Back in the Hobby

Mike S · Nov 11, 2011

Hello,

It has been about 15 years since I've had a reef tank. I originally gave it up because I was just travelling too much to take care of it early in my career. Things have finally settled down and my kids have been asking for an aquarium. About 2 weeks ago someone gave me a 55 gallon tank and I though I'd set it up with some cichlids. After poking around the internet a few days, I caught the reef bug again and the ride started. :wink: I'm starting from scratch equipment and knowledge wise and a lot of things have change since I had my last tank.

I picked up a 120 gallon (48x24x24) reef ready oceanic tank and lighting system with 2 x 250 watt + 2 94 watt PC off of craiglist. I ordered a ro/di unit along with a Bubble Magus NA7 skimmer and a Eheim 1260 pump the other day. I'm debating at this point whether to build a sump and a refugium out of acrylic or just buying a small tank or two which seem to be a more cost effective approach.

I've started to look at power heads and the choices are somewhat dizzying. This is where my question lies. I'm not sure what type of reef I'll put together down the road, but my guess it would be a mix. I don't want to necessarily break the bank when it comes to buying power heads, but at the same time I'd like whatever I get to not limit me down the road in terms of having enough flow or adding a wave maker. I'm not sure how much flow I should be starting with and if I should just consider getting one higher quality power head now? Any recommendations would be appreciated.

Thanks,

Mike

Wy Renegade · Nov 11, 2011

Welcome back to the hobby and to R2R! Sounds like you're off and running. Just my opinion, but I've found flow to be one of the most important considerations for a reef tank, maybe even the most important. If I were you, I'd give some consideration to the vortex pumps. Everybody who has one swears by them.

BigJohnWoody · Nov 11, 2011

I have 2 mp40w ES vortech pumps in my 120. They are expensive, but to me worth every penny. I see so many people complaining about not enough flow or dead spots. I literally have no dead spots in my whole tank. These pumps are amazing and take up little room, look great, and there customer service is outstanding. Good luck to yah and welcome back to the hobby

Mike S · Nov 12, 2011

Thanks guys. Those Vortech pumps look nice but I can't swing that kind of cash right now unless I luck into some used ones. Are the Tunze and Koralia heads pretty reliable. It seems that the general recommendation is to have a flow rate around 20x the volume of the tank. Do you simply divide the total flow rate up by the number of heads that you plan to run or if they are cycling should each be close to that rate?

Is something like this with standard powerheads a reasonable alternative?

Red Sea Wavemaster Pro Wave Maker

skinz78 · Nov 12, 2011

Welcome to Reef2Reef!

I would seriously think about getting a couple of Vortech MP40's, get them used. I have the same tank as you and I bought one and after a while I got another as my tank demanded more flow.

I also have a Koralia 1050 running in my tank and IMHO they do a great job of moving water but do take up more space in the tank.

I have about 80x turnover in my setup. For any reef tank I wouldn't recommend anything less than 40x. To figure it out you take the total added GPH of all your pumps including the return pump minus your calculated head loss and then divide it by your display tank gallons.

Also if you haven't already done so be sure to get your entry in for this months membership drive.

https://www.reef2reef.com/forums/r2...f2reef-nov-membership-drive-contest-join.html

skinz78 · Nov 12, 2011

Also I wouldn't do the Red Sea wavemaker. I have a powerstrip that does pretty much the same thing and I used it on a nano tank with some Koralia Nano's. It worked well for a while but then the powerheads started running in reverse and also the constant starting and stopping hammered the propellers and they wear out fast.

revsgirl · Nov 12, 2011

Awesome!!! Welcome back to the hobby and welcome to R2R!!

Mike S · Nov 12, 2011

Thanks skinz78, I'll have to go through your thread to get some ideas for my tank

Maybe I'm thinking about my power head needs the wrong way. My main pump should give me around 500 gph and it seems the mp40 puts out upwards 3000 gph. That seems to be getting me most of what I need. Should I be considering one or two standard powerheads in the back along with my main pump to take care of the majority of the flow in the tank and a mp40 on the side to vary to flow? I knew this was going to be an expensive hobby....:smile:

I'm sure I'll plenty of questions to come. Rock selection is next and I'm looking at BRS's Pukani rock.

m and m · Nov 12, 2011

I personally think vortec's belong in pairs. One just limits what they do so much.

On the rock note I personally dont like the BRS rock, but thats up to the tank owner. Good luck and welcome to R2R!

skinz78 · Nov 12, 2011

Yeah you should be fine with what you are thinking for now. I started with the MP40, K1050, and 2 Sun Sun "Koralia knock offs". I put the MP40 on the side and the others on the back wall. The Sun Suns are on Ebay, just do a search for Koralia's and they'll pop up too. The work well but no where near as good as a Koralia and the attachment base comes loose often.

I'd watch the local forums and Craigslist for LR and see what you can find.

Mike S · Nov 12, 2011

m and m said:
I personally think vortec's belong in pairs. One just limits what they do so much.

On the rock note I personally dont like the BRS rock, but thats up to the tank owner. Good luck and welcome to R2R!

Just out of curiosity, what is it that you don't like about BSR rock? I'm just starting to read up on the advantages of going with dry rock vs. live rock. It seems that the main advantages of going the dry route is limiting what you introduce to you tank and price. The disadvantages are the time it take to mature and the possibility of a phosphate issue to contend with. It is hard to tell from internet photos, but I've liked the appearance of the Pukani and the dry rock that Marco sells. I'm not it a rush so I don't care if it takes some extra time to mature. I do have a local source of Fuji live rock near where I live and the price is almost exactly the same as the dry options so cost wise it could be a wash for me unless the dry options are less dense than Fugi rock. Decisions, decisions....

Bubbabobobbrain · Nov 14, 2011

First of all welcome back to the hobby. On the powerhead question there is no doubt that the vortech powerheads are untouchable in the quality and performance dept. But the price will kill you if you are on a budget. I have a 220 gallon tank with a reefkeeper lite controller and 3-koralia 1400 gph powerheads and although they arent as good as the vortech powerheads I have plenty of flow and the controller acts as a wavemaker with the koralia powerheads. And as a bonus the reefkeeper lite also controls all my lights, return pump, skimmer, and constantly monitors my ph, and best of all you can get a reefkeeper lite and a few koralia powerheads for less than the cost of the 2 vortechs you will need to have proper wavmaker action in your tank. I am looking to eventually upgrade to the vortechs myself, but until then my current option still works great and as I said previously its a more cost effective option with more options included.

Mike S · Nov 16, 2011

Thanks Bob

That is something to consider. I like the fact that I'd still have the controller for my lights and other gear.

skinz78 · Nov 16, 2011

Ahh I saw a MP40 for sale in the drygoods forum the other day and tried to remember this thread but I couldn't remember which one it was. It was a real good price too, give the sale forum a look for it.

Mike S · Nov 18, 2011

Thanks it looks like I missed that sale by a few days. Oh well the other stuff is starting to come together. My skimmer and pump came in this week and I'm working on my sump. Just ordered 80 lbs of Pukani dry rock. The pine aquarium stand is making me a little nervous though. I know they are designed to hold the weight, but I'd be happier if it looked a little sturdier with 1200 pounds being put on it. I may beef it up a bit.

Hopefully next weekend I'll have water in the tank and the rock cycling.