Looking at a 650gal. Want to ask advice on parts

[m0nkie]

Hi everyone. I want to ask folks with bigger tanks about equipment!!!

I was shopping around and saw a used tank perfect for my house. It's pretty much THE perfect sized tank for me.. 10x3x3 3 side starphire. dual herbie overflow. euro braced. 10 holes drilled on top for return. around 650gals + sump.

price is the same as building a brand new same sized acrylic tank..

so.. having some thoughts on getting it home. First I want to ask for recommendations on parts. I want to use all my current parts. It's not going to be pretty, but it should be enough till I can replace them with nicer things.

here's how my room sits right now. the gap is 14 x 3.5.. I can put that tank in perfectly flush with about 2 ft on both sides and half ft in the back.

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1) Return Pump: What return pump should I get? I've been using Fluval6. Don't think it's enough. are external pumps better for large tanks? I will have lot of sump space. the return holes are all drilled into the euro brace. 10 of them. each around 2 inche

2) Lighting: I have 1 AP700 and 3 360E... I can probably light up half the tank to grow my current corals. Plan is to have 3 AP700 and T5 bars.

3) Flow: I have 2 Gyre 150, 1 Gyre 130, 2 WP40, and 1 MP10. enough for this size?? I really don't have a clue.

4) Skimmer: I have Bubble King DC180 and 2 crappy CADS skimmer rated for 200gals each. I think do-able for my current bio-load Any recommendation on future skimmer for these tanks?

other things will be hooked on too. APEX, 1/2hp chiller (prob not needed), ARID, Calcium Reactor rated for 300gal, 2 Part dosing if needed..

Anything I'm missing??? do you guys think these equipment are do-able for a year? keeping bio-load light.

thanks

 

[m0nkie]

 

[WLachnit]

Sounds like a great opportunity. One thing to consider of course, is the load requirements on your floor. This will weigh 6-7,000 lbs all in. Maybe more with your sump. Tanks this size usually use an xternal pump IME.

 

[Dmorty217]

Royal Exclusive Red Dragon speedy 3 230w. Just put one on my 625g and couldn't be happier. Runs silent and cool to the touch!

 

[m0nkie]

Sounds like a great opportunity. One thing to consider of course, is the load requirements on your floor. This will weigh 6-7,000 lbs all in. Maybe more with your sump. Tanks this size usually use an xternal pump IME.

thanks! I will have some pro take a look. the floor sits on solid concrete, so it should be good.

Royal Exclusive Red Dragon speedy 3 230w. Just put one on my 625g and couldn't be happier. Runs silent and cool to the touch!

thank you! I love the Red Dragon pumps on my skimmer. Will look into this one.

Can you also give me a recommendation on skimmer?

 

[m0nkie]

and I know every city is different..

but do you guys mind posting about how much $$$ you spend on electricity per month? thanks!

 

[chris o]

To many variables for you to be able to tell anything from that unless you can find someone who lives in the same climate has the same size house and similar energy efficiency. I live just north of Houston in a 4,200 sq ft house and have a pool. My current tank is a 230G and my last bill was $700. What does that mean for you? I don’t know. But I do know that I pay 7.6 cents per kw so if I wanted I could add up all of my equipment and get close but another variable is that we keep our home at 72 so I have to heat my aquarium to keep it at 79 which then eats up more ac.

Chris

 

[cleanmyaquarium]

my 900 gallon system costs about $150/MO in electricityand it is very efficient

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[Dmorty217]

Bubble King skimmer, I would ask Slief as to which one he recommends. Costs about 60-70 I'm guessing, more depending on how many and what QTs I have up and running. I could literally turn my AC down to 60 and open the windows when it's 90 out and not have a $700 electric bill... we all pay different amounts per Kilowatt though

 

[m0nkie]

thanks guys. I understand price differs. I had a few folks running ~700gal systems saying everything cost about $1000 per month. electricity, food, salt, everything. Hope that's not the case.

I'm running 3 different tanks total about 400gal, electricity is about $250 a month..

 

[Jboone82590]

Wow I want one when I grow up lol

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[anbosu]

Unless your kwh charges accelerate dramatically you shouldn't add more than $150 at the most to your electric, assuming you're tearing down some of your existing systems. I am running a 360 gallon tank with another 200 or so gallons and my electric bill is usually around $250 a month.

 

[sfsuphysics]

Depends upon your local rates, I mean here in California we live with "just bend over and accept it" rates, which is a multi-tiered system based on usage, the lowest usage rates are still higher than most other states, the highest tier I think only Hawaii ends up being more expensive (or a couple other states). Then how much you can use to be in any tier depends upon your climate and whether or not you have natural gas hookups (for heating purposes), overall in San Francisco we get double screwed because we have natural gas, and as a result not expected to use too much electricity, but other places that need A/C well they are already using a lot so a tank just puts them that much over...

Ok all that local electricity rates rant aside, two major things impact my tank first and foremost is temperature, if you have to constantly fight against the ambient temperature (either on the high or low side) then you're going to pay for that fight at the power meter. The other thing is lighting, while LEDs have helped a bit in this regard, you still will be surprised how many watts you're using to light your tank. Water movement can be an issue if you use a lot of external/pressure rated pumps, but if you have in tank pumps that are very wide flow they tend to be super efficient with how much power they consume.

So my advice 1) insulate however possible wherever the tank/sump is as much as possible. 2) think about just lighting where high light corals are going to be, many people go for the uniform lighting approach (which isn't wrong by any stretch) but if all your SPS are going to be on one mountain on a part of the tank, why do you care about having that same intensity of lighting everywhere? Now if you want SPS everywhere, they yeah light it all up the same.

 

[m0nkie]

alright... I put a down payment on the tank. Will get it to my house after 2-3 months. Time to join the big boys club

 

[btb72]

New acrylic or the used one?

 

[m0nkie]

Used glass tank. I can't deal with acrylics. Just look too blurry to me and gets me motion sickness

still a big investment for me. They were nice enough to allow me to pay in 2 payments

 

[rygar]

I just got a gyre 150 on my tank. Footprint is 10' X 4' and with everything off but that, it's able to make the water bounce off the opposite side...which is a rock wall. You put 2 of those in line on one side, plus the return pump, your gonna be surprised. Maybe won't even need the MP40s. I think the other guy with a 750 here is just using 2 gyre 150s and says it's enough flow