Peninsula style 120 soft reef

[AZ Burns]

Hello,

I have been keeping freshwater fish for about 20 years, but have never made the jump to salt.

I am planning to set up a 120 gallon (48x24X24) in my basement rec room, peninsula style, as something of a room divider. I will do a bean animal style overflow plumbed through the wall into an unused corner of the utility room in the basement, where I will have a 55 gallon tank set up as a sump.

I could just go with cichlids, but I am seriously considering trying my hand at salt water; starting out with a FOWLR setup, and then moving into a reef with soft corals as I get a handle on the new aspects of keeping saltwater.

I like the patchy reef look, with slightly more sparse aquascaping. I was thinking of starting with dry rock, 'cooking' it and then introducing coraline from a good source, to avoid unwanted hitchhikers. I can't do bare bottom, so I was thinking of coarse sand, and vacuuming it regularly.

I like some of the more common corals, like green star polyps, button polyps, and mushrooms. I also like zoas, and ricordea, and some of the LPS corals like frogspawn and trumpet coral look interesting as well. I would definitely want to start with the simplest corals, and work my way up.

I have lots of questions, but I'll start with lighting.

I have seen tanks with LED lighting that have a great flicker that looks like sunlight dancing on the sand, which I really like. I also have seen tanks with LEDs that looks like some sort of horrid disco/rave hybrid that might give the tank inhabitants a seizure at any moment.

Any suggestions of how to get that nice gentle flicker, and what might be a good LED light source for a 120 gallon, stocked with soft corals?

I am not a huge fan of the 'super blue all the time' lighting I see on some tanks. I would like to be able to turn off the white and enjoy the fluorescing alien landscape from time to time, but I think I would want my lighting more on the white side than blue.

Will this be OK for the corals, if the light is more white with some blue mixed in, but is not super actinic?

I appreciate any feedback.

Thanks,
AZ

 

[thegrun]

Yes, I keep my SPS dominated reef tank at around 13K, which is much whiter than the current blue craze. As you move towards a warmer color temperature algae can be more problematic to keep in check but it is certainly doable.

 

[lapin]

I have seen tanks with LED lighting that have a great flicker that looks like sunlight dancing on the sand, which I really like.
Any suggestions of how to get that nice gentle flicker, and what might be a good LED light source for a 120 gallon, stocked with soft corals?

Kessel is the light you see most often used, that produces that "sunlight shimmer". They are very good lights. Since you are going with a sparce look, 2ea 360W would do just fine in a rectangular 120g tank.

 

[AZ Burns]

I did a little reading and it looks like lots of people agree that the Kessel is a great light. That gives me an idea how tall to build my hood.

I was thinking of starting out with a (2x) 54w T5HO retrofit kit, which could later be used as a supplement to the LEDs. Maybe a dimmable one.

Do you think two 54W T5HOs would be enough for the beginning setup, to grow coraline, and maybe some mushroom corals, and then I could add the Kessels after a while, when I am ready to add more light hungry corals?

Thanks,
AZ

 

[Pandagobyguy]

If i were to chose a new LED light, i would go for one which has multiple separate controllable color spectrums, and I'd either mount it or buy a diffuser for it. Also i'd get moon lighting if it wasn't that much extra

 

[AZ Burns]

Thank you, all, for the replies.

I am thinking of a bean animal overflow, maybe not coast to coast, but something like an 18" wide overflow box. I would want two returns in case one pump fails.

What is the best way to set up circulation? Do I plan on pumping a ton of water, like 2400gph+ through the sump, and then a few powerheads as well, or do I run a more moderate amount of water through the sump and plan on using more gph from powerheads to give me ideal circulation?

 

[lapin]

What is the best way to set up circulation? Do I plan on pumping a ton of water, like 2400gph+ through the sump, and then a few powerheads as well, or do I run a more moderate amount of water through the sump and plan on using more gph from powerheads to give me ideal circulation?

I would use powerheads for the majority of flow. They are easy to place where you want them and easy to move if needed.

Not sure if you will get that shimmer you want from T5's

 

[AZ Burns]

I mostly am thinking of using the T5s to start so that I am looking at less cost up front, and then upgrade to the Kessels down the road. Then I could either run the T5s alongside the Kessels, or put them on another tank, or sell/trade them.