Advice for setting up new tank

[Neddy191]

Hi,

I'm looking for suggestions and advice. I've been keeping FW for 10+ years and I'm ready for a go at SW again. I started a small SW BioCube 29g reef tank about 2-3 years ago and was doing well until things started to flourish. At this point I discovered I had predatory amphipods that had some with the live rock I got from my LFS when I started the tank. I tried everything I could until they finally ate all the corals I'd started with in the tank so at that point I took the tank down.

I'm ready to start over with SW now. This time I want to go large scale instead of nano. I have fairly large space in the back of my basement "mancave" now where I'll plan to set everything up. It will be spring before I plan to get it going so I want to plan everything out up front. I want to do a reef tank. I'm thinking about a large display tank - probably somewhere in the 150-250 gallon range. I plan to tend the tank daily but I would like to automate it as much as possible so I can go out of a town for a few days at a time a couple times year and not have to have anyone else tend to it. I'd like to have another tank for frags plumbed into the system.

I'm willing to invest in this tank to make it nice so cost isn't my first concern.

Any advice or suggestions are appreciated.

[thegrun]

I would advise purchasing a good controller so you can monitor your tank remotely (I recommend a full Apex Neptune). I have my tank set up for us to be able to take a two week vacation without anyone needing to do anything to the tank, although when we are gone more than 7 days I have a friend stop by to make sure everything is functioning correctly. I would also recommend purchasing quality equipment, if you need to save some money purchase used equipment, but always buy quality. Size your top off reservoir so it is large enough to handle an extended vacation without needing to be refilled.