How would you do it? 120 Gallon from scratch

[Mikey B]

Greetings everyone...I've really enjoyed the information and "entertainment" that you post on this site.
I'm just getting started on my first reef tank journey.
I have a 120 G (48x24x24) reef tank, a 50 G (36x18x18) sump, and a stand coming in a couple of weeks.
I've been reading and researching for weeks. If you were in my shoes and wanted to plan far ahead for any possible living addition to the tank, what would your set up look like? why would you do it that way? and where would you buy the components?
Maybe suggest the money-no-option route and the lets-be-reasonable route. Thank you in advance for any suggestions

Mike

[Richer]

Mm... if I had a 120 gallon tank?

For starters, I'm a fan of lots of flow. The bigger the pump, the better. I also do not like sand in my tanks... so my setup will not work for a tank with a sand substrate without some tweaking. With that said, this will limit what you can keep. Basically all substrate living fish/inverts wouldn't be suggested. However, most other fish will do just fine.

Anyways, for the general look, I would put starboard on the bottom of the tank, and stack 120+lbs of LR, or LR+base rock depending on budget. As for aquascaping, I would try to minimize the amount of LR that is actually touching the starboard. This would make it easier for your water flow to remove detrius matter from underneath your rocks. I would probably light the tank with 2x250watt 10000k MH bulbs supplemented with 2x110watt superactinic VHO bulbs. That said, the tank would be a mix reef, with the more light demanding corals on the top half of the tank, and the less light demanding corals on the bottom half of the tank. Fish would include at least a pair of clowns (any species), and an algae blenny.

For return, I'd go for something with enough flow to give your tank a decent turnover rate through your sump. A Mag18 ($184.95 over at www.jlaquatics.com ), or a similar pump (depending on your budget and whether you want the pump to be internal or external) would suffice. I'd plumb the return to give your tank some nice surface aggitation. Afterwhich, I would buy myself another pump for a closed loop. Something like a Sequence Reeflow Dart ($384.99 at www.aquaria.ca ) will give your tank a lot of flow. I'd plumb that into a Ocean Motions four-way valve ($399.99 at www.aquaria.ca ) set with a "1+3" and "2+4" revolving pattern with a 2 inch inlet and 1 inch outlets. From the four-way, I would plumb outlets "1" and "3" to one side of the tank at the corners, and outlets "2" and "4" at the opposite sides as close to the bottom of the tank as possible and have "1" blow against "2" and "3" blow against "4". The four-way valve should give the tank some nice oscilating flow patterns, and it will keep detrius matter off the starboard. I would probably add a flare or round nozzle to the outputs as well, to give me better control as to where the water is directed. As an alternative, I would probably plumb the four-way valve into 3/4" 360degree Ocean Motions Revolutions ($39.99 at www.aquaria.ca ) and have each Revolution plumbed into a corner of the tank. Of course, all pumps will have a ball valve attached to its output, to give me the ability to slow down a pump if I want to, and all stretches of plumbing will have at least one union in it.
Water topoff would run through a RO/DI unit, controlled by a pair of top-off switches and a solenoid. The water would run through a kalkreactor, before hitting the tank. If needed, I would also run a calcium reactor on the tank as well. Skimming would be provided by as large of a skimmer as I could get. Probably a medium sized Euroreef.

If you can't tell, I've been thinking about a future tank for awhile now... since I can't setup anything bigger than what I have now, it gives me lots of time to plan

If you want to save money, try DIYing some of your equipment (ie. the calcium and kalk reactor, and the skimmer). There are quite a few people in Calgary who have DIYed some of their own equipment, and I'm sure they'll probably be happy to give you a hand.

Good luck with your setup! Keep us posted on it.

-Richer

[Delphinus]

Welcome to Canreef.

I think the best advice I can give is, look at lots of setups and see what sort of things you like, I find I get the best ideas just by looking at what others are doing.

A 120g is a very decent sized tank. I'm jealous, I wish I would have jumped straight into a tank like that when I was starting up. I started smaller and worked my way up to larger and I'm still working my way up (biggest tank is a mere 90g). One day, maybe something larger, who knows.

Anyhow best of luck with your setup. I know you'll get lots of great advice along the way. But if you start to get overwhelmed, then don't worry, there's a lot of info to digest. Like I said, look at lots, invite yourself over to places, and see what ideas work for you.

cheers

[MitchM]

Welcome to Canreef.

You need to decide what you want for inhabitants. High energy, low energy, lots of small fish, a couple of large ones, ect. Don't start buying goodies until you decide that.
You'll have a much more successful reeftank if you make a plan and stick to it.

Mitch

[danny zubot]

One way that I decide is by checking out the picture forums. Then I reference those pictures to the tank specification forums and bam! It gives you a really good idead of the tank you want.

My opinion is that you can't become an expert over night, nore should you want to. The whole point to this hobby is the adventure we all share in learning from it. Everyone here has made mistakes and you will too, but that is what makes the hobby what it is. Good luck with your set up and welcome to the board!

Danny