New 270 Gallon Tank, Need Help!

[Darth Chingas]

A 270 gallon tank recently went up for sale on Craigslist in my area. I have always wanted to upgrade to a bigger tank (currently 75gal) and the price was too good to pass on so it turned into a shoot first and ask questions later. So now I am on to the questions session and would appreciate some help from experienced large reefers.

Tank description:

The tank measures 72x24x36. It comes plummed with a large sump w/ bioballs, 2x overflows. It had a Little Giant pump and 2 bulb VHOs but both were burnt out. Tons of live rock, all still looking good. The canopy is made out of painted acrylic and the roof is solid and only sits about 8-10 inches above the tank.


Questions:

1) I currently have two AI Sols over my 75. I am figuring on buying 2 more and mounting them in the canopy. As the tank is 36" deep, should this be enough to have SPS in the top 1/2 and LPS/Zoa/Shrooms in the bottom 1/2? Any pics of mounts on a 36" tank?

2) What size of pump should I use? I think the old one was rated at 1,325 I think. Was this sufficent to begin with? I have a Vortech mp20 if needed for addition flow.

3) Skimmer recommendations?

4) What substrate would you all recommed and should I use dead sand promote a live sand bed?

5) I understand maintainance is going to suck. Any tips, tricks or warnings?


Thanks again for the help. Feeling a bit of buyers remorse but again, the price was too good to pass on.


Thanks in advance for your help and I will psot pics soon.....

 

[Darth Chingas]

Anyone???:deadhorse:

 

[Darth Chingas]

Update...

We finally got it moved although it is not clean. After I measured it up, it is actually a 225 gal. Dimensions are 72x24x30. I guess the lady was using the canopy in the depth. It came with a 60 gal sump, stand, canopy (cracked), 200 lbs of live rock, and 100 lbs live sand. I think we did ok for $650 but am a little concerned as the acrylic is 1/2". When it was full it was bowing a little but nothing crazy and the tank has held up for 10 years.

Here are some pics of it in the garage. We put it display side away to protect it and will be covering it until setup time which I hope to be soon.

 

[T.MONEY]

1) I currently have two AI Sols over my 75. I am figuring on buying 2 more and mounting them in the canopy. As the tank is 36" deep, should this be enough to have SPS in the top 1/2 and LPS/Zoa/Shrooms in the bottom 1/2? Any pics of mounts on a 36" tank?

Personally I would do 6 units total, you will need to have more to penetrate that deep as well as to cover the total surface area IMO. 36" is pretty deep for a reef tank, but should awesome!

2) What size of pump should I use? I think the old one was rated at 1,325 I think. Was this sufficent to begin with? I have a Vortech mp20 if needed for addition flow.

Are you talking about the return pump or closed loop? two different applications and two different pumps are needed if you plan to use closed loop. The MP20 cant hurt to have in there as well depending on how much flow your looking for.

3) Skimmer recommendations?

I use a SWC 250 come extreme, i personally love the cone skimmers and SWC does a great job with them. Really this will come down to bioload in your system and the area in your sump in which you skimmer will go in.

4) What substrate would you all recommed and should I use dead sand promote a live sand bed?

Again, from what ive read and researched when doing my system this comes down to personal preference. I like really fine sand in my tanks! I would definitely stay way away from crushed coral though, ive heard some horror stories about trying to keep nitrates and nitrites in line with this stuff as food and detritus gets stuck in there and is a pain in the butt to remove.

5) I understand maintainance is going to suck. Any tips, tricks or warnings?

A long set of tweezers and a really good MAG-Float hahaha. Oh and a step stool

System looks good though. Cant wait to see it with livestock inside. Someone else should chime in though and verify what im saying to be accurate!

 

[Darth Chingas]

1) I currently have two AI Sols over my 75. I am figuring on buying 2 more and mounting them in the canopy. As the tank is 36" deep, should this be enough to have SPS in the top 1/2 and LPS/Zoa/Shrooms in the bottom 1/2? Any pics of mounts on a 36" tank?

Personally I would do 6 units total, you will need to have more to penetrate that deep as well as to cover the total surface area IMO. 36" is pretty deep for a reef tank, but should awesome!

Thanks for the advice! After measurement the tank is 30" deep. Still a lot of room though......