140 Gallon Reef Tank Adventure

[Farmreefer]

Hi everyone! I'm new to the hobby and forum.
My wife and I got interested in the hobby and thought we would just have a small tank, well that idea went out the window after talking to my LFS. We went from wanting a 54 gallon corner tank, to a 120 gallon tank and ended up with a sweet deal on our 140 gallon tank.

We will be waiting for delivery for a couple weeks, which is driving me nuts but here is the list of goodies on order.

Planet Aquarium 140 Gallon 48x24x29 Tank
Costal Design stand and Canopy - Heritage design in Mocha (my brides choice and because it's beautiful it gets to be in the living room)
Custom sump with heater, pump and skimmer, plans for a refugium
Maxspect Gyre
Seneye Reef monitor
AI Hydra 26 HD x2 with rails for mounting in canopy
Black live sand
Contemplating Real Reef rock or perhaps live rock

Pictures coming soon! Developing plans for fish room in the basement.

This hobby has absolutely consumed me, I love research and the many aspects of this hobby, tech, biology, building, design, the list goes on!

 

[Bogue Chitto]

Welcome to the hobby. You will have a great time setting your tank up. I hope you two will enjoy it and have fun with it as well. It gets exciting as time goes on. Will be looking for pics when you get them....

 

[Farmreefer]

Welcome to the hobby. You will have a great time setting your tank up. I hope you two will enjoy it and have fun with it as well. It gets exciting as time goes on. Will be looking for pics when you get them....

Thank you, here are the fish and inverts on our consideration list thus far.
I know there are most likely some that will conflict and have to be removed, or that simply won't fit, this is simply the preliminary fun list which is in constant flux. We plan on taking our time adding livestock.

 

[Bogue Chitto]

That's a good list, I'm not familiar with some of them but It is probably too many tangs for that size tank. I'm sure some of the more advanced people on here will tell you more about what you can put in the tank. Good luck with getting started.

 

[Farmreefer]

Yes we will probably have to trim the list of tangs, hard choices

 

[Bogue Chitto]

I like the marine betta, I had one years ago and it was a cool fish.

 

[oldbones]

Two Hydra 26's will be marginal at best for a tank that size, especially if you plan to keep anything but the least light hungry softies. I have three Primes (almost 1.5 26's) over a 56 and am looking at upgrading. It 'looks' like plenty of light, but you're going to have shadowing problems and with that depth, serious par deficiency.

 

[Farmreefer]

Two Hydra 26's will be marginal at best for a tank that size, especially if you plan to keep anything but the least light hungry softies. I have three Primes (almost 1.5 26's) over a 56 and am looking at upgrading. It 'looks' like plenty of light, but you're going to have shadowing problems and with that depth, serious par deficiency.

I will consider that, but we may not really care to have much coral at the bottom, so it may not be a problem, or we can place species appropriately in relation to the light level.

Am I mistaken in believing the hydra 26 hd will reach 30" of depth? I know reds fall off fast at depth.

I guess this is the nice thing about being in the planning/waiting phase, we can hopefully avoid expensive mistakes.

One last question. Is the color blending better on the AI Primes than the Hydra 26 HD's?

 

[oldbones]

I haven't used the 26's, but it would appear that each one is basically two Prime pucks. I like their look, and wanted to believe they were the ticket, but a borrowed PAR meter showed me they were marginal at best. Plus, the puck design doesn't provide the even spread you'll want for that 48" tank. If that's the light you really want, I'd say you need at least three, probably four.

I'm honestly considering a Reef Breeder Photon V2 as a replacement. My pal runs the V1, and I love the way it lights his 90g. It's less expensive, more powerful, and has better coverage...

 

[Farmreefer]

I'll have to check that out. There was another brand of LED I saw for about $895 with two pucks but they were spread out better than the Hydra, I think it was the Kessil.

 

[Farmreefer]

After more research I'm sticking with a pair of Hydra 26HD's. I'll just have to patient and disciplined when placing corals. Since we want larger colonies instead of the shotgun spray of frags this should be doable.

 

[oldbones]

Good lights, I'm pretty sure you'll like them. Down the road, you may decide to add a third to even out the par levels, but two should be fine to get you started.

 

[Farmreefer]

Good lights, I'm pretty sure you'll like them. Down the road, you may decide to add a third to even out the par levels, but two should be fine to get you started.

I'm betting you are right about the third light, probably more for an even spread of light than actual power. The people I have talked to run them at about 40%, but that wasn't in a 29" deep tank.

 

[oldbones]

Exactly. My tank is 34x20x20, I started with two Primes and later added a third. PAR drops fairly quickly when you move out from directly under the light.

 

[Farmreefer]

Once I'm up and running I'll get some par readings with the Seneye. Just heard today the stand, canopy and tank should be built by Wednesday!

 

[Muller]

I did a DIY LED light system for my 140 and I am happy with it but could still be more. Some from RapidLED and some from eBay.
It consists of;
26 Cree 5w Cool White XP-G2
65 Cree 3w Royal Blue XTE
13 UV (400-410nm) and (410-420nm)mix for moonlights.
I agree Bogue Chitto is right that you will have to pick and choose your tangs. Good luck with your tank.

Here is a shot of my tank from just before Christmas.

 

[Farmreefer]

Tank looks great! Did you let coralline grow on the back glass? We are considering doing this and also adding the "alternative reef" magnetic shelves on the back.

 

[Farmreefer]

Our tank, stand and canopy have arrived at our LFS Saltwater Island!!!!
Hope to have her home next week!

 

[Farmreefer]

Question. Should we put this all the way against the wall in the living room or leave room for access?
We have a toddler so we are leaning toward putting it against the wall.

 

[mgoulding]

Following along