first tank help or suggestions

[dreminon]

Ok I have owned fresh water tanks on and off all my life always wanted a saltwater reef tank. So I finally got my wife to agree on letting me start my first tank. This is what I have figured out so far (nothing set in stone open to all opions, expecially if it will save me money or trouble in the long run)

Ok for my Tank it is 120Gal from glasscages with reef setup and starphire glass on front and sides, overflow cover, bulkheads, stand and canopy, with a 38 gal sump going in stand.

for my pump Poseidon PS4 External Pump , skimmer is AquaC EV-180 Protein Skimmer w/ JG Fitting + Mag-Drive 7 Pump, live rock and sand i am planning on the 170 gal package from TBS, heaters are 2 Jager 250 W Heater, a JBJ A.T.O. - Automatic Top Off System Water Level Controller , a octopus 4000 by aquadyne, Coralife Calcium Reactor - up to 250 gallons, Deluxe CO2 Regulator with 5 lbs CO2 Tank ,Two Little Fishies ReBorn Coarse Aragonite Calcium Reactor Media 44lbs ,Captive Purity 75 GPD RO/DI Pro RO/DI Filter System - Clear Canisters ,D-D H2Ocean Magnesium Pro PLUS Salt Water Mixing Kit plus the large bucket of the same kind of salt.

lights and chiller have not figured one out yet.

Ok my tank I plan on having 3 or four Anemone, small selection of fish, (still figuring out wich whould go well) and various corals.

I have been reading Natural reef aquariums Simplified approaches to creating living saltwater microcosms. Its a very good book answered most of my questions.

if there is any advice you can give me or better equipment advice im open to all suggestions. thanks for taking a look.

 

[dreminon]

oops forgot to put on the powerheads. looking for good suggestions that the fish wont get into and wont fall off the tank

 

[xxwake4lifexx]

I'm certainly not the person to dish out advice on larger marine system equipment, but it seems like you've been doing your research. I hear the starfire glass is nice.

For the powerheads I think Koralia is a good brand. I went with them because I read good things about them on this site. I think Vortech is the other big nice brand.

I'm sure someone a little more experienced will be here soon . You need to keep us updated with a build thread!

And good luck!

 

[dreminon]

ok ill check them out.

I found this light system 48" 6x54W Tek Light T5 High-Output Fixture w/ Bulbs I like it that I get to choose my own bulbs (once I learn which ones I need to get that is )
If I get it ill need to get seperate moon light system though.
on upside if I do get it ill get the 31" deep tank instead moving it from 120 gal to 150, which means ill need the 200 gal package instead of the 170. hmm what to choose. lol guess good thing I got alot of time to figure it out lol

 

[dreminon]

man this thing moved down quick with nothing said about the gear.

 

[otrlynn]

Sorry, I don't have much input on your gear--that's a much bigger system than I have. A 31" tank is deep. Personally I would find working in a tank that deep to be an armpit-soaking pain. Also, maybe someone with more experience will chime in here, but I don't know about the light penetration of the T5s in that deep a tank; my guess is that you will need to keep the coral with high light needs toward the upper half of the tank. If nothing else, here's a boost to the top.

 

[dreminon]

I thought it was a little deep to. where I found The light said it was good to 30" with correct placing of the coral.

 

[otrlynn]

Well, on the face of it that would be correct. I'm sure soft coral, such as cabbage leather, would be just fine on the bottom of that tank with that lighting system, probably even some moderate light coral.

 

[Michael]

youve done your homework, you may get a few opinions on some of the equipment, fwiw i think your pretty good there, and congratulations on the choice of salt, ive just started using it myself, top quality reef salt, and welcome to the forum

[welcome]

 

[dreminon]

thanks sad thing is already chaged what im going to use for controller and what I had planed on for calcium reactor too.

 

[Plankt0s]

For a tank that deep I would ABSOLUTELY go with halides. Halides are alot cheaper in the long run and they produce a light far superior to anything else out there.

 

[Tylt33]

I have no idea about the weather where you live, but I have the following advice:

1. I'm 5'11" and a 24" height tank is about as far as I can reach to get to the bottom (when on a step stool). 31" you're going to need inspector Gadget arms to get to the bottom.

2. For a 24" deep tank I would consider the ATI Powermodule T5s or a metal halide setup. I have metal halides, and I love the shimmer and brightness. I don't love the heat they add or the color in comparison to *nice* T5 setups.

3. Other advice and questions you have will be more or less learn-as-you-go. Keep asking!

 

[Tylt33]

If you decide to go with T5's, ask Grimreefer in the Light/whatever section of these boards what bulbs to get; he is the resident guru.

I don't know if I would recommend TBS rock for a rookie. Yeah, it's cool and comes with a lot of neat life. However, as you learn more in the hobby you'll realize that a lot of the freebies that come with it are not desirable (algae, mantis shrimp, gorilla crabs, anemone, etc.) and I think that they would be really frustrating to try and remove when starting out.

 

[Tylt33]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=14855642#post14855642 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by dreminon
thanks sad thing is already chaged what im going to use for controller and what I had planed on for calcium reactor too.

If you have a lot of money, you can buy these things to start. If you don't, I would recommend holding off on those two pieces of equipment. A calc reactor is a pretty involve piece of equipment that even many advanced aquarists don't need/want/require. I would wait until you have your tank up and running and then decide if you still need/want/require one.

If you're looking for in tank circulation, check out Tunze, Koralia, and Vortech. Have you seen wave boxes? They might be up your ally.

 

[dreminon]

hmm thanks for the advice on everything. ill diffently just stick with the 24" this time. As for the hanger ons from TBS they dont bother me much I am the kind of guy that likes the challenge of getting them out. (but I am also looking into other rock as well )more time I spend with the tank the better lol. as for the rector and controller ill think on it. Worse come to worse I think Id rather have it. reactor I am looking into I can basiclly hook it up to control itself, plus if I end up not needing for this tanks My next one I probally will. the controller I am looking into will basiclly check everything plus control evrything. wich I really like the idea of. but of course ill look into them alittle more.