300g inwall FO.

[wakeboarder2342]

Well i finally have some pictures of my 300 Inwall FO. Its now being filled with water. should take about another 3-4 days with my 80 GPD RODI. It has the following specs.

8'x2'x30" high all glass with 2 corner overflows.

ampmaster 3000 return

3.5 foot becket skimmer powered by a mak4 pump

300lbs of southdown sand.

2 50 gallon rubbermaid sumps.

4 4' NO lights 2 actinic 2 daylight

I havent figured how to post multilple pics in the same post so i will have to post several times.. sorry about that.
Feel free to comment onthe setup as well as offer some advise on what you woudl stock in this tank..

[wakeboarder2342]

Skimmer

[wakeboarder2342]

Return pump.

It is split into 2 1" returns. also i have 4 1" bulkheads that combine into 1.5 inch drains. Im hoping they will handle the amp3000..

[artfish]

That is going to awesome, already is. I have a rr340g that I plan to put in a wall when i get my house. If you dont mind me asking, what do you think your total budget will be when it is all said and done? Keep up the great work.

[crescent1]

nice start to a wonderfull setup, i would do one or two large angels followed by some tangs and surgeons.

[wakeboarder2342]

Cost breakdown is as follows..

tank i paid 1600 which i think is a good deal from what i priced... i supposedly got it wholesale as a LFS had it ordered for a display tank and they decided on a differnt size.. most places i priced a tank like this were around 3000 for the tank.. u can get a standard 240 much cheaper but i wanted the 300.


Ampmaster3000 i paid 175 bucks..
Mak 4 i paid 70 dollars
3.5 foot becket skimmer i paid 250
Lights were like 50 bucks
Sumps were like 10 bucks each
300lbs of southdown i paid 80 bucks for
Misc plumbing and stuff about 150 bucks
heaters 50 bucks

So basically im into it about 2500 bucks. i shopped around a lot and i feel i got some great deals on most of my setup. I already have a 65 reef that i have thousands into so iwanted to do this for as low cost as possible. As you can see i still have to finish my basement!!! it will be sheetrocked so it fits flush with the wall. i was going to wait unitl the basement was done but i found that deal on my tank that i couldnt pass up so i went ahead. I plan on somtime adding about 250-300lbs of live rock but for now im gonna use bioballs as a wet/dry in one of the 50 gall sumps. i will also use macro algea and the skimmer for nutrient export. I figure i will spend another 500 or so dolars on fish so i should be into the setup about 3 grand. Not bad in my opionon for an inwall 300 of this quality. Ive been patient on lookin for equipment and deals on stuff. originally my estimates were around 5000 just for equipment. guess i canspend the extra money on more SPS for my reef!!

ON a side note for anyone that keeps FO. i was wondering, ihave a bunch of HUGE leathers and mushrooms in my reef that i want to get rid of as i am switching to mainly hard corals.. I was wondering if i will be able to keep them under 160 watts of NO florecents? that is providing i dont get any fish that will eat them.. some of them are like 8" acrossed and grow like weeds so i thought it would be cool if they would grow in my FO. Again any comments or opionons are appreciated.

thanks again

[MFrance]

dude your tank looks like crap...

ha! just kidding looks great! I need to walk over to your house and check out the progress.

[RKM]

Ahh you started another post. I'll watch this one also.

I have a few questions. Did you seek out a glass tank? or is it because you got a deal on it. If so why not acrylic? Cost? I am leaning towards acrylic for my 300+ mostly because of clarity ( I've had both glass and acrylic) the acrylic in my opinion is clearer less tent. Mostly on this tank I am thinking of acrylic because it is going to be 4 -5 feet away from a pool table. Luckly it is away from the breaking side. Don't get me wrong a glass tank is great alos. I know sharks would probably scratch the acrylic.

I am thinking of putting return holes across the back lower middle of the tank to help suspend the waste. Good idea? maybe not. Just something I was thinking of.

Your setup looks great. So does the price..... I hope I can get away that cheep...good luck.

[wakeboarder2342]

I did look at acrylic. i really could have gone either way but i found a good deal on this glass one so i went that route. the pros and cons in my opionon are

Glass
Pros. less prone to scratching
Cons. Way heavy, harder to get drilled, breakable, less clear.

Acrylic
Pros. lighter, non breakable, can be easily drilled
cons. scratches,

As far as the holes in the middle, i thought about running a closed loop and would have if it was a reef. Not a bad idea in my opionon. just keep stuff from gettin sucked in. I have also toyed with the idea of running UV and/or Ozone. but for now ill keep with my skimmer and wet/dry/refugium and see how it goes. I will post more pics when i get home of the fish room..

thanks for all the input, keep it coming....

[MFrance]

Jim

to keep the tank clean you should put at least one capfull of clorox each day. That should do the trick ;) If you want me to I'll come over and do it for you!

(suffering from fishtank envy)

[wakeboarder2342]

You keep up this attitude and im gonna have to start charing ya for RO water,, 1 dollar per gallon... and if ya dont watch it ill feed your wimpy dwarf lion to my leapord shark

[lilbuddy]

:( and to think i just sold my 300, I wish i could have kept it but it was to big

[gwrulzmylife]

Have you looked into DIY live rock? I did 150 pounds of it in my tank, and as you can see in my gallery you can tell the live from DIY at the beginning. Since I've taken those pics the rocks have already started to match the Figi (no purple yet, only 2 weeks).

To make 150 pounds it cost me $25, and was really simple. The hardest part was the curing process, which ended up taking 5 weeks, but I could have cut that time in half if it was warm outside!

I had 90 pounds in my 75 gallon, so I ended up just buying 150 pounds of Figi/marshall to go on top of my DIY base rock, which will seed the base rock. GARF recommends this, and now I do. I was able to make arches, hidey holes, caves, and more importantly I made the bottom rocks interconnected and with 4 inch legs so that my jawfish couldn't collapse the whole structure when digging! LOL, very sturdy!

[wakeboarder2342]

I may have to look into that.. They have this stuff called Utah Rock which they say is just like live rock, from way back when utah was part of lake bonneville. supposedly its just argonite and looks great in aquariums. IM gonna go collect some as soon as the 2 feet of snow melts!! until then iill be using Bio balls for biological filtration and maybe a fluidized bed filter also. Anyone know a calculation for how many bio balls i shoudl be using for a tank like this?

[Holyreefer]

jamesbburgess,
What are you doing for a stand? I mean i noticed you had the tank right in the creaves of the Frame how did you do that?

[SamsonNY]

Originally posted by jamesbburgess
Anyone know a calculation for how many bio balls i shoudl be using for a tank like this?


Not a calculation but, FYI: I use 28 gallons (two 14 gallon towers) for my 400 gallon and I never have even a trace of ammonia or nitrites.

[wakeboarder2342]

The stand is made of 3 rows of 8 2x4's each then plated with 2 2x4's and then sheeted with 2 layers of 1/2 inch plywood. I will take pictures and post them when i get home..

[Holyreefer]

thanks

[wakeboarder2342]

Here are some updated pictures. THis first one is the wet/dry i built out of a 5 gallon bucket.

[wakeboarder2342]

Here is one with the tank full of 300 lbs of southdown sand. it has been nearly a week and its still not totally clear. This southdown is very fine sand. I mixed in a few cups of live sand from my reef tank to get some bacteria going.

[wakeboarder2342]

Here is a picture of the stand that was requested.

[wakeboarder2342]

Here is the skimmer, connected to a mak4 pump.

[wakeboarder2342]

Here is a picture of the sumps. my 1.5 inch drain connects to a tee (not installed when this pic was taken) so 3/4 inch pipe feeds a 35 gallon refugium, i have a ball valve on this so i can determine the flow into the fuge. the rest of the flow goes into my sump where it passes through the wet/dry and into a 50 gallon sump. I have a 3/4 inch bulkhead that feeds the mak4 going to the skimmer. My skimmer also has a 1/2" drain that is in the collection cup which i have plumbed into the floor drain that sits a few feet away, this way the skimmer collection cup will never need emptied. I have the sump connected to the refugium via a 1/2" bulkhead. I also have 2 300 watt heaters in the sump. My refugium will have a 5 inch deep sand bed as well as some live rock and a ton of calurpa provided by my established reef tank. I also dont have any pictures but i installed durso stand pipes in both overflows, this made an amazing difference on the quietness of the tank. It honestly sounded like niagra falls when i first turned it on, as this tank is 30" deep and the water was falling clear to the bottom before entering the drain pipes. Anyway i will continue to post updates. i should begin stocking the tank shortly.

[mattsilvester]

Any update pics, with aquascaping etc?

[Julio]

love those large sumps! please give us an update.