Starting 125 need advice

ncox38

ncox38

New member
I am starting up a 125 gal. and need some advice on a few things. I ordered my tank, it will be here early next week, now i need to get lights, pumps, etc. Ok, here are my questions...

I know i should turn the tank over 10+ times per hour, but how many gallons per hour should i run through the sump? Mag-Drive or Ocean-runner? I will have about a 4'6" head.

I am going to start off with 2- 250 watt Icecap MH ballasts but i dont know what bulbs to get. 10k xm's, 10k xde's, 14k coralvue, something i havent even considered? I dont really want to buy actinic supplements yet, and i like a little blue in the appearance. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

I also need a protein skimmer, I was looking at the turboflotor 1000 multi, anyone have any experience with this? or can they recommend one better in the same price range?

I posted in the main forum newbie area and didnt get any help, i am hoping since you folks are locals you might be a little more willing to help me out.

Thanks
 
Turboflotor is a good skimmer but may be a little small for your tank.

You may want to describe what you're planning on having in your tank. A lot of things depend on what your planning on keeping.
 
Might want to look at the dual bluewave VII ballast.

As far as bulbs, it's going to depend a lot on what you like. If you like the blue, I don't think you'll like the 10k (if I'm not mistaken) ...look around at others tanks. What reflectors will you be using?

Skimmer- My advice (I learned the hard way) Buy the right one the first time. Do you want a recirc.? I agree with capo. Go bigger. I won't hurt- except when you pay for it :D

Posting here will get you a lot further!

And if I had any recommendations for you, it would be to check out www.thereefstop.com
Truly great prices and it's nice that he's located here. He was able to give me a lot of advice without that "I'll sell you the biggest most expensive thing we have" outlook
 
As far as corals go start off with softies & some LPS. As far as fish...the basic beginner stuff, a couple clowns, yellow tang, banggai cardinal, coral beauty, etc....Maybe a snowflake eel, i havent done much research on them yet as far as temperament and reef compatability.
 
You don't need super high light for most softies and LPS. You may want a bit more than a 10X flow rate for your tank though 10X would be good for your sump.

Bulbs are a personal preference type of item. You might want to take a look at some tanks that are running different bulbs to see which you prefer.

When you decide what you like then call Mark at TheReefStop.

The best words of advice that anyone can give you at this point is Research before you buy. You only want to buy lighting and skimmers once. Don't try to go too cheap. You're better of buying something used that is what you really need vs. buying new and going too cheap.
 
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i can imagiane you might like 14000k whitish blue look,
will ur tank be cls or will u have power heads,
protien skimmer=go big don't skimp on this,
a lot of things will depend on what u want to keep

what are ur plans?
 
Thanks, I have been looking a thereefstop.com, the guy at gateway aquatics told me about them. I run 10k t5's on my planted tank and i like them ok, im just not sure what they would look like over a reef tank. looking at sanjay's lighting studies, it looks like you get the most PAR out of the 10k's. is PAR the most important thing to look at when choosing lighting i have been reading a lot of different opinions and its a little overwhelming.

I like the $30 reflectors they have on hellolights. I cant afford the $100 lumenarc's right now with all the other stuff i need to buy.
 
PAR is important to you but so is overall color. You may find the bulb with the highest par but you may not like the way it makes your tank look. Don't go on PAR alone unless you're willing to live with the color.
 
Re: Starting 125 need advice

First and far most.. Welcome to SLASH.. Great group of people here..

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=9137885#post9137885 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by ncox38
I am starting up a 125 gal. and need some advice on a few things. I ordered my tank, it will be here early next week, now i need to get lights, pumps, etc. Ok, here are my questions...
Click to expand...
Hope you have lots of room on your Credit cards :D

where did you get the tank from?

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=9137885#post9137885 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by ncox38
I know i should turn the tank over 10+ times per hour, but how many gallons per hour should i run through the sump? Mag-Drive or Ocean-runner? I will have about a 4'6" head.
Click to expand...
I'm not sure about either one of those pumps But I know they are both very common pumps. If it were me, between the two pumps I would go with the Ocean runner 6500, or the mag 18. and but a ball valve on the return line if you need to turn the pump back. That is just for the sump.

What type of tank are you wanting to go with? Fish Only, Softies, LPS, SPS? That will determine how much flow you are going to need in side the tank.. I would think 2 mod'ed Maxi Jets (maybe one High One Low)

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=9137885#post9137885 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by ncox38
I am going to start off with 2- 250 watt Icecap MH ballasts but i dont know what bulbs to get. 10k xm's, 10k xde's, 14k coralvue, something i havent even considered? I dont really want to buy actinic supplements yet, and i like a little blue in the appearance. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
Click to expand...
3 MH's will look a lot better on a 6' tank depending how you have your rock setup. If you like a Little blue go with 14k's. Bulb Color is all personal preference.

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=9137885#post9137885 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by ncox38
I also need a protein skimmer, I was looking at the turboflotor 1000 multi, anyone have any experience with this? or can they recommend one better in the same price range?
Click to expand...
Look up the Octopus skimmer with the Recirc mod..

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=9137885#post9137885 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by ncox38
I posted in the main forum newbie area and didnt get any help, i am hoping since you folks are locals you might be a little more willing to help me out.

Thanks
Click to expand...

Sorry to hear that about the Newbie site, but we are all welling to give a lending hand.. Just ask!!
 
Koddie Doo-
Sorry, not up on all the lingo yet "cls"?

not to second guess anyone, you have experience i dont, but the turboflotor is rated up to 250 gallons. how much bigger should i go?
 
cls is closed loop.

skimmers are always overated but it also depends on your load. research, research, research...

Looks like you're doing that if you're studying the pars of lights. Do the same with skimmers to see what might work best for your setup. What size will the sump be?
 
Wow, getting a lot of feedback here. Thanks.

Lonnie- I am planning on starting off with the island configuration and grow from there as I pay off the debt from the start up. I am building this into a wall in my basement, and plumbing in a fish room behind it. So its not only the expense of the tank that i have here.

I got the tank at gateway, chad gave me an awesome price. I couldnt get a glasscages.com tank that cheap.

I really appreciate all the input.
 
I think the Octopus that Lonnie suggested is a good place to start.

Skimmer manufacturers are notorious for overrating their skimmers.

Something else to consider is that there is really no such thing as overskimming. If you listen to a lot of folks, me included, you will find that many under buy on their skimmers just to turn around and have to buy a larger unit. Learn from our mistakes and save yourself some money along the way.

Many softies will do just fine in dirtier water and your Turboflotor may seem like it's doing OK but down the road when you decide to try your hand at some SPS you will find that it is no where near good enough to use for that. Rather than having to scrap what you have and buy new you might as well just pay the money once for a skimmer that will do the job for anything you want to keep.
 
Never trust the manuf. ratings...they over rate skimmers.

cls is closed loop system

Bulbs choices are always fun. I like 10k's and have done the 14k and 20k thing, I prefer the 10k's. Most soft corals and lps will look better under the 14k bulbs but you have to look at that blue color all the time. I stick with mostly sps and the 10k's rock.
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=9138178#post9138178 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by ncox38
Koddie Doo-
Sorry, not up on all the lingo yet "cls"?

not to second guess anyone, you have experience i dont, but the turboflotor is rated up to 250 gallons. how much bigger should i go?
Click to expand...
That is the new version of the turboflotors I would do a lot of research before making up your mind.. But trust me I don't think you will be upset later if you don't pickup that skimmer... but that is my opinion.
 
I'll start a thread on bulb temp. and we'll see if we can get some good pics from lovals tanks. This is something I have wanted to see for some time.
 
I bought a bunch of stuff off a guy at work last year for $100 he gave me: an Oceanic 20 gallon sump, 2 magnum 350's, 1 magnum hot, a bunch os small hobs, all kinds of tweezers, scrapers, chemicals (trashed these), 2 20 gal tanks, 3 10 gal tanks, reef ready 15 gal, pumps, ph's, seaclone skimmer (too small), etc.....

so i was going to use the 20 gal sump and connect it to a 20 gal tank to use as a fuge.
 
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