My setup good or bad? 125g reef

daniel89

daniel89

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Dec 16, 2009
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So I'm buying a 125 gallon tank with a stand. I'm gonna be setting up a reef tank. For starters I'm gonna have two overflow box's on the back of the tank one on each side as the tank isn't drilled and I'm not taking a chance with drilling it. When i say overflow box's I'm talking about a hang on the back overflow box.

In the bottom of the stand I will have a 40g long. In the first section it will be empty so the water can run off into it. The next section will be either 2 foot or 2 and half foot section fuge. The next section leading from the fuge will be my Coralife super protein skimmer http://www.fosterandsmithaquatics.com/product/prod_display.cfm?c=3578+4392+13924&pcatid=13924. It is rated at 220 gallons. I'm still doing a little research on return pump but any suggestions would be great.

I'm ordering 270lbs of live Caribbean sand. I'm shooting for 2-3 inch deep sand bed but if I come up short I'll order some more sand asap. To cut a little corner I was gonna Use about 120-150lbs of dead base rock then stack about 50 lbds of live Fiji or Caribbean live rock on top of that. I hope this will work as I really don't feel like purchasing 1000$ of live rock unless some of you know a good site that has some cheap live rock for sale :)?

For power heads I will be picking up some Hydor Koralia pumps. Either 4 size 3's or 3 size 4's. I'm not sure yet I still need to do a little research on this and decide what way will give me a better flow and less dead spots.

For lighting Is the tricky touchy subject so far. Ive narrowed it down but I'm stuck on the size of the light fixture I want. The 125 I'm getting has only one center brace and its in the middle so if i order a 72" MH light strip the middle MH light will be right above the center brace and I believe the middle brace will block some of the light. Verse buying 2 36" fixtures and placing them side by side on the tank. The only bad thing about this is it will be 200$ more and i will loose one MH lamp :/. So I really need some good in put on this. Here is links to the fixtures. The 72" http://www.fishtanksdirect.com/72inchprometalhalidefixture3x150whqiand8x39w_t5.aspx
And this is the 36" lamp that I would have to purchase two of http://www.fishtanksdirect.com/36inchprometalhalidefixture1x150whqiand4x24wt5-1.aspx So as you can see The 72" has 3 MH lights and the 36" has one each so id be loosing a mh lamp and it will cost me 200$ more if i bought two 36"s. Any advise? And i will have glass tops on top of the tank also.

For RO water I will be buying a RO unit Coralife Pure-Flo II and it Produces 50gpd and is a 3 stage filter.

I will be picking up the basic stuff as in chemicals as in all API stuff; buffer, reef test kit, refractometer, and those good things.

A few questions of mine that I could used answered.
Which is better instant ocean salt or instant ocean reef crystals? And if you use reef crystals can you tell a difference in the water nutrients?

So if you feel i have left anything out please give me a hollar. I will let you know what I plan on doing from there. :P
 
instead of the coralife skimmer I will be using the Octopus Extreme Skimmer w/pump - Model 160.
 
Much better skimmer, good choice.
In the order of sequence, I prefer skimmer first chamber.
As for sand, I'm not a fan of "tweeners" inbetween deep and shallow.
I rec either 1" or less, vac'd, or DSB, 4-6" and untouched.
Tweeners just seem to give the worst of both worlds IME
I would check reefgeek.com for a Tek T5 fixture, or ebay/CL
As for sw mix, RC has more a lil more cal for corals, but they are similar, same manufacturer, both good.
 
Wow, two HOB overflows. You know what I call that? Twice the chance of causing a flood. I started out with an HOB, and after two floods, say bye bye to the HOB.

Instead of the HOBs, go with a glass-holes (www.glass-holes.com), internal overflow. I cannot say enough about these overflows. They are small, move a lot of water, and are quiet. I would suggest a single 1500 gph overflow kit. Comes with everything you need, including the drill bit to drill the holes. I guarantee you won’t be disappointed. Check them out!
 
redfishblewfish said:
Wow, two HOB overflows. You know what I call that? Twice the chance of causing a flood.
Click to expand...

I would actually call that 1/10th the chance of a flood. The chances of both overflow boxes failing at the same time is slim so with redundancy you have safety. Just make sure your return pump is only enough to max out one of the boxes, don't get too big of a return pump.
 
Ace, I respectfully and statistically disagree with you. If you have two overflows, you only have them to handle volume in excess of one overflow. Therefore, two overflows double the chances that a flood will occur. 1+1=2, and 2 is twice as many. You are not going to install two 700 gph overflows and only run a return pump that is equal to or less than 700 gph. You’ll run a 1200+ gph pump. And when one overflow fails…..

My HOB overflow had an Aqualifter, and that only meant that that was one more piece of equipment that could get clogged up and cause a flood. My second flood, that convinced me to get rid of the HOB, was when the water flowed across the two power strips I had running the tank. Fourth of July all over again. And now with both power strips shorting out like crazy, I wouldn’t dare reach in there to try to unplug the pump. I had to run downstairs and kill the breaker to the tank. (It actually might have tripped before I could get to it.) And now returning to the the tank, with maybe ten gallons of water all over a hardwood floor, and smoke coming from both power stripes….again, good-bye HOB overflow. Out it went!
 
Huh? If it where me in the OPs position with a 125G tank, I would install 2 1200GPH overflows and have a 900GPH return pump, 2400GPH combined overflow and only 700GPH return after head pressure... not seeing how an overflow could happen in a continuous syphon overflow box if something like a snail clogs up one of them. I have had a dozen+ overflows due to the learning process, each time learning how to not repeat the problem. They can be just as reliable as drilling holes in the glass if setup properly.
 
well im not risking drilling my tank, so with that said i ordered all the stuff i need. I order the MH fixture, I got a vortex 180 skimmer which is rated at a max of 180g so I should be good there the only problem is if it will fit under the stand lol. I also ordered two esshop overflows rated at 125g each which has a max flow of 800gph on each so i figured around 1200-1500 gph so i bought a mag 12 return pump. I also order a Premium Blue Refractometer RHS-10ATC. I also grabbed this DI-RO5 5-Stage RO-DI System 100 GPD Capacity so yay for me :O tank is coming in the house tonight hopefully so yay! I also order 270 lbs of live caribbean sand so
smile.gif
im getting all excited
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Hmmm interesting thread. I have to agree with Ace, 2 is better then 1, as long as u only need one. Whats the stock list?
 
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