Hurricane Katrina wiped me away but I"m back! Now tell me how you would build it.

[RussC]

I'm chomping at the bit to get back into this hobby. This is probably my first post since Katrina. I lost everything but this time I'm coming back strong! BIGGER AND BETTER

I am rebuilding my home so I am making room for a bigger tank. Its been two years. I want to hear from you guys how you would do it. Let's start from scratch. I want a 100- 200 gallon tank. How would you do it?

[RussC]

What are the latest and greatest things out there? How should I set it up? I have to get back into serious discussions to remember all this and will be upgrading and doing things completely different from the 45 hex i ran for so long. Tell me how you'd like to do it. Let's start with an unlimited budget.

[danferd2002]

unlimited budget??

Well id start with an acrylic tank from tencor around 200G, 4 250w hqi MH, with T-5 supp. Then about a 100G refuge, 100G sump with bubble king skimmer, 2 400w heaters, and a red dragon return pump, feeding an ocean motions 4 way for return. Then another 50Gal or so quarentine. all of this in its own say 10" by 10" room, with sink and a drain in the floor for the spills. The room would have its own seperate heating and air condition. And the system would be controlled by a neptune or similar controller. That should be a decent start.....

[RussC]

Now your talking. let me set a few controls. Unfortunately I will not have a room. That limits my equipment to under the tank.

How big is a 200g tank?

[kizkiz]

all of this in its own say 10" by 10" room

Surely you have room for a 10 inch square room?
Bout the size of a shoe box. lol

[yoboyjdizz]

If your getting the tank custom made 200 gallon tank can be made in any dimensions you want. How much room do you have to work with? 6ft tanks are nice if you got room 8ft would be really sweet! If you have unlimited budget why only 200 gallons?

[mrme]

I think 300 gallons are a good size.
Then again, a 200 gallon is going to be alot easier to clean and algeapad, then a 300 gallon.

For very large tanks, i like 400 watt metal halides.
You don't need lights packed across the surface of the tank, unless your really going to stuff it with corals.
You could get away with 2 400 watt metal halides, and maybe a 250 over some open water. I personally like to give the fish open water, and don't like the look of tanks stuffed with live rock.
I perfer a couple island, or even better one island, with your corals, and then lots of open water for seagrass, or just nice white sand.

If you go for a really Long tank instead of tall, then maybe 250 halides would be just fine.

Then again if this if going to be FOWLR, Then T5's will be just fine.
If you want to save some money.

I say skip the sump, and go for a bigger Refugium.
Just partition off a section in your fuge for your skimmer/carbon/ph probes/calcium reactor ect.
This doesn't need to be very large, and will save alot of plumbing and hassle.

As for live rock for such a large tank.
I say make your own.. you can search these forums and there are recipes for DIY rock, and it comes out nice and porous.
Then seed it with 20-40 pounds of actual live rock.
To get those good critters in there.

You may want to cook/quarintine these rocks before you place them in such a large tank, you don't want any nasties to get in.

I have heard good things about the euro-reef skimmers, But i bet you could also make this on your own.
Lots of DIY skimmer threads here.

Sorry to hear that you were hit by katrina, =(.

Goodluck with your new tank build !

[mrme]

ps. metal halides will light 2' by 2' with a good reflector.

[danferd2002]

Originally posted by kizkiz
Surely you have room for a 10 inch square room?
Bout the size of a shoe box. lol

oops, obviously i meant 10'x10'

Now putting everything under that tank, while not ideal is possible. But you will probably have to go with a sump, and refugium all in one. If i were you i would go with a little shorter tank, and make it nice and deep it leaves room for aquascaping and imo looks alot nicer, but as said before if your getting it custom the dimensions are really up to you.

[Aadler]

I would consider a 240 cube if you need it all contained... this does cause problems depending on your floor plan. but look into a 4'x4'x18", 24" or 30" depending on how big you want to go. You get so many more scaping options with a square tank. If budget was not a concern i would get it and a stand custom made as well as a sump/refugium for underneath. you could do like a 3'x24" sump/refu and the other side of the stand could be used for all other equipment.

just my thoughts.

[Scuba_Steve]

Luminarc reflectors will light a 3x3 ft square each. 220g is a standard size and is 72x24x30, or 72x30x24. I would go at least 180g if the budget allows for it, but a 30" wide tank would give you lots of room underneath. 2 400w with lumenarcs, and 2-4 72 in T5 actinics would be great for just about anything in a 24 in deep tank. So a 220g wide is my vote.

[~SIRENA~]

I agree with Aadler - 240 cube SWEEETTT!!! If I had the option, I would definitely go with that.
Good Luck!

[RussC]

This is always the fun party trying to decide the setup. I will be growing corals.

Tell me a little more about the sump and refugium in one deal. I did not have either in my 45 hex because of room limitations. How does it flow? Setup? ETc.?

[Azazael13]

The sump gods have spoken, and they all say

http://www.melevsreef.com/links.html

I got all my sump info from there.