starting the 125 gallon setup
 

well i got an offer i could not refuse. nicky and mike at hidden reef had a setup that i could not give up. i bought a 135g drilled tank, stand and 6ft hamilton 175w fixture with 3 mh and 2 96w actinics. i'm going to use my 55g as my sump, i'm going with asm g3 skimmer and possibly 2 dart pumps with a closed loop system. this is the first time i've had a sump and a setup this big so i'm looking for advice or tips. currently i just run pc lighting but with the new lighting i have the option of going with 10k or 14k mh and i dont know which to chose. i'm taking this setup slow and i dont want any regrets for purchases or assembly so i'm planning like crazy. i only bought it 2 days ago and just yesterday i was back in there drilling nicky with more questions. is it necessary to run 2 darts (1 for the sump and 1 for the closed loop)? any advice or ideas that you can offer would be awesome. another idea i had was plumbing in my 10g and using the 96w lighting that i have on it now and turn it into a refugium under the stand, but the problem is that it would gravity feed the tank so the display still get the benefit of the pods in the refugium or will the return pump just destroy them? i'm assuming that having the refugium with macro algae will be beneficial enough

From what I have read pods will go through a return pump just fine. I have a refuge in my sump and I could honestly quit feeding by banggai with the amount of critters in the water column of the main tank! I'm sure many of them are coming up from the sump.

As for lighting, with 175W bulbs I would stick with 10K as they are a nice colour and usually provide more PAR output, plus with a lower power like a 175W you probably want as much output as you can get, all depending on what you keep. If you have the chance go look at some 175 bulbs on another setup or in the store before buying a particular model.

If it were my tank, i would ditch the close loop and go with the tunze streams. They move a ton of water, are extremely reliable, and use very little power. Plus less pipes and wholes in your tank, less to go wrong. The main complaint against them is their size, but when positioned right, you will hardly notice them, specially with all the corals to stare at :wink:

Sounds like you are doing some good planning though, should be a nice setup!

now i've never had mh before, is the (3) 175w mh good for sps corals or is it not powerful enough?

SPS will be OK as long as you place them higher up.
You may not get there best colors and growth though.
IMO you would have been better served by 250W's
But if you just want SPS on the top of your tank and then LPS down at the bottom you should be alright.

I agree with Brennan - go get Tunze. Especially if you want to keep SPS. I have 2 closed loops on my 135 and they offer nothing compared to the Tunze. I have 2 - 6100's and two Seio 1100's in the rocks, I STILL think I could use more flow so I think I will upgrade the Seio's to another pair of 6100's. I think the biggest shock to me when I went up to a 6' tank was how much more difficult it is to get good flow... As for the lights, I think if your rock work allows you to put hard corals withing 12 inches of the water surface you will be OK, but anything stoney & deeper may not get enough light, it all depends on the corals, where they came from and what kind of lighting they are used to.

thanks alot for the input guys. the reason i'm leaning towards closed loop instead of tunzes is for less components in the tank. i currently use powerheads in my tank now and i hate them with a passion especially when the suction cups let loose. i mean if i run two darts one for the closed loop and the other for the sump i'm close to 40 - 50 times turn over rate. reeferaddict do you have any pics of the tunzes in your tank.

another question is the kelvin bulb to use. i've heard 50/50 from people to use 10k and the other half say 14k. the unit has 3 mh and 2 96w actinics, i got a suggestion to run 2 10k at the ends and a 14k in the middle. any ideas or pics of what the difference would be?

If you go with a closed loop,you need around 300-400 gph flow out each outlet.So say you want 2 in the front 2 in the back and 1 on each side.(Thinking manifold here)You will need a pump that will put out around 2000-2500 gph after headloss.Myself,I like the idea but it takes a good sized pump to run it.

http://www.advancedaquarist.com/issu...2003/short.htm

Here's a link on how to build a manifold

You may want to reconsider such a large pump for your return too. I had a Mag 36 on my tank at one point and I wasn't happy with it. The slower the water is as it travels through the sump, the better chance your filtration equipment has at polishing the water, such as your skimmer, etc. If you can go with another closed loop or add a Tunze or two like the other guys recommended you might be a little better off.

quagmire thanks for the link that is awesome, i havent read it over yet but i definitely will. what is the amount of pressure loss i will lose with the one dart on the closed loop. what about a barracuda it is 4500gph, but is it quiet?

thanks for the input jaws, see i've never run a sump before so i really appreciate the advice, after i read your input i had an idea, is it possible to still use the dart for the sump but to split it, as to use half the pressure to run the sump and the other half to supply returns?

i was at the LFS this morning and mark introduced me to the ecotech vortech pump. i'm lovin it. i'm thinking of cancelling the closed loop system and running 2 of these pumps possibly 3, they rock. they are magnetic with the motor on the outside of the tank they have controllable flow and when they come out with the controller it will wirelessly control 10 of these pumps. anyone have experience with these pumps?