My 300G project.

[revenant]

Howdy all... I have been planning an upgrade from my 100G (60Lx18Wx20H) for a while now as it's grown in and two of my fish are HUGE now and really need a larger tank. So I found a 240G (96Lx24Wx24H) last summer which when I got it home it and cleaned up it had a ton of crazing everywhere and one of the corner overflow seams was busted... and it had holes drilled in it in weird places.. The more I worked on cleaning it up the less I liked the idea of using. I did get Weldon16 and was going to dowel some of the seams but never got around to it.. work went crazy and I was traveling a lot to see my dad... anyways.. my plan was to build a stand this spring and fix the seams and get it going... Because I'm crazy and my gears were turning, I jumped on CL just to see if anything better was out there.. not even planning on buying anything right now, but just putting feelers out. BAM, a killer 300G full setup posted 14mins ago.. Perfect tank dimensions, 96L x 30W x 23H, long wide and not too high.. full setup with loads of good gear at a great price. So long story short, it's all here now. Picked up in the pouring rain last weekend. List of what I got:

Acrylic 300 gallon tank 96L x 30W x 23H w/ 3/4" acrylic. (center overflow, single 2" drain, dual 1" returns)
33" stand in good shape - but needs side panel and some bottom trim.
Reef Octopus Elite 220-int (older one with red controller)
Apex controller (gen1) with w/ Energy Bar 8 and Vortech WXM,
2x Vortech MP60s with extra wet side and extra driver.
2x Maxspect Gyre XF350 with one controller.
2x dosers with BRS chems.
BRS external reactor with pump and two containers.
36"X12"X12" acrylic sump (not going to use this - shopping sumps)
2x 44" Reef Breeders LED programmable LED lights with custom wood hanging brackets,
150 lbs Tonga / Fiji branching LR
5 stage RODI filter.

The tank is in beautiful shape, no crazing, no significant scratches, just beautiful thicc acrylic. All the gear needed/needs a good cleaning but I got a pretty nice lot for 3 grand. The sump he had was glass and was behind the tank and it was a mess. I opted out on that and figure I will buy a new sump. So I am shopping around for those, maybe one with a fuge and ato built in. idk, I might do a separate fuge.. I need a larger skimmer section due to the elite 220-int has a 16.5″ x 12.2″ footprint and a large enough end section for dual return pumps.

For the tank, I am planning a shallow sandbed with two scapes, my old tank rocks and such on the left side and the new LR on the right side and have a little beach between the two. LPS heavy on the right.. and def getting a nem too. So glad I found a 30" W tank, it's almost twice as wide as my current.. Really looking forward to scaping and such. I am probably about a month away from being able to fill this though - so I have some time to think about how I want to do this - but I am super excited. So many fish options now. Anyways I'll post updates when I have them. Here are a few photos.

This was the ad:

I'll probably hang the lights the way I do them on my 100G now.. but a nice wooden contraption if I want to use it I guess.

The rain stopped when I got back to my place, but the pickup was SO WET.. and the drive down the 405 in pouring rain and lots of LA traffic.. lol, super fun!

getting to this part made it all worth it.

Kudos to my friends who really came through helping me move this. I am still sore btw.. lol!

So there it is.. I've been wanting a 300G for 30 years... since my 55G corner pent in the 90s. and my sailfin has been waiting for this for over a year... But she's still able to navigate all of the caves and back area still.. but she is HUGE now and it's super time to move her and the foxface, who is also huge.. It'll be end of March I think before I am ready to move stuff but at least the ball is really rolling now.

Oh and I am on a cement slab with no sub-floring. whew!

Happy reefing all!

Edit: LR curing..

After cleaning and some Brillianize

 

[JonoH]

Awesome! Huge upgrade, looking forward to seeing it all come together.

 

[Gumbies R Us]

Great looking upgrade! Can't wait to see it filled up!

 

[revenant]

Thanks all! I am thinking about a DIY sump with a top fin 40G glass and this DIY kit..

Fiji cube sump baffle kit 40G

Or something like this.. then I will add a fuge later once the tank is established..

 

[saltyfins]

So pretty! I love my 300! will be lots of fun for you, and for us, to watch it grow into something beautiful

 

[1ocean]

awesome!!!!

 

[revenant]

Thanks all. I am super excited to get this setup... I'm slowly making progress with gathering the parts I need. I really wasn't ready for this but had to jump on it so I am being really patient in setting it up. Cleaning and testing everything. I got a new bulkhead gasket and cleaned that area all up.

I planned out my plumbing and still sorting out my sump. The Octopus Elite 220-int has a very large footprint (17.5x12.5) and I want an ATO built in too.. IceCap has a 36XL that looks nice but I also want 50gallon capacity in the event my returns stop working (power outage or equipment failure).. There's the IceCap 48XL but I can't fit it through the doors or the back without removing wood.. it's a huge box like thing, it's massive/wide and I would rather a longer sump, not a big square thing. So the search continues..

I am going to run dual DC return pumps with a 1500VA UPS battery backup powering each. The same DC 2300gph pump I am using now x2. That'll give me a up to four hours of sump return flow during a power outage...

I am curing all the LR still... wow it created a layer of gel like bacteria which I had to skim off the top. I am going to pull it all out in a couple weeks and check it, refresh the water in the barrel with water from my tank. I'll post some photos of the rocks when I do that... one of the rocks is almost three feet long. I'll also be sure to post photos of other progress when I have photo worthy things to share.

 

[AstroMelly]

Hi!

I found your old thread where you had just introduced your foxface with a sailfin tang. So heartbreaking to read the outcome but it sounds like they were best buddies for a long time at least. We have a magnificent fox face who has been best pals with a male Blonde Naso tang since being introduced (about 2 years ago) and it is a lovely pairing to witness. They are almost always together as you (and others) were discussing on that original thread - I was trying to find out how to sex them but apparently there is no reliable way apart from when a natural pairing occurs as a result of introducing multiple rabbit fish at the same time. I searched your recent posts to try and find out how your pairing turned out. So sorry for your loss!

How is your new build going? Sounds like an exciting upgrade and you scored all that equipment at a really good price!

 

[revenant]

I @AstroMelly ! I have updates but life is been so crazy of late I haven't had time to compose a proper post with my 300G progress. My foxface and sailfin are tolerant of each other now days.. Both fish have outgrown the 100G but are doing ok as I feed the tank a LOT.. seems to keep everyone happy. Also keeping clear bits of the tank clean seems to help lower stress a lot as well. I also added a blue tang and six line wrasse which both swim in the water column a lot and it seemed to get the other fish less shy.. I am hoping once in the 300G they will pal up again but who knows. I am still working on how I want to do the scape etc..

Regardless I am very close to finishing the 300G and I should be able to fill beginning of May.. I got my sump and a new skimmer as the old one was just too big for most sumps.. I wanted something more compact yet powerful. I am just finishing up the plumbing now and I have 150lbs of LR curing in a barrel. I'll post photos soon!!

 

[nuxx]

Build threads like these really want me to get another tank :/

 

[AstroMelly]

I @AstroMelly ! I have updates but life is been so crazy of late I haven't had time to compose a proper post with my 300G progress. My foxface and sailfin are tolerant of each other now days.. Both fish have outgrown the 100G but are doing ok as I feed the tank a LOT.. seems to keep everyone happy. Also keeping clear bits of the tank clean seems to help lower stress a lot as well. I also added a blue tang and six line wrasse which both swim in the water column a lot and it seemed to get the other fish less shy.. I am hoping once in the 300G they will pal up again but who knows. I am still working on how I want to do the scape etc..

Regardless I am very close to finishing the 300G and I should be able to fill beginning of May.. I got my sump and a new skimmer as the old one was just too big for most sumps.. I wanted something more compact yet powerful. I am just finishing up the plumbing now and I have 150lbs of LR curing in a barrel. I'll post photos soon!!

Sounds good - I liked the way it looked next to the 100g - are you keeping the 100?

I must have got it wrong - I thought you lost your original foxface from 2021 - maybe you did an replaced it?

Good luck with the build I will be following along!

 

[lbacha]

Following along I’m finishing up the order process on a 310g with similar dimensions

 

[revenant]

@AstroMelly - hello my plan is to retire the 100G once I get everything moved to the new tank. I think it will be too much work to manage them both. As for the foxface she survived whatever was going on with her and she's healthy now.. but still very shy and has outgrown the 100G so it will be great to move her into a much larger habitat!

TANK UPDATE: I finally am getting things moving along again... I tested all the equipment I got and was very disappointed to find that one of the gyres is bad and the other one is noisy as heck but works.. the MP60s were a MAJOR bummer as they are both so noisy wow. I spent time lining them up with the wet side and stuff.. I got one of them to run ok but ... both are unusable for me really so I'm gonna sell them off with disclaimers about their loud running condition. I was so let down by that but someone will buy them for sure.

I also discovered that my new skimmer (red sea dc 600) absolutely needs the DC controller otherwise it's stuck running at 30% speed so I ordered one of those along with two brand new Nero 7 pumps for internal circulation.. to start with. I will add more internal circulation pumps no doubt but I just want to start with the two Nero 7's and add more later when needed. I got my sump plumbing planned out and am putting the return lines together right now.. then getting the sump in, connecting those up and putting in the drain PCV (hard)...

I have a whole bunch of glass heaters that work but I they are used and not sure how much I trust them.. looking at titanium heaters, multiple 300w titanium heaters (3x) and spread them over multiple outlets conected to Inkbird's.. or the Hygger's that basically have the digital module all bundled in. but read some scary stuff on a couple of the reviews on those.. idk. I think any electronic heater can malfunction.. as long as I have one reliable over and under temp alarm I should be good..

Another quandry is HOW DO I FILL this beast? My current plan is to just run an extension to my RODI over to the tank and just fill it up to 80% with fresh RODI then mix the salt right into that... then once that's settled out add in 300lbs of carib sea live sand (yet to be purchased) and then add the live rock which I have curing in the garage... then I can top it off with some fleshly mixed saltwater.. Does that sound like an ok plan??

Getting very close here!!

 

[DanP-SD]

Following. I just picked up the tank for my new build yesterday. At 420 lbs empty, moving it was a bear.

 

[AstroMelly]

Big tanks huh? I paid an aquarium removal company that specialises in breaking peoples tanks down and then setting them up again in new houses to move our waterbox 7225 into the house from the garage. They had all the gear and manpower and I just did not fancy trying to do that myself without damaging something. I think it was worth it in the end.

Your plan sounds fine to me on filling the tank. For the first time I think it’s absolutely fine to mix the salt in the tank. Whichever way is easiest I guess. Have you leak tested it? It may even be worthwhile just filling it with tap water once you have your plumbing set up. Also I have heard people say fill the sump first then the overflow and that way you can test the plumbing without filling the tank. I’ve only ever set one big tank up from scratch and that was brand new. I trusted the guys who moved the tank to set the plumbing up and they did a good job. I would definitely do some testing before committing to filling with salt water if I were you.

I would avoid using glass heaters. Keep them for emergencies. I run 2x300W titanium heaters (both DD) - one on an InkBird and one on another controller (DD) for redundancy. I’ve already had to replace 2 300W heaters which did not last more than 18 months! The previous ones were cheaper and were aquamedic I think. Previously they were both controlled by one InkBird. I think one failed quite quickly and the other one was picking up the slack and failed soon after. Occasionally I will swap the plugs for the heaters between the controllers so they get a more even duty cycle. I would go for a dedicated controller for sure - the InkBird is great as I can monitor it remotely. I have 3 of them, one for the main tank, one for my salt mix and one for my RO barrel. They all seem to be working great and I’ve had them for about 2.5 years now. I independently test the temperature with a ph probe that has a built in thermometer and it is never more than 0.2 degrees C out - usually it is the same or 0.1.

Glad to hear about your foxface! Good luck with your build!

 

[revenant]

Big tanks huh? I paid an aquarium removal company that specialises in breaking peoples tanks down and then setting them up again in new houses to move our waterbox 7225 into the house from the garage. They had all the gear and manpower and I just did not fancy trying to do that myself without damaging something. I think it was worth it in the end.

Your plan sounds fine to me on filling the tank. For the first time I think it’s absolutely fine to mix the salt in the tank. Whichever way is easiest I guess. Have you leak tested it? It may even be worthwhile just filling it with tap water once you have your plumbing set up. Also I have heard people say fill the sump first then the overflow and that way you can test the plumbing without filling the tank. I’ve only ever set one big tank up from scratch and that was brand new. I trusted the guys who moved the tank to set the plumbing up and they did a good job. I would definitely do some testing before committing to filling with salt water if I were you.

I would avoid using glass heaters. Keep them for emergencies. I run 2x300W titanium heaters (both DD) - one on an InkBird and one on another controller (DD) for redundancy. I’ve already had to replace 2 300W heaters which did not last more than 18 months! The previous ones were cheaper and were aquamedic I think. Previously they were both controlled by one InkBird. I think one failed quite quickly and the other one was picking up the slack and failed soon after. Occasionally I will swap the plugs for the heaters between the controllers so they get a more even duty cycle. I would go for a dedicated controller for sure - the InkBird is great as I can monitor it remotely. I have 3 of them, one for the main tank, one for my salt mix and one for my RO barrel. They all seem to be working great and I’ve had them for about 2.5 years now. I independently test the temperature with a ph probe that has a built in thermometer and it is never more than 0.2 degrees C out - usually it is the same or 0.1.

Glad to hear about your foxface! Good luck with your build!

Hey thanks for your detailed reply. Yeah this has been a journey. Just finding a good sump took forever lol!

The tank itself is 3/4" custom plexi with almost no crazing that I can see.. I have carefully inspected all of the seams and it looks almost like new. Obviously when transporting a heavy tank like this anything can happen.. I was going to definitely fill the overflow and look for any leaks there once the plumbing is all set.. let some water flow into the sump, check all that before filling the tank. As for that I was going to just roll forward with putting RODI in it and getting it to just under the gate/returns or so running the nero's and watching that for several days or so for any leaks.. Worst case I loose a bunch of RO but I can salvage some of it in my 32G barrels. I am definitely going to pause once it's full of fresh before adding the salt for sure.. maybe wait a week or something. knocking on wood it will be ok!

I feel pretty confident that it will be leak free. Far from the level of confidence I had with the 240G I bought last year that's in my garage now and has a busted overflow seam and crazing everywhere. I just felt so uncomfortable with that tank the more I looked at it.. but the 300 is a beautiful custom tank with large acrylic slabs and as I said almost no crazing and zero signs of any stress on the seams or acrylic parts. The main area I want to validate for leaks is the overflow box.. I put in a new bulkhead (2") gasket for the drain and the return bulkheads (1") are glued so should be ok. still need to check though. Interesting idea on filling the sump first..

The heater I am getting is this: Innovative Marine Helio PTC Smart Reef Aquarium Heater (700 Watt - [2 x 350W])
Pricy ($330) but looks like one of the best. I'll probably add one more 300w titanium heater on an Inkbird for an extra layer of security there.. I don't wan't to overload my circuit though.. I am trying to stagger this all over 2x 20a circuits in my house which should be plenty of power ... but adding 1000w of heaters to my already loaded circuit raised an eyebrow for me.. I moved most of my current tank over to a 20a kitchen circuit just in case.

I think I am about two weeks away from leak testing the overflow etc... and three weeks off from testing the tank itself. I'd love to be at the adding salt to it phase by mid June so I can by all my sand, get that in and the LR, and start this cycle. If so I should be dismantling my 100G on it's 4th birthday. Sad but also exiting! The 100 has been such a great tank!

 

[revenant]

@AstroMelly … yeah btw moving it in here … wow. Four people and pouring rain … u haul… and what a day. But we got it done and those friends really came through. They were great and it all worked out nice. I’m super exited to get this tank up.