat a Lifereef.

Look into an ATS, which will likely eliminate a lot of reactors.

I use a Lifereef caRX as well (notice a trend here... Lol) with a MASTERFLEX pump. My sps has taken right off since I added the MASTERFLEX.

Make sure you have a fuge on the system as well

 

[antciam]

I would love to have a complete Royal Exclusive sump but budget doesn't allow that dream.

I will have to look at Lifereef, I've never really looked at their products.

I have the MRC MR-4 Protein skimmer as a placeholder on my equipment list. Does anyone have experience with MRC skimmers?

The plan is to have two Deep Blue 80 gallon frag tanks under the tank for the sump. One will be for the filtration system and the other for a large refugium.

 

[Reel North]

I had an Mrc skimmer. It was loud, and ended up failing - glue joint let go on the intake.

I ordered a Lifereef after that failure (still ran it in sump till Lifereef came. The amount of gunk that the Lifereef pulled was scary!

They are made in USA. When you call you speak to Jeff - the owner and the builder. I absolutely love his stuff.

 

[saf1]

I would love to have a complete Royal Exclusive sump but budget doesn't allow that dream.

I will have to look at Lifereef, I've never really looked at their products.

I have the MRC MR-4 Protein skimmer as a placeholder on my equipment list. Does anyone have experience with MRC skimmers?

The plan is to have two Deep Blue 80 gallon frag tanks under the tank for the sump. One will be for the filtration system and the other for a large refugium.

Life reef have a very good, and long running design, of their skimmers. I have one that I picked up in 2000 that is still pretty solid today. It has been offline and boxed up but will be using it on my 210 here within the next couple of months. I had it running on my 100 gallon before the California power issues crashed our tank. Thought it was overkill on my 40 breeder so boxed it up for later

He also builds sumps with optional refuge's on the side. I can't vouch for the sumps but his acrylic work on the skimmer is top notch. Good response via email, helpful. One thing to note is his sump is a sump. The attached refugium is just that, a low flow external attachment which is a nice feature.

Anyway - good luck!

 

[antciam]

Life reef have a very good, and long running design, of their skimmers. I have one that I picked up in 2000 that is still pretty solid today. It has been offline and boxed up but will be using it on my 210 here within the next couple of months. I had it running on my 100 gallon before the California power issues crashed our tank. Thought it was overkill on my 40 breeder so boxed it up for later

Ill give them a call - Thanks for the recommendation

 

[locito277]

Prepare your wallet. Big tanks will require never ending funding and patience lol. Totally worth it in the end though I went with the Nyos 300 skimmer, Geo 1218 reactor, Koralin denitrator, miracle mud which I know some people hate but I'm a fan. Also marine blocks for bio filtration, Santa Monica Algae scrubber and a Nilsen kalk stirrer for my ATO. Lots of other stuff as well. List grows by the second and I've yet to put a drop of water in as of yet


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[antciam]

Prepare your wallet. Big tanks will require never ending funding and patience lol. Totally worth it in the end though I went with the Nyos 300 skimmer, Geo 1218 reactor, Koralin denitrator, miracle mud which I know some people hate but I'm a fan. Also marine blocks for bio filtration, Santa Monica Algae scrubber and a Nilsen kalk stirrer for my ATO. Lots of other stuff as well. List grows by the second and I've yet to put a drop of water in as of yet

I have a budget in mind but I am sure I will surpass that by several thousand. Are you DYI the sump or are you buying a fabricated one?

 

[locito277]

Mine luckily came with the tank. All glass around 150 gallons or so broken into 4 sections so I'll have skimmer and reactors in first portion followed by 2 fuges then return to aquarium.


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[Reel North]

I just made my own out of a 125g tank. I'll likely do the next one out of a 180g

 

[antciam]

I originally thought of using a 80 gallon frag tank but I am now thinking 4 ft long is too short. I think I am over think the whole sump and where to put baffles idea. Pre-fabricated sumps look very complex compared to DIY sumps.