High tech reef build. Money=no object. Suggestions please

[Hogarth]

Hello everyone,

Two weeks ago my grandfather died at the age of 89 it was very hard on me because we were so close, we both shared an utmost respect and love for the sea. He was the proud owner of an 80 foot yacht and in his prime sailed across the atlantic many times. Anyways 3 days ago at the reading of his will, I was announced the heir to more than half of his savings. Im talking serious money here. I have never throughout my entire life had any money of any kind. I have worked a 9 to 5 for 5 years now. Im not saying I was poor or anything, I just didn't have extra money to be messing with. Okay enough with my sob story, I am now just getting my head around this fortune I have been given. I now think it is time to pursue one of my desires, reefkeeping. I have kept freshwater tanks all my life and I have also maintained a 75 gallon FOWLR tank, but I have never had the cashflow to tackle the beauty of a reef.

I just ordered a 350 gallon tank from Glass Cages.com (72 x 37½ x 30½) reef ready.

This is what I am asking of you, I have absolutely no equipment right now, I signed up just for this post. I need you guys to reccomend me the best equipment money can buy, that goes for everything, I dont want to skimp on even the most minute detail. since money is no object as of last sunday, I want to do this tank right. I have hired the help of local marine biologists from The aquarium of the Pacific (public aquarium outside of LA). They will advise me in the setting up of the tank and water paramaters and livestock. But I need recommendations from you for everything needed to run an aquarium of my size and I want top of the line, maybe even better. I ordered $500 worth of saltwater and reefkeeping books I just cant wait to dive into, SO If I could get comprehensive and all inclusive list of supplies from you guys here at RC by next week, I can make and order, and I should be done with all my research and reading (I quit my job yesterday so I have nothing but time for these next few months)

Thank you all in advance, I am off to begin studying and indepth research please feel free to be creative in you suggestions and remember money=no prob so I need nothing but the best!

[jherrin215]

I've got one GREAT suggestion for you!! Send me a little $$ so I can get my 125 salt up and running!! I have all the desire and a little of the know how but am missing in the $$ department!! Oh yeah, I have paypal that you are free to use!! It's JLAUDIOFANATIC@AOL.COM

[rhoptowit]

wow, sorry about ur G-pa.

look into Bubble King skimmers as well as ATB skimmers.
too bad you purchased a tank already, i would have suggested elos. for the lights, personally i like t5's like the ATI powermodules. vortech and tunze for powerheads. and other various stuff.

good luck with the build you lucky bugger.

[Lotus99]

To Reef Central

Sorry to hear about your grandfather.

I'd say the best thing to do right now is get reading. Both the books, and here on RC. In some ways, you'll need to figure out what kind of a reef you want before you decide on equipment. There are many wonderful pieces of equipment to make your reef healthier and easier to manage, but a good understanding of what you need and why is just as important.

As with many things in life, the most expensive is not always the best tool for the job.

Do you know what kind of corals you want? In many ways, that will determine what kind of equipment to start with.

Take your time, don't rush it. It seems you have some time to devote to your tank, which is excellent. Patience is one of the key ingredients to a sucessful tank.

[chatyak]

wow. Impressive. May I suggest a word of advice... be cautious and wise with what you just got because it can be depleted just as quickly as acquired, typically faster for depletion. I too quit my job, but because of hard work on my own business.

You are going to get a barrage of varied opinions on the "best" this and that.

My guess is you are going to want Metal Halide Lighting, with at least 1700 watts in total. You could even buy LED lights that simulate the weather cycle with cloud cover etc...

A submersible heater would be your best option. Also have a sump built or you can build it yourself. I used a 55 gallon glass aquarium for my 125 gallon tank, and got glass 1/4" thick cut to fit in the width to create different compartments.

For the amount of flow, you should be looking at 25-30x the amount of tank you have.

350x25=8750 gph of water moving in your tank.

This is done by a return pump in your sump, and powerheads. I would suggest Hydor Koralia powerheads, although it depends on preference. You could also look into a wavemaker.

Hope this helps some!

[shag26272]

my advice is to cancel your glasscages order and go with Elos, AGE, or miracles in glass

[davidryder]

Please, PLEASE cancel the glasscages tank and get a starphire tank.

There have been numerous problems with those tanks brought up by members on this forum. If you do decide to keep it hopefully nothing goes wrong and hopefully you never have to talk to their horrid customer service.

Aside from that I would recommend you start asking much more specific questions, and start learning about this wonderful hobby.

[Nano Chris]

How much money are we talking about lol? I wish i would come into some money like that.

[FBNitro]

If I had the money for lighting I'd go with the Solaris 15K I-72 LED setup. http://www.solarisled.com/

I've seen one of these setup in person (there's a local with the 7' model), it is the nicest light setup I've ever seen. It will simulate clouds passing overhead, outright cloudy days, full sun, seasons, you can adjust the light levels if your corals are getting cooked (I would start at 70% and adjust from there), it does moon phasing etc. Absolutely gorgeous.

[ultimate125]

Originally posted by Hogarth
I just ordered a 350 gallon tank from Glass Cages.com (72 x 37½ x 30½) reef ready.

Trouble! you should order a nice acrylic tank!

[Tony B (UK)]

I am sorry to hear about the sore loss of your family member.

You will likey get a different answer from every poster.

If it was me and if money was no object, I would first by a much bigger house or extend your current home big style. I would go for a much larger tank, 40ft long, 100ft wide and 20ft water depth (and if money was no object, I would).

I would also appoint a full time buyer and project manager as things like live rock and sand may need to be shipped in direct.

I wont go on.....unless you choose to go mega large.

Back to your situation:

I would not advise you buy anything else for at least a few months. The fact you're asking for this type of advice tells me you have not yet got enough knowledge or exp. within the reefkeeping hobby. The most common patern that almost all reefers go through, is upgrading equipment, due to either being too tight with cash on their initial purchase, or poorly matched equipment. The first concern regarding finance is (by the sound of things) unlikely to effect you on this build, however selecting equipment that is reliable and fits in with your life and most importantly makes your reef run well (some equipment requires more maintanence than others) is a thing I feel you need to consider in more detail.

Another consideration is your tank size. The tank is one component that is very hard to upgrade at a later date. The tank you've ordered is imo only just above average sized these days. Almost all, if not all reefers I know wished they had chosen a bigger tank. You could do two things now, either carry on and set this tank up or order another. If you set this tank up, this could be a good thing and you could look at it like an education for your next larger build. If you order another tank, just use the one on order as your sump.

Equipment selection depends on a few things, but if running costs were no object I would choose closed loop pumps for circulation, halides for lighting, bubbleking skimmers (yes, two of them) and Schuran Jetstream 2 calcium reactors, fed off a watson marlow peri pump and so...

Regards,

Tony

[kau_cinta_ku]

I agree you want the best equipment that money can buy but skimp on the tank itself. lol just joking sorry

but I agree you really should start off by reading the stickies at the top of this forum. take a month or more to do research on other ppl's tanks to give you ideas.

if you don't have much of a clue about reefkeeping and want to hurry to set up a tank, then this hobby is not gonna be fun as you will run into many problems. knowledge is key.

just take your time and enjoy. after doing the reading and you still have questions feel free to ask.

BTW
To Reef Central

[arctictwist]

Research, then research some more, and when you think you know it all, research some more. Ive learned so much in the past year of having my tank, and wish i had researched longer to avoid things that i ran into. There is an overwhelming amount of knowledge on this site and many others. A great thing to look at is the Reef Keeping magazine on here. Look at all the back issues. There is really great info on there, plus a Tank of the month in every issue (you can draw ideas from these if you like). Check out the builds in the large forum to. Read alot and then when you have questions ask, everyone on here is more than willing to answer questions.

[moo0o]

Originally posted by shag26272
my advice is to cancel your glasscages order and go with Elos, AGE, or miracles in glass

i second that. glasscages is the last place id ever go if i had a huge budget. go with AGE, ELOS, MIRACLES IN GLASS in that order. you want the PVC bottom that AGE is known for.

if i had the money, id go for tunze powerheads, AGE tank, bubbleking skimmer, red dragon return, schuran jetstream 2, and a geisemann infinity mh/t5 fixture, reefkeeper elite controller.

[shag26272]

I would look a the ATI powermodule all T5 check out the tank of the month on the front page, profilux controller Tunze Bubbleking

[FBNitro]

Another option for tanks is these guys:
http://www.aquariumobsessed.com

They do smoked glass overflows, starphire etc. Really nice setups, but a REALLY bad/screwed up website. A local was selling one of these just recently, and they are nice looking. His for sale images are here:
http://www.canreef.com/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=42439

[Hogarth]

Okay here is what I have decided Since last night. (up till 4 reading)

1) I just called and canceled my order to glass cages.com, due to an overwhelmingly negative response here. I am currently on the phone with a representative from MIRACLES IN GLASS. I am giving them the dimensions for the tank I want. I decided 350 gallons was just too small and after talking with the marine biologists from the public aquarium, we have decided to upgrade significantly on the size to a 1050 gallon system (96x48x60) . Now this would never fit in my current home and If we did somehow manage to get it in, my family would have to live in it haha. anyways We measured the basement of the new house we are buying which is about seven times as big as our current home and we have decided it would fit very nicely.

2) I like the Solaris lighting system and will use it in combination with metal halide's

3)I am looking into the Volcano skimmers'

4) I still would love to hear more Ideas and thoughts on ym recent upgrade! thanks in advance

-Jason

[chatyak]

Sounds great... my only thought is that the tank may be a little too high to easily work in.

[Amoore311]

Putting a system that size in the basement requires a lot of additional preparation.

You can get most of the pertinent info from the Large Tanks Forum.

At the very least you will need to look into the moisture resistant "Green Board" for the walls, and an HVAC System to combat the moisture down there from a tank that size.


Skimmer Wise take a look at the "Bubble King DeLuxe 500 External" Proven Quality and results from the Bubble King Line

They are sold at Aquarium Specialty, but I'm sure you can find them elsewhere.

[Hogarth]

Yea I have already looked into green board and I have purchased and HVAC system

[phenom5]

I am sorry to hear of your loss.

Well you'll likely get a different answer from each different person that replies, but for me, if money were no object...

AGE PVC bottom tank.

Metal Halide/ T5 combo for lighting. (do some research on the Solaris, some people have not been happy with them. I have no first hand experience, so take that FWIW.)

Vortechs for flow.

Bubble King for a skimmer.

1) I just called and canceled my order to glass cages.com, due to an overwhelmingly negative response here. I am currently on the phone with a representative from MIRACLES IN GLASS. I am giving them the dimensions for the tank I want. I decided 350 gallons was just too small and after talking with the marine biologists from the public aquarium, we have decided to upgrade significantly on the size to a 1050 gallon system (96x48x60) . Now this would never fit in my current home and If we did somehow manage to get it in, my family would have to live in it haha. anyways We measured the basement of the new house we are buying which is about seven times as big as our current home and we have decided it would fit very nicely.

Way too deep IMO. Too hard to work in, too hard to light.


**Edit** I wrote the top part of that post before I read about the new sized system. Vortechs would be great for the first sized tank, but if your going to go that much bigger, I'd go with a closed loop, running through an OceanMotion 8-way...maybe 2 closed loops through 2 OM 8-ways.

[Hogarth]

good news I just got off the phone with the rep from miracles in glass. It looks like they will be building my 1050 starphire glass tank! It will take them only two weeks (gave them a little extra to speed up the process). The marine biologists mike and Allen also reccommed the bubble king delux. They have already begun trying to put together about 1200lbs of LR and about 950lbs of Live sand. They are also going to sell me corals propagated at the public aquarium, apparently they have a whole room for coral prorogation and have plenty to spare.....

I have hired the help of a local construction company to retrofit my basement for this tank with a fishroom that is non evasive and out of site.

more updates to come

-Jason

[Hogarth]

I also forgot to mention that in talking with the rep we decided to change the tank dimensions slightly (160x48x36) which is about the same volume as previously mentioned, just much shallower and longer

[whosinpower]

Reefwidowed has an incredible 200 gallon zero edge tank for sale.
All equipment and lighting included.

You will have a top of the line unique tank - and you will be helping out a student.

[shag26272]

dang , sounds like an awesome project I would ditch the solaris

get 2 of these

http://aquariumobsessed.com/
Sfiligoi
**NEW** Infinity XR4 HQI 2 x 400w with T5