New girl

Westwood13

Reefing newb
Hello all,

I am new to this site and new to salt water aquariums. I have a 125gal glass aquarium sitting in the garage. I would like to bring it in the house and set it up as a "reef" tank. I have minimal experience with fresh water, and I understand chemistry. What I'm struggling with are all the options (and opinions) I find as to how to set up my tank. I would like to use a sand bed and live rock. Add corals after my tank "cycles" and perhaps 2 or 3 fish.

I am hoping to get help and advise from those of you who have experience.

Thank you
 
Welcome to the site, it is always nice to see someone else from Texas. Having a 125 gives you some options on your fish selection. You will need 125 to 300 ibs of live rock. You can do this with mainly dry rock and a few pieces of live, will save you some money. If you are going with a reef tank you will need to start researching lighting. That will be a major expense. The most successful tanks run underneath sump/refugiums. Is your tank drilled? If not is there a fish store near you that can drill it for you? That big of a tank should be drilled but you could run a hob overflow if that isnt feasible. You will also need a good quality skimmer that will fit into your underneath sump. Look for something in the 150 to 200 gallon rating. Reef octopus makes some great skimmers that arent to expensive. Start looking at build threads on the site to get some ideas. Depending on where in Texas you are maybe we can also point out some good fish stores to talk to.
 
Thanks for your replies,

And Ted, thank you for the advise. My tank is not drilled, and I'm afraid the glass may be tempered. My Uncle said NOT to attempt drilling it. I like the idea of a refugium/sump (took me a while to figure out what you meant by hob) so I will have to find an HOB device. I'm thinking of buying a 40 gal aquarium and building my own refugium/sump. I'm finding plenty of info on Youtube for that purpose.
125-300 lbs of rock is a lot of $$$ There must be a less expensive way. Where can someone find dry rock/coral for less? I'd like to keep expenses down.

Any recomendations on a QUIET return pump? What are the advantages of in water or out of water design?
 
This site has some great dry rock. MarcoRocks Aquarium Products I have a hob overflow it is the cpr design. CPR Overflow Boxes except I got it from a knock off company....Overflow Box It works good but you have to add a little stand pipe to it that the cpr comes with. If you think rock is expensive you havent looked at lights yet....I got my lights from the knock off company as well. I like them and my corals have good growth but again its something that you have to decide to do. It is very easy to spend 2k on lights for that size tank...especially if you go led...if you go Metal Halide you could go anywhere from.....$429 for knock offs or $1200 for a name brand....Or $800 for a 6 bulb t5 set up....There are so many choices in lights....really depends on your budget...
 
Hello all,

I am new to this site and new to salt water aquariums. I have a 125gal glass aquarium sitting in the garage. I would like to bring it in the house and set it up as a "reef" tank. I have minimal experience with fresh water, and I understand chemistry. What I'm struggling with are all the options (and opinions) I find as to how to set up my tank. I would like to use a sand bed and live rock. Add corals after my tank "cycles" and perhaps 2 or 3 fish.

I am hoping to get help and advise from those of you who have experience.

Thank you

What part of Texas are you in? If you are in the DFW area, the club here is awesome and the people in it are very helpful. Getting mostly dead rock is fine with just a small piece of live rock will help so that way you are spending far less. 2 or 3 fish will fit in your 125 without any issues. Good luck and welcome to the site.
 
+1 Ted rocks...lol....good luck with the build... 125g a lot of play room...but definitely expensive....dig deep in those pockets girl...but its all worth it in the end... patience and research as hard as it will be
 
To be really honest, i spend about 700 a month lately on corals and upgrades. All im saying is this hobby is better than drugs, more expensive too. I hope my wife doesnt see this post! :-)
 
Ted, Mario, Moncapitaine, Smitty, On_on3

You guys are great. You all have given me plenty to think about :question:

I'm on a budget and will try to find used equipment in many areas like rocks and sand. Other things I know will be better if I purchase new. I'm in the Dallas/Ft Worth area and so will be shopping Craigs list frequently.
 
Keep in mind...if you go the cheap route just because it helps your pockets...I bought a cheap skimmer and had it exchanged and then modded...blah blah blah...I wish I had just paid and extra 50$ for a better one initially...trust me don't go the easy route, it will bite u in the butt later... but enjoy...and also keep in mind a lot of opinions here....some are great others are just opinions!!! Research and gather as many facts before u make ur 'own' decisions... good luck ...lots of good people here to help
 
Keep in mind...if you go the cheap route just because it helps your pockets...I bought a cheap skimmer and had it exchanged and then modded...blah blah blah...I wish I had just paid and extra 50$ for a better one initially...trust me don't go the easy route, it will bite u in the butt later... but enjoy...and also keep in mind a lot of opinions here....some are great others are just opinions!!! Research and gather as many facts before u make ur 'own' decisions... good luck ...lots of good people here to help

Mine are just opinions. Where can i find facts? Your i luck, today is fact day! My second toe in is longer than my big toe. Fact. Im glad i got that off my chest.
 
+1 everyone....some things you can go cheap, but others, you shouldn't. You can also scour Craigslist for used equipment. Usually a nice soak in distilled vinegar for a few hours will make things nice and clean. But if you ask before you buy and do your research, you'll save yourself lots of $$. I know that I'm overly cautious with my tank. Took me forever to get just the right equipment and livestock because I could not afford to make costly mistakes w/ the wrong piece of equipment.
 
+1 Gretch, more money up front is often less in the long run. The bottom of your tank is tempered, the back/sides arent. A drilled set up is gonna also be cheaper.
 
I just switched to some off brand LEDS for my 125 gl and there working great so far. they where around 600$ only for the 3 units i needed, but like i said they are of brand chinnesse black boxes. but i have a 2 year warrenty and they seem to be growing everything nicely so im happy.

And like people have said Craigslist is your friend.

I actually picked up my 125gl tank with heaters stand and 2 hang on back filters for 130 $
 
Wow, I wish people would just give stuff away like that around here. Everyone is concerned with how much their stuff cost them...
 
Reef Breeders LED Fixtures is a great place to find some cheaper, but still good quality lighting, a buddy of mine directed me to them b/c he has a 180g with lps, sps, and softies that are all doing great and his fixtures were only $179 each and thats really cheap for LEDs. also +1 on MarcoRocks Aquarium Products, i got the 100lb package for just over $200, and that's a huge $$ saver since all live rock would have been between $400 and $900. one thing to keep in mind though when it comes to corals and fish, do as much research as you can on anything you might want to keep and then use the information as a guide, not a rulebook, b/c everything you get will have a good chance of acting completely different than what the guides tell you. for example, everything i read about Starry Blennies said they are herbivores and mine loves nothing more than to eat meat. whatever you do tho, don't get discouraged and take it as slowly as you need, your fish and corals will thank you
 
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