Time to go big. 300g

sirrealism

sirrealism

Well-Known Member
So I thought I would Chronicle this build and it will also give me a chance to ask questions on some of my ideas. I have been keeping aquariums for 22 years and reefs for over 20. I have had some very nice systems and some pretty good sized ones to. The largest I have ever had was a 150g 6' mixed reef and i loved the ohhs and ahhs i got with it. Plus I loved that it was so very stable. I now have a 93g cube "Clams". 90 mixed. 100g nem. 40g BB frag 8g mixed and a 55g hospital/QT tank. For anyone who has more then 1 tank will feel my pain, ITS A PAIN to test 6 tanks. to do WC on 6 tanks. To keep everything in check in 6 Tanks. So i picked up a 150 and had plans to use it as a room divider. This would give me more room so I could take down 3 others. Taking me from 6 to 4.
My old 150 from 8 years ago

So this 150 is sitting in my garage "with several other tanks not in use" when I get a call from a good friend of mine saying he bought a tank for his house but now its to big to fit where he wants it to go. He knew i had the 150 and wanted to know if I wanted the one he just bought and if I would sell my 150. So i asked how big is it and he told me 8' and just BIG!!! so he sent me a pic. He is not a little guy 6'2" and 2xx lbs. So he sent me this pic

I said OHHHHH YAAAA.
This tank is 8'x24"x30" 299.2G And let me tell you its an old school tank and damm its heavy. He took my 150 and a couple bucks. Now the fun part starts. Finding equipment to run this beast. It is going to be Bare Bottom SPS dominant with a ric garden and a section for an LPS garden I will post what equipment I already have in a bit. Thanks for tagging along. I have reached out to GlennF to talk to him about doing DSR method. But he is pretty busy and I am in no rush. I have a lot of work to do!!!
 
PSU4ME

PSU4ME

JoePa lives on!!!
Staff member
PREMIUM
That looks like it has a lot of promise for sure!

I can't get LPS or rics to grow good in my tank = more power to you if you can get them all thriving at the same time!
 
sirrealism

sirrealism

Well-Known Member
So I will list equipment I have and what I need to get.
Return pump. I have a reeflo dart gold but I am considering a Jebao dc12000. Any thoughts on this?
Skimmer. I have an Itech 400. If you have never heard of Itech do a little research One of the best skimmers you can get. Mine runs tunze hydrofomers 9410+9420
calcium reactor. I have Geo 618. Hoping it will be enough
Dosing. I have a bubble magus Hoping i dont need it
reactors. 3 MR1s these will be plumed in to my main return pump
Flow. I have 4 WP40s and am thinking about getting RW20s instead. I am cheap so no MPs for me
Rock. I have 150lbs of dry pukani and about 75 lbs of cycled pukani
Bio filteration I am going to put 4 Marine pure 8x4x4 blocks in the sump. I have one of these in one of my other tanks with no other rock and I love it. never have N03
Sump. Home made out of a 75g tank with baffles
Lighting. For the last 3 years I have been an LED guy but every time I see one of those WOW tanks they almost always have T5 lights so I have an 8x54w light DIY with independent reflectors. This will not be enough so I was thinking about doing LEDs with them. Opinions ? I really dont want to use MH but I will if I have to
Stand and canopy will be DIY wood. tank will be Bare bottom
I know i am missing something but cant think what it is right now. If anyone has suggestions i would gladly listen
I am thinking a lot about GlennFs tank and doing his DSR system. I am not against doing water changes but to look at his tank and know mine is the same size and I can do the same thing. i have contacted him and am looking into the system.
 
PSU4ME

PSU4ME

JoePa lives on!!!
Staff member
PREMIUM
First i've ever heard of the marine pure blocks. They seem quite interesting. Can you talk a little more about them?
 
sirrealism

sirrealism

Well-Known Member
Oh yes I can LOL. So the idea of Live rock is all about surface area right. The more surface area the more good bacterae you can have. This is why we want very porous rock. These marine pure blocks have massive amounts of surface area. There are multi sizes from bio ball size all the way up to blocks like what i use. The blocks i use 8"x8"x4" have about as much surface area as 70lbs of good porous rock. As i said I use one block in a 40b bare bottom system with a 25g sump. I have no rock at all. Its my frag tank and its packed with corals SPS LPS and zoas. There is a large 4"algae blenny, a 3"coral beauty, a 3"maroon clown 2" green chromis and a 3"starfish with lots of hermits and snails so the bio load is pretty high. I do not use any GFO and I dont dose carbon. Last check was P04 .03 Hanna checker and N03 0.00 salifert. I do a 10% water change once a week or so and I feed pretty heavy for my corals. the fish are feed every other day but they are fat. I do over skim and have a skimmer rated for a 120g but I skim dry. The best place to buy these is right from Marine pure. I can buy the blocks I use for 67.99. BRS sells the exact same ones for close to double. http://www.cermedia.com/marinepure-products.php
 
Wolffman64

Wolffman64

Active Member
Wow, this will be a really cool build!! I'm tagging along! :lurk::chair:

I have both the Jebao dc12000 and the marine pure blocks in my RSM500. I highly recommend the Jebao, it's quiet and a really good quality pump, especially when you also look at the price tag. Isn't it a bit small for your massive tank though, or were you going to use more than one?

The Marine Pure blocks are fantastic, and myself and two LFS here in Sydney absolutely swears by them.
 
sirrealism

sirrealism

Well-Known Member
3170 gph. How much flow do I need going through my sump? I guess i am kind of old school because I dont want water flowing through my sump more then about 6 times per hour so 6 x 300 is 1800 gph. so 3170gph is plenty. I make flow with flow pumps not my return pump but I might need another to run my other items. HMMM see thats why I posted this here to get others opinion. But if I was not going to use it for anything else but a return "By the numbers" this should be more then enough. I guess I have not looked to see what is lost at at 7' head.
I am with you Wolffman The Marine pure blocks are fantastic and I have no idea why everyone is not using them. Its not like they just came out. I have been using mine for 2+ years
 
Snid

Snid

Active Member
So one of the problems with Bio Balls is that they become Nitrate Factories. Do you clean the Marine Pure blocks in any way to prevent that, or is it not needed because of its shape/design? How long do they last?
 
sirrealism

sirrealism

Well-Known Member
No you never clean them. They are just like rock. They last forever or as long as any rock would last. You dont have the same issues as with Bio balls and i should not have even mentioned them in my last post because I dont want to confuse anyone about that. Think about them as you would live rock. the bio cycle completes in the blocks unlike bio balls. On the other hand for those that use bio balls if you clean them once in a wile like biweekly thy are great. Problem is most dont do that. But no dont think about these like bio balls
 
sirrealism

sirrealism

Well-Known Member
Thanks for all the likes. So to keep this going i will talk overflow. The tank i have is not drilled. Now I have run HOB overflows for 20 years and they work fine but i want to do a lot of surface skimming on this tank so I am going to drill it. "cross your fingers for me that I dont break the glass" So since this is going to be a room divider all plumbing will be on one end. I have a friend who drilled his own tank and built a coast to coast overflow. For anyone who does not know what that is, its like one of those swimming pools that look like the water is just falling over the end. I think its call infinity edge. Anyway its like a rain gutter inside the tank so there is no teeth on it and it smoothly flows over the edge and this channel runs the length of the tank. then inside the gutter you have your pipes that go through the glass and down to the sump. By the way they make these for the outside of the tank 2 but then that piece of glass has to be shorter then the rest for the water to flow over. So my friend made his out of glass so it does not block the light. Its a fantastic design and is dead silent. But his system is up against a wall like most so this is in the back and out of sight. Since all my plumbing needs to be on the short side I am thinking of doing the same thing but just across the short end of the tank. The other option I have is to do this the length of the tank with the box having a slight decline to the side against the wall. Now If I have not confused everyone I would like to hear any thoughts on this. So it would be like a rain gutter made of glass and the lip on the water side would be even with the water level and the bottom of the gutter would have a decline to the end of the tank where the plumbing would be. This might be just to much to design and getting the glass cut proper would be a nightmare. I might just stick with the coast to coast on the end and be happy LOL
 
reefle

reefle

Active Member
I think I get what you're saying. That seems like a pretty cool idea actually. I'm sure it will work! if you do it from end to end, seems like you'll be getting a lot of flow through your system
 
sirrealism

sirrealism

Well-Known Member
Yes I would and the surface skimming would be fantastic. Instead of pulling fromone little corner it pulls from the length of the tank and when the tank is 8' it would be a big help
 
C

Clint24

Active Member
I like your idea for your overflow. Sounds great. Good luck with the build & I will tag along!! :) Good luck drilling the glass!!


CD
 
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