Advice please for equipment for a 450 gal reef setup

[Jobiwan]

Hi folks, Jason Gregory of Clear Fabrications Inc has agreed to build me my dream reef tank, Jason is amazing to work with, and the quality of his work is simply the best. The tank will measure 4 feet by 6 feet by 30 inches high, which will make it roughly 450 gallons. This will replace my 180, so I'm going to need to upgrade all my equipment, but I am not familiar with the gear I will need for this size tank, I've done a lot of reading, but nothing beats the info you get from people that have actually had first hand experience with equipment suitable for this scale. I'd greatly appreciate any info on skimmers and reactors in particular, but any other suggestions or advice will be most welcome. I want to do this right, I have learned the hard way that it's really best to get quality equipment at the start so you don't end up buying things twice. I'm looking forward to starting a thread and posting the progress of this project with photos etc. It's both exciting and overwhelming, the info on Reef Frontiers is a great help, I've just been wading through the info on electrical/wiring, I'm thinking it might be nice to not have half a dozen power strips dangling all over...

 

[Reefdaddy1]

Depends on what you like on skimmers, But I would start at looking ASM G5 skimmers. they are rated pretty well and have a good rep as far as Quality.

Calcium Reactors you can not beat the Precision Marine Pro model for that size of tank.

There are many choices on both but that should give you a start for sure.

 

[jsmkmavity]

you might check out the etss 800 or one from barr-aquatics

 

[onehawksfan]

Curious ... how much is the tank costing you?

 

[Jobiwan]

I'm using Euroreefs now, I want to look into other brands of skimmers though, I know there are other great ones out there.. I haven't pinned Jason down on an exact price yet, he is coming up to my house tomorrow to do a site survey, We'll have a better idea then. He'll be doing all the plumbing and building me a custom sump and refugium, and he'll be welding me a custom steel stand which will be covered in Rhino bed lining. From what I have learned from his other customers his prices are very reasonable for the top quality set up you end up with, there's a Clear Fabrications site in the sponsors forum section that hs a lot more info on his setups

 

[Kshack]

I have an H&S skimmer (A250 2X1260) and ca+ reactor and like each very much. There is a dealer here in Portland, and if you ever make it down I could show you mine. Also, look into Vortec pumps for circulation.

Ken

 

[jsmkmavity]

you should call kevin @ aquatic dreams. he has a 450 display in his store that is dedicated space for his own corals and clams. he has an excellent setup that works very well and he could tell you what he would do again and what he would do different. hes also a sponsor here. ive seen the setup many times and is is very nice.

 

[Jobiwan]

Thanks guys, appreciate the info, I'm seriously considering the Bubblemaster 250, checked it out at Barrier Reef last weekend, awesome store, possibly the best reef store around...