hello everyone

[averageguywoodstock]

I've been a member for a while but haven't introduced myself. My name is Shayne and I am in Woodstock. thought I'd post a few pictures of my 135 gallon.

I've been in the hobby for a years now and very excited to be upgrading to a 300gallon before Christmas.  ill be asking a lot of questions with regards to equipment as i'm a bit outdated in my system.  Any help or knowledge you can give will be very much appreciated.

 

[unibob]

Welcome to the forum. Excited to see the progress on the upgrade. Tank looks good though.

 

[spyd]

Welcome! A 300G is definitely a nice upgrade!!! Where to begin on your new setup... lol.

1) Where is it going? Are you able to have a fishroom near by to hide your sump, equipment, etc.? If so, there are a lot of nice options such as a plumbed in water change tank, etc.
2) What kind of corals are you looking at stocking? SPS, LPS or softies? Makes a big difference for lighting options.
3) Are you getting a custom made tank? If so, an external overflow is a really nice feature, except it can make things difficult if you are limited to certain widths to get the tank in yoru house. Also, with a custom tank, you can choose the type of plumbing you want such as Herbie, Bean Animal, etc. to make the tank virtually silent.
4) Skimmer. What are your thoughts? There are a lot of nice units around but it all depends on your budget. This and the lighting are 2 of the main components.
5) Reactors - Are you going to run bio-pellets? I find they are working extremely well in my new tank so far and they allow you to cut back on the amount of liverock in your tank.

So much more to go but those are the basics to start thinking about with a nice big setup like that. The planning stage is all ways fun. The work and $$$ to get it right is the hard part!  :

 

[averageguywoodstock]

300 gallon is a marineland deep saphire tank as its the biggest that would fit on its side through the doorway.

the location is in the basement in the wall with laundry room behind it so i will have full access at the back of the tank i will be building a wooden stand I'm thinking 2x6's but I'm unsure of the sump set up as I'm fairly new to the idea Ive had my 100g tank downstairs as the sump for the 135g display upstairs and will be removing it to make room for the 300g I'm thinking of using the 100g as part of the sump system mainly just for live rock component with a 65g refugium, this will be for both tanks to plumb two .  the problem will be fitting both under the stand as id like it to be only 32 inches high and the tanks are 24 high so i might have to sell and get new ones. honestly have no idea about the auto top up tank idea id like to do everything on a tight budget ie using my old tanks and drilling them .  i noticed that your forum had a group buy from
http://www.aquastyleonline.com/products/120--LEDs--DIY-Dimmable-Kit.html 
was thinking of staring out with just a dual 175watt mh with 2 96watt pc at the start just for the cycle and Coraline growth as i have that already($0) and upgrading to theses leds but i don't know how many or colour choices i will need was hoping someone could tell me what i would need I'm not totally mechanically challenged and would be into trying DIY stuff to save money
as far as coral id like to have everything from mushrooms to LPS clams etc i think.

for skimming i have no idea as I'm just using the hang on 220g coralife skimmer for my 135 now so i know i will have to upgrade

I'm thinking of going with one pump runs everything style setup
http://www.royalaquariums.ca/p/483/hammerhead-gold-external-pump but i don't know what the max flow through the tank overflows is and don't want to overbuy on the pump
main thing is to save on hydro as we all know

 

[Bill@IA]

main thing is to save on hydro as we all know

Hello Shane,

  This is going to be a beauty. Don't forget to check out the Water Blaster Pumps for power and energy savings. Maybe the HY 10,000 will do the trick for you.
http://www.incredibleaquarium.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=201_190_253&products_id=2295

Cheers,

 

[averageguywoodstock]

thanks bill by the way whats the max for the overflows in the 300 tank

 

[Bill@IA]

thanks bill by the way whats the max for the overflows in the 300 tank

700 gph per overflow.

 

[BIGSHOW]

[quote author=averageguywoodstock link=topic=3063.msg24904#msg24904 date=1346680964]

main thing is to save on hydro as we all know

Hello Shane,

  This is going to be a beauty. Don't forget to check out the Water Blaster Pumps for power and energy savings. Maybe the HY 10,000 will do the trick for you.
http://www.incredibleaquarium.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=201_190_253&products_id=2295

Cheers,

[/quote]

Those water blaster pumps are amazing!!!! I own 5 of them and they are all super quiet, I wouldn't buy any other return pump!

 

[spyd]

[quote author=Bill@IA link=topic=3063.msg24937#msg24937 date=1346707592]
[quote author=averageguywoodstock link=topic=3063.msg24904#msg24904 date=1346680964]

main thing is to save on hydro as we all know

Hello Shane,

  This is going to be a beauty. Don't forget to check out the Water Blaster Pumps for power and energy savings. Maybe the HY 10,000 will do the trick for you.
http://www.incredibleaquarium.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=201_190_253&products_id=2295

Cheers,

[/quote]

Those water blaster pumps are amazing!!!! I own 5 of them and they are all super quiet, I wouldn't buy any other return pump!
[/quote]

+1. I run a HY-10000 on my tank and I love it! Runs extremely silent for a return pump.