Need advice for my huge upgrade

nickz24ninja

nickz24ninja

Member
Hello everyone I am new to this forum so I will start by saying hello to everyone and there are some awsome tanks on here. I am from northwestern CT and I have been in saltwater / reef for about 5/3 years. I have been downsizing lately I had a 3 reef, 12 reef, 20 reef, 29 reef, 29 fowlri, 55 aggressive, 55 fowlri, 55 reef. now all i have is the 29 reef 55 reef and 55 fowlri .
Anyways I just got a 125 and I need some advice, I want to do a 55 sump ( next to the tank on a stand for easy access ) I will have a skimmer(180gph), two 150 watt heaters and two 200 gph powerheads going over the heaters and a return pump in the 55 sump with about 80 pounds of live sand, a clean up crew, 70 ish pounds of live rock, two compact florecent lights and a UV sterilizer.
In the DT I will have a 950gph canister filter hooked up, two korila 4's, an overflow to go to the 55 probibly 400-800gph not sure what to do yet for the over flow, about 130 + pounds of live rock.
some of my questions.....
how much live sand in the DT?
how do i take all of my corals and put them in?
what would be some good fish to add?
is there anything you would recamend to do/add that i forgot?
I am still kinda new to this only been working with reefs for 3 years.
Please help. Thanks
 
naclh2o nut

naclh2o nut

Member
1
First of all, Welcome.
Glad to hear about the upgrade. As far as the coral, I would treat them as af they are coming from your QT.
Lights- ditch the P/Cs and go M/H. I just put mine on and all I can say is WOW!!
After seeing it on my tank that had P/Cs, I would question why does anyone sell anything but M/Hs.

Fish- what do you like pick one or two fish that you must have then work around them.
Goodluck, and post pics
 
nickz24ninja

nickz24ninja

Member
Thanks.
I dont have any good pics of the 55 reef sorry. Here is the 125 thou.
So it is just like starting a brand new tank? That is not what i was hoping to hear but it makes the most sence
 
nickz24ninja

nickz24ninja

Member
I am going to redo all of the seams, paint the trim and the stand black, add two cross supports ( for some reason aga did not have centers on this 125 series )
I like antias and bangiis, tangs, pshudochromis, reef safe wrasse,
I have 1 yellow watchman goby with a pistol shrimp, 1 percila clown, 1 tomini tang, 1 spotted hawk fish, 1 huge lawnmower blennie about 5+", 1 female antias in the 55 reef. I am not sure if I will keep the goby and shrimp any thoughts about keeping or ditching that?
I have 2 damsels, 1 chromis, two enginier gobys 7+" in my 55 fowlri. Should I put the gobys in the refugeuim/sump or the d/t or neither?
I found a nice skimmer That i will probibly get it is 400gph i belive.
for my overflow i was thinking an 800gph overflow or should I go bigger?
For heaters i was going to use two 150 watt heaters one on either side of the sump with a powerhead going over each one.
i found a fulval canister filter 925 gph for $300 would that be good? or would you recamend something else?
sorry about all of the questions, like i said i am fairly new to the hobby and i want everything to go smoth and i want all of the equipment to be good for the live stock.
thanks for your advice and patiantce.
Sent on the run.
 
pbnj

pbnj

Member
Originally Posted by nickz24ninja
http:///forum/post/2964215
....an overflow to go to the 55 probibly 400-800gph not sure what to do yet for the over flow
For 125g, I'd go 800-1200 on the overflow and, at a minimum, 900 gph on the return pump.
On my 75g, I have a CPR CS90 (600gph) and a Rio 3100 pump (900gph @ 0ft and 690gph @ my current 4ft setup). It's fine because of the other powerheads and canister filter return, but even I wouldn't mind a little more flow from the overflow/return.
 
pbnj

pbnj

Member
Originally Posted by nickz24ninja
http:///forum/post/2965108
...add two cross supports (for some reason aga did not have centers on this 125 series).
Good idea, but when putting in the supports, consider the layout of the lighting you're going to be using. You don't want metal halides bulbs directly shining down on plastic/acrylic/glass supports.
 
nickz24ninja

nickz24ninja

Member
Originally Posted by pbnj
http:///forum/post/2965128
Good idea, but when putting in the supports, consider the layout of the lighting you're going to be using. You don't want metal halides bulbs directly shining down on plastic/acrylic/glass supports.
I will have two in the center 1' away from each other
 
pbnj

pbnj

Member
Originally Posted by nickz24ninja
http:///forum/post/2965162
I will have two in the center 1' away from each other
On a 6ft tank, you won't be able to use a MH fixture with a bulb that is centered. Don't know if that will create a shadowed area in the center of the tank.
 
nickz24ninja

nickz24ninja

Member
Originally Posted by pbnj
http:///forum/post/2965172
On a 6ft tank, you won't be able to use a MH fixture with a bulb that is centered. Don't know if that will create a shadowed area in the center of the tank.
I am going to run two 36" coralife mh I have one now and I need to get another one
 
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