New to hobby - Tank Set Up *UPDATED* Opinions? Help?

[Rhinotronics]

Ok Guys! First off, Thank you so much for your advice and opinions from my past post.
https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/n...220-gallon-opinions-on-equipment-help.290415/
I have taken all your advice and opinions into consideration and wanted to share what my new set up will be. As I explained in my past post, I am not 100% new to the hobby, but its been a good 20 years and a LOT has changed, seems for the better too. I am also finding you can go pretty dang crazy in the hobby if your wallet allows. I have been enjoying learning more and more in thanks to you guys and reading so many good posts and advice.

Please have a look and share with me your opinions or advice. This is quite the endeavor to go into going so big so I want to try to get as much knowledge and education as possible before it gets started. With that said, feel free to elaborate and explain as much as you think a "Newbie" might need.

I went back to my LFS armed with the advice and opinions you guys gave and here is what we came up with.

Marineland 265 Gallon 84"x24"x30" with Corner Overflows
Decided to go a tad bit bigger from the 220 Megaflow I had choose before. I like the idea of the overflows being out of the way. He assured me that clarity of this tank should not be an issue.

MarineLand Monterey Stand and Canopy
Decided to stick with this brand. After further research and advice, I feel that this is a decent and sturdy stand and Canopy and I like the look and set up.

Bashsea Custom Sump 48" w/ Refugium
Pics are similar since it will be a custom made for my tank.

ATO Recevoir Custom Bashsea 25 Gallon (Separate from Sump)
Decided to go with a 25 gallon based on advice that your ATO should be no more then 10% of your tank size.

Protein Skimmer Reef Octopus Regal 250ss
I really like that this one is APEX Ready since I am taking advice from you guys and getting an APEX

Apex Gold Full Controller
I took your advice and decided to add a controller and will surely look into the other options of things you can add, such as, a dosser, Automatic Feeding, and Leak Detection.

Ecotech Vectra L1 Return Pump
Staying with this Pump, but I am wondering would you guys recommend doing two pumps for redundancy?

2 Ecotech MP40 Power Heads

3 Ecotech Radion Gen 4 XR30w Pro

Ecotech Reeflink

Ecotech Battery Backup
Decided to add this in for the just in case situation.

Cobalt 300w Heater
I know a few of you recommend going with a different brand heater but as someone said, I do live in Florida so the heater isn't as big of a deal as someone up north. Plus my LFS guy assured me that they have a 3 year warranty and he showed me he is running atlas 25 of these in his store and said he has had no returns on the 300. The 250's he said did come back a bit more, but I shouldn't have any issues with it.

I have also taken advice and will be going with Hard Plumbing All Red and Black
Also have discussed that I want extra vales so I can add on with ease later. Spoke to my LFS guy about redundancy as well that I want everything easy to work on and change out if needed. He assured me that he will use things of that nature.

Since I didn't list it before Here is what I am adding as far as Live Rock and Sand

Haitian Live Rock Premium 200 lbs.

Fiji Pink Live Sand 240 lbs.

so that is what I am thinking will be my starting point... What do you guys think?
Thanks in Advance!
Sean.

 

[Erik R]

dang.... Is heat a problem in Florida?

 

[Rhinotronics]

dang.... Is heat a problem in Florida?

Not sure yet. I have heard my LFS guy talk about "chillers"

 

[Mr.Rocc]

Most people in hotter states would put a chiller on this just for stability. Also the cobalt heaters are good but I have heard of them blowing up, however I use them. Just a thought

 

[Erik R]

I live in CA, southern (VERY southern) CA. It gets a little toasty in my house. I have an AC unit, but it still gets quite warm. So when I build my next tank, I am planning on having a chiller in it. This all assumed I can convince my GF to allow a new tank. Perhaps she needs a chilling unit

 

[Mr.Rocc]

Hahaha that was great

 

[Rhinotronics]

I live in CA, southern (VERY southern) CA. It gets a little toasty in my house. I have an AC unit, but it still gets quite warm. So when I build my next tank, I am planning on having a chiller in it. This all assumed I can convince my GF to allow a new tank. Perhaps she needs a chilling unit

Yes, that's a good idea. Haha.
But I like it cold so I keep my AC on 72° year round. We really don't get too much of a winter heat so maybe a handful of times I have to put the heat on.

 

[Erik R]

If your house is 72ish, then you probably wont need a chiller. My house exceeds 100 more often that I like. It would definitely raise the temp in my tank.

Funny thought - Your water changes will be larger than my entire tank (37gal) + sump (11gal)!

 

[glb]

We keep our house at 73 and my nano runs at 74-75, probably because of the heat the pump gives off. I had a heater at 78 but had a lot of algae problems and snails didn't like it that warm. Water changes without a heater are easier too because the temp of the new water is about the same as the tank water. I just started a 40g and don't plan on having a heater on that either. Good luck!

 

[Rhinotronics]

Well, I did it! I put in my down payment of half to get everything in and ordered and made. Now the waiting game starts. In the meantime, What can I be doing to set up and prepare?? Like Setting up the Water Storage area? Electrical? I haven't even gotten into what I will need to plug all this stuff in. What is a good idea for setting up that kind of stuff?

 

[alex.mccann99]

FYI, if you're getting the APEX, shouldn't need the separate Reeflink. I had a Reeflink and bought APEX after. Now my Reeflink is in the box somewhere. It's only a 100 bucks, but can put that towards some other equipment, dosing unit from BRS or something.

 

[Rhinotronics]

FYI, if you're getting the APEX, shouldn't need the separate Reeflink. I had a Reeflink and bought APEX after. Now my Reeflink is in the box somewhere. It's only a 100 bucks, but can put that towards some other equipment, dosing unit from BRS or something.

Hmmm. I asked them that specifically. They explained that it is still needed. Why do you say it's not? They said you wouldn't have complete control of the Ecotech equipment.

 

[Kershaw]

Everything looks good. You might want to start out with less rock and sand. I have had a 180 with about 160lbs of rock and it looked cluttered no mater what I did other then taking rock out. The 1lb per Gallon thing is not the only way to go. It's more important to have good flow through out your rock work but it's all about the look you want. Also is having a custom tank made out of your budget? It is for me but I bought a custom tank that was used and it's hard the think of owning the standard sizes that most of the tank company's make. Also In my experience the marine land tanks seem to be a bit thinner then other tanks of similer size.

 

[buxton.nc]

I was also thinking about the necessity of the Reeflink if an Apex is being purchased. Why not purchase the WXM module to control the Ecotech Radions and Ecotech pumps?

 

[NY_Sea]

Looks a like an epic build you have going on here! As far as what to plug it all into I highly recommend an 8 plug indoor outdoor heavy duty contractor grade power strip with a trip. I've used them and always felt comfortable they were heavy duty enough to handle all that power. Plus you can mount them on the wall behind the tank .Just get one from a a well known brand like Stanley or something.

My other 2 cents would be to replace those heaters with an Eheim jäger heater and plug it into the apex.
Good luck with the rest of your build.

 

[FindNem0]

I would name this tank on your reef link "The Coin Machine" Post Pics when set up because I'm jealous.

 

[FindNem0]

Everything looks good. You might want to start out with less rock and sand. I have had a 180 with about 160lbs of rock and it looked cluttered no mater what I did other then taking rock out. The 1lb per Gallon thing is not the only way to go. It's more important to have good flow through out your rock work but it's all about the look you want. Also is having a custom tank made out of your budget? It is for me but I bought a custom tank that was used and it's hard the think of owning the standard sizes that most of the tank company's make. Also In my experience the marine land tanks seem to be a bit thinner then other tanks of similer size.

They have those Bio Blocks that are equivalent up to 500 lbs of live rock. Something crazy like that. You can put those in your sump.

 

[eliramos]

Less can be more when it comes to rock that's for sure!

 

[jsker]

Not sure yet. I have heard my LFS guy talk about "chillers"

My experience from last winter was my heater could not keep up. I ended up replacing the heater with a heater that my apex controls, no over heating. I also run LED's so I do not need a chiller.

 

[buckroe07]

For water and storage you can go with something like these: