in over my head

[lawnboy]

I ran a 55 reef fairly well for the last year. Got a deal on a 125 so I built a stand and canopy. Wired in vho's, pc's and hallide. Still only have the 70 lbs LR and 50 lbs CC from 55. added 60 lbs aquariun sand and 10-20lbs live sand to seed. Have seaclone from 55 and magnum 350 canister.
I need: better skimmer
bio filter
more LR
more LS
I am out of cash and will have a newborn within a week (we hope!!) Can I add another seaclone and a bio wheel and be ok or do I need to add an overflow/sump/berlin/wetdry etc? (in which case I'll probably just tear it down till I have more money.)
I've been reading diy but I'm not sure what it would end up costing.
Do I need to replace my sand/cc with live sand?
125 gal tank
DIY oak stand and canopy
2 vho 2pc +hallide DIY retro
Magnum 350
seaclone
Sweetlips, clowns, tangs, cardinals, gobies
Pagoda, anchor, colt, mushrooms, polyps
crabs and snails
Anemones are all dead now. 30 ppm nitrate

 

[reeferkeeper]

"I am out of cash and will have a newborn within a week (we hope!!) "
I am sure there are more qulified people to help you with your question. YOU SCARED ME! I know that reefing is an addiction, but when I read the quote from above.....I thought you were offering your newborn for sale to purchase more reef equipment! <img src="graemlins//bah.gif" border="0" alt="[bah]" /> I thought, my gosh, Maybe I am not as dedicated as I need to be for this hobby...just had to share!

 

[reeferkeeper]

Oh Yeah...CONGRATS on the soon to be new addition!

 

[lu]

First of all, congrats! Second, I think what you have will have to do until you can bet a little more upscaled eqiupment. Geez, I'm running a 125 with no skimmer, just 2 emperor 400's for filters and 2 50/50 actinic bulbs for lights. My tank is doing great although I have been told it's going to crash and everything is gonna die because I don't have more equipment. I'm researching and getting one piece at a time.....
I can't go out and spend a 1000.00 right off the get go. All I know is my tank is awesome, looks great. All the fish and other assorted critters AND corals are doing well.
Whatever you do though, good luck!

 

[lu]

Oops, forgot to say I DO have 4" dsb and over 70 #'s of lr, so I do have some filtration....

 

[lawnboy]

Reeferkeeper and Lu-- Thanks. Sorry cant sell the kid. Is your dsb in tank or sump? I need to prioritize. If I can scrape up $200 should I get the seaclone and biowheel with some sand? Just get more LR? Will $200 finish a DIY wet/dry? I'll post that Q on euip board.

 

[tykill]

Lets see, here is what I think.
Get a Emporer 400

[hr]
$45
and 45 # of LR

[hr]
$119
Should cost you around $200 after shiping.

 

[pat]

hey, i actually bought my 125 about 8 months ago. since then i bee painting the stand and getting the filter set up just how i wanted it...tank is finally on the get-go, if this hobby teaches you anything, its patience

 

[wolffam]

I agree, patience is the key. I have been slowly working on upgrading everything from the sump system to lighting in my 135. It's been going slowly, but at least I can enjoy what I have at the moment. Tearing down and waiting until more money is available in my opinion only puts you out of the hobby possibly for good. In the past before I met my wife, who by the way encouraged me to get back into the hobby, I had a tank sitting empty because I was waiting for the windfall to arrive. She had seen pictures of the tank and wanting to know what happened. I had a kid and then divorced so that tank became a victim of this situation because of priority changes at the time. Now I'm able to with patience slowly move forward, even it it means waiting for months to add that coral that I've wanting. By the way, I'm finally getting the lighting upgrade I need, been over a year of waiting and slowly saving to get here. Conrats on the new one, watch it enjoy what you do now, and maybe it'll be a future aquarium owner, as my three now are. HTH & Good Luck