New 135g shopping cart help

Another skimmer that costs 3x as much

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...ie=UTF8&qid=1338388237&s=pet-supplies&sr=1-43

Sump

http://www.amazon.com/Eshopps-ADV-1...s=pet-supplies&ie=UTF8&qid=1338388237&sr=1-24

Refug

http://www.amazon.com/Eshopps-Refug...?s=pet-supplies&ie=UTF8&qid=1338388237&sr=1-6

Just don't know enough about the technical aspect of the equipment to give a good assessment. I'm sure there's a way to get the whole filtration system (wet/dry if needed, sump, and refug) all-in-one but I could be wrong
 
You were better off being a ND fan but at least you didn't say you were a Gator :).

Equipment wise for a reef versus FOWLR, the main difference is going to be lighting and flow. With your size tank, you're likely going to need some sort of supplemental dosing to maintain Ca, Mg and alkalinity once you have enough corals (and or they grow large enough) to consume what you add back through your water changes. Go ahead and use a good reef salt to start and once your reef gets large enough you can look into dosing options. A kalwasser drip will probably be your best bet which is fairly easy and cheap. This works by adding kalk to your freshwater auto top off container which will refill your sump as water evaporates. Not something to worry about for now though except consideration of the space to put the top off container.

Whats you budget for return pump, powerheads and lighting? You don't have to buy everything at once. Rock, water source, flow (you don't even need to hook up the sump so this can be from powerhead(s)) and possibly a heater will get you started.

Do you think you will attempt to drill the tank or use a HOB overflow box? If you decide to drill, you must determine if the glass pane you want to drill is tempered (you don't want it to be). If you don't know, don't drill.

Stock plan sounds good, just resaerch each addition doing your best to plan ahead from a compatibility standpoint. The emp angel will get too large like you mentioned.

Avoid Seaclones and Coralife skimmers (really any skimmer you can buy at the big-box stores). IMO, a great skimmer for your tank would be a SWC 160 cone but there are certainly others like the Super Reef Octopus (go with the bubble blaster pumps) and the Bubble Magus skimmers. Try to get something that is rated for a tank slightly larger than yours.

Personally, I see no benefit to use a wet dry with a sumped tank with live rock. Not gonna say it hasn't been done, I just don't see the call for it.
 
Thank you so very much. Yes I don't think I want to drill so I will be buying some sort of overflow box (the ones that just look like black plastic with the vents near the top for the overflow look nice but I'm not sure if those are what is on a drilled tank or bought). I knew live rock and sand was good filtration it just blows my mind that it can basically be the only filtration.

As far as budget I absolutely can't get it all at once but I think the lighting will probably be the worst. If I had a choice I would go reef level LED (I don't know of they have them available for high light demanding corals though) with day/night cycle but you mentioned something about a lighting system you might be getting rid of?

I don't have a specific dollar amount so I'm just gonna make a shopping list out of what I figure out in this thread and just try and keep liquidating some of my older hobbies (knife collection, zippo collection, firearm, drumset, more) into cash to buy this stuff. I probably could not drop $500 on one item no mater but up to maybe 150-300 per piece of equipment? I don't know what is a normal budget honestly because I see pricing for items ranging so much.

Lol the more specific we get the more I start drawing blanks. I'm feeling lost as hell. It's like I generally know what equipment I would probably need (even the minor things like refractometer and testing equipment) but trying to figure out what is good and what i need is a whole nother story. Sorry about that, I promise I'm smarter than I sound and once I learn this stuff I'll be able to help people in this same situation.

There was a return pump I was looking at for a DIY wet/dry for a 75g that was around $65 (not submersible) so I'm guessing a return pump with adequate GPH wouldn't be more than double that right? (preferably still under $100 though). Power heads I've looked at in my LFS (not sure what they pushed or what size tank they were rated for but the box was pretty big) were around $70. And as far as sump, refug, UV steri, and skimmer that's where I'm lost because I've only done FW so far. I want a good RO/DI unit too , I'm guessing that's around or a bit over $150?
 
And yeah I will be doing mega research on any stocking plan and giving my tank very adequate time to cycle and grow while slowly adding stock.

Thank you again. It means a lot that you're taking the time to go through the with me from the ground up =)
 
I didn't realize I would be dosing so many supplements. I will look into the item you suggested to dose it with.

For my piece of mind I just double check required thickness of glass for my size tank. I knew it was kept with a reptile efore and I was scared maybe it wasn't made for water. It in fact does have the required glass thickness to hold water. I know the seals are good as it was tested before but I will be doing a long term test myself (basically while accruing all the equipment) to make sore it is good to go
 
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I like the swc 160 skimmer. It's around $275. So I'll shoot for that one. It seems it can handle a heavy bio load at my gallon rating which is good (just in case ya know). Can it be used down in my sump? I'm not sure if I had to look for something special (like where the product secifically says it is for use in a sump or a special mounting bracket or something)
 
Yes, that skimmer is made to sit in a sump as most are. Its a good skimmer no doubt. Very quiet too which is nice.

I think you misunerstood my post about lighting. I was kidding around by asking you to add some T5 bulbs to your list because I am due for replacements ;). Sorry to have got your hopes up. If I had a lighting system to let go, I would though. Lighting, while very important, can take a back seat for a while. You can use any old light just to have some fish but you don't need any light to cycle the tank or for live rock period. Lighting is changing all the time. Lots of options from T5/LED retrofits to full fledge light fixtures with all the bells and whistles. Were you looking at the marineland "reef capable" LED fixtures by chance?

Do youself a favor and don't buy a sump. Manufactured sumps are expensive. Any tank will do. I am thinking a 55 will fit under that tank in the stand but just try and get the biggest sump you can (a sump does not have to sit under the tank BTW if you have another option). Petco runs a $1 per gallon sale (up to 55 gallons) which I think is going on now. Otherwise a used tank is perfectly fine as long as it holds water and hasn't been exposed to anything that could harm you livestock or bacteria. Once you determine your tank size, measure the inside dimensions and have a local glass shop cut you however many pieces of glass you need to create the design your looking for. Height wise, have the glass shop cut the baffles as tall as you can but still allowing enough room in the sump for it to handle backsiphon water once the return pump is turned off. The advantage to cutting the baffles as tall as you can is to allow the maximum water volume in your system. Your skimmer will have a designated water height that it should be placed in. So say your skimmer is desgned to sit in 8" of water. If the baffled area that you earmarked for your skimmer (usually the drain line area) is taller than 8", all you need to do is build a cheap PVC stand to siet the skimmer on at the correct height. Something to look at in terms of sumps/refugiums...

http://www.melevsreef.com/allmysumps.html

To get water to the sump, I highly recommend an eshopps or better yet a lifereef overflow box. The boxes that require a siphon pump scare me to no end. You do not have to match up your return pump to pump exactly what the box is rated for (you'll read that from time to time). In fact I suggest you get a pump that is rated higher than your box is capable of handling and put a gate or ball valve (plastic of course) in the line after the pump's output. Eheim, tunze and sicce are my favorite pumps but a lot of people use mag drive pumps. You should be able to buy a new pump for that tank for <$100.

If it were me I would buy the sump/materials, overflow box, return pump and plumbing first. RO/DI filter 2nd (unless you are buying water from your LFS) followed by your rock and sand to get the cycle going. Once the tank is cycling, work on getting some powerheads. Vortech and Tunze lead the pack but koralia and maxijets are popular (and cheaper) alternatives that people use a lot. Powerheads are likely the thing that hobbiests buy twice (or more) because they underestimate their flow needs or how important flow is. Just don't skimp on this even if it means you have to save up. IMO/IME Vortechs and tunzes are worth the cost and if you can find them used, even better.

Don't worry about dosing for now. You are a loooong way from needing to worry about that.
 
Look for some local reef clubs, you might be able to score some deals on used equipment from people upgrading or leaving the hobby, occasionally some hardware deals on reef central if your member there.

LED's are nice but for the length of your tank if your buying factory made units your looking at needing 2 or 3 $300-700 units, DIY LED's can save a bundle. I think Marineland is on there 2nd generation 'Reef Ready' LED's which on your tank (24" height?) you wouldn't be able to do any high light corals or nem's on the substrate they just don't penetrate that far, perhaps when they release the next version.
 
That's perfect. Yeah I hadn't been looking at any specific lighting because I'm especially clueless in that dept (no idea what T5, halide, xxxxxK bulbs means) but I had been skimming a couple SW startup guides and one mentioned there are now reef capable LED's (no idea how long ago it was written though) so that's why I mentioned that.

Well we are on the right track and it seems I will have more breathing room than I thought. some specifics; what rating power head should I get? Or should I get 2 at a specific rating (or even more)? And the big one, do you know of any good references that might have guides or specifics on how to build this sump? I don't know enough about each stage of filtration in it to just build it. In the wet/dry I was gonna build it was basically a media tower drained into a tub and pumped back with optional baffles to take care of micro bubbles (at least that is how it was explained to me) so I'm gonna need to read up on the sump deal and also on refugiums because I'll have to learn how to incorporate that. Edit: Never mind, I'm checking out that link you provided and I'll ask if I have any questions about the sump =)

You were right about the 55. I have an extra that doesn't have anything with it that I got for free and it looks like it would just barely fit through the hole in the top of the stand so I'm already good there, just gotta get the rest. Lol my girlfriend is gonna be a little angry because we were gonna set that tank up as her Molly/guppy/misc tank when we got the money but I honestly think I would be saving money by keeping an eye out for the full package on CL
 
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Look for some local reef clubs, you might be able to score some deals on used equipment from people upgrading or leaving the hobby, occasionally some hardware deals on reef central if your member there.

LED's are nice but for the length of your tank if your buying factory made units your looking at needing 2 or 3 $300-700 units, DIY LED's can save a bundle. I think Marineland is on there 2nd generation 'Reef Ready' LED's which on your tank (24" height?) you wouldn't be able to do any high light corals or nem's on the substrate they just don't penetrate that far, perhaps when they release the next version.

Wow, yeah eff that. Ok I will be looking for someone's used stuff or finding another way around that. Yeah it is 24 high. Lighting and a dump are the things I'm thinking most about. I'm gonna have to figure out what I need for high light, if I can find a way to use something besides LED's that still can be controlled to maybe do a day and night cycle. I don't even know if it's possible.

Since I'm so new to the hobby I've never delved into stuff like this before. I'm really glad I ave found some people willing to work with me on this =)
 
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