New Tank Advice

[fernalfer]

Ok i'm setting up a new 120 Gallon Reef with Dual overflows and i'm going to be buying everything for this tank in the next week. I guess what i'm asking is advice on the equipment i should purchase. Keep in mind i'm not made of money, but will spend more on the items you experienced reefers believe is money well spent.

I have the Tank and a Trigger Systems 36" Ruby Sump thats it.

I can get a deal on a Reef Octopus 150INT Skimmer if you guys think that is sufficient for a 120.

Item needed:

Return Pump: Any suggestions?

Protein Skimmer: ?

Heater: ?

ATO: ?

Plumbing PVC or Vinyl Tubing ?

RO/DI System: ?

Salt: ?

Sand: Live or Not?

Any other misc. items you believe i'll need to get up and running. Keep in mind i will be doing a fishless cycle of the tank. I will be buying Marco Dryrock and putting some misc. pieces of liverock in aswell.

Not sure what chemicals to buy to speed up this process.

Lights i will be buying the reefbreeder photon 48" and supplemeting it with T5 lighting into a custom built hood.

Any advice of brands to buy, what size will be helpful. At least i can research these items and make a final decision.

Thanks for your help.

 

[thegrun]

Here is what I am running on my 120:
Return Pump: Eheim 1262 both as a return and to supply my carbon and GFO reactors

Protein Skimmer: AquaMaxx CO-2

Heater: Two Eheim Jagger 300 Watt Heaters

ATO: I'm using a combination of 4 float switches tied into my Apex Controller

Plumbing PVC or Vinyl Tubing: I used PVC most of the way, the last 9" before the return pump and the end of the drain lines into a filter sock are silicone tubing to prevent noise transmission. Silicone tubing is more flexible than vinyl so it does a better job at dampening the noise.

RO/DI System: BRS 6 stage

Salt: I have been using Instant Ocean for the past 6 months and like it. I was using Red Sea Pro for a few years before that, but it got to be twice as expensive as Instant Ocean so I made the switch. I have to dose a little more two part (I have an SPS dominated mixed reef tank), but I am still saving money and the corals and fish all look great after the change over.

Sand: Dry sand for sure. You will save money in the cost of sand and you can easily wash the dry sand with tap water to remove the fines. With live sand you have to use saltwater to rinse it of you will kill off anything that is still alive in the bag. If you don't rinse live sand you will have a cloudy tank for several days or longer.


Hope that helps, best of luck with your new tank!

 

[fernalfer]

Here is what I am running on my 120:
Return Pump: Eheim 1262 both as a return and to supply my carbon and GFO reactors

Protein Skimmer: AquaMaxx CO-2

Heater: Two Eheim Jagger 300 Watt Heaters

ATO: I'm using a combination of 4 float switches tied into my Apex Controller

Plumbing PVC or Vinyl Tubing: I used PVC most of the way, the last 9" before the return pump and the end of the drain lines into a filter sock are silicone tubing to prevent noise transmission. Silicone tubing is more flexible than vinyl so it does a better job at dampening the noise.

RO/DI System: BRS 6 stage

Salt: I have been using Instant Ocean for the past 6 months and like it. I was using Red Sea Pro for a few years before that, but it got to be twice as expensive as Instant Ocean so I made the switch. I have to dose a little more two part (I have an SPS dominated mixed reef tank), but I am still saving money and the corals and fish all look great after the change over.

Sand: Dry sand for sure. You will save money in the cost of sand and you can easily wash the dry sand with tap water to remove the fines. With live sand you have to use saltwater to rinse it of you will kill off anything that is still alive in the bag. If you don't rinse live sand you will have a cloudy tank for several days or longer.


Hope that helps, best of luck with your new tank!

Thanks I will look at some of the items you listed. I guess what i'm worst worried about is the plumbing form tank to sump and back. Just not sure where to use tubing, where to use PVC. And because i have two overflows is anything done differently the 1?

 

[WaReefer458]

Ok i'm setting up a new 120 Gallon Reef with Dual overflows and i'm going to be buying everything for this tank in the next week. I guess what i'm asking is advice on the equipment i should purchase. Keep in mind i'm not made of money, but will spend more on the items you experienced reefers believe is money well spent.

I have the Tank and a Trigger Systems 36" Ruby Sump thats it.

I can get a deal on a Reef Octopus 150INT Skimmer if you guys think that is sufficient for a 120.

Item needed:

Return Pump: Any suggestions?

Protein Skimmer: ?

Heater: ?

ATO: ?

Plumbing PVC or Vinyl Tubing ?

RO/DI System: ?

Salt: ?

Sand: Live or Not?

Any other misc. items you believe i'll need to get up and running. Keep in mind i will be doing a fishless cycle of the tank. I will be buying Marco Dryrock and putting some misc. pieces of liverock in aswell.

Not sure what chemicals to buy to speed up this process.

Lights i will be buying the reefbreeder photon 48" and supplemeting it with T5 lighting into a custom built hood.

Any advice of brands to buy, what size will be helpful. At least i can research these items and make a final decision.

Thanks for your help.

Return pump, mag 12 should do just fine. Skimmer, the 150 would be ok if u plan on stocking light, if not I'd go with an aquac ev180. Heaters are just dealers choice there but I'd personally do 2 heaters, 2 150 watts should be fine. I'd do live sand of its a fresh build and you have time for the dust to settle. I'm a fan of pvc myself. For salt I run Red Sea coral pro, it's more expensive but works great at maintaining alk. For ro/di you really can't beat the price on brs systems. Just make sure u get a tds meter and keep an extra set of filters handy. For top off I always keep mine idiot proof. I have a small end table with a 5 gal jug on it and just gravity feed it to a float switch in the sump thru 1/4" airline tubing. I've never had much faith in the pump driven ato systems even tho I don't hear about failures very often. Plus that whole setup cost me less than 30$ to do. You are going to want to get a couple power heads for tank flow as well. I'm a fan of the vortech mp40qd pumps. The amount of flow and controllability is great. Goodluck with the build bro!

 

[fernalfer]

Return pump, mag 12 should do just fine. Skimmer, the 150 would be ok if u plan on stocking light, if not I'd go with an aquac ev180. Heaters are just dealers choice there but I'd personally do 2 heaters, 2 150 watts should be fine. I'd do live sand of its a fresh build and you have time for the dust to settle. I'm a fan of pvc myself. For salt I run Red Sea coral pro, it's more expensive but works great at maintaining alk. For ro/di you really can't beat the price on brs systems. Just make sure u get a tds meter and keep an extra set of filters handy. For top off I always keep mine idiot proof. I have a small end table with a 5 gal jug on it and just gravity feed it to a float switch in the sump thru 1/4" airline tubing. I've never had much faith in the pump driven ato systems even tho I don't hear about failures very often. Plus that whole setup cost me less than 30$ to do. You are going to want to get a couple power heads for tank flow as well. I'm a fan of the vortech mp40qd pumps. The amount of flow and controllability is great. Goodluck with the build bro!

Thanks WaReefer. Did you run PVC 100% or did you use tubing at all anywhere in your run?

 

[WaReefer458]

Pvc all the way