Help planning a brand new reef tank

[Scott22]

I am looking at purchasing a 300 gallon tank with 2 built in overflows. I have never had a saltwater tank, so my question is regarding the materials I need.

-75 gallon sump tank
-30 pounds refugium live rock
-400 pounds live rock
-200 pounds live sand
-2 1,000w heaters
-Sump Buddy 400 gallon by ETSS (protein skimmer)
-Turbo Twist 6x UV Sterilizer
-4 ZooMed PowerSweep 228

Please let me know if this sounds adequate, or if there are additional items I need or even better things than what I have listed. Thanks!

[Saltwater To Go]

Scott what Type of reef are you planing to keep?

[Chasman]

Is this an established tank or new from scratch. Big differance.

[Scott22]

It is a new from scratch tank and I am planning on doing a mixed tank, with mainly soft corals and inverts and small fish. "saltwater to go", is there a specific kind of reef that you would recommend for a beginner?

[Chasman]

Scott

That's a big starter tank! But it can certainly be done. The sump size and skimmer seem fine. You are going to need a pump to drive the skimmer. Looks like they recommend a Mag Drive 7. You will also need a return pump or pumps. Probably a pretty big one for a 300.

I wouldn't put live rock in your sump. Just use the live sand and get some cheato algae for in there. I would not get the UV unit, instead I would get a phosphate/carbon reactor. Also I think you would be better off with more powerful power heads for water flow. Some of the high end reef tanks get to 40 times water flow in there system. For a 300 that's 12,000 gph.

Have you considered your lighting needs. That is a big component for a reef tank. (big expense too) You will need to light your sump/refigium as well.

Then there is the endless amount of supplies, test kits, water containers, an RO/DI unit, plumbing pieces, electrical crap, timers or controller, quarintine tank....it goes on and on.

There are a lot of good stickies to read in the reef forum and some good books out there to help you with your research. Can't emphasize enough, doing a lot of reasearch befor you dive into a tank that size. The costs can get pretty steep. But it's fun!!

Chasman

[FoMoCo Master Tech]

is there a specific kind of reef that you would recommend for a beginner?

Softies are generally the easiest to keep. LPS would be next followed by SPS. SPS require the best of water quality and intense lighting.
Starting with mushrooms, button polyps, zoanthids, palythoas, etc, wouldn't be a bad idea. The more experience in keeping water quality stable / balanced, the better off your corals will be. After you gain confidence in keeping softies and such, try adding some LPS. Be sure to keep calcium, alkalinity and magnesium in balance as you go along.
Also, it wouldn't be a bad idea to start a build thread in the reef forum. That way, others can track your progress, provide feedback and gawk at all the awesome pictures you're going to post (kind of an unannounced requirement of a build thread ).

[mk1151]

There are some good articles in the forum that discuss the need for "live" substrate (sand), and whether a UV element is really necessary - the article convinced me that I don't need a UV system (at least not now). It saves cost, energy consumption, and potential heat issues, especially with (2) heaters you already plan on putting in.

One thing that is SUPER important that you didn't list is lighting. You can use T5 high output to keep heat down, but you'd need to keep the coral towards the top of the tank. You can use Metal Halides but then you'd need to possibly look into a water chiller.

If you want to build a "no restrictions" tank, I'd look at LED systems - they provide enough light to reach the bottom of the tank without the heat, bulb costs, and energy draw of metal halide systems but they are also more expensive (or can be, anyway).

[gregr]

Add a RO/DI unit to the list and an auto top-off system. I guess soft corals don't use tons of calcium like sps corals and clams but you might still want to consider a calcium reactor because along with supplying the calcium your corals need it helps balance the alkalinity and pH to a large extent.
Color me jealous- my first tank was 40 gallons