lesismore
Community Member
Greetings,
I thought that this may be a nice time to start a large build thread regarding my new 300-gallon Glass Cages aquarium. Glass Cages is building the aquarium, a wood stand, a custom glass sump and a glass quarantine tank. The build is scheduled to be complete by the end of November and I'm extremely excited as you can imagine! The finish line is in sight and I'm really looking forward to seeing this beautiful setup in person and getting this mixed reef going!
I will be using the following equipment:
Tank: low iron viewing glass panels, euro-bracing with smoked perimeter glass and low iron cross-bracing, an internal overflow, a concealed waterline and protected seams (96x30x25) by Glass Cages
Stand: a 36" tall, solid wood, painted white stand in modern style with 1 side door on the left side and 1 hinged controller cabinet door on the right side by Glass Cages
Sump: custom-built, glass, rimless (72x24x21) by Glass Cages
Filtration: 1 x reef mat roller filter1200 by Red Sea
Heater: 2 x 300w titanium heaters by BRS (I live in Arizona and my ambient temperature will not require the heaters to work much at all)
Light: 4 x 500X LED lights by Kessil with custom mounts
UV Sterilizer: 1 x 90w pro-max high output by Lifeguard Aquatics
Return Pump: 1 180 watt DC pump by Jebao
Skimmer: regal 250-INT by Reef Octopus
Controller: none at this point, but I am considering a Hydros controller and a Hydros testing unit
Wavemakers: 6 3434 gph powerheads by Jebao
Reactor (carbon): 1 deluxe carbon reactor by BRS
Nutrient Export: 360X refugium light by Kessil (I anticipate using chaeto and am considering mud or sand refugium substrates vs bio bricks - opinions welcome!)
Dosing system: Aquavitro dosers by Seachem (likely 3-4 units)
Live Rock: Life rock by Carob Sea (arches, caves, tunnels, base rock) - I want a nice mix of places for coral and future growth plus good overall water flow
ATO: osmolator 3155 by Tunze
Sand: AF bio sand
Salt: EVS 4 part
Water Filter: Spectrapure RODI filtration
I am uncertain at what stage I will actually turn on the uv sterilizer, but I will certainly plumb it in accordingly at the time of the install. I'd like to have the ability to vary the flow rate for parasite control (lower flow) and algae control/clarity (higher flow) as needed. As such, I plan to use a separate loop and pump to control the flow rate independently of the return pump. I would be interested in hearing from actual users if you can achieve great clarity and enjoy less glass cleaning even if you run the unit on the lower parasite control flow rate or if this really a case where you need to use the higher recommended rates to achieve a desirable level of algae control.
On a side note, I have really enjoyed the experience of working with Glass Cages. This is a huge investment for me and one with a lot of emotions too. It helps to know there are great people on the other end who are working very hard to make my dream tank for me. Thank you, Glass Cages! Thanks in advance to everyone here as well, for your shared ideas, enthusiasm and support, as I deeply appreciate it. I hope to share more updates including photos in a month or so when the tank/stand build is complete, and it's arrived at my home for install.
Happy reefing!!!
Les
I thought that this may be a nice time to start a large build thread regarding my new 300-gallon Glass Cages aquarium. Glass Cages is building the aquarium, a wood stand, a custom glass sump and a glass quarantine tank. The build is scheduled to be complete by the end of November and I'm extremely excited as you can imagine! The finish line is in sight and I'm really looking forward to seeing this beautiful setup in person and getting this mixed reef going!
I will be using the following equipment:
Tank: low iron viewing glass panels, euro-bracing with smoked perimeter glass and low iron cross-bracing, an internal overflow, a concealed waterline and protected seams (96x30x25) by Glass Cages
Stand: a 36" tall, solid wood, painted white stand in modern style with 1 side door on the left side and 1 hinged controller cabinet door on the right side by Glass Cages
Sump: custom-built, glass, rimless (72x24x21) by Glass Cages
Filtration: 1 x reef mat roller filter1200 by Red Sea
Heater: 2 x 300w titanium heaters by BRS (I live in Arizona and my ambient temperature will not require the heaters to work much at all)
Light: 4 x 500X LED lights by Kessil with custom mounts
UV Sterilizer: 1 x 90w pro-max high output by Lifeguard Aquatics
Return Pump: 1 180 watt DC pump by Jebao
Skimmer: regal 250-INT by Reef Octopus
Controller: none at this point, but I am considering a Hydros controller and a Hydros testing unit
Wavemakers: 6 3434 gph powerheads by Jebao
Reactor (carbon): 1 deluxe carbon reactor by BRS
Nutrient Export: 360X refugium light by Kessil (I anticipate using chaeto and am considering mud or sand refugium substrates vs bio bricks - opinions welcome!)
Dosing system: Aquavitro dosers by Seachem (likely 3-4 units)
Live Rock: Life rock by Carob Sea (arches, caves, tunnels, base rock) - I want a nice mix of places for coral and future growth plus good overall water flow
ATO: osmolator 3155 by Tunze
Sand: AF bio sand
Salt: EVS 4 part
Water Filter: Spectrapure RODI filtration
I am uncertain at what stage I will actually turn on the uv sterilizer, but I will certainly plumb it in accordingly at the time of the install. I'd like to have the ability to vary the flow rate for parasite control (lower flow) and algae control/clarity (higher flow) as needed. As such, I plan to use a separate loop and pump to control the flow rate independently of the return pump. I would be interested in hearing from actual users if you can achieve great clarity and enjoy less glass cleaning even if you run the unit on the lower parasite control flow rate or if this really a case where you need to use the higher recommended rates to achieve a desirable level of algae control.
On a side note, I have really enjoyed the experience of working with Glass Cages. This is a huge investment for me and one with a lot of emotions too. It helps to know there are great people on the other end who are working very hard to make my dream tank for me. Thank you, Glass Cages! Thanks in advance to everyone here as well, for your shared ideas, enthusiasm and support, as I deeply appreciate it. I hope to share more updates including photos in a month or so when the tank/stand build is complete, and it's arrived at my home for install.
Happy reefing!!!
Les
