I Want to start A 125g tank,need help?

[Miklos]

Well I read Tullock's, "Natural Reef Aquariums", Fenner's" The Conscientious Marine Aquarist" and in the future I would like to start a 125g reef tank that measures 72" Long, 18" wide and 20" high.I am going to use an Icecap VHO hood with 640 watts of lighting.I am going to use two 200 watt ebojaggers or visitherm heaters to keep the tank between 76-78 degress.I will also use two small fans in the canopy to keep down the heat from the VHOs and from summer time heat.I plan on making this a natural Indopacific biotype tank.No,I did not forget about filtration and that is where I need help.I prefer to not use a sump due to the noice it makes and possibly the problems it could cause(e.g.-flooding).I would like to use a hang on protein skimmer for mechanical and some chemically filtration.I am going to use plent of liverock and a 4-6 in deep live sand bed with 75 percent sugar sized arogonite mixed with 25 percent coarse size sand.I am going to use power heads for water flow.I read through about 300 pages of articles ,looked at several websites and read a few books;most of them suggest a sump with a built in prefilter in the tank and an in-sump model protein skimmer.As I said before I do not want to go this route but can't seem to find any type of hang-on protein skimmer that could handle 125 gallons.I have searched about 10 websites.I plan on primarily keeping soft corals and eventually after the tank is more mature add a few stony corals.I just bought Borneman's book on corals(it is great,great writer,tons of info and beautiful pictures).I already know what fish I am going to buy.Please tell me if I am overlaoding the tank.Eventually I will also tell you a list of corals I want to own.Well here is the list
Flame Angel(Centropyge loriculus)
A pair of Banggai Cardinals(Pterapogon kauderni)
A pair of false percula clownfish(Amphiprion ocellaris)
Yellow Tang(Zebrasoma flavescens)
Firefish(Nemateleotris magnifica)
Yellow-headed jawfish(Opistognathus aurifrons)
maybe 4 neon gobies(Gobiosoma oceanops)
By the way I will try to buy tank raised or CB fish when available.I will also only buy aquacultered corals.There is probaly now over 20 places producing aquacultured corals.Thanks for any help.Nio rush,again I am not setting this tank up until the future.
Nick

 

[Chucker]

Nick, this forum is really for finished tanks. Since you're looking for comments on a future system, I'm moving your post to the general discussion forum.

 

[Reefscap]

After you get your tank set up, WELL i'll give you 2 months YOU will wish you went with built in overflowes and a SUMP. Trust me I did the same thing

And i dont know anyone who hasn't had a small FLOOD.

thats all part of the game.

 

[Scottis24]

Milos,
Look at the CPR web site. They have a bunch of HOT stuff. I think it is the backback line. I read you can couple two of them together to handle a bigger tank. I haven't heard one thing or another on them though (RFC?). If your worried about floods in the sump make sure you plumb it right. Once the waer level drops below the overflow, it will stay in the tank not the sump. then waht's left in the line and the OF box will drain down in to the sump. Hence the reson you don't see two gallon sumps. You could build your own out of a 20g tank from Petsmart. If you can't find anything you like then build your own HOT stuff. Have you looked at the eco system method? www.ecosystemaquarium.com If you you use an AGA overflow box they have cutouts at the top and bottom so what I said above wont work. My Ocenaic only has them on the to for that very reason. Good luck.

 

[MandarinFish]

<blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">quote:</font><hr>Please tell me if I am overlaoding the tank.Eventually I will also tell you a list of corals I want to own.Well here is the list
Flame Angel(Centropyge loriculus)
A pair of Banggai Cardinals(Pterapogon kauderni)
A pair of false percula clownfish(Amphiprion ocellaris)
Yellow Tang(Zebrasoma flavescens)
Firefish(Nemateleotris magnifica)
Yellow-headed jawfish(Opistognathus aurifrons)
maybe 4 neon gobies(Gobiosoma oceanops)
By the way I will try to buy tank raised or CB fish when available.I will also only buy aquacultered corals.There is probaly now over 20 places producing aquacultured corals.<hr></blockquote>

1) your bioload should be fine, based on your tank size

2) Tank raised or captive bred is the way to go... I also buy "used" fish off people taking their tanks down anyway. I justify it with 'well, I'm not ordering fish from wholesalers or shops and not increasing demand - these fish are out of retail anyway' Maybe not perfect, but I definitely don't want to have a store ordering fish directly because of me.

3) I got a CPR backpack for free, they aren't supposed to be great but they are supposed to be really good as a breeding ground for 'pods.

4) Use biofiltration. Get caulerpa. Some people don't like how it looks, but if you don't use a refugium or sump, you will have to put it in-tank. Some people don't even skim once they get their balance right.

DON'T OVERFEED. Your fish will benefit, so will your tank.

 

[D-Nak]

Any reason why you decided on a 125 gallon tank? I had a 125 gallon tank and was never really happy with its size, since the width (front to back) is quite narrow compared to its length. It's almost the same proportions as a 55 gallon tank, we all know how hard those are to aquascape. Why not get a 180? The 24" (vs. 18") width make a huge difference. Lighting will be almost identical, and filtration will be similar too. Unless space is an issue, I think you'll be much happier with a 180.

Also, I agree with the folks saying to go with a sump -- it's easier overall. There are ways to make it virtually flood free (check valves, permanent overflows vs. hang on ones with J-tubes,etc). Unless you plan to have the back of your tank lined with HOB filters, I don't think you'll find many items that can handle the load of the tank you want.

Hey one more thing -- if you go with a sump you can get a 180 and use the same amount of room since you save all that room behind the tank!!! 180!!! 180!!!

D-Nak

 

[MandarinFish]

Depending on your cash, get an acrylic tank with a built in overflow.

Go with a sump, I highly recommend it.

Unless you already have a 125, consider what D-Nak said, but I find when I post questions people always tell me to spend more, More, MORE!

Usually for a reason though.

A sump is more attractive because it gets the skimmer, caulerpa, mangroves (I recommend), heaters, etc out of the way.

You're not going to spend all that money (and you will spend, believe me) to look at equipment.

 

[KanUCme]

Umm... I have a 125. I bought it for $100. It is a 125gallon TruVu Black back show tank. I wish I had the tank drilled, or plumbed, or even had someone make it "reefready" with built in over flows. It is made from acrylic, and yes it does have a few scratches in it, but they are not very noticable when it is filled with water. I would reccomend you buy acrylic over glass, as in some cases acrylic is cheaper as the tanks get larger, and the tank is lighter weight. Make sure that the stand you buy has enough room to hold all you equipment and the equipment that you will eventually purchse. Also make sure that you you place the tank away from an outside wall, an place it where you will want it forever. Also check to make sure it is level and that there is nothing under the tank. If it is going on a carpet floor, let the tank sit on the stand for a few days with a little bit of water. I put my stand in my room, and leveled it. I then put my tank on the stand, and leveled it. I then filled my tank with sand and rock and leveled it. I then added water and I believe that the tank settled a little more on one end because the tanks water level is slightly lower on one en then the other. Also you will want a sump or some sort. I bought a "wet/dry" and removed the bio balls. I had(have stored way away) a CPR bakpak HOT skimmer and I thought it was the cats meow. It made bubbles and skimmed like the master skimmer. I needed to empty the little cup every other day, as it was very tiny. I had one issue with tiny bubbles in the tank, and so I used the little coarse sponge that the manafacturer provides to cut down on the bubbles. Well in an acrylic tank with slots on the back and the holes in the middle. The sponge decided to go down the chute and wedge between the slot and the skimmer chute and it worked as a bridge and pumped about 15gallons onto my carpet floor. OMG was it a scary experience, let alone a labor intensive clean up. DO NOT USE A HANG ON TANK SKIMMER IF YOU USE AN ACRYLIC AQUARIUM WITH SLOTS IN THE REAR! I have tried about 3 differnt skimmers in my sump until I found one that I actually was happy with. You will also need a lot of money. You already have a good start on the equipment. I don't know if you intend to have any corals or anything. But I don't think the VHO's are going to cut it, and they will prob make more heat then light. I am using a 4X96w PC set-up. It provides a nice even light and my corals love it... There are a lot of things I could go on about, but the main thing is patience and planning. Good Luck.

 

[crfish2001]

I have a 125g,I have a cpr overflow to carry it to a sump that holds about 60g of water.So far I have not had a problem.Plus in the sump I keep my heater and extra pieces of live rock

 

[Miklos]

Well I have scaled down a bit and have changed the type of filtration.I will use one of two methods of filtration.I have decided to go with a 75g tank.If no one locally within the next two months decides to puchase my scrubber and prefilter,this is what I will use for filtration.I will use a hang on prefilter which is rated for a 125g tank for mechanical filtration.There are compartmets in the filter that can hold bio-bags and carbon.The prefilter will then flow down into an algae scrubber down into a 15-20g tank.From there 2 rio pumps will pump water back into the tank.I liked this type of filtration for my 29g tank,the only problem is it made a tremedous amount of noise and any time I called the comapny on how to reduce the noise,I would try the company's method and the noice would still be there.The filter also took up alot of space and I experienced once where the algae turned black,very bad it leached harmful nutreints back into the tank's water.The other drwback is thatin many reef books,there is hardly any literature about algae scrubbers.Thye have graet advantages but also some disadvantages.Well that is one route.The other route is just to use a hang on the tank protein skimmer,lots of lr,deep ls and low fish load with alot of corals.Well at least I have my options and I am actually not confused.According to Tullock,Fenner,and GARF many soft corals and some hard corals can be kept in tanks with onlt two watts per gallon,as long as the spectyrum and lumens are great enough.Well sorry for the long post amd again any suggestions would be appreciated.By the way I am not going to be starting this tank for awhile and am also looking to not go crazy money wise.About 3000.00 dollars is the max I want to spend initially on the tank,proper equipment and livestock.I know there will be ongoing cost but I do now want to spend a tremedous amount in the beginning.I probaly will not setup the tank for a few years.Buymaybe I will setup in collge in the next few months.Don't know.I know some collges let you setup tanks in public places like in the halls or classes,etc for educational use and the collge I want to go to is one of the best for Marine Biology.So will see what happens.I just don't want to setup the tank and fail miserably,that is why I am rwading the books and gatherings tons of info here.I failed miserably a few months ago with my 29g saltwater tank and 20g seahorse tank.Long story and just ask any of the members at seahorse.org how I failed.Buy that is the past and I have learned from it.Sorry for the long post again.
Nick