setting up my 300 gallon reef tank

[patch60881]

I'm new to the hobby and have just purchased a 300 gallon glass tank. I am going place it in the wall with acess from seperate room. I'm wondering if someone might tell me what lighting I may need the tank is 96Lx24Dx31H I was thinking about 250wt mh but not sure I know it will have to be retro fit lights. Also I bought a wet/dry and a skimmer but need a return pump I'm looking for at least a 1800gph or larger Pleas Help.

 

[beez]

Patch,

Depends what corals you want to keep....you're definitely looking at MH for a 31 inch tall tank...4 250's would be enough for pretty much any coral in the top half of the tank, including SPS, but if you want to have SPS/clams closer to the bottom you'd probably want to bump it up to 4 400 watt bulbs. Be aware of the heat production from these bulbs...you'll definitely need a couple of big fans and depending on the size/ventilation in your access room you may need a chiller...hard to say for sure. I would take the media out of your wet-dry too, and just depend on your skimmer and live rock for filtration. As for the return pump, you won't want to rely on it for all the water flow. I would suggest a closed loop or internal pumps (preferably Tunze) in addition to the return pump...for the return pump only I'd stay in the range of 1200 or so gph just to minimize noise in your overflows. Depending on how high the water has to flow upwards an Iwaki 55 RLT or Iwaki 70 RLT would be good choices...good luck!!!