New Tank, Need Help & Ideas

[miller10]

Hello Everyone,
I have been out of tanking for couple of years now and my wife has given me the green light once again to start working on a new tank for our new house so I am back at the drawing board.

I have had few tanks from 12g Nano to 75 gal. So far my best tank has been my 25g aquapod I had up and going. I had to break it down and sell off live stock to due to no work and couldnt keep it going.

My last and final go around with SW tanks I wants to do it right from the start.
What I want is 30g breeder tank, I like how they look but not sure if a standard 30g cube would be better.

I want to have a sump with skimmer, ATO, chiller etc. My goal is for it to run on its own with out me having to do top offs, dosing etc. just feed, water changes and enjoy the tank.

The only thing I have lefted over is my 150mh & 250mh that Im planning on using.

I have done alot of reading but I have no idea what is good and what not.
I have no idea what to look for in a good skimmer or chiller or even what kind of programer to use for tops and dosing.

I would like to keep softies, sps, clams, another RBTA.
So any kind of recommends with pros and cons would be very helpfull.

Here is a link to my past 24g aquapod
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1828723

Thank you for everyones time and help on this

 

[coralsnaked]

Lots and lots of well cure live rock, if you want extremely low maintance. I always suggest m,inimum of two lbs per net gallon.

For lowest maintance I'd go with a JBJ professional LED and add the 500 G X2 powerheads on a wavemaker, and get rid of the 1000 L Accela pumps changing to the 1.5 kL Sicce pumps. In addition I would put 40 lbs of live rock in the tank. Pull the standard media basket out the center chamber and fill with another 30 lbs of live rock rubble covered with floss. In addition run twin 150 reactors one GAC and one Phos(ban or guard). Skimmer as appropriate for Bio-load You will end up doing little or few water changes after tank is established, but you will have to dose trace elements weekly and monthly to maintain a heavy coral load. Otherwise you must do 10 % a week water changes to maintian water quality. Reef tanks just are not simply maintance fee, sit back and enjoy. But this will come as close to that as possible.

If you want a bigger tank think Red Sea.

Happy Reefing