Revised Equipment List (125 gal)

azfishgal

azfishgal

Active Member
OK, I'm finally starting to get a handle on all this equipment (I think :thinking: ). The fish I plan to have for sure is a pair of Percula Clownfish, Hippo Tang, 3 Bangaii Cardinal, 1 Royal Gramma, and 3 Jawfish and clean up crew (will have more, but these I want for sure).
What I already have:
125 gallon reef ready tank 6' long (overflow in middle)
30" sump/fuge
Hydrometer
What I plan to order/buy:
Little Giant 4MDSC Pump (850 gph) or should I get 5MDSC (1050 gph)
(LFS has the Little Giant MD4 on my list, but I think this is the same thing, please correct me if I'm wrong)
ASM G2 Protein Skimmer ($100 less here at SWF! :cheer: )
2 x Rio PH 1100 UL (300 gph)
(LFS has Rio 1100 Water Pump on my list, but I think this is the same thing, again correct me if I'm wrong)
2 x T5 36" lights (will eventually upgrade)
80 lbs. LR (I know I probably need more, but will start with this amount, if I can even afford this.
)
LS, but not sure how much for my tank size (suggestions?)
RO/DI unit
UV Filter (do I really need this?)
Tests (do they have Salifert in a kit, or do I need to buy tests individually)
Nitrite
Nitrate
Ammonia
PH
Thanks so much for all your help! You are all making this much easier on me and I'm not so scared about doing this anymore.
 
bkvreef

bkvreef

Member
I purchased a Quiet One pump that will do 1000gph from a doctor, and it is actually probably not as strong as I would like.
I have a 110g, 62 x 19 x 19, with two overflow boxes one on each end
 
saltn00b

saltn00b

Active Member
looks like a good starting list.
you dont need the UV.
you can save money by purchasing 50%-60% base rock and the rest LR
as well as the 75% plain aragonite sand, and the top layer LS.
do you have other plans for flow? power heads? CLS? you will need more than what that pump will push from what i am guessing 5'. i have one at that height and you can check online but it pushes something like 760 GPH at that height, which is good for a sump/ fuge, but overall not enough for a healthy system.
 
azfishgal

azfishgal

Active Member
Originally Posted by saltn00b
looks like a good starting list.
you dont need the UV.
you can save money by purchasing 50%-60% base rock and the rest LR
as well as the 75% plain aragonite sand, and the top layer LS.
do you have other plans for flow? power heads? CLS? you will need more than what that pump will push from what i am guessing 5'. i have one at that height and you can check online but it pushes something like 760 GPH at that height, which is good for a sump/ fuge, but overall not enough for a healthy system.
Thanks for the tip on the sand and rock, and to be honest, I already had it in my head to do base rock on the very bottom but completely forgot about that when I was making my list, so thanks for reminding me.

I have two power heads listed, do I need more? What's a CLS? (I looked at my acronyms cheat sheet but didn't see it.
What else would you add to my list. Thanks!
 
teresaq

teresaq

Active Member
I would go with maxjet instead of rio pumps. and mag pump for your return.give me an e-mail fr important info

m0m24@earhlink dot net
 
azfishgal

azfishgal

Active Member
Originally Posted by TeresaQ
I would go with maxjet instead of rio pumps. and mag pump for your return.give me an e-mail fr important info

m0m24@earhlink dot net
email sent, thanks!
 
rgunnell

rgunnell

Member
Originally Posted by TeresaQ
I would go with maxjet instead of rio pumps. and mag pump for your return.give me an e-mail fr important info

m0m24@earhlink dot net
I second the Maxi-Jets.
 
azfishgal

azfishgal

Active Member
Originally Posted by TeresaQ
didnt get it try again m0(zero)m24@earthlink.net
OH, I see the problem. I copied and pasted what you posted, but you spelt "earth" wrong, lol!
Look again.
 
teresaq

teresaq

Active Member
you have mail

for sand i would do 110 to 140 lbs. depending on how deep you want it. do 2- 40 lb bags of dry. and 2-20 lb bags live. or 3 - 40 lb dry and 1- 20 lb live
 
azfishgal

azfishgal

Active Member
OK, so for my size tank what gph do I need for the return pump and then for the powerheads? It's going to be a FOWLR, but soon will be adding soft coral. At some point I will want a full reef tank, BUT lets see if I can do the simple route first. So, give me your suggestions on the gph to start with.
THANKS!!!!
 
saltn00b

saltn00b

Active Member
a SW tank should be at least 10X the tank volume in overall GPH turnover. reefs are better off 15x -25x or even more sometimes. so your return pump, skimmer pump and PHs should add up to at least 1250 GPH, 1600+ is looking better. a good bulk of that can be in your sump, but you still need adequate flow in the tank itself. also remember you are limited by the amount of water that can fit down your drain hole. 1" bulkhead drains are rated at 600 GPH. many people have 2, so thats 1200 GPH down. if your return pump is much stronger, you may need to dial it back.
 
underpar

underpar

New Member
Regarding those bags that claim to be live sand, with a "Best if used by ..." date on them:
If a new DSB is made up of a layer of "dry" or "dead" sand and then topped with the "live" sand, will the entire bed eventually come alive? I question how can "live" sand be so after spending so much time in the bag. I know seeding with some live sand from another system will work, but I do not have ready access to donor sand.
Thanks for your help!
Fred
 
azfishgal

azfishgal

Active Member
Originally Posted by underpar
Regarding those bags that claim to be live sand, with a "Best if used by ..." date on them:
If a new DSB is made up of a layer of "dry" or "dead" sand and then topped with the "live" sand, will the entire bed eventually come alive? I question how can "live" sand be so after spending so much time in the bag. I know seeding with some live sand from another system will work, but I do not have ready access to donor sand.
Thanks for your help!
Fred
This is a very good question. Will wait to see what the experts say. ***)
Also, I found 72" Coralife Lunar Aqualights for $329.99. (two 96 watt, 10,000k Daylight and two 96 watt true actinic 03 blue compact plus five 3/4 watt blue-moon-glow-led lamps) Sounds like a good deal to me. What do you think? :thinking:
 
teresaq

teresaq

Active Member
do you have a canopy? i have heard some good things about t5s I am thinking of replaceing my middle mh with 4 of them. not sure about the fixture you are looking at, never delt with them. but it will give you 3 wtts per gal which would be good for shrooms, zoos and maybe some leathers.
and yes to the question about dead sand turning live. you can put all dead, and add just a few cups of live and it will all become live. just takes a little longer. one bag of live would be better
 
solarris

solarris

New Member
I had someone at the lfs tell me that you can use all bagged sand and no live sand as long as you are using live rocks. He said with the organisms on the rocks the sand would become live. Is this true also?
 
teresaq

teresaq

Active Member
yup
I started my first tank with just dry sand. then I wanted more critters like worms and such, so i bought a lb of live sand and added. got lots of good things.
 
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