I’m thinking about starting a 1000 gal system

[lubeck]

I’m in the initial planning stage of a 600 gal DT 1000 gal system.8x5x27”. The tank will be an in-wall viewing the front and left side. will have a fish room, currently a theater room. I expect the build out to be in two years, give or take.

I’ve made a punch list of equipment needs. See below.

I ran a power consumption based on specific pieces of equipment and it looks like roughly 2600 kilowatts per month. Does that sound right? see my screen shot below.

very Open to feedback and suggestions. What am I missing?

Item	Cost
Tank 8x5x2 600 gal	9500
Low iron glass or acrylic
External overflow
Stand custom	4500
Sump royal exclusive dreambox custom	5000
Fuge 100 gal	1000
Grow out/ frag tank -30x30x8 30gal	600
QT x3 racking system. 40 gal breeders	800
Return pump abyss a400	3200
Skimmer bubble king 400 outside air intake	4500
Flow mp60 x4 9kx4	3280
Heaters 300 watt x 4	400
Ozone	800
UV	2000
Lighting radion and t5 x10	11000
Lighting for grow out tank?	1000
Lighting for fuge kessil	500
Apex full program. trident dos x3	0
Automatic water change system	350
Reactors x4	400
Water change station - 300 gallon minimum each	1750
Chiller?
RoDi unit 200+ per day	400
Dosing station
Kalkwasser station.
Total equipment costs.	50980
Live stuff
Live rock for DT 200 lbs	2500
Live rock for fuge 300 lbs
Sand special grade 283lbs	400
	2900
Maintenance stuff
Under tank lighting
Determine electric bill calculator	825
Humidifier/air exchange	1500
Generator transfer switch	2500
Separate breakers x3 pumps lights heaters
Sink
Work table
Floor drain

 

[lapin]

My 600 gallon tank draws about 15 amps with out heaters being on.

 

[lubeck]

My 600 gallon tank draws about 15 amps with out heaters being on.

That’s what I was looking for. Appreciate it. I’m assuming that’s per day

 

[Blue Tang Clan]

I have a 10x3x3 display tank and 3 frag tanks -- call it 1000ish gallons. Here is some real-world data that could help.

Here is a snapshot of my home energy use -- actual/live readings from the breaker. I have three 20amp outlets in my fish room, and "Fish Room C" is high because it is all the lighting. 16 total XR30s, plus 5 Kessil A360x lights. Not all lights operate at 100%, but it's still 1215W continuous for 12 hours a day. 1800W is the recommended max continuous load for a 20amp circuit. The other two (Fish Room B, and C) are for pumps, heaters, etc. -- and are low right now because the heaters only come on at night.

 

[YOYOYOReefer]

i think your calculations ae way too high for your powerheads.
i run solar and run trolling motors instead of powerheads on our lagoon

as far as suggestions, get a different return pump, and skimmer and sump and save $10K... also what do you need a water change station for, just size your sump properly, then you only need 1 holding container. to do a water change, draing your big sump, fill with ro, add salt, ciculate, once its to temp turn return pump back on..

you could do that tank for 1/3 the prices of what you have listed if you design your setup better.

 

[lubeck]

I have a 10x3x3 display tank and 3 frag tanks -- call it 1000ish gallons. Here is some real-world data that could help.

Here is a snapshot of my home energy use -- actual/live readings from the breaker. I have three 20amp outlets in my fish room, and "Fish Room C" is high because it is all the lighting. 16 total XR30s, plus 5 Kessil A360x lights. Not all lights operate at 100%, but it's still 1215W continuous for 12 hours a day. 1800W is the recommended max continuous load for a 20amp circuit. The other two (Fish Room B, and C) are for pumps, heaters, etc. -- and are low right now because the heaters only come on at night.

This is very helpful. Is the kw usage per day? So you use about 2 kw per day?

 

[lubeck]

i think your calculations ae way too high for your powerheads.
i run solar and run trolling motors instead of powerheads on our lagoon

as far as suggestions, get a different return pump, and skimmer and sump and save $10K... also what do you need a water change station for, just size your sump properly, then you only need 1 holding container. to do a water change, draing your big sump, fill with ro, add salt, ciculate, once its to temp turn return pump back on..

you could do that tank for 1/3 the prices of what you have listed if you design your setup better.

Thanks for the feedback. Do you have more details on the trolling motors? Bay calculation was based on 4 mp60s for flow.

I chose the abyss dc pump becuaee I do want it as quiet as possible. Any other return pumps that are quality but quiet?

I would like some advice on quality skimmers?

What are other good sump manufacturers? If I could size it to about 200 gal that would take care of the water changes just pulling from the sump.

 

[Blue Tang Clan]

Any DC pump is going to be very quiet. You can get an Abyzz for $3500 or a Jaebo for $210 that move the same amount of water and are both very quiet. Abyzz has an unheard of 10yr warranty. Jaebo has unheard of prices so you can get a new pump every 8 months for 10 straight years and still be cheaper than the Abyzz.

The same can be said about lighting, but I personally think better optics are harder to find from lower-end brands.

For sumps, you're talking about custom manufacturers at this point. I paid more for PVC strength through Advanced Acrylics - but there are definitely cheaper options.

You haven't mentioned your current tanks or experience in the hobby. That might help people direct you better. What has worked for you so far?

 

[lubeck]

Any DC pump is going to be very quiet. You can get an Abyzz for $3500 or a Jaebo for $210 that move the same amount of water and are both very quiet. Abyzz has an unheard of 10yr warranty. Jaebo has unheard of prices so you can get a new pump every 8 months for 10 straight years and still be cheaper than the Abyzz.

The same can be said about lighting, but I personally think better optics are harder to find from lower-end brands.

For sumps, you're talking about custom manufacturers at this point. I paid more for PVC strength through Advanced Acrylics - but there are definitely cheaper options.

You haven't mentioned your current tanks or experience in the hobby. That might help people direct you better. What has worked for you so far?

I’ve had a reef tank on and off from the early 2000’s. Started with a 120 with a 75 gal sump plumbed to the basement. Don’t have any pics of that since I didn’t have a smart phone back then. Don’t know if they existed?

I ran a similar setup fully automated about 10 years ago.
This is a 60

acrylic 110with 75 gal custom all diy

this is my lil biocube that I got last year from my wife. She’s onboard doing an upgrade and we only want to do this once. So we are skipping the 100,180, 210 gal tanks and going for it.

I’m not looking for the cheapest or the most expensive. I want to get it right the first time and don’t mind spending money to get quality. I can also do most of the diy but will need a contractor for the trim, plumbing for drains and sink.

 

[BeanAnimal]

That’s what I was looking for. Appreciate it. I’m assuming that’s per day

The Amp is an instantaneous measurement of current and only half of the equation. Voltage is the other half.
Amps * Volts = Watts

So
15A at 120V = 1800 Watts.
15A at 110V = 1650 Watts.

You are billed from your electricity provider by the Kilowatt Hour. So 1000 Watts of Consumption for 1 Hour.

If he uses 15A at 120V for 24 Hours a day - that is (1800W X 24H)/1000 = 43.2 kWH.
If the electricity costs $.30 per kWH then his bill is (43.2kWH * $0.30) $3.89 in electrical consumption for the aquarium.

 

[lubeck]

The Amp is an instantaneous measurement of current and only half of the equation. Voltage is the other half.
Amps * Volts = Watts

So
15A at 120V = 1800 Watts.
15A at 110V = 1650 Watts.

You are billed from your electricity provider by the Kilowatt Hour. So 1000 Watts of Consumption for 1 Hour.

If he uses 15A at 120V for 24 Hours a day - that is (1800W X 24H)/1000 = 43.2 kWH.
If the electricity costs $.30 per kWH then his bill is (43.2kWH * $0.30) $3.89 in electrical consumption for the aquarium.

Wow are you The “ Bean Animal” as in the inventor of the overflow? That’s crazy and thanks for your contributions to the community.

thank you for explaining the usage. That makes more sense. I will need to recalculate but think I’m close at about 2,000 to 2,400 watts per Hour.


i have 44 solar panels on the house so I produce around 30 kw during the winter and about 70+ kw over the summer. Which is april thru September

 

[revhtree]

I have two words for you!

DO. IT!

 

[lubeck]

I have two words for you!

DO. IT!

I’m gonna! Lots of planning To do.

 

[pandaparties]

Save money on equipment where you can, the real cost is the livestock and maintenance. A CuC for that size tank is crazy (I spent 1K on mine and my tank is 550g). Rock/sand ran me another 2k. Filling a tank that size with fish and coral is easily going to cost as much as the tank and equipment (at least it has for me). My electric isn't too bad at like 30$ a month. But I spent around 2-300 a month on things like salt/gfo/rodi. I imagine you'd be around double that. Plan ahead with a lot of thought on water changes (a 10 percent change for you is 100g). Big tanks are amazing but people underestimate the running costs and work that goes into it. When things go wrong it's 500x harder to correct (no pulling out and scrubbing rock when you have 700lbs of it, no doing 50 percent water changes and things like that). Good luck! It's a lot of fun when it starts coming together

 

[lubeck]

Save money on equipment where you can, the real cost is the livestock and maintenance. A CuC for that size tank is crazy (I spent 1K on mine and my tank is 550g). Rock/sand ran me another 2k. Filling a tank that size with fish and coral is easily going to cost as much as the tank and equipment (at least it has for me). My electric isn't too bad at like 30$ a month. But I spent around 2-300 a month on things like salt/gfo/rodi. I imagine you'd be around double that. Plan ahead with a lot of thought on water changes (a 10 percent change for you is 100g). Big tanks are amazing but people underestimate the running costs and work that goes into it. When things go wrong it's 500x harder to correct (no pulling out and scrubbing rock when you have 700lbs of it, no doing 50 percent water changes and things like that). Good luck! It's a lot of fun when it starts coming together

Thanks for the feedback. I hear you on the livestock. I purposely didn't put any except for sand and rock. I expect to spend lots of dough though. That’s the fun part.

living in California my electric bill will be at least 10x that. I’m guessing around $200-300.

the ongoing costs are real. Need to factor that in. You think of things like salt and dosing , carbon I would think is around $300 per month

 

[flagg37]

If you gather equipment slowly, you can find some great deals on used equipment. That goes for sand and rock as well. The only equipment I would never buy used are heaters, and possibly controller related items.

DIY is great for cost savings as well, although, the savings are only in dollars. Keep in mind your time to design and make something. If you were to pay yourself your current wage, would it end up costing you more to make the item vs just buying it?

Lastly, I don’t do any water changes. When I went from 30g to my 120g I felt like I was just wasting money on salt, so I stopped doing water changes and never looked back.

 

[workhz]

At $300/month for electric, do you have the ability to do solar or wind? They have these mini little vertical wind turbines that I’ve been itching to use on some project.

 

[lubeck]

At $300/month for electric, do you have the ability to do solar or wind? They have these mini little vertical wind turbines that I’ve been itching to use on some project.

I already have 44 solar panels. I just added 10 in December so we will see what it produces this summer.

i could probably fit another 10+ panels but don’t know how efficient they would be based on the position of the house.

 

[YOYOYOReefer]

i use an old mrc quad beckett skimmer on my lagoon its a beast.
runs circles around what you have listed.

as far as sump , i went to a local company that makes cabinets and they made my sumps and a few reactors for me.

 

[lubeck]

i use an old mrc quad beckett skimmer on my lagoon its a beast.
runs circles around what you have listed.

as far as sump , i went to a local company that makes cabinets and they made my sumps and a few reactors for me.

The Becketts are nice. I will add that as a consideration