FOWLR 500 gallon build heavy bioload advice

[5oogallon]

Moving from PA to Florida. Just tore down my 120 and the wife and I are fish people. While we love Coral, our true love is fish. Big fish.

Mission: 506 gallon heavy bioload FOWLR aquarium (we chose glass over acrylic)
Foot print: 130x36x25
Stocking: Emporer Snapper, Panther Grouper, Porcupine Puffer, Lionfish, Eel, and other larger fish (not entirely sure yet, open for suggestions)

Questions.. for now........
Heavy Bioload Skimmer recommendations
Filter roller recommendations
Sump recommendations
Will the footprint be ok to house a Emporer Snapper, we were originally going 300 but want to give these kids plenty of room to play.

Can any pointr to a monster build thread that is FOWLR housing some big boys?

Thanks in advance to all who chose to reply!!!

 

[BanZI29]

bump

 

[blaxsun]

Assuming you want off-the-shelf, a pair of ReefMat 1200s.

 

[cobray]

If it were my choice of sump, I would go with function over form. Something with a huge volume like a Rubbermaid tub. Maybe even two of them.

 

[5oogallon]

Assuming you want off-the-shelf, a pair of ReefMat 1200s.

Never thought of running 2, added them to my list. Any thoughts on a skimmer? I've heard some people having success running 2 as well

 

[5oogallon]

If it were my choice of sump, I would go with function over form. Something with a huge volume like a Rubbermaid tub. Maybe even two of them.

Ive seen some nice setupswith those tubs but mainly with a dedicated fish room. I will most likely not have a fish room but it I'm lucky enough I'll definitely go that route and rasie it up for easy maintenance. I might be able to squeeze something like that under the stand, but it wouldn't be ideal.

 

[blaxsun]

Never thought of running 2, added them to my list. Any thoughts on a skimmer? I've heard some people having success running 2 as well

You could certainly run two skimmers. Whatever you decide, I would look at a self-cleaning or self-levelling (Red Sea) model that you can connect the skimmer cup directly to a drain. That way you've immediately cut down on your maintenance.

An algae scrubber or reactor might not be a bad idea as well.

 

[Reign1]

I would say what has worked for me .. Large skimmer or two md skimmers. I would recommend ozone or uv.
Also rollermat like some have stated prior.

 

[5oogallon]

I would say what has worked for me .. Large skimmer or two md skimmers. I would recommend ozone or uv.
Also rollermat like some have stated prior.

After a lot of planning I'm upping the height of the tank to 29 inches pushing the water volume to 587 gallons. Thought being with the canopy on 25 inch would take away a few inches and it would look like a frag tank at that point. With the addition of an 8 foot sump I'll be around 725 gallons.
I'm fine with 2 roller mats but I'd like to keep the skimmer at 1 unit. The stand will be 42" high. I'm having a heck of a time deciding which skimmer to go with under $1500.
I don't want 700lbs of rock in the display, closer to 200 likely. The sump will house 2x 8-30 bashsea bio reactors and 2x 6-14 media reactors, 1 with carbon and 1 with gfo. As well as a rolling refugium, strictly chaeto.
I'm almost certain I've ironed everything out except the skimmer. I'm heavily leaning towards the regal 300ext as from what I've read it's 40% more efficient than it's INT counterpart. Additionally, the SROs are extremely tempting as well.
Any thoughts?
What size tank and equipment are you running?

Ps forgot to mention I will be running a pentair 120 uv.

 

[Blue Tang Clan]

Algae scrubbers are the best bang for the buck long-term for removing high nitrates/phosphates. I have a 550G display and another 350 in connected tanks and paired with an appropriate skimmer, you will have pretty easy control of nutrient export

 

[5oogallon]

Algae scrubbers are the best bang for the buck long-term for removing high nitrates/phosphates. I have a 550G display and another 350 in connected tanks and paired with an appropriate skimmer, you will have pretty easy control of nutrient export

What skimmer are you using?

 

[Blue Tang Clan]

Reef Octopus Regal 300INT 12" Skimmer. Soaking up the nutrients seems more effective than skimming them, but mixture gives flexibility.

 

[Reign1]

Reef Octopus Regal 300INT 12" Skimmer. Soaking up the nutrients seems more effective than skimming them, but mixture gives flexibility.

Blue Tang FOREVER!!!
Blue Tangs are for the KIDS!!!