120g Reef Tank Equipment Advice

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.

 

i Have both tunzes and koriallas, and to me they both do the same thing, i love the hydors and have had less problems with them then the tunzes., you could do a retro fit 6 bulb t5, would look sweet and help keep cost and heat down. To me euroreefs skimmers are nice but outdated tech, look into a octopus skimmer i LOVE Mine! Ditch the canister filter and just add bags of carbon to your filter socks.

 

Thanks for the reply.
You think the 6 t5 bulbs are enough light for the tank? (It is 24 inches high.) You don't think a 250 W MH is necessary? If not, it certainly would remove my heat concerns.
Octopus skimmer over a bubble master? Which Octopus skimmer do you have and how big is your tank?

What kind of return pump do you use?

Thanks again for your help! I am right on the edge of becoming a reef keeper...it's very exciting!

 

My return is a reeflo 5500 gph return pump, i use the octo 200 for a 300+ gallon system and its amazing!!! Never had a bubble master but have heard great things. And yes, i think 6 bulbs with slrs would be fine to keep anything, heck if you want you could even do 8.

 

Get metal halide. I have T5 and I thought it was great(and it is) but only a short few months of having it I want metal halide.
Skimmer, get a good one, youll regret not spending the extra cash here, I promise.
For a return pump, look into Reeflo.. They make great products.. A dart is very highly recommended. Hammerhead and barracuda are good pumps.
Koralias are great, I would stay with those until you get your "feet wet" with reefing and then maybe you can run up to something a little more controllable.

gotta run, I wish I could say more but I hope this helps in any way...

 

Any recommendations on companies with good lighting set ups? Or do you think a 6-7 inch canopy is enough space (heat concerns in enclosed space?) to install individual lights into the canopy instead of having them mount above the canopy to the canopy's frame.

Also, the tank is 48 inches long but close to a foot (~8 inches) of that is dominated on one end by a central built-in overflow box. Would 36in lights do the trick? It seems that a lot of the light from 48in tubes would be wasted.

Thanks.

 

Have a picture? maybe 36inch in the back and 48 inch in the front. Go t5 trust me, i have 2x250 se mh and im swithcing to 8 t5 with slrs retro fit for my 180

 

What were the reasons that made you switch from MH to T5s? Just heat issues?

 

Heat, cost of bulbs,and the fact that with t5s the color combos are insane!!!!!!!

 

Hope this helps!