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help setting up a 125 gallon reef

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120 150 250 300 asm chiller fuge gallon gph lighting live live rock macro overflow pump questions reef rock setup skimmer skimmers tank top tunze vortech
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69camaro

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Discussion starter · #1 ·
Hi everyone. We are planning on setting a 125 gallon tank up:D and would like some help with a few things. For lighting were are going MH with probably VHO actnic but not sure what the best combination would be, we want to be able to keep anything, and the dimensions are 72x24x17. Then we were going to go with either the Euro-Reef CS series protein skimmer thats rated for 135 gallons or the coralief super skimmer for 125 gal. Not sure which chiller, what have you guys had good experiecnce with? Also what is a good heater we want to get 2 titanium heaters but not sure on the brand, know any good reliabe ones? Not sure if this is going to be drilled yet and we don't know what size sump but it will be at least 20 gal since we have an empty 20 gal. We want to get 200-250 lbs LR and probably 125-150 lbs dry sand. Also we are planning to get a coralife RO/DI unit. If I am forgeting something please let me know and sorry for all the questions. Thanks in advance.

Travis
 
#2 ·
I had a 125 RR that I ran for a while before I moved. For lighting I had 220 Watts of VHO Super Actinic and 3 x 250W MH, icecap ballasts running XM 10k. I might have gone with the 6ft VHO in hindsight. I would re-think your skimmer. Most manufacturers overate their skimmers, I always cut their ratings in half. Go with something thats rated for 250+ imo. I didnt run a chiller, I was able to keep the heat down by evaporative cooling. I had 2 fans in the canopy and 1 turbo fan over the sump. I like Won Bros Pro HEaters, they are great as long as you get the analog dial and use a piece of tape to keep the dial from moving once you dial it in. Drill the tank or buy one that is RR, it will save you a lot of trouble later on. I would go bigger than the 20 gallon, mine was 47 gallons if filled but I ran at approx 32 gallons so I had extra storage just in case. You probably won't need that much rock but you can always put some in the sump. You may want start thinking about flow also, I ran 4 900 MJ's and I wouldnt reccomend that, either a closed loop or a pair of tunze would be much better.
 
Discussion starter · #3 ·
jules77 said:
I had a 125 RR that I ran for a while before I moved. For lighting I had 220 Watts of VHO Super Actinic and 3 x 250W MH, icecap ballasts running XM 10k. I might have gone with the 6ft VHO in hindsight. I would re-think your skimmer. Most manufacturers overate their skimmers, I always cut their ratings in half. Go with something thats rated for 250+ imo.
Click to expand...
Thanks jules. What K rating did you run on the Mh I was thinking like 12000K. Also do you think I would need the 3x 250 or would 3x 150 be ok.
As for the skimmer would you go with the coralife or Euro-reef i have heard both are great.
 
#4 ·
Between those 2 skimmers I would go with the Euro-reef but have you looked at the ASM's. I believe comparable to the euro but I think much cheaper and I too would go with one that has a rating for a 250 gallon tank.
 
#5 ·
Good questions. Go 3 175 watt XM 10k with vho acticnics... Just my opinion.
I would go for like a 50-75 gallon fuge, you would be suprised how much space you need, and the extra stability is great. Also mud filters with macro is great too! 250 lbs of live rock is 125 lbs too much. Of you had a 55 gal fuge I would say go 165 LBS at the most. Drill your tank, don't even think of having those lousy overflow boxes that are ugly as sin. Ask Chowderhead to drill for you, he is priced very well and he can provide sound advice. Get a big a** water pump and push it through as many holes possible. Oceans motions is a great water movement system, you would much rather have the main pump do most of your water movement and not 10 ugly powerheads or 3
$300 Tunze. Get an ASM skimmer, they are well known for their quality. RO/DI is a must for your size tank... good thinking. Wait and see if you need a chiller before you drop that much money too. Good Luck
 
Discussion starter · #6 ·
Thanks for the help. i forgot about the ASM skimmers when I posted this but I looked at them when you said something about them and thats what we'll be going with. The tank will probably be drilled and I was planning on about a 50 gallon sump. I wasn't going to get the chiller yet but just wanted to know which ones are good. How many watts of VHO do you guys think would be best with either 3x 175W mh or 3x 250W mh? Also why is 200 lbs of LR too much? Sorry for all the questions but I am just learning this stuff.

Travis
 
#7 ·
"they" say 1-1.5 lbs per gallon (they being the people that sell it now) but people have been following more of a trend towards .75-1.0 lbs per gallon so if you have 150 total volume of water then 125-160 lbs of rock is good. Spend money on better rock than more rock. You will be happy you did.
 
Discussion starter · #8 ·
ereefer said:
"they" say 1-1.5 lbs per gallon (they being the people that sell it now) but people have been following more of a trend towards .75-1.0 lbs per gallon so if you have 150 total volume of water then 125-160 lbs of rock is good. Spend money on better rock than more rock. You will be happy you did.
Click to expand...
OK that makes sense.
 
#9 ·
I would go with 2-6 foot actinics for your dawn and dusk and with 200lbs of rock you will likely have problems with flow and keeping things suspended not too mention 200lbs of rock will probably fill the tank top to bottom and front to back, JMO
 
#16 ·
Two returns that come from two 600gph overflows needs ~1200 gph return...

BUT - factor in head loss (both vertical and horizontal - remember you could be pushing it horizontally for 6' before going up, depending on your setup... don't forget to DOUBLE the head pressue (two returns:D ).

Probably need more like 1800 gph, honestly... It's okay to cut corners on some places - but flow would be the *last* place I'd cut back (I'd cut back on lighting before flow... IMHO). It's expensive - but a Sequence Uno pump and two penductors would *rock* (~$350 for the setup) as a return on your system... toss on a VorTech on one end and maybe a SEIO 1500/2600 on the other side, you'd be golden... Flow out the wazoo for well under a grand...

Also FWIW - you *could* go with 2x 250w halides, and run T5's (4 x 60" or 6x 48" staggered). Save money and LOTS of heat - and still keep anything you want...
 
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