I'm planning on a 96x40x30 custom acrylic tank soon. This will be my first big tank. I want to do a sump like Jc1119's 300 Gallon setup (http://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/f...23425-300-gallon-SA-CE-community-build-thread!!). I'd like it to be open, no chambers, easy to clean, etc. I'm thinking an 18 inch high glass aquarium, with the pond boxes and pond matrix. I want to grow plants and use it as a hospital tank for beat up fish if needed. Is it big enough for that? And I'd need 6-8 times turnover, right? So that's 3,000-4,000 GPH? I'd like to use 2 submersible pumps in the sump so I don't have to drill. So that means a pair of Quiet One 9000's is the way to go? Can I use Laguna Max Flo with the pond boxes, too? What size drains and returns do I need? Is this kind of stuff I need to know when I order the tank, or will the tank builders advise me on all this?
Now, I want a 500 full of Vieja's. My wife and I are still negotiating tank width, she's just not having a 48 inch wide tank. So it's looking like a 40 inch. I read and re-read Egon's tank journals, too. That one where he plumbed two sumps together and put a drain out to the yard for the auto-changer--I just HAVE to do that. 
