Not really new to hobby.......

I am jumping back into the reef keeping world after having been out of it for about 8 years. (My wife and I moved a couple of times and then the kids came, blah blah blah....)

I have a lot of old equipment so I wanted to run the tank setup past you guys (and ladies) for some opinions of how things are done today.

Here is what I have left over from the old days...
i) 120 Gallon tank (48 x 24 x 24)
ii) 20 Gallon sump
iii) 25 gal/day RO
iv) External venturi protein skimmer
v) 2 Little Giant external pumps.
vii) Light hood for 2 x 48" VHO + 2 x 175W MH

Here is what I plan to buy/add to system:
i) Scrapping the bioballs and replacing with a DSB refugium (+plenumn) with night time lighting.
ii) New 48" VHO Actinics with 175W 10000K MH
iii) "Squid" wavemaker
iv) Adding DI to my old RO unit (with new membrane)

Should I use mechanical filtration and carbon?
Should I set up some of my bioballs as a reduced wet/dry area?
Any other things I should add/remove?

Thanks for any input people can provide.

Craig

 

Welcome Craig.

Sounds like a great setup.

Only thing I might do is go with 2x250w halides instead of 175w. That would let you keep just about anything in your tank and gives you a better selection of bulbs than are available for 175w.

If you have a lot of live rock you can leave out the bioballs.

I didn't have much luck with the Squid.(SCWD?) It kept jamming.

 

Thanks for the info.

I'll go with the 250W MH as per your suggestion.

Do you use any mechanical filtration or carbon. They both seem to be out of favor these days.

Thanks for the advice.

 

No problem.
Yeah I use carbon. YOu can just toss a bag in your sump between some baffles. I also will be using phosban in a phosban reactor to control phosphates.

These new reactors are a good deal for less than $40. You just need a small powerhead to run them. You can also run carbon in them. The nice thing about these reactors is that the water is forced through them and can't get around.