Hello All,
I am finally starting my first reef tank. I have had fresh water tanks for ~6 years but it's always been a dream of mine to have a reef tank. I am on the verge of buying the equipment. I have been reading this and other blogs for a while now but I wanted to run some ideas by everyone before I drop all this money. I want to do it right from the beginning!
Thanks in advance for your help!
WHAT I HAVE:
I have a 120 gallon acrylic tank with a built in overflow. In the stand is a ~20 gallon sump. I plan to have a mixed reef environment with a moderate fish load! :-)
I have a RO/DI unit from the filterguys.
160lbs dry sand and 150lbs of dry rock from marcorocks.
I plan to add a few handfuls of live sand and a couple lbs of live rock from my LFS to jump start the cycle.
I am planning on using SeaChem reef salt.
WHAT I NEED:
Circulation. I was thinking of buying 4 Koralia 4s for circulation - or should I get some Tunze for extra cash - are they worth it? I was leaning against wavemakers but I am interested to hear peoples thoughts on these as well.
Pump. Currently I have a wimpy 600 gallon/hr pump moving water back from the sump. The sump is ~4 ft below the aquarium so I was thinking I need an external pump that can do ~2000GpH. I need a reliable workhorse that is fairly quiet. Any ideas?
Lights. It seems like 2 10,000K MH bulbs and 2-4 actinic VHO tubes are needed for light. Unfortunately my canopy is only 6 or 7 inches off the water surface so this wont work with the metal halides. Thus I am going to remove the top of the canopy and have a light fixture mounted above the canopy frame. Any thoughts/opinions on lighting combination setups/brands? Sunligh Supply? Current USA?
Protein Skimmer. It seems the more I read, the more confused I get about protein skimmers. I was looking at Bubble Master 250 or the Euroreef RS-250 or maybe the MSX 200 or the Vertex 250. I am open to more suggestions it just seems like there is no consensus. Any and all insights would be GREATLY appreciated
I was also thinking of adding a canister filter filled with carbon to the sump to help with filtration. Any thoughts/recommendations?
Side thoughts: any recommendations on salinity tester brands and water test kits in general?
Am I forgetting anything? Thanks so much for your input. I am about to drop a significant chunk of change and I want to do it right the first time. I don't want to be needing to upgrade my equipment in 6 months time.
Thanks again.
