I cant decide 220 or 300

TonyB13

TonyB13

New member
I currently have a 75 gal with hang on equipment and a 28 gallon jbj which I have had for a while now and i am ready to graduate to a bigger tank.

Cant decide between the Marienland 220 gallon dual over flow for 900 bucks or the 300 gallon for 1800 bucks.

Some of my concerns are I am going to bite off more than I can chew, Money is a big factor just the stand for the 300 gallon starphire is 1200 bucks. I am sure everything else is going to be more too, Like the sump skimmer etc wondering if you guys think there is a lot of difference in the equipment between the 300 and the 220.
I have already bought my 150 gallon a day RODI system and two 75 gallon water tanks for my water, i have plenty of heaters also have two of the kessil 360 probably need one or two more, also have a couple of quarantine tanks
The length on both tanks are 72 inches.
Thanks, Tony
 
The 220 is 72x24x30 and the 300 is 72x36x27 right?

What do you want out of the tank? Sps dominant... Mixed reef?

Equipment wise you can use similar sized items for both tanks. You will spend more in rock and sand.

I like the 300's dimensions better. I'll take front to back depth over height any day. The lower height will help your lights penetrate better. 30" is really deep. If you are wanting SPS dominant though the 36 depth is a killer too. In my opinion if you want to use leds and want one of these show tanks you see you better plan on coverage per fixture only being about 12-15 sq inches which means you are going to need a ton of those lights. For tanks that big leds are the most expensive options for lighting.

So if I were you I'd prob take the smaller tank and use your savings in price to buy more lights.
 
Thanks Yes you have the dimensions right the middle number is the width of the tank right front to back?, SPS coral is what I want to do,and what do you guys think of starphire is it that much better?
 
The 300DD is a baller tank. Save your money, and get what you truly want. Don't settle for the 220 to save a couple hundred bucks.
 
Bigger. I would never spend $1200 on a stand unless it was made by a Amish carpenter...
Yes everything will cost more but with you going to a 220g size minimum I'm pretty sure you already knew that. You need to do a lot of planning and buy what you want in the second hand market to save money otherwise everything brand new is really going to hurt the pocket. You will be 8-10K deep before the tank is stocked completely easily... More if you want a SPS tank
 
Go bigger if you can. If you're going SPS I think you're going to need more than 1-2 extra Kessils. The 360W are recommended for 24"x24" by Kessil, but most people on RC seem to recommend more like 18"x18" per 360W. For a 300DD I'd guess you'll want 6. I have a 300, but different dimensions, 96"x24"x30". I have 4 - 360W and it looks alright, but I don't feel like coral is responding well. I'm planning to add 4 rows of T5 the entire length of the tank, just waiting on the retro kits to arrive.
 
For that 300g tank you will probably need 8 of those kessils. 2 rows of 4.
For the 220 if you scape it right and have most of your rock work in the middle then you can maybe get away with 1 row of 4 but that just means the front/back 3" of the tank are going to have significantly reduced par values. That would make good areas for LPS in sand bed though or just open space. If you wanted to light that tank very well it would take 6 and have them staggered.

Of course bigger is always better but I'm trying to give realistic advice. Everyone has a budget and he never gave a dollar value but he says in his post the total cost is important.

So the price jump from a 220 to the 300 would be as follows:
+900 just for the tank

The stand will most likely be a few hundred more too

You would need 2 more kessils over what you would need for the 220 which is +$800

The extra rock and sand +~400

The giant depth of the 300 will mean you need more power heads for flow for 36" front to back. Depending on what you use that's at least 2 power heads on each side +400

That's about $2800 right there. That's not including the extra electricity usage from more heaters and other equipment listed above, extra water used monthly, salt, etc.

That's a big chunk of change for 80 extra gallons. To act like its no big deal is easy when it's not you forking it over.
 
Its going to be expensive for sure . electrical cost will more than triple if you are going to have sump under tank a bit less cause you can use a smaller pump . I have a 220 and sump in basement with fish room . you will need at least 3 well placed powerheads depending on rock work fora 220 and at least 4 if not 6 in a 300 . even if you use MP60's you will still need a couple to hit dead spots . lighting , yeah yours going to need at least 4 kessils on a 220 ( I like to add T5's to anything ) I run 3 250 watt radiums and 2 80 watt T5's over my 220 . the 300 will need probably 5 or 6 kessils or whatever Led you want . mixin station salt heaters yep expensive lol but fun
 
ClownsRCoo said:
For that 300g tank you will probably need 8 of those kessils. 2 rows of 4.
For the 220 if you scape it right and have most of your rock work in the middle then you can maybe get away with 1 row of 4 but that just means the front/back 3" of the tank are going to have significantly reduced par values. That would make good areas for LPS in sand bed though or just open space. If you wanted to light that tank very well it would take 6 and have them staggered.
Click to expand...

8 Kessil 360's over a 72"x 36" footprint?? I think that's kind of excessive unless the are the 360N's and not the 360WE's. I run 8 360WE's at 8" from the surface over my 96"x48"x 24" deep display and it's more than enough light. I have terrific coverage and no shadowing. My SPS, LPS and softies grow like weeds and I only have them maxing at 80% intensity. I don't use any supplemental lighting either. For a tank his size, 6 should be more than enough in terms of intensity and coverage. I would run them in two parallel rows of 3 and angle them to towards the center which will eliminate shadowing and maximize coverage. Don't get me wrong, 8 would be even better but based on my experience with these lights, I would say it's overkill. If I were to go with 8, I would run two parallel rows of 3 and add one at each end in the center aimed slightly towards the middle of the tank.

That said, if it were me, I would go with the larger display. Granted, that's easy for me to say since I already have a 480g display. Should you decide to go with the smaller display you will likely always wonder if you should have gone bigger. Also, the larger volume will result in a bit more stability and the larger with will make for easier aquascaping with more room between the rock and the viewing panes while also allowing for more corals. If you can set this up as a peninsula, that would be idea as you would gain even more space for corals and more viewing pleasure.
 
lots of wise and experienced advise provided, dont end up with "small tank" remorse by going too small, I get the money part but maybe live with and enjoy your 75 while collecting components or building some items then do it right...figure out what the biggest tank is that you can possibly afford, then go one size bigger, i bumped up from 120 to a 330 last year, overall much easier, my levels stay so stable
 
you can always save yourself some money and build your own stand.. plenty of plans around the web to follow... or a local metal shop would be much much cheaper for a steel stand!! my vote would be if you are contemplating both then you must want the 300... why deny yourself.. you're already spending the money a few hundred more to get what you actually want cant be a bad thing!
 
First thank you all for your input much appreciated and its really getting me to think, so we went to the new house today and looked at the location of where I wanted to put the tank and the 36 depth/width of the 300DD ((All you guys want that tank because its says double DD in the description:)) and its really takes up a lot of our living room, I will take some pictures of the room tomorrow. My whole thing all along has been that I did not want my sump under the tank in a cabinet too hard to maintain so the spot that I am thinking has a store room behind it, so I was going to put my sump in there and make it my fish room. There is a better wall in that room where the tank would look better but not sure how far on the same floor I can run plumbing without having issues? And how about this starphire glass is it all that or not? I have heard both
 
I cant decide 220 or 300

I've never had starohire but ordered it on my tank being built now. I figured for a few hundred dollars I'll give it a try and see if it's worth it or not. Tank arrives next week so I can give you feedback then
 
doesnt get much clearer than starphire.. its low iron glass... if you look at a standard cut and a low iron cut you'll notice the green tint to the standard and starphire doesnt have that at all... starphire glass is really clear and offers about the best viewing pains you can get... costs are higher for it.. but it really is worth it
 
ClownsRCoo said:
I've never had starohire but ordered it on my tank being built now. I figured for a few hundred dollars I'll give it a try and see if it's worth it or not. Tank arrives next week so I can give you feedback then
Click to expand...

So where are you getting your tank from?I looked at all the other tank manufacturers and couldn't even get them to respond to my emails so I kinda gave up.
 
Tony, I had the same dilema but in the end I went with the 300G. (Marineland DD) The reason, deeper and more water volume of course! I felt the additional cost was worth it to me.

I had a DSA (Deep Sea Aquatics, 150G cube) it was a well made solid aquarium. DSA was a spin off from a few former Oceanic Aquarium makers and they were built just like the old bulletproof Oceanic tanks. The latest I had heard is that they are currently re-structuring the company. (their website is currently down) I had read a few threads on here and other sites where they had taken deposits on aquariums and now can not be reached.
 
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