Reefrookie's first outrageous idea! 220g tank.

[Reefrookie220]

Ok so this is my first post after much trolling and learning I decided to make an account and take the plunge. Thanks to all those who have been in this hobby long enough to help the little people. So on a whim I dropped into my local reef store and was instantly addicted. So addicted I surfed craigslist til I found a tank and it's a 220 gallon. Now you as saying aloud, "why so big for your first time". It's ok cause I ask my self the same thing lol. My main question revolves around hardware(sump pumps and skimmer) that is recommended for a tank of this volume. Also any advice and opinions are more than welcome. My tank was.formerly in wall and has a hellacious stand its already plumbed and has a coast to.coast internal overflow. I need as mentioned before a sump(pre made or diy?) Pumps and a skimmer. Have my eye on a reef octopus 200. This is where you guys and your expertise come in! Recommendations please! Thanks in advance.-Waylon

 

[zesty]

I see a lot of people start with a 40br and in 2 years they've tripled their tank size. haha! You started big and that's awesome! Nothing wrong with starting big, you'll probably be better off in the long run...

Keep reading member's build threads around this sub-forum and others. That will spur your mind and then you'll start getting an idea of what you want. Or at least help you along!

Do you know what kind of reef you're looking at? That reef octo 200 may be tight if you are going to stock heavy... I don't know. The trend I see with skimmers, get all your water volume accounted for, find the skimmer that will just fit that gallons, then buy the next biggest size...

Sumps, if I had the dough, I'd be buying a sweet acrylic sump I see in the vendor's section all the time. There are some amazing sumps out there today!!

enjoy and feel free to post pictures and ask questions!!

 

[zesty]

oh and another thing, look for a local reef club! Best thing I EVER did in this hobby. The community within the reef world, for the most part, is phenomenal. I've met more nice people in this hobby than I've met in my life...

Plus, we love to show off our tanks/systems to noobs (or really anyone), plus it's a great way to trade livestock etc.

 

[HiddenUser]

Get the biggest sump you can get to fit into the area you want the sump to reside. This does 2 things - Additional water volume and additional room for pumps, heaters, skimmers, and everything else.

A reef Octopus 200 may be to small for your tank...I'd look at the ones that are rated for the volume of water you'll have +1 size up...You'll get differing opinions on this and this opinion can also vary by brand of skimmer. But this way if you stock heavily, feed heavily, use bio-pellets in the future, etc you'll be covered.

For a return pump you'll probably want something that can turn over the water volume 5-10x per hour.

Don't forget an Auto Top Off!! That thing will evaporate lots of water each day. Other best recommendation I can make is a controller. Expensive up front, but so worth it!

 

[11f150]

Ok so this is my first post after much trolling and learning I decided to make an account and take the plunge. Thanks to all those who have been in this hobby long enough to help the little people. So on a whim I dropped into my local reef store and was instantly addicted. So addicted I surfed craigslist til I found a tank and it's a 220 gallon. Now you as saying aloud, "why so big for your first time". It's ok cause I ask my self the same thing lol. My main question revolves around hardware(sump pumps and skimmer) that is recommended for a tank of this volume. Also any advice and opinions are more than welcome. My tank was.formerly in wall and has a hellacious stand its already plumbed and has a coast to.coast internal overflow. I need as mentioned before a sump(pre made or diy?) Pumps and a skimmer. Have my eye on a reef octopus 200. This is where you guys and your expertise come in! Recommendations please! Thanks in advance.-Waylon

Welcome to the forum! Lots of great info here! 220 is a big tank but you can grow into it with experience and knowledge and could be a beautiful setup. What are the dimensions? With the skimmer its always recommending to go +1 from what the skimmer is rated for. For example, if you see a skimmer rated for 200 gallons, I would get the next size up from that. Being at 220 gallons, I don't know what kind of bio load you plan on getting. If it was me I would get a skimmer rated for around 350 gallons easily. With the sump, it just depends what you want to do with it. Do you want a refugium? How much room in the stand do you have? 220 gallons is alot of water and will cost more to keep up with and more expensive equipment.

I also noticed you live in TN. Lots of people from TN on here. What part of the state do in live in?

 

[Reefrookie220]

Thanks for all the input already! The reef octopus was part of the craigslist deal that I couldn't pass up. It needs a new pump anyway. My dimensions are 74x24x31. With a coats to coast overflow. I have to say that when I laid eyes on this system in person I was instantly overwhelmed lol. I'll post pic as I get them.

 

[Reefrookie220]

Ok so sorry its been a day or so and still no pics yet. I bought a tank 90g to build my sump out of. Getting to that tomorrow. Looking at another skimmer a coral life 220. Will this be good until I get something rated at 350?

 

[fishminer]

Welco to the hobby. I just joined this site my self but i have been following it for some time. I start my saltwater reef approximately 2 years ago. I had 10 plus years with multiple freshwater tanks back in the 90s. When i got back into the hobby two years ago I did a lot of research and still ended up learning a lot of things the hard/ expensive way. I started with a 75 tank and i went cheap on the tank, stand and hob filters. I slowly added live rocks, fish, and coral. I found myself correcting problems as they came up with research and throwing money at the problems. New lights, new filter, more live rock, Qt tank, and everything else you can think of. Final things were going good. Finally i felt i knew what i was doing. So then i upgrade to a 220 gallon. The best way to save money is learn from others mistakes. I think it is great you are starting with a 220 gallon tank. I can't go into every mistake i made but i can give you some pointers. Don't go cheap on anything you will just spend more later. Use good water. Take your time, don't rush anything. Add fish and coral slowly over time. If you fail to plan you plan to fail. Before you buy a sump and a skimmer make sure it will fit in the stand together and you can get the skimmer out. I bought a large skimmer and then had to buy a 40 gallon frag tank for a sump and only have 1/4 inch to spare. QT everything! !!!!!!!!!! Once your tank is up and running if you infected the tank with ich you are screwed. Don't buy used live rock or live sand. Find a good lfs. Except the fact you will spend thousands of dollars on a 220 gallon tank. Good luck.

 

[luke33]

Welcome to r2r. A few quick things, get a good rodi first as you will need it. And a coralife 220......no, it's junk and won't work on a 55g tank well. Save your money and wait until you can afford a decent skimmer, it's not something to skimp on. Good luck!

 

[fishminer]

Welco to the hobby. I just joined this site my self but i have been following it for some time. I start my saltwater reef approximately 2 years ago. I had 10 plus years with multiple freshwater tanks back in the 90s. When i got back into the hobby two years ago I did a lot of research and still ended up learning a lot of things the hard/ expensive way. I started with a 75 tank and i went cheap on the tank, stand and hob filters. I slowly added live rocks, fish, and coral. I found myself correcting problems as they came up with research and throwing money at the problems. New lights, new filter, more live rock, Qt tank, and everything else you can think of. Final things were going good. Finally i felt i knew what i was doing. So then i upgrade to a 220 gallon. The best way to save money is learn from others mistakes. I think it is great you are starting with a 220 gallon tank. I can't go into every mistake i made but i can give you some pointers. Don't go cheap on anything you will just spend more later. Use good water. Take your time, don't rush anything. Add fish and coral slowly over time. If you fail to plan you plan to fail. Before you buy a sump and a skimmer make sure it will fit in the stand together and you can get the skimmer out. I bought a large skimmer and then had to buy a 40 gallon frag tank for a sump and only have 1/4 inch to spare. QT everything! !!!!!!!!!! Once your tank is up and running if you infected the tank with ich you are screwed. Don't buy used live rock or live sand. Find a good lfs. Except the fact you will spend thousands of dollars on a 220 gallon tank. Good luck.

 

[Rob Top1]

Welcome to the hobby and.r2r.
I am sure like most of us you will be upgrading by x3 in 3 years. 660!!!
Just kidding it's 4x4.
Seriously good for you on the big tank at the start. Go as big as you can is always the first piece of advice given and you did it for sure

 

[SloppyJ]

While I don't think it's a horrible idea, the learning curve might be a little steep on the price side when it comes to supplements and salt. If you can swing it, go for it! I learned a lot by keeping nanos before I upgraded to my 93 and I'm glad I started small so I knew exactly what I wanted when I built my tank now.

What kind of lighting does it have? Does it come with everything you need?

 

[CastAway]

Tagging along! Welcome.

 

[revhtree]

Welcome!

 

[Reefrookie220]

Thanks for all the following and advice guys its much appreciated !! the lighting included in this deal i got is 3x400w MH. but i prefer to switch to leds. not a big fan of an extremely high electric bill lol. while i would enjoy the growth from MH the heat and energy use is just not worth it for me. i started more large because why not i have the room lol. i met up with a member of VRJ today for a chit chat and it was nice makes me want to get more involved in the community. im just super excited to get this tank up and running but dreading spending a ton of money on rock lol. and i promise guys pics to come asap!

 

[traumajeff]

Good advice so far! One of the biggest things I can say is... don't skimp and don't rush.

You've already made a statement that can bite you in the future. If you have to ask "can I get by with this for now?", just tell yourself no. We all know how hard it is to have the itch and half the project ready to go, but taking your time and doing it right the first time will save you headaches down the road! I'd say that if you want to switch to leds, do it now. There are plenty of options out there and many of us do fine on the cheaper models now. If you start with MH and switch down the road, your setting yourself up to possibly have issues with temperamental corals. If you're contemplating the skimmer, then find the right one before you set up. Buy the better test kits first... don't tell yourself you'll get them down the road, because this usually happens only after something goes wrong and now you're playing catch up. Same thing with RODI... don't wait until you've had algae outbreaks or a loss of coral to figure out that tap water is no good.

Basically... get all your ducks in a row and then you can throw together something great the first time! It took me a couple months to piece together my tank. Half was new equipment and the other half was used. I also started with 99% dry rock and seeded it with a little live rock. The whole process had me going nuts! I would see "must have" corals on our local site, but I had to wait. Good thing is... those deals always come back around! The only regret I have with my set up is not building my own stand, as I've built them in the past and really could've been better served with something taller.

Thanks for sharing your build! Post some dang pics lol

 

[Reefrookie220]

Jesus guys! I can't move this tank alone lol. You find out who your buddies are when you need something heavy moved lol

 

[Reefrookie220]

Update! Tank scraped and clean and dry. About to re silicone for good measure! Tomorrow we start plumbing and sump comes in next week (Wednesday). Things are slowly coming together lol. Some issue with my phone won't allow to post pics: (. Opinions on soft vs hard plumbing please.

 

[Reefrookie220]

If only I could get my pics to post you guys could see the ole lady inside this tank doing the silicone lol.

 

[CastAway]

...Don't forget an Auto Top Off!! That thing will evaporate lots of water each day...

+1 on this point. A tank your size will loose over two gallons a day. Topping off with tap water is really not going to be the best chance of success. Investing in an RO/DI unit, and being able to top off with pure H2O might be a better investment than a larger skimmer at this point. At that kind of total water volume, and given what RO cost at a LFS, plus gas, a unit can pay itself off in short order.