Old Newbi tank questions

[Old Newbie]

I have been out of the hobby for the past 12 years. My last tank was 180 with a 250 g. stock tank attached. It was very well thought out. I loved that tank but... one divorce later it had to be torn down. I could do a 55 gallon water change by flipping a light switch. This brings me to today. I am moving over seas. And I am getting the itch to set up a tank again. The rub is I will be renting a house so it wont be possible to drill holes in walls to connect to a stock tank. The stock tank is where I also kept the protein skimmer, etc.

With all of that in mind...If i were to set up a 90g. or smaller tank and be super selective with the corals I put in it -Blue Oregon torts, Raspberry etc. and some LPS what tank and skimmer set up would you go with? I do not want to do water changes with a 5g bucket again. Help a brother out here with what is new in the hobby. Much appreciated.

 

[griss]

A reef ready tank with a sump that fits under the stand should suffice.

When I had my larger tank (450 gallon) I used a couple 40 gallon Rubbermaid Brute trashcans to mix water in for water changes. I had them near the sump with bulkheads and gate valves, so I just vacuumed and then opened the gate valves to let the new water flow into the sump.

 

[wvned]

Nice easy auto stuff now from Hydros. It cant teleport water though. You need a water source, place for reservoirs and drain near the tank. You can make a sump out of a used tank that fits in the stand. Cut glass baffles and silicone them in

 

[Old Newbie]

What brands of tanks, skimmers, and what LED lights are really good for SPS and LPS?. I am old school. i loved my XM 20k metal halide lights! I had a tank for almost ten years. But I know a lot has changed since I got out of the obsession.

 

[wvned]

I have a CustomAquariums 8 foot long 240 that was delivered to my house by motor freight. Got a beautiful wood stand with it. I also have a 6 foot 180 Marineland tank I drove to a LFS and put in my car. I made the stand myself. They hold water the same and the animals dont know the difference. Myself I would avoid Red Sea tanks because of the number of seam and stand failure threads I have seen. Lots of them out there though. Even those are probably fine now. It really comes down to what you want to spend. I got all mine before the recent inflation. You can be really spendy in this hobby if you want to.

Moving oversees. What is common there may be completely different than here. Buy a complete used system.

Skimmers is easy. Reef Octo. Nothing better made IMHO, Others won't agree, It's the internet.

Lights. OOF again how much do you want to spend. These are the cheap ones, ~$200 each from China by Noopsyche. In a CoralCover LED mount. Radions, Kessil. Lot of good lights now. I am a fan of more small lights over a few big ones. Lots of info on name brand lights at Bulk Reef Supply including video comparisons and reviews.

This is run on a sump made with 40,100 and 150 gallon stock tanks plumbed together in a fish room. We still use those. 29 and 75 gallon tanks in there as well. I dont use filter socks. I just have a big skimmer to clean things up. Works for me.

 

[griss]

Planet Aquarium (rumored to be run by former Oceanic employees) has a solid reputation. Glass Cages also has a good reputation.

Most skimmers, IMO, are pretty much the same today. I'm running an older eShopps cone skimmer and have no complaints.

As far as lighting, especially LEDs, I cannot really comment as I'm still running metal halides.

 

[Dustin07]

A reef ready tank with a sump that fits under the stand should suffice.

What brands of tanks, skimmers, and what LED lights are really good for SPS and LPS?. I am old school. i loved my XM 20k metal halide lights! I had a tank for almost ten years. But I know a lot has changed since I got out of the obsession.

So this weekend I was looking at a Redsea MAx 260 (69g) that fits this description. 69 gallon main tank with sump integrated below, skimmer, reef tape, and 2 x Redsea 90w LED lights. all said and done it was about a $5k setup new for sale for $1800. my wife and I are very interested in it, but Redsea had developed a bit of a reputation for leaks that concerns me. Because of that we have also been looking at Innovative Marine and Waterbox. However that Redsea 260 is dimensionally the perfect fit for us. I also really LOVE my redsea 50 lights I have now.

When I had my larger tank (450 gallon) I used a couple 40 gallon Rubbermaid Brute trashcans to mix water in for water changes. I had them near the sump with bulkheads and gate valves, so I just vacuumed and then opened the gate valves to let the new water flow into the sump.

man I'm curious about how big of a job those water changes were... Did you do them any more or less often with that much water in the tank? I suppose using the sump like that helps a lot though.

 

[griss]

man I'm curious about how big of a job those water changes were... Did you do them any more or less often with that much water in the tank? I suppose using the sump like that helps a lot though.

The tank was fairly lightly stocked as far as fish were concerned and had large water volume (sump was 4'x4'x24"). So, I only did water changes about once a month. Unfortunately, all three of our kids got super involved in sports and I helped coach all their teams. As a result, the tank was getting neglected pretty badly and I made the decision to sell the whole thing.