300 gallon mixed reef

[lesismore]

Greetings,

I thought that this may be a nice time to start a large build thread regarding my new 300-gallon Glass Cages aquarium. Glass Cages is building the aquarium, a wood stand, a custom glass sump and a glass quarantine tank. The build is scheduled to be complete by the end of November and I'm extremely excited as you can imagine! The finish line is in sight and I'm really looking forward to seeing this beautiful setup in person and getting this mixed reef going!

I will be using the following equipment:

Tank: low iron viewing glass panels, euro-bracing with smoked perimeter glass and low iron cross-bracing, an internal overflow, a concealed waterline and protected seams (96x30x25) by Glass Cages
Stand: a 36" tall, solid wood, painted white stand in modern style with 1 side door on the left side and 1 hinged controller cabinet door on the right side by Glass Cages
Sump: custom-built, glass, rimless (72x24x21) by Glass Cages
Filtration: 1 x reef mat roller filter1200 by Red Sea
Heater: 2 x 300w titanium heaters by BRS (I live in Arizona and my ambient temperature will not require the heaters to work much at all)
Light: 4 x 500X LED lights by Kessil with custom mounts
UV Sterilizer: 1 x 90w pro-max high output by Lifeguard Aquatics
Return Pump: 1 180 watt DC pump by Jebao
Skimmer: regal 250-INT by Reef Octopus
Controller: none at this point, but I am considering a Hydros controller and a Hydros testing unit
Wavemakers: 6 3434 gph powerheads by Jebao
Reactor (carbon): 1 deluxe carbon reactor by BRS
Nutrient Export: 360X refugium light by Kessil (I anticipate using chaeto and am considering mud or sand refugium substrates vs bio bricks - opinions welcome!)
Dosing system: Aquavitro dosers by Seachem (likely 3-4 units)
Live Rock: Life rock by Carob Sea (arches, caves, tunnels, base rock) - I want a nice mix of places for coral and future growth plus good overall water flow
ATO: osmolator 3155 by Tunze
Sand: AF bio sand
Salt: EVS 4 part
Water Filter: Spectrapure RODI filtration

I am uncertain at what stage I will actually turn on the uv sterilizer, but I will certainly plumb it in accordingly at the time of the install. I'd like to have the ability to vary the flow rate for parasite control (lower flow) and algae control/clarity (higher flow) as needed. As such, I plan to use a separate loop and pump to control the flow rate independently of the return pump. I would be interested in hearing from actual users if you can achieve great clarity and enjoy less glass cleaning even if you run the unit on the lower parasite control flow rate or if this really a case where you need to use the higher recommended rates to achieve a desirable level of algae control.

On a side note, I have really enjoyed the experience of working with Glass Cages. This is a huge investment for me and one with a lot of emotions too. It helps to know there are great people on the other end who are working very hard to make my dream tank for me. Thank you, Glass Cages! Thanks in advance to everyone here as well, for your shared ideas, enthusiasm and support, as I deeply appreciate it. I hope to share more updates including photos in a month or so when the tank/stand build is complete, and it's arrived at my home for install.

Happy reefing!!!

Les

 

[IcarusCantSwim]

Following along, can’t wait to see pictures.

 

[cdemoss01]

Greetings,

I thought that this may be a nice time to start a large build thread regarding my new 300-gallon Glass Cages aquarium. Glass Cages is building the aquarium, a wood stand, a custom glass sump and a glass quarantine tank. The build is scheduled to be complete by the end of November and I'm extremely excited as you can imagine! The finish line is in sight and I'm really looking forward to seeing this beautiful setup in person and getting this mixed reef going!

I will be using the following equipment:

Tank: low iron viewing glass panels, euro-bracing with smoked perimeter glass and low iron cross-bracing, an internal overflow, a concealed waterline and protected seams (96x30x25) by Glass Cages
Stand: a 36" tall, solid wood, painted white stand in modern style with 1 side door on the left side and 1 hinged controller cabinet door on the right side by Glass Cages
Sump: custom-built, glass, rimless (72x24x21) by Glass Cages
Filtration: 1 x reef mat roller filter1200 by Red Sea
Heater: 2 x 300w titanium heaters by BRS (I live in Arizona and my ambient temperature will not require the heaters to work much at all)
Light: 4 x 500X LED lights by Kessil with custom mounts
UV Sterilizer: 1 x 90w pro-max high output by Lifeguard Aquatics
Return Pump: 1 180 watt DC pump by Jebao
Skimmer: regal 250-INT by Reef Octopus
Controller: none at this point, but I am considering a Hydros controller and a Hydros testing unit
Wavemakers: 6 3434 gph powerheads by Jebao
Reactor (carbon): 1 deluxe carbon reactor by BRS
Nutrient Export: 360X refugium light by Kessil (I anticipate using chaeto and am considering mud or sand refugium substrates vs bio bricks - opinions welcome!)
Dosing system: Aquavitro dosers by Seachem (likely 3-4 units)
Live Rock: Life rock by Carob Sea (arches, caves, tunnels, base rock) - I want a nice mix of places for coral and future growth plus good overall water flow
ATO: osmolator 3155 by Tunze
Sand: AF bio sand
Salt: EVS 4 part
Water Filter: Spectrapure RODI filtration

I am uncertain at what stage I will actually turn on the uv sterilizer, but I will certainly plumb it in accordingly at the time of the install. I'd like to have the ability to vary the flow rate for parasite control (lower flow) and algae control/clarity (higher flow) as needed. As such, I plan to use a separate loop and pump to control the flow rate independently of the return pump. I would be interested in hearing from actual users if you can achieve great clarity and enjoy less glass cleaning even if you run the unit on the lower parasite control flow rate or if this really a case where you need to use the higher recommended rates to achieve a desirable level of algae control.

On a side note, I have really enjoyed the experience of working with Glass Cages. This is a huge investment for me and one with a lot of emotions too. It helps to know there are great people on the other end who are working very hard to make my dream tank for me. Thank you, Glass Cages! Thanks in advance to everyone here as well, for your shared ideas, enthusiasm and support, as I deeply appreciate it. I hope to share more updates including photos in a month or so when the tank/stand build is complete, and it's arrived at my home for install.

Happy reefing!!!

Les

Lemme see pictures!!

 

[lesismore]

Following along, can’t wait to see pictures.

Awesome! Thanks for adding to the excitement!

 

[lesismore]

Lemme see pictures!!

You got it! Can’t wait!

 

[Gumbies R Us]

Following along!

 

[Jimbo327]

Looks like a dream build with all the bells and whistle. It's going to be awesome.

 

[lesismore]

Looks like a dream build with all the bells and whistle. It's going to be awesome.

Thanks my friend! We are lucky to have found such a cool hobby.

 

[lbacha]

Following along, I just setup my Glasscages tank with the exact same dimensions a month or so ago. Joe was great to work with and the tank is amazing.

 

[marcus aurelius]

Nice can't wait.

 

[apeshot]

This is great, congrats! I’m likely doing something like this next year. I’m only 4 months in on my water box 110, but I know I’ll want to upgrade to 84 inches wide next year.

 

[lesismore]

Following along, I just setup my Glasscages tank with the exact same dimensions a month or so ago. Joe was great to work with and the tank is amazing.

Awesome to hear! Great minds think alike! I just checked out your tank and it sure is a beauty. Congrats!

 

[lesismore]

Nice can't wait.

Thanks!!!

 

[Daniel@R2R]

Cool! Following!

 

[lbacha]

Awesome to hear! Great minds think alike! I just checked out your tank and it sure is a beauty. Congrats!

Thanks, it has been fun to design and build.

 

[lesismore]

This is great, congrats! I’m likely doing something like this next year. I’m only 4 months in on my water box 110, but I know I’ll want to upgrade to 84 inches wide next year.

Thanks so much! It’s amazing how you just end up wanting to go bigger isn’t it. I think there’s so many benefits including the stability of more water volume and being able to keep fish that require more space. I look forward to checking out your Waterbox build.

 

[lesismore]

Hi all,

I’m so fired up! I’ve got some live photos of my new build to share! I just received them today courtesy of Glass Cages.

It’s my main display, sump and a QT tank. Glass Cages are making them all for me and they are looking amazing!

Thanks for sharing in the fun and have a great weekend!

Les

 

[OutColdCRNA]

Following! Just set up the 240 version of your tank from glass cages. Check out my build as there are lots of similarities between our plans and tanks. Love it!!
Edited to add build thread.

 

[lesismore]

Following! Just set up the 240 version of your tank from glass cages. Love it!!

That is so awesome!! I’m going to follow you and check out yours too. I’m psyched that you love your setup and I can’t wait to get mine going too!

 

[lbacha]

Hi all,

I’m so fired up! I’ve got some live photos of my new build to share! I just received them today courtesy of Glass Cages.

It’s my main display, sump and a QT tank. Glass Cages are making them all for me and they are looking amazing!

Thanks for sharing in the fun and have a great weekend!

Les

Just wait till you see it in person, I hadn’t seen one of Joes tanks before I got mine and was amazed at the quality. The bevels on the exposed glass edges are a really nice touch. Getting the pictures was a pretty exciting step for me as well.