Buying my first 8 foot tank...need advise.

[Pentagona]

So one of the blessings and curses of my recent flooding is I made a deal with Jonas down at Sierra to let me set all my gear up in his store for a few months until my house is finished again if I bought one of the tanks he has in his showroom. Needless to say, I'm buying a 240 he has down there. Being as how this is my first 8 footer, I wanted to get a little advice from some of you that already have experience with tanks this big on some of the hurdles I'm going to face in setting this thing up properly. I'm basically taking most of my gear out of my 120 for now and setting it up on this tank temporarily until I actally move it into my house. As far as equipment I have now, I'll be running about a 50 gallon sump with in-line fuge, and two mag 9.5's for returns, a Euroreef RS100 skimmer with a polyfilter panel in-line in the sump with media bags. Four returns into tank, and I was thinking about adding a couple of Koralia 8's to boost flow unless you guys think it would be better to add four smaller powerheads a little more spread out? I've got about 600w of MH and PC lighting for the time being until I build a hood with some retro's. Kalk reactor set up to drip overnight, DSB 4+", and all the usuall odss and ends. Pretty much a garden reef set-up with a few SPS and fairly light fish-load. Any advise you guys have would be much appreciated.

 

[NC2WA]

I have a 375 gallon tank that is in my wall.

The only advice I can add is get a good generator for backup power. IMO, if you are going to own a large tank this item should be in your budget. Protect your investment.

Is this tank acrylic? Is closed loop an option for you? If so, may want to investigate it, but the big advice for me is the generator. To see my tank pics, click the link at the bottom of my signature.



(and yes, I do own a generator, 13,000w generator that powers the majority of the house and all fish tanks).


Kirk

 

[Pentagona]

Thanks, I DO have a generator dedicated to only my tanks, forget lights/tv/refreidgerator!!!

 

[danno14]

I can echo Kirk's advice of a closed loop..... powerheads are not as cost effective, an eyesore, if your going from scratch..... do it now!

 

[NC2WA]

Pentagona,

Excellent. You are ahead of the game then..Next, is to look into closed loop while the tank is empty and drillable.

 

[MC Lighting]

Man I am so jealous!!!! I also think you ought to go with the CL run something like the Barracuda pump I have on my system. I think we ought to think about doing a Inverter setup for your circ pump so you have a backup in between the generator Next time you come by this way I should have shown you my setup in the garage

Good luck man!

 

[G&NSalty425]

Awww your the one who's house I heard flooded from Doris sorry to hear but glad to hear you have solutions to help you out and man I seen that tank it a biggy Can't wait to see what you put in it and how you set it up the next time we go in to Blue Sierra. Also if you need any help even if we are somewhat noobs just let us know we are always close by up in Sammamish and are always at Blue Sierra

 

[CRAZEELADEE]

G&N & Pent, have you guys met yet? I know you would all get along great! Remind me to intro you all if we get the chance, then we can all talk reef! Just gotta get this up and running, so Pent can get his house taken care of...stupid flood....

I must admit, I can't wait to see this thing up and running, even if it's just for a while, I'm a sucker for those 8' tanks!

 

[krisfal]

I have an almost 8' tank (94") the two best things I felt I did in my build (other than the two pump closed loop system (which Kirk already mentioned)) was to make an automated water change system (flip valves instead of sucking on hoses and carrying buckets) and using a garage storage lift system on my light rack to get the lights up out of the way when working in the tank.

 

[luke33]

Closed loop would be cool, i'd pass on the DSB as they are way overhyped in this hobby and if it starts to leech po4, its going to crash your tank. Not to mention be a huge ordeal to remove. And the skimmer is way to small for that size of tank. If your going to use mh's it'll pry take 1000w as well. You could do two rows of 48" t5's that would work well too, but mh's may be more cost effective for an 8' tank. Just my thoughts.....but the dsb(bomb) would be my biggest concern when first starting out.

 

[NC2WA]

Pent,

Ah yes...the automatic water change system..how could I forget this..thanks krisfal.

You are more than welcome to swing by my house this weekend to see my system, automatic change system, etc.. I will have nooooo kids this weekend so I will be installing new T5 on the system.

Kirk

 

[Pentagona]

Thanks for the concern luke, I've been running a DSB for a long time. I'm a firm beleiver that if you're gonna have em, you gotta stir em. I dealt with some PO4 build up initially until I started stirring on a regular basis, and haven't had a problem since. I think though, after talking woth Doris some last night I'm going to take her advice and just use the DSB in my fuge. It'll be smaller and MUCH more easy to maintain that way. As for going CL, that is in the plans once I get the tank in my house. I was thinking of a couple powerheads in the mean time while it's at the store since I don't have time to drill the tank and get really crazy with plumbing before I have to get my tanks broken down. As far as lighting goes, I'm probably going to build a 3-sided canopy with 3 400w pendents. I know the skimmer is WAY to small for the tank, but it will have to do for the next few months. I'm not going to add any rock or livestock during that period anyways, so it should be okay temporarily.

Good call on the automated water system Kris, I'm having bad dreams about the bucket brigade I'll need to do water changes on this monster the way that I've been doing them up until now. Thinking I'll need a higher volume RO/DI as well (don't get too excited yet Doris, I haven't bought it yet!). I can only imagine what my evap loss is going to be.

 

[Pentagona]

And thanks G&N, it's an unbelievable pain in the rear. We went through the same thing two years ago. But thanks to MC Lighting, I've got a nice big 34' triple slide in my driveway to stay in until things are done! Thanks Mike!

 

[luke33]

Sounds like you have it undercontrol Pent! Look forward to some pics.

 

[G&NSalty425]

Wow that was really sweet of Mike to help you out like that Kudos to Mike If you are at all looking for any Koralia's we will probably have some 4's maybe available if Jonas get's the 7 we want in on Friday. They are basically brand new one we got during the Barrier Reef sale and the other we bought just recently at Blue Sierra not too long ago.

 

[Pentagona]

Sweet! I may just have to take you up on that!

 

[MC Lighting]

Jeremy you are more than welcome helping out has come from years of being involved in my diesel club as well as the past few being a reefer. I think if more people would lend a helping hand in bad times the world would be a better place. I am so eager to see your new setup, its a good thing its 5 minutes from my house I will have to go over and make sure Doris is not adding cool things to it each day If you need some help with the plumbing let me know sometimes two sets of hands are easier than one. Also make sure you keep pictures of the setup throughout the build, if you do not have time I can go by and take some for you.

 

[Pentagona]

Oh...I'm sure I'll have plenty of time Don't think I'll be dropping the kids off at the babysitters and forgetting them for a few months! I'm sure by the time I get everything back into the house, Jonas and Doris won't want to see my ugly mug for a while

 

[Pentagona]

In fact, for those who haven't seen the tank down at Sierra, here's a link to it.
http://www.reeffrontiers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=38725
Minus the hideous shop light fixtures of course!

 

[MC Lighting]

lol are you kidding they could not ask for a better advertising setup a beautiful 8' tank all set up at the front door I know I will come in to drool