Questions on setting up a 300 gallon tank

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Candiru
MFK Member
Nov 18, 2007
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Getting ready to setup a 300dd (6x3). Am looking to stock with one Arowana and possibly two Stingrays. Coming back from SW been out for a few years so I have a few questions.

Cycle, has anyone had good results with Dr Tim's one day cycle. I was thinking of using it during my cycle to speed things up?

Sump, I have a 120 gallon sump and a carbon reactor. Do you think it would be a good idea to incorporate a canister filter or is the sump sufficient? Also what is a good media to use in my sump? I have a few MP60 (7500 gph each). Of course I would only run them 1/4 to 1/2 speed. Do I still need a lot of turnover in my sump?

Lighting, are FW people using LED''s and if so what ones are best?

Thanks in advance.
 
I run a canister along with a sump in all my setups but you dont have to. The canister for me is just added filtration for lower level debris in the tank and a backup just incase something happens to the sumps return pump. I run a fx5 filled with pond matrix along with a Aqueon proflex 4 (that I bought from you) with the biopack media kit. For the carbon reactor, I would toss the carbon and fill it with seachem purigen.
 
What type of media do you have in your sump? Was thinking of Lava Rock? I'm not planning on having any sand or anything else for that matter in the DT so I probably need LOTS of media in the sump area?
 
I have the wet dry part of the sump filled with bio balls and after the bubble trap sponge I have a pond basket I got at home depot filled with fluval biomax.


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I always cycle the old fashion way, put a use sponge filter in the tank for a while. The dirtier the better :)

Keep the sump as simple as possible and easy to clean, I love filter socks! No need for the carbon. Turn over depends on stocking and feeding. I always like to set my sumps up with two pumps, at least an option to easily add another pump when the fish grow. That way when one of your pumps fail (they all do) you have a backup already running.
 
i have not used the formentioned product for cycling, but i have used startsmart complete. it is a good product. it wasnt joking about the one day. i added the prescribed amount to a brand new tank, and i never once had an ammonia spike over .02 ppm. and this is with several decent sized fish in the tank. I just set up a 240 a few days ago and i am using seachem stability. granted, i am using the same filter from my old tank so i have established BB in the canister, everything is brand new. i did dump the stability all over the matrix in the filter to hopefully soak it into the bio material. so far, so good. the ammonia is pretty much undetectable with my kit. as for the lighting, i have the fluval ultra bright LED lights. they deffinately throw some light out and are very affordable. it has mostly white LEDs mixed with some blues for better color on your animals. it looks quite good to me.
 
Id highly recommend taking your time to cycle right. You dont want to be dumping stingray and arowana into a new tank. I went with a simple sump with filter socks and seachem matrix for bio media but you can make it as elaborate as you want. I would HIGHLY recommend kessil a150w lights if you are thinking leds. They are compact but would cover a 3x3 area at that depth.
Keep us updated with progress!
 
Thank you guys for the feedback. I was thinking of throwing some media in a 55 gallon drum with a heater and starting to at least cycle the media. Would this be a waste of time or a good idea?

The only reason I'm in somewhat of a hurry is I'm trading a bunch of corals for some fish and would like my fish ASAP because I'm a control freak. :) At the latest I would like to take possession of the fish in no more than a week. Is this feasible or am I just asking for trouble by rushing things? This is of course if my parameters are good.
 
brich999 said:
Id highly recommend taking your time to cycle right. You dont want to be dumping stingray and arowana into a new tank. I went with a simple sump with filter socks and seachem matrix for bio media but you can make it as elaborate as you want. I would HIGHLY recommend kessil a150w lights if you are thinking leds. They are compact but would cover a 3x3 area at that depth.
Keep us updated with progress!
Click to expand...

I hear ya on the don't hurry it and I know better just excited. I will look into the Kessil LED's they have them intended for FW?

I have LED's from my SW but not sure they will work? Will they cause an algae bloom? Also have T5’s already mounted but not sure they are interchangeable?
 
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