Back in the game! Could use suggestions..
 

Hello all!
My past set up up was a 34g biocube with upgraded skimmer and filter. And a 3 gallon nano. Those were taken down over 6 years ago.

Had a friend give me a 72g bowfront (was a fresh water setup) now and after 6 years I feel like I'm trying to learn a new language. Lol where to start?
Can you guys recommend a good filter/filtration and skimmer setup? What are great lights to set for sps and coral growth?

I'm sure all lfs's are closed right now. I'm in no rush for livestock. But if I can get some rock and substrate started to cycle I'd be happy. Amy advice is welcome!

I had the exact same bowfront with the built in internal overflow. I would drill the back and put on one of those eshopp overflows, run a sump out of a 40 gallon breeder with a simply divider for bubble trapping. Skimmer, something like a reef octopus classic 150 will do fine. Lighting wise, T5 fixture or brandname Leds and a couple of gyre for flow. Good to go.

Thanks for the advice! What size of tank did you use for a sump? In the past I just used rubble and a red algae.

Not quite following your question here lol

Sorry. What size sump did you have?

Get as big of a sump that you can fit (under the stand or wherever location will be). There is always something more to be put in the sump equipment wise, and everyone wishes they had just a bit more room inside it.

Thanks for the recommendations! Think I'm going with a hob octopus reef skimmer. I'd prefer to have it hang off the sump as opposed to the display. If this is a mistake, please let me know.

Why do you need to hang a skimmer off the sump? Am I missing something?

I am guessing to save space inside the sump, so there is more room for other things.

OP, For tank that size, and sump, HOB skimmer wont be good enough. HOB skimmer may be good for 30-40G tanks, but anything over that they dont do good job at all.

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A 40g breeder as a sump as Bblinks suggests will hold most practical equipment such as the skimmer, heater, some filter floss and maybe a reactor if needed.

Easiest way is to do regular small water changes. From there you get into dosing and that is best with a doser unless you're super reliable to manual dose.

Lights, get a single used G4 or something like that.

Plan out the area under the tank and think about where things will go before you put water in it.

Correct. If I can keep space in the sump for crushed lr and macro algae. Again it's been so long, I still have a lot of reading and catching up to do.

Maddog, I read that the octopus hob classic 100 was designed for tanks of about 100 gallons. ?

Correct. I was hoping to keep more space in the sump for other filtration (rubble and macro algae).

But I read that the octopus 100 was designed to handle tanks over 100g. Lfs had recommended it too. Hope it works otherwise I'll switch. Again, appreciate the input. I've got a lot of reading to get caught up to refresh.

Another question for anyone still following; is 1.4lbs of sand per gallon and 2lbs of live rock per gallon too much substrate? Local store said that more than 1.5" of sand will cause problems down the road

pounds per gallon, watts per gallon, for anything, is basically useless. Think hard before you put in more than 1/2" of sand because it will trap detritus over time and if you're not vaccuming it weekly it'll build up. If a bunch of it gets stirred up at once a year later, and you haven't been keeping it clean, you can have a crash & lose livestock. Get larger grain sand if you're going with high flow pumps, to avoid it getting kicked up. You can go bare bottom, too, which is popular, but you'll need more biological filtration in your sump (those biological bricks are popular). Investigate refugiums (see more below) and you can suck out nitrate faster than you can feed it (I have to dose nitrate!), allowing you to be more creative with your rock work, using it structurally and aesthetically and not simply Xlbs/gallon for filtration needs.

I came back to the reef hobby a year ago (used to work for Gold's in Calgary, round 2008) and here's some of the awesome stuff which we knew nothing about a decade ago, which make success far easier:

• There's so much more information on PAR and light spectrum, from actual studies! The photosynthetic wavelengths of chlorophyll A & B are now common knowledge in the community and you can plan for that with your lighting. You can get just as much photosynthesis from less wattage, saving money & lowering the heat added to the tank. The blue colour of tank lights which is popular lately isn't simply a fad. There's a biological reason to run a bluer light.
• we now know that chaeto fuges are HUGE nitrate removers with adequate lighting and nutrient maintenance. They never really worked back in the day because we'd use those stupid little 13 watt screw in fluorescent lights and didn't know we should be maintaining iron. Check out BRStv's comparison of different lights & how much nitrate the chaeto pulled out under each. It's eye opening. Definitely watch the 52 weeks of reefing videos where they test algae under different lights. You can get cheaper equivalents of those $$$ kessil lights if you get yourself a COB grow light for growing pot (with a cree 3590 COB led).
• Auto-top offs are a no-brainer and there are plenty of options now. Essential. Get it because life happens and you can miss your top-off. Your inverts will thank you.
• RO/DI units are cheap now. There's basically no reason not to have one. If you can't afford it, keep saving & delay your tank project until you have one. Be patient on this front, if your budget is limiting.
• LED lights are fun & can be easily tweaked but don't discount good old T5HO. The hybrid T5HO units are a great start and you can add LEDs to them to bump your PAR up for corals that need it. I wish I got the hybrid T5HO before I got the LEDs, I would have seen more colouration success sooner.
• Dosing pumps are better now. Kamoer makes some units which are dependable & well priced. They're easy to run for a tank that sized compared to a calcium reactor & eliminates a daily chore, which increases the chance of success (daily chores can be missed). Set up your doser so that it can't siphon into or out of the tank to avoid a disaster. Couple it with a ph controller to turn it off if your PH goes up to a certain level to add another fail safe (see comment below about the apex).
• The designer corals of yester-year are now the cheap & plentiful frags. If you're not constantly looking for the bleeding edge species you can get beautiful corals for cheap. My friends & family don't care whether the coral is some newly available "super-hot-mysogenistic-fancy-name" coral. If it's colourful & has swaying polyps it's a crowd pleaser.
• I have an easier time maintaining filter feeders with coral frenzy on an auto timer. This wasn't really available a decade ago. No more spot feeding with baby brine shrimp, hello feather dusters!
• The apex classic can be had for cheap ($350 or under). It's a good value considering you get a half decent power bar with amperage monitor ($40 equivalent to a portawattz). The power meter lets you know if your power heads are needing a cleaning (you'll see a drop in power draw). The temperature controller is $50-100 separately & keeps temps WAY more steady. You also get a light timer out of the box without the bulk of those timers which go for $20 a pop. Add it up and you're saving money.
• Captive raised fish are available in many more species now, and they're hardier. Ask your LFS if they get in captive raised fish and steer your purchases towards those animals. They'll more readily eat and it's a more sustainable source, too. I have a captive raised angel which was a pig on day one when I put it in the tank, something you wouldn't hear often a decade ago.
• Bleaching rock before using it shortens the cycle time by MONTHS (save $$ by using some from somebody's tank on facebook marketplace or kijiji). Read up on it.

Oh and 52 weeks of reefing! So much information in there! Those folks have just released a summary video, too, where they comment on which of those experiments yielded the most success. You can watch that first so you know which videos you can prioritize. The series is a treasure trove of advice based off experiments they performed, not simple regurgitation of manufacturer's snake-oil sales pitches.

Great info. Thank you!