I would appreate any help I can get

[chris_s918]

I am in a quandary . I am looking up for equipment for a tank ill be buying soon 500 gallon tank . What I need help is interns of lighting ill prob need. Easyly prob 4-5 radion or what t5 or mh should i get for that? Should I get uv equipment ? Should I run biopeletts and gfo? Also with water flow should I do 40-50 times the flow for the tank that size? How deep sandbed should I get? Should I get 2000 pounds of live rock? What kind of protein skimmer should I get? How big of a sump should I get ? I can mix and match softies and lps and sps in the tank right? I'm sorry it's asking alot but I want to do this right any help would be helpful

 

[elias123]

I think it depends on what you would like to put in the tank to start with. Also the dimensions of the tank would be good as well.
Know one has a clear cut perfect answer but if you know what you want to achieve with the tank how much you want to spend etc etc it will help you out a lot.
I would probably go with 400watt metal halides because of the size (depends on dimension as well)
I run biopelletes and gfo on a 400g quite well. but you could go for gfo and a nitrate reactor, grow caulerpa, or hair algae in the refugium, big algae scrubber.
You could have a bear bottom or 6 inch layer of sand or go with a thin layer just for looks although it is more work. (depending on what type of fish you want, wrasses etc)
For a big tank like that i think 40 - 50 times is heaps but play around with the settings and have random flow and flow rates. Sea swirls on your returns, tunze pumps, wortechs, waveboxes are all good options, minimize dead spots.
2000 pounds is a fair bit of rock but again depends on the look you want and if you want live rock in your sump etc.
The sump can be as big as you like or as big as you have room for, is the skimmer going in sump or out? etc etc depending on what you want to hold in it.
I think 2 skimmers would be good instead of one big one but again its up to you.
Sounds like you want a mixed reef so calcium alkalinity pottasium and magnesium will be important, calcium reactor with magnesium chips as well, dosing pumps, kalk are all ways of keeping that up to scratch.

 

[chris_s918]

The tank is 96x36x36 I belive I want some fish not much mostly reef and inverts I want to have a full range or corals . I just didn't know if 25000 gph is to much or not. I want a full range of inverts. So will I need more then one mh fixtures

 

[Nanook]

[welcome]

I can totally see your enthusiasm and desire to get setup quickly, but slow down a bit and don't buy much yet until you get the basics down.

That is going to be a lot of water, electricity, weight, and humidity. Have you considered how you are going to keep the room dehumidified so mold doesn't become an issue? Have you considered evaporation and heating/cooling?

Typically, just throwing up a 500 gallon tank somewhere in your house and placing gadgets around is not a great idea, so take some time in figuring out the logistics of the setup first.

All that being said, most folks aim for about 4-6 times flow through the sump. Also, some folks feed a protein skimmer and media reactors with the main pump, so you would need to factor that into the equation for buying a pump. Then there is the issue of heaters, controllers for heaters to keep them honest and from nuking your tank. Multiple heaters are a good thing. Lighting is a personal decision and budget will play a huge factor there. Personally, I like MH and VHO, but folks use all different types of lighting and you should spend a lot of time reading before dropping big bucks down.

Liverock or deadrock, figure you need about 500 pounds give or take in the display, depending on your tastes. 2000 pounds of rock is quite excessive.

 

[chris_s918]

I was always told 2 pounds of live Rock per gallon

 

[Nanook]

I was always told 2 pounds of live Rock per gallon

Not here on Reef Central you weren't Please, spend some serious time searching topics that you are curious about and read, read, read here. Forget all you were told at a LFS or in a book and find out what folks here are doing that works.

 

[bullitr]

That's a lot of rocks unless you want to run all of it in the sump
To me less is more because it allow more flow in the tank , more swimming room and more visually appealing
I have about the same dimension as your planning
Here is my tank not the best picture nor a best example but I like it as is .

Regarding lights your need at least 8 Radions to cover that space
And why 36" tall unless you are like my friend Jeff that is close to 7 feet tall
I think 27-30 is best.

Good luck

 

[chris_s918]

If you guys don't mind me asking then how should I prepare this tank and everything in the making because in two years I won't be here where I live at would it be wrong to buy the parts then the tank and set it up after I move

 

[bullitr]

I move large tank before its not easy but not impossible either
Also location helps because its harder to move tanks on the snow.

 

[Breadman03]

If you are planning a move in two years, I suggest looking into getting a ~75 gallon tank going now so that you can get some good experience maintaining an ecosystem. I believe that it will be much easier to learn on the smaller tank, plus the smaller tank will make a great HT or QT (hospital tank or quarantine tank) once your larger system is up and running.