I guess I am new all over again.

[Robgixxer]

Hello everyone, my name is Rob. I guess you could say that I am new to the hobby.... again. I haven't had a tank in over ten years. Obviously technology has changed since I had my 150 gallon tank. My Wife and I have been doing some renovations to the home and we have decided that we want to get back into keeping a marine aquarium again. I have been trying to design a setup over the weekend because we are about to move forward. I am doing a custom built in wall unit. I want the tank 72L x 36H x 24D = roughly 280 gallons. Jut curious what everyone is using for various types of equipment now a days. i.e pumps, sumps/fuge, skimmers, calcium reactors, chemicals, etc. whats hot, whats not. new ideas or ways of keeping a tank with a mix of fish and coral. Basically, anything that can aid me in my design and build process. I prefer to do as much as I can myself so any good knowledge that could be passed on would be great. thanks.

[taliesin]

Originally Posted by Robgixxer

Hello everyone, my name is Rob. I guess you could say that I am new to the hobby.... again. I haven't had a tank in over ten years. Obviously technology has changed since I had my 150 gallon tank. My Wife and I have been doing some renovations to the home and we have decided that we want to get back into keeping a marine aquarium again. I have been trying to design a setup over the weekend because we are about to move forward. I am doing a custom built in wall unit. I want the tank 72L x 36H x 24D = roughly 280 gallons. Jut curious what everyone is using for various types of equipment now a days. i.e pumps, sumps/fuge, skimmers, calcium reactors, chemicals, etc. whats hot, whats not. new ideas or ways of keeping a tank with a mix of fish and coral. Basically, anything that can aid me in my design and build process. I prefer to do as much as I can myself so any good knowledge that could be passed on would be great. thanks.

U se to have a 280 as well (with only a eurobrace ), My sump/fuge was a freshwater 100g set up and made it myself with glass partitions.

I would make sure the sump has a big enough chamber for a good skimmer. There are many out there, but my preference is a Skimz from BRS. I would look at Radion G4Pro's for lights, as you can control them remotely along with Vortech MP60's. (both of these can be controlled by a reeflink remotely.)

There are other controllers out there that you can also do remote as well.

Then Use 2 return pumps I would suggest either Sicce or something along those lines, but there are definitely some pumps out there that are DC types that are quiet.

I would suggest 2 part chemicals until you get sufficient loads to needing reactors etc...

Hope this helps.

[Robgixxer]

Originally Posted by taliesin

U se to have a 280 as well (with only a eurobrace ), My sump/fuge was a freshwater 100g set up and made it myself with glass partitions.

I would make sure the sump has a big enough chamber for a good skimmer. There are many out there, but my preference is a Skimz from BRS. I would look at Radion G4Pro's for lights, as you can control them remotely along with Vortech MP60's. (both of these can be controlled by a reeflink remotely.)

There are other controllers out there that you can also do remote as well.

Then Use 2 return pumps I would suggest either Sicce or something along those lines, but there are definitely some pumps out there that are DC types that are quiet.

I would suggest 2 part chemicals until you get sufficient loads to needing reactors etc...

Hope this helps.

Yes, I plan I taking the build slow. I'm not ready to burn that kind of money all at once for no reason. Just starting with the basics to get it started as I start to develop the need for more equipment, i will address it at that time. Thanks for the info. I will look into those items.

[travis32]

I just setup a 340 used a Aquatic life fixture with T5HO and then 3 AI Hydras. The hydras have their own mobile app that is slick. I can control my lights from my phone from anywhere.

I was out of town after I first got them setup. My wife wanted to watch a movie (projector and screen are near the tank) and she texted me to turn the lights off on the tank. I did it in under 5 seconds from 1000 miles away!

I have 2 ($35 Each) Pan Cams that I setup to monitor the display (front) and to monitor the rear / sump area as well.

I saw the skimmer overflowing one afternoon while I was at work. I logged into the apex fusion app and shut off the skimmer. Saving me a ton of flooding, not to mention a huge decrease in salinity.

I'm running an old apex I had from a previous tank from 5 years ago. The newly released Neptune Apex, also has the option of a salinity probe (Which would be fantastic!!!!) and the options for automated daily Calcium and Alk tests (add on devices for the Neptune Apex.)

Lots of new automation toys. To spend endless amounts of money on! (I do not have the salinity or chemistry testers.... NOt willing to shell out $500 + for a brand new apex and another $200-300 for the testing device add-ons.)

[lolgranny]

Welcome back.

I’ve been in the hobby a while and a lot has changed. From my 40gallon with power compact bulbs to a 400gallon system to my current 700+gallon system.

I’ve had a bunch of skimmers over the 20 years, but I’d suggest a reef octopus. They are a great piece for the price. I have one on my current 700g and love it.

For lighting I’ve always been old school and used halides. They have always worked great for me. I currently use 4-250w halides and 4 of the newest raisins. Love it

As for flow I have a bunch of mp40s from my previous setup so the current tank 8’x3’x3’ had 3 mp40s and 2 of the largest max spec gyres in it. The gyres are a must imo. They move water very well.

As for chemicals and dosing. The only thing you need to pay attention to is Alk and ca consumption. Your mag won’t fluctuate much and water changes should keep that stable. You can either get a dozing pump, do kalk in your tip-off which is super simple, or get a calcium reactor. I do both a ca reactor and dose a bit of kalk in my ato.

Apex is a must imo. Sucks they are so much money but it’s piece of mind and something to protect your investment.

Last but not least get yourself some 65g drums and a good ro/di system so you can make your own fresh and saltwater

Best of luck!


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[Robgixxer]

Originally Posted by travis32

I just setup a 340 used a Aquatic life fixture with T5HO and then 3 AI Hydras. The hydras have their own mobile app that is slick. I can control my lights from my phone from anywhere.

I was out of town after I first got them setup. My wife wanted to watch a movie (projector and screen are near the tank) and she texted me to turn the lights off on the tank. I did it in under 5 seconds from 1000 miles away!

I have 2 ($35 Each) Pan Cams that I setup to monitor the display (front) and to monitor the rear / sump area as well.

I saw the skimmer overflowing one afternoon while I was at work. I logged into the apex fusion app and shut off the skimmer. Saving me a ton of flooding, not to mention a huge decrease in salinity.

I'm running an old apex I had from a previous tank from 5 years ago. The newly released Neptune Apex, also has the option of a salinity probe (Which would be fantastic!!!!) and the options for automated daily Calcium and Alk tests (add on devices for the Neptune Apex.)

Lots of new automation toys. To spend endless amounts of money on! (I do not have the salinity or chemistry testers.... NOt willing to shell out $500 + for a brand new apex and another $200-300 for the testing device add-ons.)

sounds like a great tank! I happen to love the automation gadgets. probably because electrical and home automation is what i actually do for a living. I know the tank build any everything that goes with it can add up rather quickly. I have to get all the glass panels and braces made for the tank. then i can build the wall unit that will surround and will support the tank and house the equipment. fortunately for my wife and i, my father is a custom home builder and his brother has a millwork, cabinetry and furniture shop. together we have been figuring out how we are going to tackle the project. we are making the home very modern so the style of the tank wall unit will be a very modern looking piece itself. i have pet peeves about messy wiring, plumbing, etc. i'm one of those that likes the underside just as nice as the display. so i really am trying to think long and hard about what types of things i want to keep in the tank so i can be prepared for any equipment that i will need space for in the future. two panels of the tank will be starphire for veiwing (the face and right hand end. the tank will be positioned in my house between the living and dining area. the actual wall unit will be 90" wide x 98" tall. I appreciate the information from everyone. I've been looking for weeks on the online stores looking at all the new equipment available compared to 10-11 years ago. fascinating and mind blowing at the advancements since my last setup. i will be sure to keep checking in with everyone and sharing this build. i know everyone loves these kinds of things... i mean thats why we are all here, right? to share, learn and talk about different approaches to the hobby.

[Robgixxer]

Originally Posted by lolgranny

Welcome back.

I’ve been in the hobby a while and a lot has changed. From my 40gallon with power compact bulbs to a 400gallon system to my current 700+gallon system.

I’ve had a bunch of skimmers over the 20 years, but I’d suggest a reef octopus. They are a great piece for the price. I have one on my current 700g and love it.

For lighting I’ve always been old school and used halides. They have always worked great for me. I currently use 4-250w halides and 4 of the newest raisins. Love it

As for flow I have a bunch of mp40s from my previous setup so the current tank 8’x3’x3’ had 3 mp40s and 2 of the largest max spec gyres in it. The gyres are a must imo. They move water very well.

As for chemicals and dosing. The only thing you need to pay attention to is Alk and ca consumption. Your mag won’t fluctuate much and water changes should keep that stable. You can either get a dozing pump, do kalk in your tip-off which is super simple, or get a calcium reactor. I do both a ca reactor and dose a bit of kalk in my ato.

Apex is a must imo. Sucks they are so much money but it’s piece of mind and something to protect your investment.

Last but not least get yourself some 65g drums and a good ro/di system so you can make your own fresh and saltwater

Best of luck!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I had halides on the last tank. i liked the way they made the tank look. I know led technology has come a long way but i am still leaning towards halides again. just preference i guess. I was looking at the reef octopus elite. i probably won't need quite as large of a skimmer as you, considering you basically have twice the water volume as I will but, which model octopus are you using? back on my old 150 i just had a kent marine nautilus. it did its job but obviously now i am getting into a much larger system and do not wish to have inferior equipment managing everything. also, what are good quality chemicals, supplements, additives, etc now? or things to start the cycling process and get it off to a good start? I feel like I have forgotten everything that i learned over the years before.

[travis32]

Originally Posted by Robgixxer

sounds like a great tank! I happen to love the automation gadgets. probably because electrical and home automation is what i actually do for a living. I know the tank build any everything that goes with it can add up rather quickly. I have to get all the glass panels and braces made for the tank. then i can build the wall unit that will surround and will support the tank and house the equipment. fortunately for my wife and i, my father is a custom home builder and his brother has a millwork, cabinetry and furniture shop. together we have been figuring out how we are going to tackle the project. we are making the home very modern so the style of the tank wall unit will be a very modern looking piece itself. i have pet peeves about messy wiring, plumbing, etc. i'm one of those that likes the underside just as nice as the display. so i really am trying to think long and hard about what types of things i want to keep in the tank so i can be prepared for any equipment that i will need space for in the future. two panels of the tank will be starphire for veiwing (the face and right hand end. the tank will be positioned in my house between the living and dining area. the actual wall unit will be 90" wide x 98" tall. I appreciate the information from everyone. I've been looking for weeks on the online stores looking at all the new equipment available compared to 10-11 years ago. fascinating and mind blowing at the advancements since my last setup. i will be sure to keep checking in with everyone and sharing this build. i know everyone loves these kinds of things... i mean thats why we are all here, right? to share, learn and talk about different approaches to the hobby.

With automation comes problems. My skimmer overran last night, not sure why... I have a drain hose connected to the skimmer which I drain into a 6 gallon bucket. I have a 30 gallon rubbermaid garbage can as my top off bin. It probably had 20 gallons left in it. I wake up this morning to find the 6 gallon bucket full and overflowing, my 20 gallons of fresh water gone, and the salinity in the display probably extremely low. It was at 1.021. I'm guessing it reached 1.018 or so. Not detrimental, but, not great.

My top off only runs for 52 seconds. So what had to have happened is it topped off. Float switch triggered, skimmer sucked the water out, float switch opened the top off for another 30-40 seconds, then skimmer pumped water out. And on and on.

Perfect storm to floow 15 gallons of water onto my carpet and cement floors, under 2x4 framing, etc.

It's drying now, but, I shut the skimmer down. ****ed off that I could have lost everything had I not been home this morning.

This hobby will drive one insane.... I'm going without a skimmer and just going to run a turf scrubber. I'm done with that mess.

[lolgranny]

Originally Posted by Robgixxer

I had halides on the last tank. i liked the way they made the tank look. I know led technology has come a long way but i am still leaning towards halides again. just preference i guess. I was looking at the reef octopus elite. i probably won't need quite as large of a skimmer as you, considering you basically have twice the water volume as I will but, which model octopus are you using? back on my old 150 i just had a kent marine nautilus. it did its job but obviously now i am getting into a much larger system and do not wish to have inferior equipment managing everything. also, what are good quality chemicals, supplements, additives, etc now? or things to start the cycling process and get it off to a good start? I feel like I have forgotten everything that i learned over the years before.

I have the Sro5000 int and a regal300ext. The regal is a monster and that’s what’s on the 700g.

I don’t use any chemicals or supplements other than the kalk in my ato. That’s just bulk reef supplies brand. You can use their 2 part as well if you need to tweak anything.

My suggestion is start with dry rock from BRS , take your time with it, get some starter bacteria and some cheato algae with a grow light off amazon for $60. Getting some cheato from a local member would help out with all sorts of micro fauna and bacteria.


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[lolgranny]

Originally Posted by travis32

With automation comes problems. My skimmer overran last night, not sure why... I have a drain hose connected to the skimmer which I drain into a 6 gallon bucket. I have a 30 gallon rubbermaid garbage can as my top off bin. It probably had 20 gallons left in it. I wake up this morning to find the 6 gallon bucket full and overflowing, my 20 gallons of fresh water gone, and the salinity in the display probably extremely low. It was at 1.021. I'm guessing it reached 1.018 or so. Not detrimental, but, not great.



My top off only runs for 52 seconds. So what had to have happened is it topped off. Float switch triggered, skimmer sucked the water out, float switch opened the top off for another 30-40 seconds, then skimmer pumped water out. And on and on.



Perfect storm to floow 15 gallons of water onto my carpet and cement floors, under 2x4 framing, etc.



It's drying now, but, I shut the skimmer down. ****ed off that I could have lost everything had I not been home this morning.



This hobby will drive one insane.... I'm going without a skimmer and just going to run a turf scrubber. I'm done with that mess.

Skimmer is one of the most important pieces of equipment imo. Get yourself a float switch or a avast canister which has a pressure switch that way if and when your skimmer overflows it will shut down. There are all sorts or redundancies that you could manage with a controller on topics like this. Everyone’s overflows it’s not just yours. You change a filter sock and put a new one in it goes wild, you feed the tank heavily, it goes crazy. Lol


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[travis32]

Good point. I'm hoping for the ATS to grow faster and crazier with the skimmer not running. I'm going to have to redo my entire sump to run both. So, here's to hoping one or the other is enough.

I do agree completely with you, there has to build redundancies in.

[Robgixxer]

So I finally got everything worked out with the tank and am moving forward with this build. I decided to go with all Bashsea sump, skimmer, bio-reactor, media reactors, and pellet master for my filtration. That guy has some seriously good looking gear and I actually have a dealer for his products about 15 minutes from me. The store has a lot of his tanks running on the stuff. It was nice to actually see it all in action. Plus I'm a huge fan of stuff made here in the U.S.A. Anyway. I went to Lowe's over the weekend and picked up a little bit of lumber. Didnt get to start till Sunday afternoon. I spent time jointing and planing all the boards so they are straight, square and true. I only got the bottom base built and the deck on that, then I started to saw up more parts for the upright supports for the tank deck.