125 Gallon tank...

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Doggfather

Al Bundy
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Today at work, a friend of mine told me a guy he knows is selling his 125 gallon tank, sump, and stand due to an un-expected transfer overseas. Apparently it's in perfect condition. Anyway, what i was thinking was either turning it into a marine tank...or just using it as another FW tank. So i can here to get some ideas :)

I'll get about 20-40kg (or more?) live rock...but what fish do you guys suggest? My only thoughts are a pair of black clownfish, dwarf angelfish and some blue tangs.

I'm a complete beginner in marines so please be easy on me :fun:
 
Nice size tank and is about the same size as mine (mine is in UK gallons).
You will need as a minimum, 60kg of liverock for a tank this size. Try and get even more if possible. T his will be of great benefit to the system regarding filtration.

What are you intending for the sump?
The following methods are very popular.

Liverock
Deepsand bed
Mineral Mud with Caulerpa bed.
Mangroves

(most of these can be mixed as well)


What you must consider is the extra equipment you will or might need.

Skimmer? depending on what you use in the sump will help decide what type of skimmer you need.
If you run a mineral mud system then its not recomended that you run a skimmer at all. Other systems will work happily longside a skimmer.

Lighting?
If you want a reef and i assume that a tank of this size is at least 24" deep (i mean high) then you will need the extra punching power of metal halide lights. These will give great coverage and allow you to keep even the most demanding corals.

As for fish... bit early for wish lists as things can change in the system during the course of its setup. However, your wish list so far seems ok. I would take care with the Regal Tangs (Dorys) as they are prone to stress and thus whitespot so i rarely recomend them as a beginners fish. If you want tangs however then yellow and purple tangs are very hardy and great grazers of algea.
 
Thanks for the help :)

I can get all the quipment such as skimmer, heaters quite easily so that shouldn't be a problem.

Would i need to add all the live rock at once? or could i do it gradually? 60kg of live rock = a lot of money!. Also, the tank 18 - 20" tall, would i still need MH? or could i get away with compact fluros?

I won't start a wish list of fish just yet :lol: but i'll try field some questions so i'm not too disapointed in the future :p I read in a book (The Question & Answer Manual of The Marine Aqaurium) that yellow tangs should be kept in groups of 6+...is this true? Also, two variaties of dwarf angels can't be kept together...is that true?

Again, sorry for all the silly questions above :*)

:thumbs:
 
Doggfather said:
Thanks for the help :)

I can get all the quipment such as skimmer, heaters quite easily so that shouldn't be a problem.

Would i need to add all the live rock at once? or could i do it gradually? 60kg of live rock = a lot of money!. Also, the tank 18 - 20" tall, would i still need MH? or could i get away with compact fluros?

I won't start a wish list of fish just yet :lol: but i'll try field some questions so i'm not too disapointed in the future :p I read in a book (The Question & Answer Manual of The Marine Aqaurium) that yellow tangs should be kept in groups of 6+...is this true? Also, two variaties of dwarf angels can't be kept together...is that true?

Again, sorry for all the silly questions above :*)

:thumbs:
I would add as much live rock as you can afford at the start. This will be your main form of filtration so the more you have the more efficient it will be. You can add a little at a time afterwards if you cannot afford it all in one go. Just remember that unless your liverock is fully stocked then your filtration will not be at optimum so your stocking levels will need to be low during this time.

As for lighting...
I still recomend MH for the simple reason that soon er or later you will want a coral that needs a bit more power and MH are definatley the magic wands in this area. There is no doubt that you can use compacts (i think we call them T5s in the UK) and they will reach the bottom of the tank. However you will need careful planning as to what corals will be at the bottom (they will have to be weak light loving corals ) but you could probably get away with any form of coral closer to the top of the tank.

Yellow tangs.. (or any tang) will shoal but your tank is not really large enough for that many tangs. I have a single tang in mine (Purple Tang) and i am having a major dilemma as to whether i can get away with adding a 2nd tang (tangs are extremely territorial). I owuld say that you could probably manage 2 yellows.. perhaps 3 at a push but no more. I would add the gans last of all and at the same time to avoid wars.

As for dwarf angels...
In a tank your size i have had (not now though) at the same time with no quarrels at all...
Flame Angel
Coral Beauty
Keyhole Angel
Bluefin Angel

Again.. if you can add the angels at the same time it will help stop fights. I wuld not recomend keeping so many as i have done. I purely had this many to take care of whilst i had other tanks coming off and online.

Make sure your dwarfs are among the last to enter tha tank also as they can be territorial also
 
I'll start from the start...again :)

How should i set up the sump, and how should i go about doing it? These meathods...

Liverock
Deepsand bed
Mineral Mud with Caulerpa bed.
Mangroves

...seem intresting, but i havn't been able to find any instructions on how to actually set it up.

Thank you very much :)
 
Here is a setup for a tank that uses miniwiers.
You can put anything you like in the sump, MM, liverock or anything you like really.

The return pump shown is on the outside but if this is not possible then simply put it inside the sump and allow it to feed out to the main tnak from there.

pipedesign.jpg


This is a detailed design for a mineral mud sump. Its not the only way it can be done but this is the design recomended by Mineral mud manufacturers

Mudsump.jpg
 
Ok, i decided if i set up the tank, i'll go with the deep sand bed :) but how deep does the sand need to be, is it 7 - 10 cm?

What else do i need to think of before i set it up? (if i buy it that is)

Thanks :thumbs:
 
I would not advise a DSB for a beginners tank. If it works its brilliant but if it doesnt then you will have a dead tank.

You must make sure that you have alot of space for a DSB. You must consider that a true DSB needs a variety of life to make it function correctly. This life will of course prey upon each other and if the area of sand is too small then you may find certain livestock within the sand is wiped out and thus make the sand less efficient.

If a DSB crashes then you will find that it will polute the tank very quickly indeed.

Sumps with liverock or mud systems are far more stable and forgiving for beginners.

If you decide to continue with a DSB then you will need between 4-5 inches of sand. (It really depends on the grai size.. the larger the grain size the deeper you can have it.)

Also.. remember that no sandsifters can be put in a DSB or you will soon find you have no DSB
 
ok, maybe the DSB isn't the thing for me :lol:

Maybe i'll be better off jut buying some more liverock for the sump?
 
Might be a really, really stupid question, but do i need halides to keep the live rock 'alive'? or will normal compact fluro's (T5's i think you said they were called) keep them alive?
 
No need for special lights on Live rock. Basically the liverock is needed for its filtration purposes (which is in permanent darkness being bacteria in the center of the rock).

Normal lights will usually suffice to allow the life on the rock to continue
 
Lots of live rock.
Huge skimmer. Huge as you can easly access.

Done.


Sumps are great for throwing in the occasional carbon or adding stuff to the tank.

Mangroves do nothing, but are cool. If you have easy access to your sump just a 24-7 light, and cheato. Sand n stuff is a mistake . If it goes bad it is a roal pain to break down.

Preff no sand in the main tank, 1 inch if you cant stand a bare bottom.


DSB = Deap sh*t bed. :dunno:
 

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