Upgrading to a 300 gallon and need some advice

[rach0608]

I currently have a 135 fish only and am about to upgrade to a 300 gallon wide. The current tank is not drilled and I gave up on a sump a long time ago after trying several different methods and it always overflowed so I got tired of it. This one is going to be drilled and done right. So currently all I have are a blue hippo, lunar wrasse, lemon peel angel and an arch eye hawkfish. My blue eye kole tang and sailfin tang randomly disappeared after having them for 5 years. I have no idea why but I was really upset about that. I'm going to trade in my lunar wrasse to the fish store where I'm going to be buying my new fish and where I'm going to order my new tank from because I'd like to have coral in the future. What I am wanting to do is buy some of the new fish I want and have them all in quarantine and being preventively treated to be put into the new tank at the same time as my old fish so there's no aggression since they will all go into the new tank together. I hadn't bought a new fish in a while because my old fish attacked and killed the last couple new fish I tried to put in there. I always quarantine and treat with cupramine and prazipro. The new fish I am wanting are orange shoulder tang, mimic lemon peel tang, powder blue tang, exquisite fairy wrasse, mckoskers fairy wrasse and 3 anthias. Haven't totally decided on the anthias yet. I'm wondering how many quarantine tanks do you think I should set up and what size quarantine tanks. Also. My new tank has to go in the spot where my old tank is. So when I put the new tank up and move all my live rock to the new tank do you think I'd be able to put all the fish in it immediately or would I need to put my old fish in another quarantine tank and let the new tank cycle? I'm sure I know what the answer is just want to get opinions if anybody else has upgraded a tank and put everything into the new tank the same day. And does anybody have any experience with a lemon peel angel in a reef system to know if they pick at coral or not?

 

[300bowler]

In regards to putting your new tank in the same spot as your existing tank, I just did that same exact thing just over a year ago and when i did it, i purchased/borrowed several smaller tanks to house all of my inhabitants. I allowed the new tank to cycle for 2 months before i added any fish/corals/inverts. I figured since i was starting with a new tank, it was worth it to me to start off right and wait the extra time. That is one thing you can not upgrade or change in the future. So i would recommend allowing the new tank to cycle properly, even if your putting your already established rock into it. This will help you in the long run.

 

[rach0608]

Ok. Thank you for the input. I definitely want to do it right since this is costing a ton of money and it's going to be such a big system. I've been wanting this tank for a long time. I'm so excited. I already ordered the lights for it. Mars aqua leds from ebay. I read lots of good reviews and watched YouTube videos. I bought one big fixture and 2 smaller ones. Supposed to cover 86 inches of space. I think they'll cover more. They are so bright and look so good! I thought my current tank looked nice with my t5s but when I plugged in just one of these light fixtures and put it on top of the tank it makes the t5s look like crap lol. So I'm so excited to start getting coral eventually. So anyways do you think with the fish that I want plus current fish will 3 40 gallon breeders be enough for quarantine?

 

[300bowler]

I believe you should be just fine with 3 breeders. According to your original post you are only going to have 11 fish to quarantine and that is if you get them all right away. So that only 4 per tank. In my experience you should be fine with that quarantine setup.

 

[rach0608]

Ok thank you so much for your help. It'll actually be 10 fish because I'll be trading in my lunar wrasse since I want coral eventually and he isnt reef safe. Hate to do that because I've had him a few years but I really want to do corals. And as far as corals do you quarantine those? And if so how? Also as far as equipment for the new tank, how big of a sump should I get? And as far as return pumps the guy at the store said I should get at least 2 that do 1500 gph each or one that does 3000 gph or more and split it. Would that be right? And wavemakers. Would 3 that do around 2000 gph each be enough?

 

[300bowler]

No problem for the help, i asked a lot of question when i was setting up my current 220 gallon display. You asked a lot of different question in that one post so i will try to break up my answers based on each question.

Corals:
I do not quarantine my corals at all and never have. I know some people swear by it but i just never have had the room to add another tank to house just coral. So all i do is dip them as soon as i get them and then i acclimate them to my water. Testing for pH, temp, and salinity. I then put them on a frag rack that is located in a lower light spot of my tank so I don't burn anything by putting it under my lights (i run 400w metal halides with t-5 and led supplements).

Sump:
When it comes to sumps their is a ton of information out their on what size to get. I have always when with the "bigger is better" approach. So whatever amount of space i had to work with i purchased a sump that would occupy all of it. You can never have to much water volume in your system. I would recommend looking up some build threads of people who set up similar size tank as yours and see what they are using as sumps. That will probably give you a better idea on what you like and what would work best for you.

Return Pump:
This is a top with multiple different opinions. I personally like to have a lot of dwell time in my sump to make sure the water has time to get ran through all of my different forms of filters (skimmer, carbon, bio-pellets). So i purchased a DC return pump so i could control how much water i was running through my sump. You will have to do some research on this to find out which way you want to go (either a lot of turn over or more dwell time).

Wavemakers (Powerheads):
This will come down to what kind of coral you plan on keeping in the future. If you are planning on only having softies (leathers, zoas, etc) you can get a way with very little flow. On the other hand if you want to do an SPS dominated tank you will need a lot of flow.

 

[rach0608]

Ok so what do you dip corals with? Also I haven't decided what kind of corals I want as I don't know much about them yet. I plan on doing more research and waiting til the new tank has been set up for a little while before I start getting them. I see lots that I like in videos but I don't know what some of them are. I know I like zoas, torch coral, hammer, frogspan, and acropora. So I think I'll end up with a mixture. I'm not sure what the difference is between LPS and SPS and all of that is yet. And if I do end up with a mixture I'm guessing I'll have to put the wavemakers in a way that there's high flow in some areas and low flow in other areas? And then how do I know which ones need bright light and which need low light? There's soooo much information when it comes to coral it can be kind of overwhelming for sure. I just want to do it right and make sure I can have a good setup for the coral. It's just as important to me to make the corals happy as it is the fish.

 

[DaveMorris]

I would be most concerned with your statement about your sumps always overflowing. I realize that you are planning to go back to a sump, but you need to ascertain what was designed wrong in your previous sump systems. Every tank out there can have a sump/plumbing design done that will prevent your sump from overflowing. This resolution is critical if you are to have success with such a big system. And stay away from check valves. They are not a good solution to the overflow issue. As far as return pumps go, it depends on what approach to tank design you want and your personal preferences. On a system that big, I like to have two return pumps. This allows more control, redundancy and adjustment. Of course, it adds costs too. In some cases it can be significant cost. For powerheads, I would start out with one or two appropriately sized units. You can always add more down the road. Think about control as well. Find a brand you like and stick with it.

 

[rach0608]

The tank I have now is not drilled. Is there still a chance of overflowing if I get the new tank drilled? I had read some things about tanks not being drilled just always have problems overflowing. If the power goes out things reverse siphon. And things like that. We probably just didn't completely have the right equipment or something. We tried several different things and my dad did some of them and not sure what all he did. Sometimes it would go strong for a while and not overflow for a long time even when power went out. Then out of nowhere wed come home from work or wake up in the morning and there'd be water all over the floor. I just really have no idea. Either way this one is going to be drilled and shouldn't be able to overflow

 

[rach0608]

Also I'm trying to figure out a protein skimmer. What's everyone's opinions on bubble magus curve b9? Says it's for up to 400 gallons. I wanted a reef octopus but it goes from being around 250 dollars for a skimmer that only does 200gph up to 600 dollars for a skimmer that does around 300 or 400 gph and that's just ridiculous. I found a reef octopus that says it does up to 265 gallons for $329. Thought about getting that one. Would it be enough for the new tank? Everybody seems to say that reef octopus is the best. The bubble magus says it does up to 400 gph and it's $379. Is it a good skimmer? Or is it cheaper because it's not a good skimmer?

 

[rach0608]

Sorry I didn't mean to be saying gph. I mean these skimmers do that size aquarium

 

[300bowler]

The way i understood the original post was that you tried to install a sump on your current tank which is not drilled. So im guessing you had problems with hand on overflow loosing siphon and then having your return pump continue to fill the tank resulting in a overflow. If that is the case then have a drilled tank should eliminate most all of your previous problem that you have had. As for the skimmer i would recommend saving up for something that is rated for something that is more than your total water volume. IMO the skimmer is pretty much the heart of your filtration and that is not something that you want to go cheap on or undersize.