help for planning equipment

[ARGYGANG]

so i am picking up a tank tomorrow for some tangs we rescued recently and its a purple tang and a sailfin tang, so the two options are a 125 with stand or a 180 without stand. the budget we have is right at about $1000 to start, but over the follow two months of the tank being setup we are planning a additional $500 or so dollars. the two tanks are both right at $800 but the 180 doesnt come with a stand and neither are drilled, so that leaves me with $200ish dollars to get some sort of a filtration system going to get it cycling. i have been looking around and have found dry rock as low as $1.25 per pound with a wave maker fit for either tank at about $40 should i just grab 120ish pounds of dry rock and a wave maker and get that cycling or should i buy about 40 lbs of dry rock and buy a fluval fx6 or something like it instead. just need opinions on which of those two filter types are more potent and effecient, both will be bought within 3 months of the tank being setup (not stocked until all filtration is purches) but am wondering if one of the two options would be better are filtering ammonia etc out of the water while the other type of filtration cycles so it can be stocked a bit sooner.

 

[ARGYGANG]

so i am picking up a tank tomorrow for some tangs we rescued recently and its a purple tang and a sailfin tang, so the two options are a 125 with stand or a 180 without stand. the budget we have is right at about $1000 to start, but over the follow two months of the tank being setup we are planning a additional $500 or so dollars. the two tanks are both right at $800 but the 180 doesnt come with a stand and neither are drilled, so that leaves me with $200ish dollars to get some sort of a filtration system going to get it cycling. i have been looking around and have found dry rock as low as $1.25 per pound with a wave maker fit for either tank at about $40 should i just grab 120ish pounds of dry rock and a wave maker and get that cycling or should i buy about 40 lbs of dry rock and buy a fluval fx6 or something like it instead. just need opinions on which of those two filter types are more potent and effecient, both will be bought within 3 months of the tank being setup (not stocked until all filtration is purches) but am wondering if one of the two options would be better are filtering ammonia etc out of the water while the other type of filtration cycles so it can be stocked a bit sooner.

also besides the annoyance of not being able to see at eye level with a tank being on the floor (concrete) would this cause any danger to the tank? the floor is perfectly capable of supporting the tank and is level.

 

[jabberwock]

I would not put a tank on the floor. Way to difficult to do maintenance unless you are a hobbit. I would also not do dry rock. It usually turns into an algae farm. I would look at wet "live" rock at the very least, and a combination of base and premium "live ocean" rock from somewhere like TBS (Tampa Bay Saltwater) on the high end. More expensive, but worth every penny.

Ammonia removal is not a mechanical filtration process. It is biofiltration by way of nitrifying bacteria.