# starting 300gl tall



## fast94tracer (Aug 5, 2012)

Purchased a 300gl tall 96x24x30 for my living room which will be a fish only tank.
besides the obvious bracing of the floor since I have a basement was wondering what other items I should purchase to start cycling the tank besides sand, rock, and water?

What size of sump should I get and should I place it in the basement or under the stand?
What kind of filtration should I use ? 
Looking for any tips on setup

I've had a 55gl sw setup before but I had a hang on back refugium with built in skimmer and two power heads but that's it

I've always wanted a large tank and now I finally have a house I can have one in 

Thx in advance


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## Reefing Madness (Aug 12, 2011)

#1-Dry Rock, there are a few hitchhikers on Live Rock that people want to stay away from, so they opt for using Dry Rock, or Dead Rock. Macro Rock is a good place to start looking for that. Either way you go you will need a minimum of 1lb per gallon.

#2-Replacement filter media like filter floss and activated carbon (if you get a filter) Which is really not necessary.

#3-Multiple Power heads (2 or 3) 10x your water volume for just a Fish Only With Live Rock, and at least 20x your water volume for a Reef Tank. So lets say your going reef, and you have a 100g tank, you would need flow in that tank at minimum of 2000gph, or 2 1000gph power heads.

#4-Protein Skimmer, rated at 2 times your water volume

#5-Saltwater Test Kits. Reef Test Kit. Test for Ammonia, Nitrites, Nitrates, PH, Phosphates, Calcium, ALK and Magnesium.

#6-Saltwater fish food. Mysis Shrimp, Squid, Cyclopease, Algae Sheets, Romaine . Flake food is not really a good food to feed your marine fish.

#7-Aquarium vacuum. This one is iffy. Most don't use one, if you have enough flow in the tank you won’t need one

#8-Rubber kitchen gloves

#9-Fish net

#10-Two, clean, never used before, 5-gallon buckets

#11-Aquarium thermometer, digital being the best.

#12-Brush with plastic bristles (old tooth brush) - needed for cleaning the live rock if you don't get Fully Cured Live Rock.

#13-Power Strip, possibly GFCI outlets by the tank.

#14-Optional but definitely recommend getting a Reverse Osmosis or RO/Deionization filter for the make-up water, and a barrel for storing the water.

#15-Possibly a Quarantine Tank for your new fish. They sit in here for a few weeks to kill off parasites and bacteria, to keep it from getting in your main tank

#16-Heater rated for your size tank.

#17-Saltwater Mix. Marine Salt. Instant Ocean is the cheap Salt that beginners and Advanced use alike.

#18-Saltwater Hydrometer or even better a Refractometer, which is more accurate. There is also a Digital Meter that is way advanced if you have the cash.

#19-Aquarium filter (not absolutely necessary if running with adequate amounts of live rock, but nice to have if you need to use a mechanical filter or activated carbon, or GFO and such)

#20-Aquarium substrate such as live sand or crushed coral. Some go bare Bottom, others choose the 2-3" bottom, others, more advanced will try the Deep Sand Bed, which is over 6" deep.


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## coralbandit (Jul 29, 2012)

welcome . I would put sump and filter equip. in basement if that's an option. Less noise, and maintenance mess in your living room. You will need a serious pump to do this. I use mag drive(pond master) model 24 to return my 180's sump/filter to living room from basement. How nice it is to service filter down stairs standing up. Also have all of cabinet to store stuff.Tank is much quieter with mechanicals downstairs. Reff madness covered the other stuff very well. Seems like alot but, once everything is in place ,you'll only regret what you didn't do.WICKED; 300 gallons of fun.I got my ro/di ( 6 stage chloramine deluxe with dual de-ionizer) from bulk reef supply (brs). Nice sight with reasonable prices and instrucional video on everything.


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## beaslbob (May 29, 2009)

various macro algae in an intank refugium will make things much easier and stable.

In an external refugium also but that invovles lotsa work and possibly some floods in the learning and setup process.


my .02


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