planning a 125 build

[reefermike1]

this is probably a ways away before i get the tank, and even further away before it ever sees water. but i decided on the tank i want, and my lfs can get it at a decent price and will order it for me whenever im ready. the tank will be a aga 125gal with 2 megaflows. planning on building a stand for it and housing a 55gal sump. im planning on keeping my hexagon tank running, but getting rid of my 29gal, and 55gal setups. i have a css125 skimmer that ill want to upgrade, and about 50 lbs lr to cook.

what i want is a mostly open tank, not alot of lr(probably 75lbs?), because i want alot of swimming room for alot of fish. i mainly want softies, but a few lps, and a couple montis. im thinking a tek 4bulb t5ho setup. that way if i decide to go more sps in the future i can just add a couple bulbs and be good.

i would like to have this tank completely planned out before i really even get started. any advise is greatly appreciated. how loud are the aga megaflows? what kind of return pump should i look into? should i do 2 return pumps? thinking of a couple seios on a wavemaker for flow? how big of a chiller if i do get one? how tall should i make the stand? anything im not thinking about?

[reefermike1]

how bad are shadows from the centerbraces? are shadows only produced by mh?

[Geoff]

shadows are mainly produced by MH's only.

are you going BB or sand?

the stand should be as tall as you want. you want to make it easily viewable. i made the stand for our 75 about 40" tall so that we did not have to bend down to look into the tank. i would rather climb a ladder to do maintenance once a week than to bend down every day to look at the tank.

G~

[reefermike1]

Originally Posted by Geoff

shadows are mainly produced by MH's only.

are you going BB or sand?

the stand should be as tall as you want. you want to make it easily viewable. i made the stand for our 75 about 40" tall so that we did not have to bend down to look into the tank. i would rather climb a ladder to do maintenance once a week than to bend down every day to look at the tank.

G~

not sure about substrate yet. id like to give bb a try. good point on the stand height, i think ill try to make it so that i dont need to bend down to reach in it too. i remember my back killing me while aquascaping the hex tank!