New build hypothetical

[JachPot]

Hey all , I'm sure as you all know it's tax/bonus season. It's been a good year for me personally and my wife has agreed to letting me set up my monster tank. I thought I'd post the question and have some fun with you guys and see if any of you wanted to make a build (kind of like a PC parts thing)

The tank I was initially looking at was an 8' 240 gal from glass cages. It's about $3867 for eurobraced with lids, black silicone, ghost overflow and the bulkheads.

This leaves me probably $2000-3000 to finish the initial build. I plan to add a reef pi monitoring system later and it's not included in the up front budget.

I was thinking about 5 smat farms LEDs, 2x Gyres, and I hadn't decided on the sump, skimmer, or return. Some of this could be acquired secondhand and thus saving some money.

I'm wondering if you guys had any opinions or suggestions on what I have left to acquire. Or if you're just bored and want to "build a tank"

 

[blaxsun]

Plan to triple your budget ($15k).

 

[RGoltz]

@JachPot are you in the OKC metro?

 

[JachPot]

@JachPot are you in the OKC metro?

Nah, I moved out to Colorado a few years ago

 

[Sean Clark]

Are you building your own stand?

 

[JachPot]

Are you building your own stand?

Stand is currently included in the $3867, I'll edit to reflect that


Edit: Apparently I can't

 

[monkeyCmonkeyDo]

...go acrylic

 

[JachPot]

...go acrylic

Go on....

 

[monkeyCmonkeyDo]

Ur $ will go to flow pumps. Livestock. Enjoy.
D

 

[monkeyCmonkeyDo]

No seams. Stronger. Weighs less.
U need to use an acrylic safe brush and Kent marine plastic scraper but eh.
-d

 

[monkeyCmonkeyDo]

My sump would be a Rubbermaid stock tank plumbed into a 20L refugium.
Pumps kinda get more personal choice. As does filtration units.
-d

 

[RGoltz]

I guess my first question should really be: What are you hoping to do with this tank? What do you want to keep in it?

 

[JachPot]

I guess my first question should really be: What are you hoping to do with this tank? What do you want to keep in it?

I'm going to do a mix reefed. Tangs and Euphilyia are basically my 2 favorite things about saltwater tanks.

I'll look into acrylic, if it's more expensive I'll probably just stick with the glass. I know it used to be, but I haven't checked recently.

I was thinking of buying the powerheads second hand to save a good chunk of money. I can get live rock at a steal locally, so that won't run me a billion dollars.

 

[RGoltz]

Personally, I would stick with glass.

If Truly focusing on Euphylia/LPS I would consider a couple of things:

• A true wave maker, such as a Tunze wave box, together with some directional flow like a gyre
• Some budget LED such as Reefbreeders, but hang the lights high
• Take a look at Waterbox and Red Sea to see if they have something that fits your budget, together with the lighting+flow. Honestly, plug and play plumbing is nice.

Again, personal preference but I don’t invest in controllers.

 

[JachPot]

Personally, I would stick with glass.

If Truly focusing on Euphylia/LPS I would consider a couple of things:

• A true wave maker, such as a Tunze wave box, together with some directional flow like a gyre
• Some budget LED such as Reefbreeders, but hang the lights high
• Take a look at Waterbox and Red Sea to see if they have something that fits your budget, together with the lighting+flow. Honestly, plug and play plumbing is nice.

Again, personal preference but I don’t invest in controllers.

I'll check out those wavemakers. I'm going to stick with glass, the price is the same and I don't want to deal with acrylic. I'm going to get a ghost overflow eurobraced tank like I always wanted.

My budget isn't a hard budget, I could go over if I wanted, but I'm trying to keep costs down so my wife doesn't get mad lol


I've checked out about every tank I can think of. Those two are largely out of range and I don't think add any more value than putting a nice sump below the glasscages tank.

 

[monkeyCmonkeyDo]

Fwiw I'm biased as I had a 6ft glass tank that was eurobraced at the bottom but not the top. It failed. Love wier teeth hob overflow boxes. You'll love this.
-d

 

[JachPot]

Fwiw I'm biased as I had a 6ft glass tank that was eurobraced at the bottom but not the top. It failed. Love wier teeth hob overflow boxes. You'll love this.
-d

Check out the glasscages standard eurobrace and let me know what you think. Their tanks have 3-4 glass braces across the top for a tank of this size.

 

[monkeyCmonkeyDo]

Ya no. Ur going through a reputable dealer. It'll be a tank of a tank but it'll hold I'm sure. Mine was a new local builder who's lfs failed. Lol
D

 

[Sean Clark]

My budget isn't a hard budget, I could go over if I wanted, but I'm trying to keep costs down so my wife doesn't get mad lol

Hahahahahahahahahahaha

 

[JachPot]

Hahahahahahahahahahaha

Look, you and I know the budget for day 1 is a joke, but I've got to present the "plan" before I deviate heavily :P