265 gallon build

[Talon]

So my stand is built and the tank is cleaned up. I am starting the plumbing and have my first question. The tank is 31" deep and has two overflows. I am wondering how deep I should have the overflow pipe set. I have about a 5" drop in water height in my 90 I don't know if I should go more or less?


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[coralbandit]

IMO the only real factor in depth ,besides too little is the noise the water will make.
Most of my dursos are around 3-4 inches below overflow line.
Looking good there! ; )

 

[mr_X]

Will this be a reef? Long way to the bottom if so. Might be a good time to consider sand bed options. I had this same tank at one point. A Craigslist deal that was too good to pass up. I ended up using a bed of limestone and covered it with sand. Very affordable and useful. Where in Pa are you? There is a vein of limestone in Pa that I believe is the largest in the country. You could get a couple hundred pounds of it for free most likely, or next to nothing. I ended up with a 6" bed, making reaching the bottom manageable and it didn't cost me that much to do.

 

[Talon]

It's going to be a fish only tank at least that's the plan for now. I'm going to keep my 90 for corals. I live like 50 miles outside of Philadelphia. Yea it was off Craigslist and I couldn't say no. It took me all weekend just to start the stand and plumbing. I still have to build my sump. I have a 40 that I'm going to use and have an old 30 too if I need it


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[mr_X]

40 breeder? The dollar a gallon sale is on.......Pet Supplies, Pet Food, and Pet Products from petco.com

 

[Talon]

Lol that's exactly where I got it 40 gallon for 40 dollars. I hope the 40 is big enough if not I will have to add another one


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[Talon]

Got the plumbing behind the tank and the overflow plumbing done. Now I'm going to start working on the sump and return pump. This is going to be a long build


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[mr_X]

The 40 is big enough depending on what you are going to put in it. What skimmer are you using? What else do you intend to put in the sump?

 

[Talon]

Not entirely sure what I'm going to use yet. I'm thinking I might go with two protein skimmers and just some live rock and sand to start. I think two skimmers will fit better than one huge one but I don't know if that effects how well they work. Also am not sure if I have to drill the tank to feed the return pump or if I can just plumb over the edge of the sump to the pump. This is the pump I have if it still runs good I want to use it.


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[mr_X]

You can fit a single skimmer in that 40 breeder that will handle that tank-probably easier than 2 smaller ones.
I would drill the tank for a gravity fed drain rather than a HOB overflow, but that's personal preference. Drilling a tank is easy. I've done it many times with no trouble.

 

[Talon]

Just wondering if anyone could help me with a place to buy bulk sand and rock. I am going to need like 250 lbs of sand and equal rock I would think. I was going to just buy dry rock possibly and seed it with some rock from my 90. I'm not really trying to cut corners or go cheap on the project. I am just having trouble spending over 2000 dollars for rock. Just asking if anyone knows any good places to buy this stuff. Thanks


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[Flaxon-Waxon]

Check out marco rocks dot com

 

[54seaweed]

John at reef cleaners has dry rock with free shipping
I used quite a bit of it in my tank

Rock : Florida Reef Rock (50lbs - Free Shipping) - Reef Cleaners

It's nice a nice quality rock that colors up fairly fast

 

[mr_X]

Bulk Reef Supply has rock too. What kind of sand were you thinking of?

 

[Talon]

I like the macro rocks. Seems like a good place and fair pricing. I can get 200 lbs of rock for like 430 dollars. They have sand too it's 140 lbs of Bahamas aragonite. Not sure how fine that is but it looks good. I figure I will just add some live rock and a bag or two of live sand and let it cycle for two months or so. It will save me a lot of money and I won't have to worry about introducing any bad stuff that I know can come with live rock. With a tank this size I want to do anything I can to avoid a catastrophe


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[Talon]

I am not able to upload pics but I successfully drilled a 1 3/4 hole in my 40 breeder for my return pump. It wasn't that hard I found a set of diamond drill bits on Amazon for 35 dollars and was able to drill it no problem. I also got a extra large eshopps filter. It's 2 7" rectangle sock filters. Just have to add some baffles and the sump will be done


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[Flaxon-Waxon]

I like the macro rocks. Seems like a good place and fair pricing. I can get 200 lbs of rock for like 430 dollars. They have sand too it's 140 lbs of Bahamas aragonite. Not sure how fine that is but it looks good. I figure I will just add some live rock and a bag or two of live sand and let it cycle for two months or so. It will save me a lot of money and I won't have to worry about introducing any bad stuff that I know can come with live rock. With a tank this size I want to do anything I can to avoid a catastrophe


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The rocks piece together nicely for sure. Here was my 40 breeder in its infancy:

 

[Talon]

Nice tank hope my rock looks that good. Just ordered 150 lbs. of the rock from macro rocks and also 200 lbs of live sand from dr foster and smith. There went half of tomorrow's paycheck but totally going to be worth it


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[Flaxon-Waxon]

Nice tank hope my rock looks that good. Just ordered 150 lbs. of the rock from macro rocks and also 200 lbs of live sand from dr foster and smith. There went half of tomorrow's paycheck but totally going to be worth it


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The live sand will help with the cycle. Good luck with scaping, I wish I had that kinda room to play around with!

 

[Talon]

So I need some help with my sump design. My initial idea was just to copy of the sump for my 90 and it looks good but I'm not sure if it's the best design I have seen so many ideas I'm not sure what to do. I have two concerns I have to leave room for overflow which could be 10-15 gallons of my math is right. The other is the pump I have says 36.5 gpm so I don't know if this design can handle that flow. Any ideas?


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