looking to splurge on some reef stuff now!

mattyice

New member
Im looking to make my tank (125G) the reef tank that i have wanted i want to come to your guys on your opinions on what i should do with the things im looking to improve, i really would appreciate any help or personal experience in what you think i should go with, or if you think its a bad option, so here we go...

Lighting:
Right now i have a hamilton 3x175W MH retro with a magnetic ballast im going to need new bulbs here soon so here are the options that i would like to go with

-Reuse the ballast for the retro but upgrade the reflectors to lumenarc A3 mini's

-Sell the retrofit and use the money start with Lumenarc A3 mini reflectors and buy a dual fire 250W ballast and a single fire 250W ballast

-Sell the retrofit and use the money that money towards a Aquatinics Constellation and bulbs



Reef Controllers:
Right now i dont have anything besides me topping it off manually, relying on my the A/C zone in my basement to be enough cooling for the tank, and a coralife timer strip to control the lights

-Digital Aquatics Reef Keeper 2 with the expansion plugs, pH probe, and temp probe to control my temperature control and lights

-Aquatronica pro package from Aquarium Specialty with the ethernet adaptor to keep an eye on things remotely, i would use this to control the lights, temperature control, water top off, and wave control on two 6025 pumps positioned in the back on my tank to move water through the rocks easier

-Go all out for when i upgrade within the next year and buy the Profilux 4 kit from Aquarium Specialty along with their dosing pump and their Profilux view II remote screen, this would be used to eliminate a Tunze Multicontroller and to control a Tunze 6100 and a 6101, along with control two Tunze 6025's on a timer to move water through the rocks, this would also allow me to use it for kalkwasser top off and dosing B-Ionic, to view how its acting while im out of town, to control moon lights, to slowly turn on and off by dimming or lighting up the T5 lights if i go with them, and to be alerted of any alarms via email (important with how often im out of town, busy with work, and school)

Water Movement:
Right now i only have a Tunze 6000 on a single controller, and the return pump with is a sedra 9000

-Upgrade the 6000 to a 6100 and add another 6100 and controlled somehow, two 6025's on a wave timer to add movement in the rocks

-Keep the 6000 for another tank add two 6101's and control them somehow, and add two 6025's for water movement in the rocks


Skimmer:
Right now i have a Precision Marine Bullet 1 but im worried that my bioload might be too much for it, plus with me having to have it externally it doesnt seem to have the same kick it use to in the 90G bowfront i had

-Use the Bullet 1 skimmer for the tank im setting up at work and then upgrade to a real external skimmer big enough to handle a LARGE bioload in the future

-Stay with what i have just keep cleaning it and adjusting it as i need to


Stand:
The AGA Stand in black pine doesnt seem to be cutting it, its too short and i cant fit the things in it that i want (like my skimmer)

-Upgrade the stand and tear down the tank and hope i can keep the same aquascaping or somehow manage to make it better

-Keep the stand and just keep the skimmer external and wait until i upgrade to a larger tank


The tank itself:
Right now its a 125 with about 200-250 lbs of LR in it, i have the ability to upgrade in about 6 months, but am still deciding on what i should do so here are prolly the best two options i can do

-Keep the 125 and slowly work with the best options above to make it where i want

-Get new MH bulbs for the retro, do the same thing im doing now and save up to upgrade to at least a 265G tank and then choose everything that i want to make it the tank i want until i need to go bigger (damn vlamingii lol)
 
well lets see here ,,,,all of that stuff you have listed there ,,,,its all no good ,,it should be givin to me ,,,, go with your new 265 gal set- up and start alllllllllllllllllllllllll over with new suff ,,,,,,,,,

lol,,,,,it sounds like anyway you go it will be a nice set-up for ya ,,,, good luck and be sure to post some pics when your done with the new tank ...

Murph ,,,
 
Personally, since they are the hardest things to upgrade, I'd go for the tank and stand. You said you had 6 months. That would give you time to build a nice stand and start picking up pieces for the new tank. Get some LR and cook it for a few months while you wait. Frag some of your corals and grow them out. Have the electrician come out and add some outlets or seperate circuit for your tank.
 
"the tank i want until i need to go bigger (damn vlamingii lol)"

In this case the bigger tank is the priority imo. What type of corals do you keep? If they require more light then 2x250 > 3x175. This will also give you more bulb options anyways. If you want acros top to bottom in a 265 175's will probably be too little, otherwise for most stuff they should be fine.

-A properly set-up auto topoff can controll salinity (cheap/simple)
-A ranco temp controller can control hot/cold (cheap/simple)
-use current skimmer/buy nice used/mod current skimmer with better pump.

If you set-up the bigger tank and put your current inhabitants into it then you are keping the same bioload but with more water volume so keeping it clean wont be much of an issue with your current stuff. Just dont stock higher until you can improve skimmer (if you even find thats necessary).

just my .02c

-John
 
MJ...
the outlets wont be a problem as i can do them myself (it pays having to know circuits and electrical stuff in my field of work), i have a ton of options that i can use to build the stand, i still have to decide if an angle iron stand would be a waste or if i should just use 4x4's and 2x4's, I'm Looking for some LR right now, mostly XXL chunks, along with REAL thick branches and shelfin rock (I'm starting to look at pictures of reefs and going for the closest thing to a natural aquascape i can, i can use my 125 to start growing out nice frags and colonies to put in the next tank

John...
a bigger setup is very much a priority, i dont want people to think i bought a vlamingii tang and wasnt prepared for it as i perfectly knew of its tank size requirement and will end up with a tank as large or larger then what it needs, as for lighting i think my best option is to buy new bulbs for the setup over my 125 and then wait until i know what size tank im going to go with and plan for the final lighting that i will need/want then, even if i go larger then a 265 the tank will not be deeper then 30" so if that helps with lighting recommendations, to really learn from big tanks im going to be setting up my uncle's custom 500G bowfront to be a FOWLR so i will have experience in big tanks by the time i do upgrade, as for now the vlamingii is only 3.5" long so i do have time to have a well planned out tank
 
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