375 Gallon FOWLR Build

[jjk_reef00]

About a year ago my 300 cracked while I was moving it.
I've been patiently watching out for used tanks and I finally can across a great deal on a 8' x 30" x 30". I currently have a 150 FOWLR that has mostly butterfly fish and 2 wrasses. I will be transferring them over the next week or so.

I'm going to do a closed loop which I'm not sure about yet:
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/sh....php?t=2193130

I'm thinking about using 2x Eheim 1262 because I have the pumps, but I may switch to a larger single return pump later.
My skimmer is a SRO-5000 ext cone.

Here is a link to some pics of my old 300:
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/sh....php?t=1885348

[jjk_reef00]

Plumbed some of the fittings for the closed loop:


Overflow:


Filling it up!

[geaux xman]

Looks like you did better with the 30" tall tank.

I know zilch about CL.

Do you have to buff the tank out a little bit first?

[humaguy]

that is going to be a great tank...love the coast to coast...and having the tank viewable from all sides is killer...looks similar to my build....check out 130 x 36 x 36 incoming....good luck...
ps...I put pvc on the tank returns to get the flow closer to the surface....just a thought...

[jjk_reef00]

Originally Posted by geaux xman

Looks like you did better with the 30" tall tank.

I know zilch about CL.

Do you have to buff the tank out a little bit first?

Yes back when I kept reefs I had an amazing 36" tall cube, I've always wanted a tall FOWLR tank since.

All the junk you see in the pic is freshwater algae left over from the previous owner. I briefly tried cleaning the inside a little but IME it is much easier to clean once it is filled with water (all the algea will come right off).
I probably could have buffed it but it doesn't seem too bad. My previous 300 had some large scratches that I was gradually buffing out , and this one isn't anywhere near as bad. If I have time/patience I may try to buff out some of the scratches once it is filled.

Originally Posted by humaguy

that is going to be a great tank...love the coast to coast...and having the tank viewable from all sides is killer...looks similar to my build....check out 130 x 36 x 36 incoming....good luck...
ps...I put pvc on the tank returns to get the flow closer to the surface....just a thought...

Thanks, I've been following your amazing trigger build! I was debating having 3 sides view-able vs in wall down the road for my 'dream tank', and seeing yours makes me think the 3 side view-able is the way to go.

I've always used peninsula style aqauscapes even in my cramped 150 so I'm really excited about working with 30x30.

And I took a look at the PVC you were talking about and that is a good idea. I might have it go up 1/3 -1/2 way up the tank. How high do your returns go up?
Did you raise your intakes as well?
I'm keeping a bunch of butterfly fish and some of them prefer for the food to settle on the bottom or on a rock.

[jjk_reef00]

I've moved my fish and rock from the 150 into the new tank but I've hit a bit of a setback. My AC compressor went out yesterday while I was trying to set up the new tank. The AC guy came out today and is going to try to get it fixed tomorrow. My house got up to 89 degrees during the day today. Fortunately I put a bunch of ice cubes in the tank before I left for work and a large fan blowing on the top of the tank water and I think the tank stayed in the 81-84 degree range and all the fish and one cleaner shrimp seem to be doing fine.

[humaguy]

try ice packs in a zip lock bag...they last longer and will not affect the water chem...toss them in your fuge so the fish wont bite them...

[humaguy]

Originally Posted by jjk_reef00

Yes back when I kept reefs I had an amazing 36" tall cube, I've always wanted a tall FOWLR tank since.

All the junk you see in the pic is freshwater algae left over from the previous owner. I briefly tried cleaning the inside a little but IME it is much easier to clean once it is filled with water (all the algea will come right off).
I probably could have buffed it but it doesn't seem too bad. My previous 300 had some large scratches that I was gradually buffing out , and this one isn't anywhere near as bad. If I have time/patience I may try to buff out some of the scratches once it is filled.



Thanks, I've been following your amazing trigger build! I was debating having 3 sides view-able vs in wall down the road for my 'dream tank', and seeing yours makes me think the 3 side view-able is the way to go.

I've always used peninsula style aqauscapes even in my cramped 150 so I'm really excited about working with 30x30.

And I took a look at the PVC you were talking about and that is a good idea. I might have it go up 1/3 -1/2 way up the tank. How high do your returns go up?
Did you raise your intakes as well?
I'm keeping a bunch of butterfly fish and some of them prefer for the food to settle on the bottom or on a rock.

thanks! I put the returns at diff heights...the highest being the one furthest away from the coast to coast...

cant wait to see yours running! looks great!!

[humaguy]

the one thing I wish I had done was to silicon some rock to the pvc returns to camo them like I did with the overflow...I try to hide them with pieces of rock but the trigs are always rearranging things...
I might try to core out a marco rock pillar and slide it over the pvc...

[jjk_reef00]

Originally Posted by humaguy

try ice packs in a zip lock bag...they last longer and will not affect the water chem...toss them in your fuge so the fish wont bite them...

That is a great tip! I have a ton of them from all the online fish orders I've made over the years. I knew they would come in handy one day
I tested the icepack in a ziplock my BFs don't go anywhere near it (my water isn't high enough to get to the overflow yet (50-100 gallons short still).

I'm sure your triggers would rip both the ziplock and the icepack open searching for the food!

Originally Posted by humaguy

the one thing I wish I had done was to silicon some rock to the pvc returns to camo them like I did with the overflow...I try to hide them with pieces of rock but the trigs are always rearranging things...
I might try to core out a marco rock pillar and slide it over the pvc...

I've been thinking about getting some rock and then drilling holes in it (like a tunze rock if you have ever seen those). Before I do anything like that I have to figure out what pumps I want to use and what directions I want the closed loop returns to flow.

[humaguy]

check out marco dry rock and their pillar design...I think it might be possible to bore out the middle...

[jjk_reef00]

[jjk_reef00]

[jjk_reef00]

[jjk_reef00]

[geaux xman]

damn those are some nice butterflies man.

any FTS with the fish in it?

will you be doing any tangs or angels?

[jjk_reef00]

Those scratches really show up in the pics... In person I really don't notice them but I have bad eyes and I usually view the tank form a few feet away. I still need to fix up my aquascaping and finish plumbing the closed loop. I looked into the pillar rocks and that seems to be a really good idea!

[jjk_reef00]

Originally Posted by geaux xman

damn those are some nice butterflies man.

any FTS with the fish in it?

will you be doing any tangs or angels?

Thanks, the fish are actually in there lol They are usually all grazing on the rock work unless they think it is feeding time. Then they all line up at the end of the tank. I will get some pics with all of them in there.

I really want a red sea regal but the last one I had never ate and died in qt. I might go with a blue line angel, and I'm debating on what other angel(s).

I don't think I'm going to add any tangs. My old 300 had a ton of tangs and I got sick of them flying around the tank chasing other fish. I'm hopping to keep this tank a little more peaceful with minimal fighting

[geaux xman]

You have better restraint than me. 375g, I would do 10 tangs and 20 angels.

I really do like the 4 lemonpeel angels I have in my tank. Will you be doing a harem of any?

What did you end up doing for flow?

[jjk_reef00]

Originally Posted by geaux xman

You have better restraint than me. 375g, I would do 10 tangs and 20 angels.

I really do like the 4 lemonpeel angels I have in my tank. Will you be doing a harem of any?

What did you end up doing for flow?

I feel you, there is a link to my old 300 in the first post, and I had 6+ tangs and 4+ angels.

4 lemonpeels wow that must be really cool, do you have any pics or links?

I would love to do a couple of potters angels, or get a few more high fin BF's but I've never had any luck doing multiples of any fish but I'm not going to rule it out yet. I'm still going back and fourth on a queen angel. If I get it I'm going to add it last or near last if I do get one. My queen and my yellowfin tang were my favorite two fish from my 300. But the yellowfin was way to big and aggressive for the fish I'm keeping now.

[jjk_reef00]

For flow I have a single Eheim 1262 for the return pump on my sump. I have another Eheim 1262 feeding my SRO-5000 ext cone in my sump. In the past I've always had high flow return pumps. I'm not sure if this is enough flow for a return or not at this point but my skimmer doing great so I'm not real worried about it yet.

Inside the tank I have a tunze 6305 pointed out from the wall where the overflow is. I have a second 6305 which I can add to the other side of the overflow if I feel the need for additional flow. I have a closed loop drilled on the bottom of the tank. It has 2 x 1" intakes and 4 x 1" outputs. I have a used waterblaster 7000 that should arrive next week. So I'm going to try to use that single pump on my closed loop. If it isn't enough I will get a second waterblaster pump and have 2 waterblaster pumps on my closed loop.

What do you guys think do I need a larger return pump?
I was thinking a second 1262 or switching to a larger water blaster pump if I need more flow through my sump.

[Below Radar]

Great pump
http://premiumaquatics.com/aquatic-s...ER-HYBRID.html

[geaux xman]

http://youtu.be/fWep1iV6kDU?hd=1

I cant remember who had posted here in this forum, but he had 3(i think) huge bannerfish. I thought that was very cool.

[geaux xman]

I think that Eheim 1262 is only about 900gph. Figure in headloss, you might get 6-700gph. I think thats way too light of a turnover rate(around 2x) for a tank your size. Thats what the 120g tank guys use. Visually, especially on the onset, its hard to see any difference. I think longterm, its certainly wont be healthy for your tank and the turnover rate would be the bottleneck on your skimmer. Thats a low amount of display tank water to flow thru your sump(per hour) to feed your skimmer.

I use an HY-7000, 1800gph(before headloss). Thats double the eheim. It has worked well for me for 1.5yrs now. Even the HY-7000 might be small for your tank size.

[jjk_reef00]

Originally Posted by Below Radar

Great pump
http://premiumaquatics.com/aquatic-s...ER-HYBRID.html

I'm trying to stay away from reeflo since I've had problems with seals in the past.

Originally Posted by geaux xman

http://youtu.be/fWep1iV6kDU?hd=1

I cant remember who had posted here in this forum, but he had 3(i think) huge bannerfish. I thought that was very cool.

I remember watching the video and I think the fact that you had 2 achilies completely distracted me and I didn't realize you have 4 lemonpeels!

I have a red sea bannerfish in qt. I tried 2 of them but the larger one wouldn't accept the smaller one so I sold it. Maybe it is a group dynamic thing or my qt was just too small but they were fighting on the first day and it got progressively worse.

Originally Posted by geaux xman

I think that Eheim 1262 is only about 900gph. Figure in headloss, you might get 6-700gph. I think thats way too light of a turnover rate(around 2x) for a tank your size. Thats what the 120g tank guys use. Visually, especially on the onset, its hard to see any difference. I think longterm, its certainly wont be healthy for your tank and the turnover rate would be the bottleneck on your skimmer. Thats a low amount of display tank water to flow thru your sump(per hour) to feed your skimmer.

I use an HY-7000, 1800gph(before headloss). Thats double the eheim. It has worked well for me for 1.5yrs now. Even the HY-7000 might be small for your tank size.

I was afraid that would be the case, and I think you are probably right. My second option was going to be the HY-7000 but now I'm not really sure. I might post in the large tank forum to get more opinions.