Need Help setting up my tank!!!

[ciao]

So I just got a 250 Gallon fish tank that I plan on setting up as a reef tank with some fish. It's a used system but it used to be a salt water set up and has some of the stuff I already need, minus the additional lighting I'll need for the coral I plan on putting in there. Here is my problem. I have all these parts(filters, sump tank, protein skimmmer, powerheads, etc) for the tank here and I'm not sure how to set it up! Every time I look at it, I'm getting dicouraged about ever getting it set up!

Does anybody with experience setting up a tank and lives in the Beaverton, OR. area have it in their heart to help a guy out and would be willing to come over to my place for a couple of hours to show me how to set it up?? I'll even treat for lunch afterwards! I just really want to get the ball rolling on this. I understand the whole setting up the marine system and establishing everything, but getting this tank set up is killing me!

If you have it in your heart to help out, please leave me some contact information here.

 

[FreakinReefin]

So I just got a 250 Gallon fish tank that I plan on setting up as a reef tank with some fish. It's a used system but it used to be a salt water set up and has some of the stuff I already need, minus the additional lighting I'll need for the coral I plan on putting in there. Here is my problem. I have all these parts(filters, sump tank, protein skimmmer, powerheads, etc) for the tank here and I'm not sure how to set it up! Every time I look at it, I'm getting dicouraged about ever getting it set up!

Does anybody with experience setting up a tank and lives in the Beaverton, OR. area have it in their heart to help a guy out and would be willing to come over to my place for a couple of hours to show me how to set it up?? I'll even treat for lunch afterwards! I just really want to get the ball rolling on this. I understand the whole setting up the marine system and establishing everything, but getting this tank set up is killing me!

If you have it in your heart to help out, please leave me some contact information here.

I would love to help you out if I lived down there; or even if I was going to be around that area, but unfortunately I will not. Maybe you could take some pictures of your equipement and set-up area in general and all of us here could try to point you in the right direction. Honestly the set-up is usually the easiest part if you have the equipment to do it. The hard part comes in the actual initial set-up of getting the water quality and balance of the bio-filter system. As long as you have enough room for a 250g tank and enough patience and the right family to tolerate an addiction...you are going to have a lot of fun.

 

[ReefJunkie]

Go to google and search for 'reef aquarium setup photos' (without the quotes). That should keep you busy for sometime researching. Lots of info and lots of photos.
You could also do a 'road trip' and come to the Tri-Cities the weekend of the 17th, 18th and 19th. The local Aquarium Club is holding a conference that weekend and one of the features is a tank tour of some of our members tanks and setups. That way you could see first hand and get some good ideas for yours. Not to mention you get to meet a lot of nice folks most of which are on this forum from time to time. Good luck.

 

[bingme]

+1

Nicely put.
Research and internet consultants for no charge.

What equipment are you setting up?

I would love to help you out if I lived down there; or even if I was going to be around that area, but unfortunately I will not. Maybe you could take some pictures of your equipement and set-up area in general and all of us here could try to point you in the right direction. Honestly the set-up is usually the easiest part if you have the equipment to do it. The hard part comes in the actual initial set-up of getting the water quality and balance of the bio-filter system. As long as you have enough room for a 250g tank and enough patience and the right family to tolerate an addiction...you are going to have a lot of fun.

 

[Chichas01]

Wow, that sounds like a great tank. You should start a build thread in the Tank Design forum. Lots of people will give you tons of great input.
My recommendation would be figure out now what you want your end result to be. Then you can reverse engineer it from there to get you to your goal. Take your time and have fun with it and you will be happy with the results. Rush it and you will end up spending time and money you will never get back

 

[Skimmy]

you could possibly hire someone to do it for you if you dont find a volunteer...say from upscales or waves. also, look on www.pnwmas.org bunch of oregon folks on there