Newbie Equipment Advice

[sudman]

Friends,

I am building my first / new 120 gallon setup. The tank is 72 x 19 x 20. I am also setting up a sump. Could you please tell me what equipment and how many you recommend for the following :

1) Heater

2) LED Lights

3) Protein Skimmer

4) Refugium Light

5) Return Pump - my tank came with a Rio 2500 is this any good ?

The information online is overwhelming so I thought I would ask for a personal recommendation from you wonderful folk. Thank you for your time !

 

[Chef Tommy]

Welcome to the board!!

I have a Finnex heater that is over a year old with no issues. A pair of 200 watt should do just fine.

I’m using Orphek led light bars and have been happy with them.

There are a lot of skimmers out there, I’m using an Aqua Excel with great results but if I had to choose another it would be a Reef Octopus Regal.

As for refugium lights, I’ve tried a handful of them but had the best results with a 100 watt Phillips 6500k spiral bulb.

 

[Oscaror]

Friends,

I am building my first / new 120 gallon setup. The tank is 72 x 19 x 20. I am also setting up a sump. Could you please tell me what equipment and how many you recommend for the following :

1) Heater

2) LED Lights

3) Protein Skimmer

4) Refugium Light

5) Return Pump - my tank came with a Rio 2500 is this any good ?

The information online is overwhelming so I thought I would ask for a personal recommendation from you wonderful folk. Thank you for your time !

What's your budget looking like? For refugium light make sure to get something high in the blue and red spectrum!

 

[sudman]

Welcome to the board!!

I have a Finnex heater that is over a year old with no issues. A pair of 200 watt should do just fine.

I’m using Orphek led light bars and have been happy with them.

There are a lot of skimmers out there, I’m using an Aqua Excel with great results but if I had to choose another it would be a Reef Octopus Regal.

As for refugium lights, I’ve tried a handful of them but had the best results with a 100 watt Phillips 6500k spiral bulb.

Thank you so much !!

 

[sudman]

What's your budget looking like? For refugium light make sure to get something high in the blue and red spectrum!

Great question. Not entirely sure as I do not want to spend too much but also don’t want to buy poor quality / barely usable parts.

 

[GoldeneyeRet]

Welcome!

So many equipment choices, you will get lots of good suggestions.

 

[Pntbll687]

Great question. Not entirely sure as I do not want to spend too much but also don’t want to buy poor quality / barely usable parts.

I used a finnex freshwater planted tank light. It worked great, and I got it used for $30 on Facebook or Craigslist

 

[sudman]

I used a finnex freshwater planted tank light. It worked great, and I got it used for $30 on Facebook or Craigslist

Thank You

 

[cvrle1]

1) Heater - Eheim Jager, Finnex, Aqueon, Cobalt Neo-therm, etc. Get multiple lower power ones, instead of one big one. In case one fails, you have backup running. Also make sure you use controller, no matter which heater you go with, as they can all fail.

2) LED Lights - This really depends on what you want to keep corals wise, how much money you want to spend and what features you like. It can be something as basic as Viparspectra, something with more features like SB Reef lights and Reefbreaders Photon V2, to something top of the line and most expensive like Ai, Kessil and Radion fixtures.

3) Protein Skimmer - Way too many choices, and each person will tell you what they use is best. Lifereef skimmers get great reviews, are bulletproof, and most can be upgraded to be used with bigger tanks, if you ever go to even bigger size of tank. Read as much as you can about different designs and differences, and then ask about specific skimmers.

4) Refugium Light - https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/lighting-for-your-refugium.494856/

5) Return Pump - my tank came with a Rio 2500 is this any good ? - Again, way too many choices. Rio 2500 could be used, depending on what turnover rate you want to go for. It is on weaker side, so I would say get a different one. Just like with skimmers, every person will say their return pump is best: https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/most-reliable-quality-return-pump.495367/

 

[sudman]

1) Heater - Eheim Jager, Finnex, Aqueon, Cobalt Neo-therm, etc. Get multiple lower power ones, instead of one big one. In case one fails, you have backup running. Also make sure you use controller, no matter which heater you go with, as they can all fail.

2) LED Lights - This really depends on what you want to keep corals wise, how much money you want to spend and what features you like. It can be something as basic as Viparspectra, something with more features like SB Reef lights and Reefbreaders Photon V2, to something top of the line and most expensive like Ai, Kessil and Radion fixtures.

3) Protein Skimmer - Way too many choices, and each person will tell you what they use is best. Lifereef skimmers get great reviews, are bulletproof, and most can be upgraded to be used with bigger tanks, if you ever go to even bigger size of tank. Read as much as you can about different designs and differences, and then ask about specific skimmers.

4) Refugium Light - https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/lighting-for-your-refugium.494856/

5) Return Pump - my tank came with a Rio 2500 is this any good ? - Again, way too many choices. Rio 2500 could be used, depending on what turnover rate you want to go for. It is on weaker side, so I would say get a different one. Just like with skimmers, every person will say their return pump is best: https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/most-reliable-quality-return-pump.495367/

This is fantastic advice . Thank you for taking the time to address each point individually.