Advice from everybody would be great!!

[dnorton1978]

I am planning on upgrading from my 55 gallon tank to a 125 gallon or so. The LFS has the one in the pic, with tank stand canopy. The tank is drilled. It also comes with a sump made for a 180 gallon tank, 80 lbs of carib sea sand, and sea salt. It also inlcuded all plumbing and comes with two rio 900's pumps.

First is that a decent deal, or nothing special?

I want the tank so that my sailfin, which is the family favorite, can grow into it, and so i can keep more corals(a variety) and have a couple more fish.

Lighting I am thinking Vho's because they seem help the tank look the best.

I mainly want to do things right the first time, even if that means buying things in stages.

BTW, the tank stand is ugly, so I will need to sand it add some trim and re paint.

I am going to use the sand, and I am shooting for a 3 inch sand bed or so.

I would like to be able to keep any kind of coral thriving, not just surviving.

Tank dimensions are 72 x 18 x 24.

Yes i have been reading the various threads around here about each individual topic I mentioned, but I was looking for individual opinions here. Thanks

 

[Anonymous]

By Rio 900, do you mean the Rio 3100 w/ a 900gph flow rate that retails at Marine Depot for just under $60 each?

If so, I'd tell them to hold those and knock $100 off. - If they're a different model of Rio, I'd find out what they retail for and STILL ask to keep them out of the equation.

Is the salt a brand you normally use?

My monitor at home sucks, but to me the stand looks fine. - Its the hood I'd have issues with. - Course, I'd want to run halides so I'd want more height on the hood so that'd be my biggest gripe with it.

 

[Anonymous]

It looks like a decent deal. I would also ask them to keep anything from rio as I have had nothing but issues with anything from them. Also like was mentioned above, I would want MH but I like ref tanks, if you ar not planning on keeping SPS dominated tank, VHO should be fine. Of course there are those who are successfully keeping SPS with VHO as well. So again as was mentioned above, I would want a different hood so that I have more room for MH lighting. I would see if they will knock that off the price and keep the hood and then build my own.

 

[dnorton1978]

Thanks for the feeback so far guys.
Grateful you are correct about the rio's with the flow rate of 900. The salt it instant ocean, so yes it is my usualy brand. So all in all it sounds as if it is a decent deal, except the pumps suck.. What is a good pump for the dollar?

 

[Kevin207]

Some people prefer a 120 gallon tank over this 125 gallon size, because it would have 6 more inches front to back but only be 4 feet long.
120 gallon: 4 feet x 2 feet x 2 feet

I am happy with my 4x2x2 120 gallon but don't know why people would have a problem with a tank that is 6 feet long and only 1.5 feet front to back like the one you are considering buying. I'd assume it is because you can't stack the rock as gradually going from front to back as you could with a 2 foot front to back tank. I think you could probably make either design look great.

I just mention this in case you think it will be an issue for you. You might have space for six feet in length, but maybe not for 2 feet of depth anyway.

I too thought the cabinet looked fine. You have obviously had a chance for a closer inspection 8)

I agree with what the other guys said about going with a taller canopy on top in case you want to run metal halides in the future. And I would go for 3 metal halide pendants with this particular tank, maybe 250W each or up to 400 W each (with a taller canopy). But this would bring you into chiller territory. And the expenses go on 8O

I haven't had a problem with RIO pumps I have a couple of RIO 2100s and a couple of RIO 800s, and they all have held up well for several years. They are easy to clean, and run reliably for me so far. They have gotten super cheap lately too, and are UL listed now (at least the Rio 800) if you look around online.
I recently bought a SEIO 620 (also from TAAM) for circulation and must say that it is useless. It stops spinning when you plug it in and you have to coax it along with your fingers to get it spinning. A pain.

I haven't tried other pumps other than my reliable little OTTO pump and the above RIOs, so I really don't know what I am missing. Maybe everything, maybe nothing at all.

Good luck with whatever you decide

 

[dnorton1978]

Thanks kevin. Glad to hear you have not had a problem with rio. THe guy at the lfs said that is all he uses. What type of height do i need on my canopy to accomidate halides?

I may just take those pumps to start, if i buy the tank, and upgrade later. I will need to put a good some of money into a good quality skimmer and other stuff.

As for the price of $1,200, is that really a deal, or is it average.
Is it the type of deal I should jump right into, or is it a deal i could find anywhere anytime??????

 

[fishinsouthga]

not that im an expert, but id tell him keep the pumps, as others have said, and i wouldn't bet just on vho lighting.... id look for room to upgrade the lighting to at least 250 HQI types (lots of nice hoods and parts to retrofit a hood, and i understand you have the sump but are you considering a fuge? i went with the 120 also as i like the shelf effect of it over the 125, im spent a few extra bucks on a mag drive and i like it cept i would go with external pumps in the future as now im fighting a 2 degree heat problem (tank is at 81 in the summer) also you need to think about flow control as just 2 static returns can leave dead spots in a 6 foot tank.

 

[dnorton1978]

As far as flow is concerned I will add 2 maxi jet 1200's, and add my two existing maxi 900's. Then I will look at it and decide If I still need more. Flow will be taken care of for sure. Thanks

 

[dnorton1978]

WELL IS IT A DEAL, OR SOMETHING THAT CAN WAIT?????????

 

[fishinsouthga]

take the 895 offer on the tank and stand and hood if thats a good price, id purchase the rest elsewhere

 

[dnorton1978]

so dont get the sump and stuff?

How much would a sump cost for a 125 gallon tank? I would want an oversized sump made for at least a 180 gallon..

 

[dnorton1978]

Does anybody else agree. I am actually thinking that is a decent idea...

 

[Christeon]

I don't know prices, but I'll respond

I don't like the narrow depth because it would limit stacking your bulbs, if you add halides you will have little room for any extra vho's, it also narrows your storage underneath. 48" lighting seems more common. 72" would put you in the realm of 3 halides vs 2. Don't like the hood height at all and it looks like it is one piece, stand is basic and doesn't have doors on the ends.

I like helping out the local fish store, but I would never buy a full tank that wasn't exactly what I was looking for and it would have Starphire glass at least on the front.

I have read alot of your posts and know you take everyones comments with a grain of salt so I told you how I felt. If you like the way it looks that's what matters, the hood height would probably be the only functional drawback on it and that's only if you upgrade to halides.

 

[trido]

On the west coast. An AGA 120 will cost you about $470 from LFS. The stand I bought from my LFS for my old 90 that is comparable to yours cost me another $500. A sump rated for 180, if its decent will cost you over $200 from LFS. The aragonite will likely cost another $80.
If you like the way the 125 looks and are willing to set up a six foot light fixture. Buy it. It is a good deal. The LFS is probably tired of sitting on it and just wants to make extra floor space. Retail rent by the square foot can be a killer and every foot counts when your trying to turn over products.

 

[Anonymous]

IMO, the stand and hood look great! But then they look like mine so its a bit of personal preference 8) )

Some comments: It may not seem that important now, but you need to see if a carpenter cannot put end doors in for you, I cant imagine working under my tank without them!
Lighting is gonna be a squeeze in that hood. I have attached some (old) pics of my tank with the hood off and lying on the floor and 4 x 96w T5s in place. You will see that there is not a helluva lot of spare room up there and mine is 34" wide. (Its euro braced so that shortens the space a bit too). The system was going to be a fish only, but that has changed... :roll: I now have squeezed two aquamedic 250w MHs in and there is no more room in the hood. I run the MHs about 10" above the water and only for 4 hours a day. I am shifting to turning them when I am not there as I dont like how bright they are and prefer the T5 look in the evenings. The relevance to you is probably that I cannot see the fittings above the hood, let alone the bulbs.

That tank is also pretty shallow, so depending on what you do with your aquascaping you may get away with just the T5s, or possibly T5s in the front and MHs at the back (Prob 2 150s- my tank is longer and I only have 2 250s).
...Just some ideas, and I am only chiming in as the cabinet/hood look pretty to me, I'm sure someone else will have something more informative to add re the lighting...

 

[Anonymous]

Oops, tagging along....

 

[Anonymous]

Well, for only another $40 or so you could go with a pair of 1500gph SEIO's (yeah, they're still Rio's, but not quite so many bad reports) and they'll put out a much more "useable" flow. (Not as harsh/intense of a directed jet.)

Or better... - You could consider it a $100 discount to yourself on picking up a vortech.


But yeah, outside of the pumps, I'd probably go for it if I had the cash and the room for it..

 

[dnorton1978]

Thank you all so much for the valuable feedback. I wish I was half as handy with tools and such as most of you. If so i would just build my own stand and canopy. I agree that the canopy is going to pose some problems for lighting, so I have at least rules out the canopy.

I just want to make sure this time I do things right the first time I pull out my wallet. I learned the hard way with my 55 gallon, and luckily it was not a larger tank because the kids college fund would probably be cut in half. Just kidding my wife would kill me twice for that.

If there is any one else with other information that may help dont be shy, speak to me.. THANKS AGAIN

 

[dnorton1978]

ONE LAST QUESTION... For this post anyway.


Is a 24 inch deep tank considered a deep tank?????????????


My reason is because if not I will just do vho's in my new tank.. If it is deep then I have no choice but halides.. THAnk

 

[Anonymous]

You can do VHO on a 24" deep tank. You will have limitations where you can put certian types of corlas. For example, SPS will not survive near the bottom. Also, they will more than likley not grow at the same rate as if they were under MH.