OrionN
Moved on
I just sign a check to buy a 320 gal system of a fellow reefer here in Corpus Christi. We recently moved to this house, and are remodeling. We have decided to added a fish room. It is going to be a 15X6 foot room with a sink in it. 3 dedicated circuits. No window but I think I will put sky light or tube light.
The tank is going to be a 72X36X30. I was going to ordered it from Planet Aquarium in Dallas Opti-white front with external overflow. Luck was with me, there is a fellow reefer here in Corpus with the exact tank also from Planet Aquarium same dimension. He is looking to sell his whole system after 8 months. It has Starfire front and external overflow also. I took a look at his system. He does not have the same type of animal I like to keep but that is very fixable. The tank is in great shape, so I bought the whole thing.
Now I have to get my contractor to start on the fish room. I will document the progress here on this thread. Luck was also with me, the original owner agree to keep the tank running until I am ready. I will have to cook the rock and recycle. There are flat worms and Aptasia in the system. I like for him to sell the corals and fish and keep the proceed from that. I also agree to give him one on my 30X30X30 cube so he can keep his prized coral and fish.
Perhaps it is too early to start this thread, but I am happy to plan a big system again. I originally had a 450 g tank that feature as TOTM on the Advanced Aquarist initial issue back in Jan, 2002. That was a long time ago. I learned a lot more since then, especially what it take to keep a large system stable and going well. Also what we can plan to keep from working to death or break our back from taken care of big tanks.
So far, I will use a Aqua Sea 4700 as a return pump. This is a direct drive pump that move a lot of water and do not add much heat into the water. I used this pump in my last tank, very happy with it. I carefully pack it away after send it back to the manufacture to service the seal. It should work great other than a little rust on the housing.
I will use a automated three way valve on the return line that alternate the return line though on set then another return. I likely use an inductor to increase laminal flow from the return pump. Likely change every 2-3 minutes or so. In addition to this I will use 4 VorTech MP40WES synchronized for circulation. Hope this will be adequate circulation. I have hear that VorTech MP40 may not work really well with glass thickness of .75 inch which is the thickness of this tank. The current owner use Tunzel PH for circulation. I may have to use Tunzel or get MP60. The sump will be a drilled 40 g breeder. Currently, he used two large Rubbermaid, one as a refugium and one as a sump. I likely will keep one as a refugium and use my current sump.
No Ca reactor yet, but I have a DIY Kalk mixer that works well with my large tank before and a small Ca reactor that is likely to be undersize for this tank.
For light, I will have two Gen 2 Radion and two Gen 1 Radion with TIR lens. If this is not enough, I will have to add more. I think it is relatively easy to add more Radion. The hard thing is come up with the money for it.
I have an auto top off and will use dosing pump to dose Kalk at night.
The room will be cool by it's own air conditioner system and I will use an Apex Neptune to automated light, pumps, dosing kalk, heater....
Live stock wise, The center piece of the tank will be my three S. Gigantea and my two H. Malu. I am raising a bunch of Baby Onyx Percula and OnyxXSnowflakes cross. The babies will be F1. I hope to come up with a few nice f1 SnowOnyx for my tank. I hope to keep the three Gigantea in on end and the two Malu on the other end. That way, I my end up with more than one pair of clown fish in this tank.
Other than this, I have a few nice Maxima, Crocea, Squamosa and one Derasa clams and a few nice SPS. Right now there are 500+ pounds of rock in the tank. I will likely use much less rock, maybe less than 200. Once it get going, the coral will grow fast and will fill the tank quickly. Anybody know of a T. gigas for sale, please let me know.
I am excited to get start, but will likely not have a lot of time. Will see how this goes. Wish me luck and feel free to provide any comments as you see fit.
The tank is going to be a 72X36X30. I was going to ordered it from Planet Aquarium in Dallas Opti-white front with external overflow. Luck was with me, there is a fellow reefer here in Corpus with the exact tank also from Planet Aquarium same dimension. He is looking to sell his whole system after 8 months. It has Starfire front and external overflow also. I took a look at his system. He does not have the same type of animal I like to keep but that is very fixable. The tank is in great shape, so I bought the whole thing.
Now I have to get my contractor to start on the fish room. I will document the progress here on this thread. Luck was also with me, the original owner agree to keep the tank running until I am ready. I will have to cook the rock and recycle. There are flat worms and Aptasia in the system. I like for him to sell the corals and fish and keep the proceed from that. I also agree to give him one on my 30X30X30 cube so he can keep his prized coral and fish.
Perhaps it is too early to start this thread, but I am happy to plan a big system again. I originally had a 450 g tank that feature as TOTM on the Advanced Aquarist initial issue back in Jan, 2002. That was a long time ago. I learned a lot more since then, especially what it take to keep a large system stable and going well. Also what we can plan to keep from working to death or break our back from taken care of big tanks.
So far, I will use a Aqua Sea 4700 as a return pump. This is a direct drive pump that move a lot of water and do not add much heat into the water. I used this pump in my last tank, very happy with it. I carefully pack it away after send it back to the manufacture to service the seal. It should work great other than a little rust on the housing.
I will use a automated three way valve on the return line that alternate the return line though on set then another return. I likely use an inductor to increase laminal flow from the return pump. Likely change every 2-3 minutes or so. In addition to this I will use 4 VorTech MP40WES synchronized for circulation. Hope this will be adequate circulation. I have hear that VorTech MP40 may not work really well with glass thickness of .75 inch which is the thickness of this tank. The current owner use Tunzel PH for circulation. I may have to use Tunzel or get MP60. The sump will be a drilled 40 g breeder. Currently, he used two large Rubbermaid, one as a refugium and one as a sump. I likely will keep one as a refugium and use my current sump.
No Ca reactor yet, but I have a DIY Kalk mixer that works well with my large tank before and a small Ca reactor that is likely to be undersize for this tank.
For light, I will have two Gen 2 Radion and two Gen 1 Radion with TIR lens. If this is not enough, I will have to add more. I think it is relatively easy to add more Radion. The hard thing is come up with the money for it.
I have an auto top off and will use dosing pump to dose Kalk at night.
The room will be cool by it's own air conditioner system and I will use an Apex Neptune to automated light, pumps, dosing kalk, heater....
Live stock wise, The center piece of the tank will be my three S. Gigantea and my two H. Malu. I am raising a bunch of Baby Onyx Percula and OnyxXSnowflakes cross. The babies will be F1. I hope to come up with a few nice f1 SnowOnyx for my tank. I hope to keep the three Gigantea in on end and the two Malu on the other end. That way, I my end up with more than one pair of clown fish in this tank.
Other than this, I have a few nice Maxima, Crocea, Squamosa and one Derasa clams and a few nice SPS. Right now there are 500+ pounds of rock in the tank. I will likely use much less rock, maybe less than 200. Once it get going, the coral will grow fast and will fill the tank quickly. Anybody know of a T. gigas for sale, please let me know.
I am excited to get start, but will likely not have a lot of time. Will see how this goes. Wish me luck and feel free to provide any comments as you see fit.
