New reef tank.

[Truepercula109]

Howdy fellas,

I'm not new to the hobby per say, as I spent most of my youth working at a LFS, however I haven't owned a reef tank in well over a decade. I know the hobby and specially the equipment used today is substantially different. That being said, I recently purchased my first home and the reef bug bit me hard.

My wife and I have agreed to purchase a new tank and make it the theme of the first floor in our modern themed house.

I was wondering if suggestions could be made? From as basic as the tank to the lights, sumps, power heads, heaters, the works.

We allocated roughly 13K and would like to stay within that budget for the tank and all the equipment, obviously not life stock.

Thanks in advance.

 

[VWD]

Hello and good morning, you have a great budget to work with. Most people do it on a lot smaller budget. For me it hard to recommend stuff because of all the options out there. I haven’t really purchased any new equipment in years other then power heads and pumps.

 

[Dan.]

Start with the biggest tank you can fit/afford.

 

[Truepercula109]

As far as tank size, I want to buy the biggest one I can and still outfit it with everything within the budget. Atleast 72" by 24"W+.

 

[Vinny Kreyling]

Try to stay under 27" high. Helps with lighting a lot.
Try to get "the best" in equipment, it saves you over time.
Unless you are going to have a basement sump a DC pump will do just fine.
If you do have a basement sump put it on a bench made for it.
Saves your back & much easier to work with, making water changes & everything else a pleasure. You will however need a bigger pump.

 

[zheka757]

personally, brand new tanks are way overpriced in my opinion. new or used once its filled with water you wont tell which is which. Id say same money by buying used tank, but spend on more reliable equipment.
Again its just my personal preference and opinion.

 

[Truepercula109]

I thought about going the used tank route. I have seen many tanks over the years that are used and in pristine condition, however those are rare and hard to find, thus why I went the brand new route.

So far, I'm stuck between the Red Sea Reefer 3XL 900 (192G 79"L, 25.6"W and 25.6"H) and the Waterbox Reef LX 270 (192.8G 72.3"L, 29.5"W, 23.6"H).

I do like the dimensions of the Waterbox aquarium and their sump much more than the Red Sea, however it also comes at a 1,500 upcharge.

As far as equipment for the build, it's as follows:

4 Radion XR15G Pro (each is rated for 24" x 24").

BRS 7 Stage RO/DI Pro 100 Gallons a day.

Apex Neptune (PH, Temp, Salinity and ORP probes) with 2 energy bars, DoS pump, leak detection, flow monitoring, automatic feeder + Tunz auto top off.

600W Titanium Heater Element to be controlled via the Apex.

5 Fan Propeller Breeze 3 to run over the sump and maintain temperature (South Florida).

Comline Wavebox 6214 - Tunze.

2 ReefWave 45 Pump (3960 GhP).

1 ReefWave 25 to run inside the refugium and keep the algae tumbling.

Regal 200EXT 8" Recirculating Protein Skimmer.

Smart UV 40 Watt - Pentair Aquatics.

Vectra L2 (3100 GpH) for return pump - and to run manifold.

So far, that's what I've come up with. PLEASE add suggestions.

Thank you!.

 

[zheka757]

im in florida also, i keep my house temp at 75, tank temperature stays in 77-78 degrees, no heater needed for my tank, ..unless you going to run your a/c in the house really cold, no heater needed.

 

[Truepercula109]

I normally keep the temperature at 75 degrees from 8AM-10PM then it goes down to 69 for the night. I figured, low temp + no lights on = cold temperature thus the heater. It's probably one of the cheapest pieces of equipment so I didn't want to skimp out on it.

 

[zheka757]

in any ways good luck with your build, from your list of equipment i can only share what i have same as yours, and that is vectra L2, i also have it as my return pump on my 500 gallon system. Love it, its on max and I cant hear it working.

 

[reefinJ]

personally, brand new tanks are way overpriced in my opinion. new or used once its filled with water you wont tell which is which. Id say same money by buying used tank, but spend on more reliable equipment.
Again its just my personal preference and opinion.

Definitely keep your eyes open for nice used ones.

 

[Vinny Kreyling]

There are many complaints about the salinity probes on Apex.
Don't think I would include it.
Flow monitoring also has a negative affect on the flow.
Outside of the UV do we really have to have a #?