Starting 125g tank setup...Need advise

[onefast]

Just started my new tank, so far has about 140 pounds of live rock and a 1" in layer of fine crushed coral. Sump will have 2 overflow boxes...1 will be feeding main wet/dry filter and second feeding asm G3 with mesh impeller, recirc mod.(purchased from someone here) My return pump is a quiet one 4000(should be about 800gph at height) all this should be installed in a couple days with sump volume at about 30-40g. (for right now i have a cheap hanging protein skimmer, hanging magnum filter, and a 500gph pump circulating water)

should i stick with the fine crushed coral or add sand...if so how much? or get rid of the crushed coral alltogether.

How bad are overflow boxes? I had a 55g with overflow that went through many short power outages with no siphon break?

1st overflow box will be feeding an ultralife wet/dry(i should probably replace the balls with LR?) with 3 3/4" bulkheads attaching it to a 29g sump that will contain the asm skimmer that will be feed with 2nd overflow and have the return pump. any advise on this setup will be appreciated.

There are no fish in the tank yet so any help will be great. My hope is to have alittle fish and a few corals if possible...so lighting advise would be helpful too( for now i have 2 55w pc, 1 10000k and 1 actinic. and a cheap strip light) kinda weird how the pc lights give a clearer light but the cheap strip brings out more colors in the rock :confused: looking for a decent light setup...not to thrilled about diy kits or giant metal halide lighting. since it is a 72" tank any thoughts on having a 36 inch strip with 2 96w cf and another strip with 1 metalhalide 150w hqi and 2 96w cf

apologize for having so many questions...did research...the more i search the more questions i get...my previous tank was fish only with live rock and it did well for many years...only thing i remember is money invested in LR and protein skimmer will come back in the end.

[Rustylugnuts]

the more i search the more questions i get
We're glad to help those who help themselves.

I'll try to get a few ?'s answered and let more experienced folk chime in for the rest.
should i stick with the fine crushed coral or add sand...if so how much? or get rid of the crushed coral altogether.
Personally I would get rid of the CC and go with a DSB. Aside from natural nitrate reduction (the step in the nitrogen cycle that gives off N2 gas that occurs in the lower anaerobic layers of the SB) the sandbed provides a habitat for its own food web (worms stars snails pods ect) that helps support your livestock. In low flow situations it can become a detritus trap and become overwhelmed and give off nitrates instead. At this point you will either need to rinse your sandbed (my preferred option) or buy new sand.
How bad are overflow boxes?
While not quite deserving of the terrible reputation they have they still make me squeamish (especially with large tanks in nice homes). Glass-holes has a great kit that comes with the diamond hole saw, bulkhead, and prefab acrylic overflow that really streamlines the project. Drilling the tank will protect your livestock as well as your floors. (If you do decide to go with an overflow box make sure to incorporate a pump that restarts the syphon like a maxijet w/venturi or an aqualifter on each box)
i should probably replace the balls with LR?
If you have corals in mind then absolutely. It would also be a good idea to consider setting up some form of nutrient export. In addition to regular water changes, a refugium with macro algae or a pair of media reactors do a great job of preventing nuisance algae outbreaks.
lighting advise
If it were me I would go for the best fluorescent setup I could afford. I really like the efficiency of T5-HO fixtures that use a reflector for each bulb. A Constellation by aquactinics would be great but would hit the wallet kinda hard. A pair of sunlight 36" ready fit (http://www.premiumaquatics.com/aquatic-supplies/SL-250530.html) kits would be a cheaper way to get started. One bonus you get with retrofits is that they're easily scalable, If you want critters that need more light just throw another pair or two in the canopy and you're good to go.

When the search function (or google) confounds I've often found it helpful to browse through this thread (http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=1031074).

HTH and happy reefing

[onefast]

thanks for the info...just alittle confused on the bed. So far I have 1 person tell me to keep the crushed coral...makes it easy to clean, but needs to be cleaned twice a month, or water will suffer. 2 people told me to add 50-100 pounds of sand to the fine crushed coral...saying it is the best way to go cause you get the benefit of sand and crushed coral. and 1 cleaning a month...and 2 people saying to get rid of the crushed coral and add sand, better for the water and less cleaning.

so you think it is best to get rid of the crushed coral in my situation....i probably wont be adding any coral for atleast 3-6 months...and if i do probably easy to maintain.

thank you

[Michael]

id lose the crushed coral and the wet/dry, go with aragonite sand and keep away from bio balls sponges and anything else associated with trickle filters, apart from that a quality skimmer is a must and at least t5 lighting or mh, jmo, good luck

[Rustylugnuts]

just alittle confused on the bed.

The deep sandbed (@ least 4" deep) would be a lot less maintnence when you consider that CC needs to be vacumed out at least 2x/mo. A DSB can go at least 2 years between cleanings with some folks reporting 6 years or more w/o rinsing.
When you do need to clean a DSB its a project that will take several hours on a 125. You'll need some spare rubbermaid tubs for LR and livestock, a some 5 gallon buckets, and a mixing bit and battery powered screwgun. First save about a gallon or two of the top inch of dirty sand for reseeding later. Then setup heating, flow and filtration on the tubs with the corals and fish and some live rock (lighting is only necessary if they're going to be in the tub for days). The bare LR just needs a heater and powerhead. To clean the sand take about a 1/3 of a bucket worth to a hose or bathtub and fill the bucket the rest of the way with water. Then run the bit through the sand for 30 seconds and dump the nasty water. Repeat 2-3x w/ea bucket. Store the clean sand and go back for more till its all rinsed. Once the clean sand is back in, pile a couple cups worth of the sand you saved in a few locations throughout the tank and add the saved water and livestock back in .

[onefast]

can i reuse some of the crushed coral to get to the 4" or better replace everything....going to store to get the sand after work and hopefully replace it tonight.

[Rustylugnuts]

I didn't like the look of the mix when I had it. I used to have a plenum in which I ran a couple inches of sand on top of CC over some eggcrate. It was SUCH a pain to sift out the CC. Took 3 or 4 hours on a 29g tank.
The CC sand mix should still be functional but it will not have the same capacity if you used all sand. This could result in the need to rinse the sandbed more frequently. The reason is because the larger CC particles taking up space will have much less surface area for N cycle bacteria to colonize.
You could use the CC as an aggregrate in making DIY LR from white portland cement and solar salt or try to sell it in the used equipment and dry goods forum.

[atblj5]

I use this and seems to very good.

http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod_display.cfm?c=3578+10741+7321&pcatid=7321

[onefast]

Nature’s Ocean® Bio-Activ Live™ Aragonite Natural White #1 Grain size: 0.5-1.7mm

Took all the crushed coral out and put 120 pounds of this in

thanks for the advise seems like I still need more sand.

[Rustylugnuts]

If the footprint of your 125 is 72"x18" the sandbed calculator (http://www.reefcentral.com/calc/SandBed.php) spits out 270 lbs for a 4"bed.

[onefast]

thanks again! by chance you have any good links for diy refugium. I think i am going to sell the ultralife trickle filter and use the 29g as a refugium.

[Rustylugnuts]

A aquarium has to be the cheapest way to start up a sump/fuge. With what you sell the trickle filter theres a chance you could get everything you need for a sump and fuge together . Since you'll be working with glass I should direct you to justonemoretank's (http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?threadid=603816&perpage=25&pagenumber=1) thread on drilling and maybe a video on drilling (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GSYqSeW1mQg) as well. The 29 might be best saved as a quarantine tank if you don't have one already especially since you want to fit the largest possible tank underneath the stand. A 55 gallon set up like melev's model F (http://www.melevsreef.com/acrylics/sumps/f/sump_f.html) would be pretty easy to put together. For the baffles the consensus seems to be 1/4" glass cut 1/4" narrower than the width (front to back) of the tank.
The easiest way that I've used to install the baffles is to place the tank on it's end and cut 2 pillars of scrap wood to the desired chamber length (you'll need 2 pieces of wood for each pillar to facilitate easy removal wherever there is a tank rim to contend with). Place the first pane on the pillars, silicone the pane and then repeat the process with each baffle until you have em all. After the silicone has cured remove the wood and you're ready to plumb. I wish I could remember who to credit for this as well as a picture to show but hopefully my words describe the process well enough.