500+ gallon Build

Been gone from 3reef for a while... went through a divorce and such that caused me to shut down my 120g tank.... through with all that... it's all good... time to get back into reef tanks!!

Now looking at building a 500+ gallon mixed reef tank.... 8'x3'x3'... comes out to 538 gallons.

I plan to spend a fair amount of time designing it first and thinking it through before embarking on the build.

In my 120g, I really struggled with green hair algae... thus in this tank I planned two things... 1) much larger sump and refugium... 2) smaller bio load in the tank...

I was planning on 6-8 inch sand depth to get plenty of depth for anerobic bacteria... can do deeper sand depth if there's an advantage to that... plenty of live rock....

My 120g, I had skimmer, reactors, refugium... is there anything different in a larger tank??? Is the filtration set up any different because of the tank size.... other than larger skimmers, etc??

Previously, I was very space constrained... 40g sump under the 120g tank... constraint caused by Ex-wife... now I can use whatever room I need...

So... let's open the discussion.... what would you set up for filtration for a 500g mixed reef???

Thanks in advance, excited to be getting back into reef tanks.

Mark

 

Sweet

 

I feel your freedom from over here. Looking forward to this build.

 

Take a look at my sump room - if you have the space - I recommend you build out your filtration - sump room separate.

http://www.3reef.com/threads/rebuilding-the-sump-room.154466/

 

Need pictures

 

I definitely plan on a sump room. The display tank will be in my living room. My utility room is on the other side of the wall... thus it will be trivial to run the lines through the wall to the utility room and back. That also allows for short lines back and forth...

One debate in my head how to use the volume in the stand under the tank in the living room??? Just storage of stuff??? Or a large deep sand bed, live rock tank to put in-line prior to the sump room???

Other notes... I have my previous 120g tank and my previous 40g tank that I can use either under the new one or in the sump room.

Appreciate the thoughts and discussion.

 

I will post pics as the design matures...

 

That's a VERY early concept on the tank design...

 

Man have I missed your CAD drawings.

Filtration for 500g other than what you have - I'd go with a calcium reactor.

And I love the sump room suggestion as well.


Welcome back NG!

matt