220 Saltwater tank build

Guerrzack · Jun 15, 2023

Hi! Just bought a 220G acrylic tank with the Stand and plenty of room below for a big tank or sump to go below.
Anyone have any recommendations of the best gear to get for the tank protein skimmer WaveMakers heater controllers, lights… thanks

dstockwell · Jun 15, 2023

Do a search on similar sized tanks. Sorry but your question can range from small dollar to mega dollar. What is the end result you are looking for in your system.

Petcrazyson · Jun 15, 2023

Guerrzack said:
Hi! Just bought a 220G acrylic tank with the Stand and plenty of room below for a big tank or sump to go below.
Anyone have any recommendations of the best gear to get for the tank protein skimmer WaveMakers heater controllers, lights… thanks

This is just a preference of mine, hope this helps a bit.

For skimmer I always try to go for the Reef Octopus line. Great products, don’t have the tendency to overflow without you knowing like other skimmer brands, and pretty affordable. They also let you customize it if you need to add things like C02 scrubbers, air intake, or things like that

There are TONS AND TONS of wavemakers and powerheads and surgemakers and heaters. I’d go universal and try out as many of them you can you think you need. They all have their pros and cons. A favorite of mine is the RedSea Gyres for amazing surface area and sweeping/carpet flow. And titanium watt heaters from Jager are pretty good. Your need for flow will depend on the livestock goals you have in mind.

There are way way too many wonderful options for lighting and aquarium automation/control. it will all come down to what your goals are for your tank or reef. Go to Bulkreefsupply.com and you will a plethora of amazing options.

Cichlid Dad · Jun 16, 2023

I like trigger sumps for their simplicity and ample room. I use reef octopus skimmer very happy and affordable. Sicce return pumps are reliable and affordable. I use cobalt heaters not affordable but I have a 1/2 degree temp swing. I have use two smaller heaters instead of one large. Cost more but imo safer.

Bruttall · Jun 16, 2023

I have a 8foot long 300g tank, this is the equipment I am using;

I like vortech and maxspect gyre for water flow, I have a pair of Gyre 350's and a pair of mp40's on my 8foot 300g tank. Water flow is fantastic. Ecotech return pump (L1 still going strong 6 years into it)

Eshopps AF (fuge) sump with Eshopps skimmer. The fuge uses a sock type filter, I run a mesh bag there.

You will get 100 different answers on lights, so I will show you a couple of pictures. I just upgraded from ViparSpectra lights to the Reef-Labs Uno 2.0 pro. The Vipar are a decent starting light, they are affordable (cheap almost) but not a lot of adjustability on spectrum etc. Reefi lights have a really nice WIFI App you can tune the lights with!! A REALLY NICE APP!!! And the reefi lights are more wattage, and more led's, for about half the price of the "TOP END! Lights".

Finnex Titanium heaters are dependable and affordable, I would run a Redundant, just in case of failure.

June 13th picture.