310 Planet Aquarium Reef

josh childs · Feb 18, 2020

Hello all! I have been fiddling around the idea of upgrading to a monster tank for a while. I didn't think it would happen as I am in college still. I commute because I only live 25 minutes away from campus. I have had my 150 gallon SCA up for around 10 months now and didn't think I could go bigger since it was my parents house but I have somehow won their heart with some fish that need a larger home so here we are! I have the tank ordered and should be coming in 3 weeks, so now the planning begins. I had a wonderful SPS dominant 150 but sold most of it because I want to start fresh but kept some. Like my 15 head frogspawn colony

I plan on building the stand out of 4x4s and 2x6s. I have built plenty of stands before so im not worried about it not being able to support it. The tank dimensions are (96x30x25) I have never had a tank with 30 inches of depth and I am really excited about it. I plan to make this a true mixed reef. I was a lot more movement but will have plenty of sticks in it but straying away from the higher end right now. I have dealt with large aquariums before as I have worked only girlfriends 450 and 800 gallon tanks before. I have most of the equipment needed besides flow. The return will be a pan world 250 ps will add plenty of flow already. Sump is a standard 125 gallon tank. Let me know what you would stock it with! Look forward getting this tank in!

Mastiffsrule · Feb 22, 2020

Hey @josh childs

Love me a big tank. Sounds like a good plan. Pan world has a strong pump. Flow and lighting are usually the more challenging on the bigger tanks. You have nice dimensions for length giving swimming form for tangs.

On bigger tanks my personal preference is more soft corals. Anything to move with the current to give the tank motion. Torches, frogspawn, toadstool, stuff along with acros. Keep us updated, should be great

josh childs · Feb 23, 2020

Mastiffsrule said:
Hey @josh childs

Love me a big tank. Sounds like a good plan. Pan world has a strong pump. Flow and lighting are usually the more challenging on the bigger tanks. You have nice dimensions for length giving swimming form for tangs.

On bigger tanks my personal preference is more soft corals. Anything to move with the current to give the tank motion. Torches, frogspawn, toadstool, stuff along with acros. Keep us updated, should be great

my 150 was spa dominant and it got boring quickly. especially when you're paying 100 bucks for a nub. I will be moving towards the euphillya and sofites more. of course will have my stags and montis.

josh childs · Mar 3, 2020

Here is an update on the stand. Will wrap and paint sometime after I get the tank setup. Not too shabby. Tank arrives this Wednesday!

josh childs · Apr 23, 2020

Hey here is an update! Sorry for the late updates but here we go anyway. The tank has been up for about 2 months with great success. I will have to redo the sump next week to replace my acrylic baffles with glass to stop the bowing. But I have acres that are starting to encrust already! I acquired a whole bunch of new corals and fish including my favorite coral which is my Walt Disney, but also got a super rare tang. I got my hands on a reverse Blue Hippo Tang! Overall my corals and fish are doing great. I switched from radions and I am going with 4 ocean revives and 4 61 inch T5 Bulbs. Here are some pics!

mitch91175 · Apr 24, 2020

josh childs said:
Hello all! I have been fiddling around the idea of upgrading to a monster tank for a while. I didn't think it would happen as I am in college still. I commute because I only live 25 minutes away from campus. I have had my 150 gallon SCA up for around 10 months now and didn't think I could go bigger since it was my parents house but I have somehow won their heart with some fish that need a larger home so here we are! I have the tank ordered and should be coming in 3 weeks, so now the planning begins. I had a wonderful SPS dominant 150 but sold most of it because I want to start fresh but kept some. Like my 15 head frogspawn colony I plan on building the stand out of 4x4s and 2x6s. I have built plenty of stands before so im not worried about it not being able to support it. The tank dimensions are (96x30x25) I have never had a tank with 30 inches of depth and I am really excited about it. I plan to make this a true mixed reef. I was a lot more movement but will have plenty of sticks in it but straying away from the higher end right now. I have dealt with large aquariums before as I have worked only girlfriends 450 and 800 gallon tanks before. I have most of the equipment needed besides flow. The return will be a pan world 250 ps will add plenty of flow already. Sump is a standard 125 gallon tank. Let me know what you would stock it with! Look forward getting this tank in!

Haha. Bigger tank better mixed reef. Put in everything. Anemone first.

josh childs · Apr 24, 2020

mitch91175 said:
Haha. Bigger tank better mixed reef. Put in everything. Anemone first.

don't have the news yet. I just unloading a **** ton fo zoos into the system almost 40 frags. looks like a lot of sticks but its going to be a true mixed. Didn't want to post pic until everything is in place. Ran out of glue :/

josh childs · Jun 23, 2020

Wow it has been a while, maybe should start a new thread as I have had people message me very interested in the tank progress. I will be more consistent with these updates. As of now my tank is flourishing. I have been putting more money into this system so much I have had to setup a frag tank to keep up with grout and fragging. That can be another update so we will stick to the 310 gallon planet display. Here is some updated pics of the system as we speak today. I will follow it up and explain why there are large colonies in it lol.

josh childs · Jun 23, 2020

josh childs said:
Wow it has been a while, maybe should start a new thread as I have had people message me very interested in the tank progress. I will be more consistent with these updates. As of now my tank is flourishing. I have been putting more money into this system so much I have had to setup a frag tank to keep up with grout and fragging. That can be another update so we will stick to the 310 gallon planet display. Here is some updated pics of the system as we speak today. I will follow it up and explain why there are large colonies in it lol.

So here is the story behind the colonies... I had a fellow local hobbyist decide to do a reset on his reef tank after mastering the stick side with these large colonies of acros. What I accumulated from his was as followed, WWC Yellowtip Stag colony, AV99 OrangeCrush colony, Green Slimer colony, Cali Tort colony, no name blue tabling across colony, and a large 12 inches plus bubble coral. I plan on keeping most of them and fragging some of the tips for grout and sell. I hate to see someone cut all these up and sell them so I will be keeping the colonies mostly in tact. I also invested in a dragon soul torch which adds a lot of color and movement to the tank. Since we last talked I was running Radions and I have not added 4 bulbs of 60 inch t5 fixates and 2 SB 60 inch LED bars for extra color pop. There might be a chance I will be going back to radions as my buddy is upgrading to gen 5s so I might get 3 at a good deal. One of the main reasons I didn't post much was I contemplated getting out of the hobby because of a nasty Dino outbreak and many corals dying on me. But now I am back confident as ever and enjoying the hobby even more. Growth is great and for a young system still coralline is growing out of control! Any questions please let me know as I love talking about the system and taking any advice!

josh childs · Jun 23, 2020

josh childs said:
So here is the story behind the colonies... I had a fellow local hobbyist decide to do a reset on his reef tank after mastering the stick side with these large colonies of acros. What I accumulated from his was as followed, WWC Yellowtip Stag colony, AV99 OrangeCrush colony, Green Slimer colony, Cali Tort colony, no name blue tabling across colony, and a large 12 inches plus bubble coral. I plan on keeping most of them and fragging some of the tips for grout and sell. I hate to see someone cut all these up and sell them so I will be keeping the colonies mostly in tact. I also invested in a dragon soul torch which adds a lot of color and movement to the tank. Since we last talked I was running Radions and I have not added 4 bulbs of 60 inch t5 fixates and 2 SB 60 inch LED bars for extra color pop. There might be a chance I will be going back to radions as my buddy is upgrading to gen 5s so I might get 3 at a good deal. One of the main reasons I didn't post much was I contemplated getting out of the hobby because of a nasty Dino outbreak and many corals dying on me. But now I am back confident as ever and enjoying the hobby even more. Growth is great and for a young system still coralline is growing out of control! Any questions please let me know as I love talking about the system and taking any advice!