300 Gallon Marine Setup - Advice Needed.

[adamgreen240]

Hello everyone, i am getting a 7ft X 2ft X 3ft tank built soon and i am wanting to go marine.

I have some questions:

1. What protein skimmers will i need?
2. Does anyone reccomend a good R.O. unit?
3. What powerheads should i use.
4. What is ideal lighting to use

I would like lots of live rock for filtration and i would maybee like some corals - depending if my lighting is suitable.

Thanks in advance for any advice. Adam

 

[ben1987]

probably going to need something along the lines of a big deltec skimmer.
Ro man seem to make the best value ro systems.
I would do a closed loop on a tank like that no powerheads
metal halides for lighting imo.

 

[Colin_T]

is the tank 2ft high or 3ft high?
if you want to keep corals you should go for at least 3 x 250 watt metal halide light units and get globes with a temperature or Kelvin (K) rating of 10,000K. This temp for the globes will give you a nice colour and allow the corals to do well.

If the tank is 3ft high then go for 400watt metal halides instead of 250w, but it also depends on what corals you want to keep and where they live in the tank. If they are up near the surface then 150 or 250w globes will be fine. If they are on the bottom of a tank that is 3ft tall, then more wattage is better.

If the lights are going to be close to the top of the tank you might also want ot invest in a chiller unit. Otherwise the lights should be hung high enough above the tank so they don’t warm the water up.

 

[adamgreen240]

HI, the tank is now going to be 2.5 ft high as apposed to 3 foot.

So its 7ft long X 2ft wide X 2.5ft high.

I was looking at this light:

http/cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vie...A:IT&ih=005

do you think that will be ok?

If not, do you have any other suggestions??

 

[Truck]

you will need some mean lighting for this tank

 

[adamgreen240]

also, i am thinking of having the tank constructed with a sumpm so i can hide all that unsightly equiptment in it!

i am thinking of using 2 of these pumps:

http/www.thelivingseas.uk.com/p/474399/e...5000-pump-.html

Will these be up for the job??

THanks

 

[Colin_T]

That is a nice looking light unit and would be perfect except the halide globes are too close to the centre of the unit. There is one globe in the middle and the two outside globes are about 14-16inches in from the ends. The light unit is 6ft long and this means the outer halide globes won't provide much light over the ends of your tank because it is 7ft long. You can still use this light unit but the ends of the tank will be dull and most corals won't do well in dull light.

You might be better off buying 3 or 4 separate 250watt metal halide light units and hanging them individually from the ceiling or a frame above the tank. Then you can have them spread out evenly across the tank to provide a more even lighting pattern. If you do buy halides try to get them with an electronic ballast. They are cheaper to run and last longer.

edited to add
One of the Eheim pumps should be adequate for the sump. However, it will depend on how high the top of the tank is compared to the sump. The higher the tank the less water pressure you will get. You need to work out how high the water will be pumped and then get a pump that can do the tank volume 5 or more times an hour at that height.
Most pumps have a chart showing height vs volume. You should be able to contact the vendor and ask them to send you a copy of the chart. Or email Eheim and ask them for one.
Sumps don't need lots of flow through them. 5 times an hour is usually fine. The main tank is what requires the water movement and many big coral tanks have pumps in the tank that turn the volume over 30 or more times an hour.

 

[adamgreen240]

cheers for the advicce colin, would it be ok using this unit as i would like to build the live rock up around the middle mainly and i would make sure i positioned the corals under the halides?

 

[Colin_T]

The metal halide light unit in the link above would be fine if you have the corals in the middle of the tank. You could have a reef rising up to a point in the middle and the corals going down the sides of the reef. This would keep them under the lights and you wouldn't have to worry about the low light levels at each end of your tank. Just have low light corals at the ends furthermost away from the lights.

 

[adamgreen240]

Thanks Colin, do you think it would be worthwile me doing a sump? If so, what pumps would you use, would the above Eheim pumps be ok?

Also, what skimmer should i be looking at??

 

[Colin_T]

Sumps are always useful because they give you more water. This helps to make up for the water you lose from all the rock in the main tank. Sumps also provide a habitat for small crustaceans and macro algae that can help keep the water clean. The bigger the sump, the better. The sump should be at least half the length of the main tank. For your tank a sump about 4ft long x 2ft wide by 18inches high would be good. If possible have it longer, Don't have it any shorter than 3ft.

Eheims are a great pump and work well. They are my choice

Can't help you with skimmers because I don't use them. I have tried various skimmers over the years and the only one that worked well was a home made one. It was made out of 5inch diameter PVC pipe and the column stood about 18inches tall. It had a collection cup on top of the column and was run with a couple of airstones. The water from the tank drained straight into the top of the skimmer, passed through the air and came out the bottom of the skimmer. Then it went into the main part of the sump and got filtered by the macro algae.

 

[adamgreen240]

Ok, it will probably be a 6ft X 18" X 18" sump. I plan to have 2 X weirs with 1 hole in each, these will drain through a durso standpipe into the sump tank. What size holes / bulkheads should i have for these drains.

Then for the returns, i am planning on using 2 X Vecton V2 600s on the Eheim 5000 pump output.

i then want to have 2 X holes drilled in the centre of the tank. What size should these be??

Thanks for any help , and if anyone can reccomend me a skimmer that would be great - im thinking a vecton v2 skimm 1500?? Any thoughts on that??

Thanks, Adam

 

[tahneen]

well for 300g a reef tank is going to cost alot and you should definetly use a sump!
with the skimmer it is always best to go well over so for a 300g you should get 350-450g rated skimmer
also aquatraders have good metal halide for low cost and I have heard great things and only one bad thing that is the PC bulbs dont last long


also can I just ask what ever happened to your silver aro?

 

[adamgreen240]

Thanks, can anyone answer the above questions in my last post with regard to hole sizes / bulkheads??

Thanks to everyone for all the advice so far,

Adam

 

[tahneen]

I believe a one inch hole will be around 600gph but if you go with a 2" and you find the flow to fast then you could put a ball valve to get the right flow you desire