New Tank Setup!!!

Wow...you guys are an amazing wealth of knowlegde....Thank you all soooo much!!!

I think I will keep the bio balls for now, they are being trickled on, not submerged.
It looks like I have to rethink my plumbing job, if anyone has a way to do something like that or a better way to move to a 1 sump system with an Iwaki 100 please let me know.

I would ideally like to keep fish, live rock, and soft corals for now. I am not against hard corals, but I dont know if I have the skill for that yet.

So with that said, I should go ahead and get the MH light setup correct?
It should work with my tank right?...its 51'' long and has 2 MH bulbs...my tank is 72''. As long as I place the corals under where the MH bulbs are I should be ok right? I also want to make sure its going to light the entire tank, which I think it will...But if you guys know better please by all means steer me in the right direction.

 

I'm no lighting expert bit I think two 250watt halides should light your tank well enough to put soft corals anywhere you want as well as more light demanding corals in a lot of areas.I use one 250watt over my 44gal. corner tank which is about 32 inches at it's widest point and it lights my tank very well,and mine is a 24 inch sunpod with one m/h lamp only,no actinics.

 

As far as the lighting, yes, that may work out real well as you could put some softies or hard that require less light to the less lighted sides. Why not post a full tank pic along with the sump(s) set up.

 

Thanks for that info on the lighting...I will get it in tomorrow then!

I think with the sump and the overflow into it, I can just run the pipe separate from each overflow into the sump, so there will be two holes on the top with the return water entering the sump. Then I can come out of my Iwaki with one line Tee'd off going to the supplies on each side of the tank. Correct?

Also what are the best heaters to get for a 135 and should I have two in there?

 

A lot depends on how cold you keep your house. I run three 400W heaters all controlled by a single temperature controller on my 120, but then I have a bunch of stuff in my garage (about 110 gallons worth of water - sump, fuge, , which isn't heated. I used to have two 400W, but the last cold spell we had in Florida was too much for them. During the height of the cold they were running all the time and couldn't keep the tank where it needed to be. I ended up running 1200 watts almost continually... that hurts the power bill

The one thing I would recommend is to NOT rely on the internal temperature sensor on most heaters. They are not reliable and nothing is worse than to come home to an extremely hot or cold tank. Get a controller with it's own temperature probe and use it to turn on and off the heaters. You can get a controller relatively cheaply.

 

pics pics pics

hard corals arnt that hard lol no for realy after your tank is a few months old hard corals will be easy trust me

 

Ok...I will work on pics hopefully tomorrow or tuesday. The rock needs to be done over because its not setup the way I want it.

Are the titanium heaters the best to get now a days? If so what brand does everyone recommend?

Thanks!

 

Another question about the sump setup and moving to one.

I figured out the sumps I have, 1 is a Pro Clear Aquatic Systems 175 and the other is an All Glass Mega Flow Sump Model 3.
Do you think one of these is big enough to use as the main one so I can remove one? or do I need a new one?

Thanks Again!!!

 

Neither one of those sumps is all that big. What protein skimmer are you using?

 

Right now it has a PM RL100 Protein Skimmer ( I think thats the model) I am working on an MRC MR2 or an Aqua C EV 240 hopefully today or tomorrow I will have one of the two.

What size sump would you recommend?
Thanks!!!