120g Owners

[snslarison]

Hey guys,

It looks like I am going to be in the market for a 120g now. I was going to go with a 90g but when I saw that the difference in the two was only 6" in depth I figured what the heck.

My question is do you think a Ehiem 1262 (900g/hr) would be ok for the return pump? I'm thinking of plumbing it into a OM 2 way squirt.

Anyone wanna post pics of their 120g?

Thanks,

Scott

 

[Jar*Head]

snslarison

Yinger run the eheim 1262 in his 120g as a return pump also feed the chiller. He should have better answer for you. As long as you have powerhead inside the tank, you should be fine. No need to have strong return unless you don't want to add any powerhead. I use Iwaki MD40RLXT as return in my 240g (1200gph) from the garage through 1/2hp chiller to the tank. I have approx 900-1000gph to the tank.

 

[®eefer]

I use a 1262 as a return on my 150g, I think it is plenty of return. Any more flow to the sump makes for a lot of turbulance, bubbles, etc. It is certainly NOT enough flow for the tank. I use Tunzes for circulation. If I was going to buy a new tank I would run a closed loop with 1262 for the return. The 1262 is VERY quiet and runs very cool, NICE pump! I wouldnt bother with the squirt on the 1262.

 

[SPSFiend]

I used a Iwaki MD30RLXT on my 120 and I know use it on my 180G. Plenty of flow for a return.

Here's a pic of my old 120G:

Pic of my 180:

 

[snslarison]

Awsome looking tanks!

 

[rockindacheeks]

that tank is amazing...

 

[chalowolf]

Pump depends on the type of corals you will be keeping. I am setting up a 90 and i have an Iwaki 70(1500gph), and it looks like i need more flow. I plan on an SPS tank.

 

[snslarison]

I plan on going with mixed reef. I will have one Seio 1100 to add flow in the display. If its not quite enough I may add another 1100.

 

[SPSFiend]

The problem I faced with flow on my 120 was directing it to where I wanted. I found myself having 4 seos in the tank to push water in the directions (making sure each corals was getting appropriate flow for it's type). In my opinion, this was more flow than I needed in total output but necessary because I did not have an efficient way to distribute the flow.

Another thing to comsider is if you plan to run a chiller or not.

On my 180 i took a different approach because I am now running a chiller on a close loop and because I wanted to limit the amount of hardware inside the actual tank.

I am running the IWAKI 30 for the return and a Gen- X P40 for a close loop through the chiller. The return pump returns through two 3/4 Sea Swirls, one on each side of the tank. The close loop returns into the tank through a spraybar I built outta Loc-line.

I LOVE the result of the sea swirls and the loc-line. The Gen-x pump and chiller is in the basement pumping up about 12 feet and I have tons of flow through the loc line which is about 4 feet long!

I was very impressed with the GEN-X pump. They are loud but cheap, pretty efficient and lots of head power.

Anyhow, this is pretty long now... Main message is you need to keep in mind spreading the flow once inside your tank. You don't necessarily need huge pumps... Also keep the elc bill in mind... it's a killer...

 

[golfish]

Sump return flow isn't really an issue....anything around 1000 gph on a 120 is fine with say a 30 gal sump. If the sump is smaller you might need to tweak it down more. The real flow should come from other sources.

You might want to consider a 150 gal tank that's 30" deep from front to back. the 30" really makes it a nicer reef. My old 150 gal SPS tank was 48"long x 24" tall x 30" wide\deep. IMO, that's the perfict 48" long tank.

 

[ReefMeister2]

I personally can't stand the look of powerheads inside my display tank, and closed-loops on a 4-foot tank just seems silly to me. But then again....I'm a silly kinda guy. who knew

Anyhow, I run ~2,000 GPH through my 55 gal sump and 90 display (no kidding) with not the slightest issue

 

[snslarison]

Thanks guys. I am going to go with the 1262 and see how that goes. I cant go with a 150 because my wife might kill me. LOL!

 

[rockindacheeks]

ya right she wants a tank bigger than a 120 i heard her say something like 240.

 

[NALCOMIS]

Im runnning a quiet one 400hh as a return, 2 seio 620 and 1 24g nano cube pump in the display. my sps seems ok. I would like to upgrade the display powerheads to somthing bigger.. either modded MJ900's or bigger seios.

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