How would you build a 300g LPS in wall tank with $8k?

[Oberst Hajj]

I am in the process of laying out a build for a 300g LPS tank. I plan on having a roughly 9'x13' fish room, so there should be enough room to build it out like I want. The $8k budget does not include any of the fish room build, it is just for the equipment and livestock if anything is left over.

The only things I will be bring over from my current tank are:

1x Radion XR30W 4G Pro
Apex 2016
- 2x EB832
- 1x WXM
- 1x ASM
- 1x AFS
- 1x DOS (auto water change)
- 3x BRS dosing pumps

All the other equipment and even the tank needs to come out of the $8k, So, how would you build this tank?

 

[Lowell Lemon]

You can learn how to fabricate your own tanks out of Glass or Acrylic and keep in budget that way. You just need someone to cut your parts to size and do the assembly yourself. Same with the sump or use a poly tank for a sump from a farm supply store.

 

[Thaxxx]

Buy used. You can do it for 1/2 of that.

 

[Oberst Hajj]

Thanks guys. While I don't mind spending less, building this on the cheap is not necessary. While I work with acrylic for my online business, I don't want to try and build this tank. Maybe the sump though.

I'm also not totally against a used tank, but it would have to be in perfect condition and I've never even seen a used 300g tank for sale around where I live.

 

[dbjonesjr]

What dimension tank are you looking for?

 

[Oberst Hajj]

What dimension tank are you looking for?

My limiting factor is length at 8', but I would not want to go shorter than 7'. Width and depth are not set in stone, but I'm thinking 36" wide.

 

[lolmatt]

Check out customaquariums.com for the tank. Then for lighting I'd sell the Radeon for 500+ and do reef breeders photon v2+, two of the 48" will be your best bet for cost. Mount them high, and put two pair of 4' t5 to help with shadowing in a wider tank, will be fine for lps. Or go with a cheaper fixture like sbreef black box and just get like 8-10 of them.

You can diy a nice sump with a 125g or similar used tank and some plate glass baffles from a local glass shop, should be under $200 and you can set it up however you want with a huge fuge.

What's left...gyres for flow (4?), a pair of return pumps that won't break the bank, used skimmer, dry rock....get it from other reefers for $1/lb or Marco for under $2/lb "new." If you're including rodi and supplemental stuff like that in that 8k you'll have a tough time imo. But as is I think you're at about 3-4k for the tank, 150 or so for a diy stand, 2k or less for lighting, 1k for gyres, 300 ish for the skimmer, say 200 for the sump, 100 each for return pump, 300 for rock. Total right in the 7-8k range less whatever you get for the radeon. Wait till these things go on sale and save. Reef breeders have sales a few times per year, watch their sponsor forum. Black Friday you'll save 10-20% on gyres and pumps. Look for a tank locally for a few months before you order custom. Save yourself some money and hassle and go bare bottom...if not, buy dry sand for 200 bucks or something don't get that bagged crap.

Design the fish room right and you can put in a nice frag tank too, light it with a used t5 fixture, and plumb it into the main system. Won't cost much more if you get a used tank and drill it yourself or get a rubbermaid stock tank.

 

[DzidtheReefer]

You mean a 300gal like this? You can get a new one in chicago for 3grand

 

[DzidtheReefer]

You mean a 300gal like this? You can get a new one in chicago for 3grand

 

[Oberst Hajj]

Check out customaquariums.com for the tank. Then for lighting I'd sell the Radeon for 500+ and do reef breeders photon v2+, two of the 48" will be your best bet for cost.....

Thanks for the detailed reply. I like my Radion, but I might have to switch to a different light to save on cost. Although, if I go with the 7' tank, I think I could get by with 3 additional XR30W G4 Pros. That would come in at about $2,500, so not a whole lot me than going the T5 route. I could always add some 15s if I need to supplement it a little down the road. I was going to probably build a steel frame my self, but that would be in the $150-$200 range like you said. I do already have the RO/DI setup, but for this volume of water I'd want to add a booster pump to it. I could also do the DIY sump.

You mean a 300gal like this? You can get a new one in chicago for 3grand

I've not been in all the stores up in Denver, but I've not seen anything like this in the few I have been in. I think I'd like to have a coast to coast external overflow for this size of a tank.

 

[lolmatt]

Your call on the radeons obviously, reef breeders for a 7ft tank if you sold the xr30 you have now would cost you net...600 bucks? Either way I'd add some t5s (the let lighting kits on brs are nice and ez). Two or four pair with blue plus bulbs depending how much you like them. Will help eliminate any shadowing in a tank this big. The kits are like 100 each plus bulbs...call it 150 each, you could do 2 3ft and 2 4ft.

 

[Scotty Buttons]

I've seen these guys advertise on craigslist for years, I've always thought about contacting them about an aquarium. They make framed, and rimless tanks. Im pretty sure they can make one just about any size you want, but don't quote me on that. They are local. I have no idea the quality of the tanks but it's worth looking into.

https://cosprings.craigslist.org/fod/d/colorado-springs-seasonal-aquarium/6883688887.html

 

[KIRBLIT]

I would go with the 8ft tank if you can. It will be much easier for lighting spacing and because it's a standard size if you ever want to add any t5's or led bars. You may also regret only doing 7 in the future if you have the room for 8ft. Doing this for 8k is possible, but wanting a custom tank will limit you to who you can use for the build to stay in your budget and get other good equipment.

 

[DzidtheReefer]

The company indeed has a 300gal with 2 overflows, one on each side. if your interested i can give you the business info, just pm me. They mest up a tank order that my cousin wanted, he wanted a pennisula style of a tank

 

[Oberst Hajj]

Your call on the radeons obviously, reef breeders for a 7ft tank if you sold the xr30 you have now would cost you net...600 bucks? Either way I'd add some t5s (the let lighting kits on brs are nice and ez). Two or four pair with blue plus bulbs depending how much you like them. Will help eliminate any shadowing in a tank this big. The kits are like 100 each plus bulbs...call it 150 each, you could do 2 3ft and 2 4ft.

The Photon V2+ do look pretty good, but the biggest downside to me is that they do not interface with the Apex system. I really want everything controlled from one point. I"ll have to checkout some larger tanks setup with T5s and I have no experience with them at all.

I've seen these guys advertise on craigslist for years, I've always thought about contacting them about an aquarium. They make framed, and rimless tanks. Im pretty sure they can make one just about any size you want, but don't quote me on that. They are local. I have no idea the quality of the tanks but it's worth looking into.

https://cosprings.craigslist.org/fod/d/colorado-springs-seasonal-aquarium/6883688887.html

That is Pidaz's ad. I bought my current 60g cube from them when the original one (not from them) sprung a leak. They were very good to deal with, but they do not make their own tanks... at least not locally. They can order in just about everything you need for your setup, including livestock.

I would go with the 8ft tank if you can. It will be much easier for lighting spacing and because it's a standard size if you ever want to add any t5's or led bars. You may also regret only doing 7 in the future if you have the room for 8ft. Doing this for 8k is possible, but wanting a custom tank will limit you to who you can use for the build to stay in your budget and get other good equipment.

LOL, of course you would say that Kirblit! I'd prefer to go 8' as well. The only thing that has me thinking about a 7' one is the aesthetics of it in the wall (it's an 11' wall I'm working with) and the additional cost of lighting it. On a 7' tank I'm pretty sure I could do 4 Radions going front to back. That would put 11" between each light and all sides of the tank. I know you are not an LED fan, but I am

A standard sized glass tank that is drilled to allow me (with help from the club) to build an acrylic external coast to coast could cut down on the cost some.

You can check out the wall I'm working with at the meeting next weekend. I'll definitely want to talk with you about how to build out the fish room.

The company indeed has a 300gal with 2 overflows, one on each side. if your interested i can give you the business info, just pm me. They mest up a tank order that my cousin wanted, he wanted a pennisula style of a tank

Thanks for the offer, but I'm not really looking for two end overflows.

 

[JMM744]

I would go the entire 8 ft. Although my 6 ft. allows for some nice fish selections 8 just gives them so much more swimming room as they grow. Would also suggest a new tank with guarantee. Let’s face it, the tank is the single most important piece of equipment we will buy. If it fails everything else is useless. If getting into a decent tank strains your budget you can always just wait a spell to refund the expense account and build in sections as you can. Sounds like lots of fun in the future for you as it comes together!

 

[Oberst Hajj]

Thanks for all the input guys. What about return pumps? Is it better to have a single large pump to handle all of the return duties, or is it better to have two slightly smaller pumps sharing the return flow?

I'm hoping to not have to run a chiller on this tank, so I'm thinking about doing external pumps to help keep some of the heat out of the water. I'd rather have to run my tank's heaters more due to the lack of heat from the pump(s) than too much heat. I also think I'd like to go with DC pumps, but that is not set in stone.

 

[albano]

My limiting factor is length at 8', but I would not want to go shorter than 7'. Width and depth are not set in stone, but I'm thinking 36" wide.

Hope you realize that an 8’x3’ tank could only be 20” tall to be 300g... a 7’x3’ tank could be 23”tall...If you really want to stay at 300g!

 

[Oberst Hajj]

Hope you realize that an 8’x3’ tank could only be 20” tall to be 300g... a 7’x3’ tank could be 23”tall...If you really want to stay at 300g!

I'm not locked in on the gallon size for the tank, just the foot print.

 

[User1]

Depends if you are set for 300 gallons or what room you have to work with. Some people spend that alone in lighting. It isn't the tank and lights that will eat through the money but what you do after. Water, salt, test kits, and rock.

Concept aquariums in Alberta, Canada can do 210 - 300 with steel stand for around 3,000 (my 210 a couple years back was 1,800 for example with low iron glass). Lights depending on the footprint you are looking at say 1,200 or so for lighting - 3 x a360x kessil. There are other lights. Can also save and DIY and move that money elsewhere. 500 dollars for a skimmer. 250 - 300 for a return pump, etc. Just depends on what you want to include any redundancy such as 2 x return pumps, etc.

Can also buy used. I didn't find the price of the tank to be the issue though. In the end it was all of the misc. crap that nickel and dimed me.