Equipment List Questions

[merlin4260]

Ok, this post will be a long one... so the faint of heart should turn back now :strooper: . I am not new to fish keeping (4+ years w/ a planted 55 Gal FW tank), but this will be my first SW tank.

I have bought a 125 Gal (72 x 18 x 22 H) AGA with dual overflows. I just finished building my stand and want to start buying all my equipment over the next couple of months. I want to get some opinions on my plans.

I plan on making it a reef tank. Some of the more needy future tank inhabitants might include a BTA, possibly a Clam, maybe some SPS. So, with all that said... take a look at my planned equipment. Will it be sufficient for my plans? Any major :eek2: holes? My main concerns are lighting and water movement. I tried to go the "Quality, not Quantity" route on those items, but as I said, I am new to SW.


Building my own sump, working volume will be about 25 Gal. (~8 gal. fuge, ~ 8 gal. inlet/skimmer, 9 gal return)

Water Movement
Return Pump - Sequence Reeflo Dart (~1400 GPH @ 9')
2 Wavy Sea's with eductors
2 Hydor Koralia 2's ( for behind the LR)
( Will the 1200-1400 GPH coming out of the Wavy Sea's give me sufficient water movement, or should I plan on adding some Koralia 4's :thumbdown :thumbsup: )

Coralife Calcium Reactor (Plan on using a phosban reactor as a secondary reaction chamber to raise the pH of the effluent)

Protien Skimmer - Tunze 9010

Heaters - 2 RenaCal 200 W

Controller - Aquacontroller Jr with a DC8 and DC4HD

Lighting - Current USA Outer Orbit HQI/T5 (3x150W MH, 8x39W T5, 762W Total) ... Enough light for my planned inhabitants?

RO/DI- Typhoon III from AirWaterIce.com

Chiller - Will try to use fans first, but if I need a chiller I was looking at a Pacific Coast CL-450 (1/6 HP In-Line Unit)

Substrate - ~120 lb CaribSea Bimini Pink (enough for ~4" DSB)

LR - ~150 lbs from Premium Aquatics Live (close enough for me to go pick it up and not pay for shipping)

So what do you think?
Feedback Please!!

Sean

 

[deklin]

Looking pretty good with the equipment list, you've obviously put a lot of thought into it.

On the lighting, if you are planning on having many SPS I think you should upgrade beyond 3 150W on a 6ft tank.

I recommend adding a couple Koralia 4's, they are great powerheads and a decent amount of flow helps a reef tank is so many ways.

On the substrate, I'd layer it with a relatively large grain sand on the top so that your tank can handle more flow without blowing sand around.

Just a couple quick suggestions at first glance, good luck with the new setup!

 

[merlin4260]

If I keep any SPS at all, it would not be many. I would make sure they were higher up in the tank in high light areas...still think the 150W should be 250's?