Building my first reef tank- 135 gal.

[cryotek74]

After watching the show "Tanked" too much with my wife I decided I wanted to build a reef tank that I always wanted. I had fresh water in the past but going all out reef tank. Go big or go home right???? So I went big at home. I got a 135 gal. tank with corner skimmers and bottom plumbing in each corner. The set up came with a large, dual bioball sump(its about 4ft long and has 2, 1 cubic ft bioball boxes). It also has a pump and some other items for the tank. I have been researching and educating myself on reef tanks but still want to learn from others successes and failures. I know it will take quite a while to get the tank I want but I'm not in a hurry. I would like recommendations on things like LED lighting, pumps, skimmers, sand amounts, etc, etc. The goal is a awesome reef tank with live coral, colorful fish, and other marine life for me and my family to enjoy. The wife is on board so there are no real constraints other than common sense(right?). Let me know your recommendations on everything. Thanks in advance for the help and I look forward to being a part of this community.

 

[Justiful]

got a picture? Sounds interesting.

 

[Dtackett]

trash the bioballs, get with SB Reef Lights for led lights. hes a member on this forum. Run a Jabeo dct9000 return, SCA 302 skimmer, and find an auto top off that you like. Run 2 RW15 wavemakers. I would run bare bottom but if you like sand get on facebook and look up west mariculter. a guy named paul west owns the company and is an awesome guy. tell him dustin tackett sent you for sand.

youre going to want to buy some other things too.
RODI unit.
Refractometer
Quality test kit (red sea or salifert. API is junk)
an extra powerhead to mix salt.
a half dozen 5 gallon buckets with sealing lids. I never seem to have enough.
1/2 inch masonry drill bit. you can use this to drill holes in your rock to fit your frag plugs in. some are smaller than 1/2 inch but not by much. 1/2 inch gives you room to place putty on the frag plug and put it in the hole.

 

[cryotek74]

Thanks. Ill add your recommendations to my list of things to get.

 

[Dtackett]

on your overflows, does each of them have 2 pipes or just 1 on each corner?

 

[cryotek74]

1 supply and 1 drain in each corner.

 

[Dtackett]

ok. if I was you, I would paint the back of the tank black, and run 3 drains and run a bean animal system. 1 would run on a full syphon with the help of a gate valve, one would run a slight trickle, and one would be emergency overflow.

 

[cryotek74]

I have read a lot of people like the bean system. Something to consider since i have time to make changes to tank.

 

[Dtackett]

im running a herbie and its completely silent. its 2 drains. you could run that and have 2 returns, but its up to you. on a tank that large it would be difficult to have that much of your drain go to one side and not the other.