New SW tank

[SK.Reef]

Hi there

As a start I am a freshwater fish keeper for the past 7 years. I am in the designing process of having a 350 gallons saltwater tank and as I am very new into saltwater aquariums I appreciate your kind advices to have such healthy tank.

Proposed Tank Dimensions and volume

D cm Inch
L 220 87
W 75 30
H 80 32

Total Volume
1,320 Liter
349 US Gallon

Proposed Sump Dimensions and volume

D cm Inch
L 150 59
W 60 24
H 70 28

Total Volume
630 Liter
167 US Gallon

Every information of any kind can help !!!!!
Please do ask as much questions as you like.

Thanks in advance

[plateboy3293]

To Reef Central
Well you didn't really give that much info but here are some questions.
Do you have a built in overflow or hang on back?
How many lbs of live rock are you going to use?
Are you going to run a skimmer, uv sterilizer, ozone?
You need heaters or a chiller depending on where you are.
Are you going with a reef tank or fowler?
If it is a reef what kind of lighting are you going to get?
Is it a deep sand bed or a shallow sand bed or bare bottom?
Do you have test kits? Such as nitrate, nitrite, ammonia, ph, calcium, alkalinity, and phospahte some test kits for freshwater can be used for saltwater but not all of them.
What type of coral are you going to keep?
Fish list would also be nice on what you are going to keep.
Here are some questions I 'll post some more when you give some answers.

[SK.Reef]

Thank you plateboy
Here are my answers
I don't use over flows I think drains are more efficient.
For live rock still I don’t know, how many lbs would be appropriate to have according to my proposed tank dimension?
Yes I am going to operate Protein skimmer, Calcium reactor, CO2 component, Ozone, UV Sterilizer & Chiller or heaters
I am going for a reef tank and I am very concerned for lightning. What is the appropriate lightning should I have to have a healthy system?
For sure I am not going for bare bottom, but can you let me know the positives and negatives of deep and shallow sand bed?
I am ordering a complete test kits.
Still I didn’t determine what type of coral and fish I would like to get, I will be thankful if you assist me in choosing the right combination?
I would like to thank you again for your good qualitative questions, hope my answers are clear waiting you reply and the 2nd set of questions.
l

[Posidion]

Live rock density varies by type so lbs. are not super important. The rock you choose and the aquascape you desire will dictate the amount you need. I like tonga branch and slabrock for most of the structure because the are easy to create lots of nooks and cranies for fish as well as flats for corals. Light ing is the single most important thing in a reef setup, DON'T SKIMP on a fixture. For a tank that size your prob looking at 3 250w halides and acouple vho t-5 or pc just to get enough penetration for stonies. As for bare bottom or sand thats prefrence. bare is easier to clean but sand looks better. I recomend placing dsb in a remote location as they do require maint. and take up space in the display. Hope this helps.

[KarlBob]

Although it's true that live rock density varies, the rule of thumb is to add 1.0 to 1.5 pounds of live rock per gallon (or 120 to 180 grams per liter). Like any rule of thumb, it's imprecise, but it gives people a reasonable estimate of the amount of live rock to use. With no guideline to follow, many newcomers would not add enough live rock to see any benefits from it.

Aside from lighting, the next most important factor in a reef tank is flow. In the ocean, reefs are often subject to strong currents, and reef tanks need more circulation than most fresh water tanks. There are rules of thumb here as well, but the basic intent is to avoid having "dead zones" where large amounts of detritus can settle to the bottom of the tank. Recently, powerheads consisting of an enclosed propeller have been gaining in popularity over the older rotary vane pumps, because their open design produces less direct, or laminar, flow.

[plateboy3293]

These really are not questions but here they are.
The 350 gallon tank needs about 20x-30x the amount of gallons. Koralia and vortech are typically the most common type of powerhead you will see in a reef tank. You can pretty much use any combination that you want. I currently have a koralia 1,2,3, and a 4 in my 120 gallon to allow different flow to different coral.
You will need a return pump for at least 4x-6x the gallons of the dt (display tank). So a return pump of 2,000 gph would suffice.
When I meant what type of coral are you looking to keep such as Lps, Sps, or Softies or all of them. This will determine what type of lighting you need. Softies need about 2-4 watts per gallon. Lps need 4-6 watts and sps need 6-8 watts or more.
How much live rock you need is dependant on what type of aquascaping you want to do. If you want to do an island type display with rocks stacked in the center with space on the sides or the edge of the reef with live rock kind of jetting out form the glass or the standard display of rock stacked on top of each other all across the aquarium.
A fish list again would possible limit your choices on coral. So you should consider what type of fish you want and what type of coral and inverts.
Lighting can be chosen after you decide on what type of coral you want.