Feedback please on new 120 gal set-up

[jamesbaur13]

Hello,

Thanks for reading this...

I have been in the planning stages for the last month and I was looking to get some feedback.


Equipment


Tank = AGA 120gal (4'L x 2'W x 2'D) with 2 center Megaflow boxes

Lighting = Reefledlights 3w Cree DIY. 84 LED's Total... 48 Royal blue, 24 Cool White, 12 XP-G White "High Noon Kit". All driven by 4 ELN 60-48D Drivers. Cooled by 6 fans and 3 12"x8.46" heatsinks.

Skimmer = Super Reef Octopus 3000 Internal

Sump = Either a 40gal Breeder or 50gal (36"L) DIY. 2 (1") drains into compartment holding skimmer > bubble baffles > large settling area (packed with live rock) > overflow baffle > return pump

Return = Eheim 1262 (submerged, 4' head) > OM Squrit 2 Way (for convection) > to tank via .75" bulkhead in overflow box

Powerheads = 4 Hydor Koralia Mag 5's (on Red Sea Wavemaster Pro Controller)

Heaters = 2 Eheim Jager 200W

RO/DI = Filter Guys Ocean Reef + 1 Five Stage 75 GPD

I'll also have a quarantine tank set up to grow cheato and (of course) quarantine.


Sand and Rock


4" DSB Dry Florida Aragonite

250lbs Dry Florida Reef Rock (with some rock in the sump)

I plan on seeding the tank as carefully and deliberately as possible.


Fish


Powder Blue Tang

Yellow Tang

Yellow Pyramid Butterfly

Pair of Ocellaris Clownfish

Royal Gramma Basslet

High Fin Red Banded Goby


Inverts


Red Banded Snapping Shrimp

2 Scarlet Skunk Cleaner Shrimp

Red Sea Star

4 Hermit Crabs

2 Clams

Fighting Conch

Assorted Snails (not sure of quantity yet)


Corals (I haven't researched these much)


Mostly SPS

Some Zoa's

2 Frogspawn


Any feedback/suggestions are much appreciated.

This is my first saltwater tank. I plan on taking things slow and researching as much as I can.

[albano]

looks good, but I'm not big on the 4" sandbed in DT...
IMO, if this is your first tank, you should not be thinking about SPS for a while.

[OregonReefer]

that's a crapload of rock...

100lbs of BRS Pukani was way too much for my 120 by about 30lbs

[jamesbaur13]

I thought I was being conservative with the 250... I've heard some suggest 3lbs per gal.

Then again with dry rock I'll get more rock per gal because I'm not paying for anything but the rock.

I was shooting for more of a minimalist look. 18" stacked mound and a 12" mound on either side of the tank and tied together by a small 4-6" ridge line. With smaller fist size rocks scattered in the foreground. Also the rocks in the settling area of the sump.

Any idea how many lbs of dry rock this will take?

[albano]

I thought I was being conservative with the 250... I've heard some suggest 3lbs per gal.

Then again with dry rock I'll get more rock per gal because I'm not paying for anything but the rock.
rock weight/density is different for various rock types...so that 3 lbs per gal. 'formula' is useless!
Not sure what you mean by dry rock...paying only for rock...you will need some live rock to seed the dry rock


I was shooting for more of a minimalist look. 18" stacked mound and a 12" mound on either side of the tank and tied together by a small 4-6" ridge line. With smaller fist size rocks scattered in the foreground. Also the rocks in the settling area of the sump.

Any idea how many lbs of dry rock this will take?

sounds like you will only need about 100 lbs for your 2 piles, plus another 50# +/- for the sump

[OregonReefer]

This is about 70lbs of the 100 I bought

http://i237.photobucket.com/albums/ff217/rtrons/IMG_0492.jpg

What you see here is 9 pieces of rock. That includes the 2-3 small pieces used to fill in a couple spots like the arch on the right

Awesome rock BTW... I asked for "large" pieces and that's exactly what I got. That piece propped up on the PVC was about 20" tall when I got it... I had to cut about 7" off the bottom.

Here's the first 50lbs I got

http://i237.photobucket.com/albums/ff217/rtrons/dadfishtank008.jpg

The two "small" pieces are about basketball sized and that's the uncut 20" monster on top

The piece on the lower right isn't even in the tank in the shot above

[jamesbaur13]

That's around the same amount of area I am wanting my rock to take up.

I was planning on getting my rock from reef cleaners.

Your rock looks very nice... I think I'll have to check out the BRS Pukani.

[ed102475]

jamesbaur13
"I was shooting for more of a minimalist look."
--------------------------------------------------------------
I have 170lbs in my 120 5'x18"x24"
150 dry
20 live
Thats allot of rock ! If its the stuff like what Marco Rocks has you are not going to need 250lbs and if you want to go minimalist IMO you might want like...

100 dry you might not want to use all of it in the display
10-20 live

just MO

[jamesbaur13]

Think I'll go with 100lbs of the BRS after seeing what it looks like. Seems like that will give the biggest bang for the buck.

[OregonReefer]

Think I'll go with 100lbs of the BRS after seeing what it looks like. Seems like that will give the biggest bang for the buck.

Pure awesome stuff!

I'm sure you'll be very happy with your purchase... my pics do not even come close to doing it justice

[jamesbaur13]

Any concerns about the power heads and having too much convection?

I'm worried the HK5's might be a little overkill at 1650gph each x 4. I'll be using a Red Sea wave controller with these.

I also have the return pump alternating 700gph through my 2 returns via OM squirt 2 way.

Also, I heard some people reporting a clicking noise at the start of a wave cycle coming from HK powerheads when used with a controller. Is this going to be an issue? Do other controllers do better with this issue by not completely throttling down?

[funkejj]

The Powder Blue Tang will need a 6 foot tank to be happy.

[jamesbaur13]

Yeah, I've heard that about the powder blue... I'll still likely try to keep one though. I like the looks of that fish.

Anyone have any thoughts on the power heads?

[OregonReefer]

Just doing the math it sounds pretty good. However, I don't have any experience with the RKs or the controller.

If you have it set to have 2 RKs running at any given time you're looking at ~27.5 times per hour in turnover, add your return to that (this is an estimate as how you plumb your return will have an effect on GPH) ~5 times per hour... 32 times per hour is pretty good.

If you have 3 RKs running you are looking at a dramatic increase at ~47 times per hour.

47 times per hour sounds like a lot to me...

[jamesbaur13]

I think I should be good then. thanks oregon. This is the 4 wave programs that I got from the owners manual...


Gentle - Slow random waves: Powerheads P1 & P2
alternating, P3 & P4 slow random action sequence .

Rolling - Short periodic waves: gradually increasing
to maximum and decreasing to minimum.

Turbulent - Fast random waves: Powerheads P1 &
P2 alternating, P3 & P4 fast random action sequence.

Alternating - Sequential 4 hour periods of Gentle,
Rolling and Turbulent wave programs


Sounds like on occasion while running the turbulent program I'll have 3 going simultaneously at high volume, but they will never be sustained and never will all 4 be on at once.


On another note... I'm debating my sand bed now. I'm thinking of getting reef-flakes, but I am unsure how deep a bed I should get.

[tyler3276]

looks good

[manhorsedog]

i have the same size tank, cant remember how much rock but i know its well under 100 lbs

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/49482410@N06/5763158822/" title="tank two by manhorsedog, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5185/5763158822_0edcd06b8a.jpg" width="500" height="280" alt="tank two"></a>

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/49482410@N06/5762615409/" title="DSC01067 by manhorsedog, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3588/5762615409_7c247a0526.jpg" width="500" height="280" alt="DSC01067"></a>