[AngelLeah1981]

I'm so excited. I'm about to buy my 120 gallon aquarium. Quick question. I'm going to get it ready for a sump. I don't particularly trust my LFS but they're all I have and the price is definately right for the 120 gallon glass aquarium ($699 sump ready (will have to be "ordered" )). Is there anything I should ask besides the warranty? How good of a leak warranty should I get? Also, BIGGEST concern here is - DOES IT MATTER WHERE THE HOLES ARE DRILLED FOR THE SUMP? I need a very good detailed answer here because like I said I DON'T trust my lfs. I'm not going to do business with them unless it is necessary. I will be moving in 6 months so I'm only interested in equipment at the moment. Thanks !!!

P.s. Is there anything I need to know or to ask for that I may need to say myself and not expect them to accomedate me? Thanks.

[mtfabel]

The absolute best place for the holes would be in the bottom and have corner overflows installed. But if its not pre-drilled then the bottom peice will probably be tempered and you wont be able to drill them there. If this is the case then I suppose I would have them drilled about 4 or 5 inches from the top and the corner. After the holes are drilled and you get your bulkheads in, plumb a 90 degree elbow and run a tube up to about an inch below where you want your water level to be. Now depending on what size pump and how much flow you want to acheive will also determine how many holes and where else you may want to have drilled. It might not be a bad idea to have another hole drilled on each side of the tank to get flow from the sides. This is by no means the only option you have. There are many other very tank savvy ppl on this forum and hopefully you will get some more responses and you can take the best of all advice and put it together and get one really super awesome layout.

[R-e-D]

well .. if the tank does not come predrilled by the tank maker , you will have no warranty from them as drilling voids tank warrantys.

getting a reef ready tank is a must imo , so many of us here dident get ours reef ready and are now drilling them ourselves or complaining about the ugly overflow boxes ..

[sgarron]

For 699, it better be reef ready. Also, shop around a bit. I found a 180RR at a LFS for 599.

[bmward64]

I like the idea of a drilled tank, and like above, overflow boxes are ugly, so it is worth the extra money and time to get it drilled. I should not cost a whole other leg or anything.

[reefnoob1991]

I agree, just look around...I got my 75 perfecto reef ready with overflow kit and stand for 420$

[AngelLeah1981]

It might not be a bad idea to have another hole drilled on each side of the tank to get flow from the sides.

Are you saying it needs a total of 4 holes? I haven't heard of this. Do you mind explaining please?

I can't believe how cheap everyone says they have been getting their aquariums. I have called several different states and the prices are higher. Maybe I screwed up when I failed to mention that I'm also getting a stand and lights. Is that the problem or am I calling the wrong states? I can't find any used stuff. I live in an area with VERY limited resources....Gulfport, MS.

Also, it is plate glass. Is that ok?

Thanks you guys.

[sgarron]

With the stand included that is more realistic. What type of lights? If they are the standard fluorescent lights that come with most aquariums, you can't use them for corals, just fish. What brand aquarium? AGA, Perfecto, Oceanic?

[AngelLeah1981]

I should have mentioned this before. I am so sorry. I feel like such a dummy. As you can tell I'm a REAL newbie to this hobby.

$
Aquarium 48x24x24 Ocean View (glass co.) -1 year manufacturer warranty - also he acted like holes drilled on bottomwith with no other options. I hope that is ok. stand 599
to have holes drilled for sump 100 "making it (699)"
sump 30 gallon "around 110"
pump "around 120"

probably just basic cheapest lights. I know I'll have to buy better lights. Would you suggest T5 or metal hallide or several difficult animals?

[e_baer]

Originally Posted by AngelLeah1981

I live in an area with VERY limited resources....Gulfport, MS.

I was in gulfport last jan rebuilding homes. It was a disaster. Some people were saying how there was a frozen chicken place, and when the waves came washed a bunch of frozen chickens inland and for a while there were rotting chickens all over the place.0

Originally Posted by AngelLeah1981

probably just basic cheapest lights. I know I'll have to buy better lights. Would you suggest T5 or metal hallide or several difficult animals?

I think with a tank of this depth, MH may be your best bet. It also depends on how deep of a sand bed you want and what kind of corals and inverts you want.

[reefnoob1991]

I agree metal halides too, and you need four holes because on each side you have an overflow tube and then a tube that returns the water from the output nozzles.

[NATIVEVAMAN]

Now you know I have to take acception to the use of metal halides.Let me point out s few basic facts.Metal halides have a far hotter operating temperature.You can actually touch a t-5 fixture while its on.If you touch a metal halide fixture you will be burned.The bulb life of metal halides is about 6 months since the extreme heat burns up the phosphors that give the bulb its color.T-5 bulbs last 2 years.You might find a metal halide bulb for as little as 60$'s each you will need 2 for 120$'s.6 48 inch t-5 bulbs will cost 150$'s for all 6.The metal halide bulbs would be very low end,the t-5's would be the best available.Metal halide bulbs come in 7 or 8 different color temperatures and while you have two bulbs it is not a good plan to mix colors.T-5 comes in 6 or 7 colors and you can mix and match them to your hearts content to achieve a well defined look for your tank and to achieve high growth levels.I would be remiss if i didnt mention the cost of electricity used to run these bulbs.Its all very simple really. 500 watts of metel halide is equal to about 320 watts of t-5 and the bulb and ballast systems for t-5 are far more efficient.Dont let anyone scare you with the tank depth thing.T-5 ho (high output)is good to depths of 19 inch's inclusive of sand beds.T-5 vho(very high output) is good to depths of 29 inch's.In short metal halide lights are the technology of the last decade.

[reefnoob1991]

To this day though metal halides have done the best of recreating lighting of the wild, as far as growth and great looks. You can find metal halide bulbs on most websites for 60$ TOTAL, not apiece...although I've even found brand new cheaper ones on forums. The heat isn't that bad because I keep it in my room and have no troubles whatsoever, it only causes the water to rise about a degree or two in the day

[sgarron]

T5's do cost less to operate, run cooler, and bulb replacement is cheaper.

BUT, MH's look much more natural. T5's have a very sterile, monochromatic look when used by themselves.

I run 3 - 150w MH bulbs and 8 T5 bulbs on my 180 and you couldn't pay me to give up the MH's. I also tried the Solaris and sold that to go back to MH.

Everyone's taste is different. Pick the lighting that you like best.

[reefnoob1991]

The bulbs were supposed to last 8-12 months on a 10-12 hour photoperiod on MH I believed?

[sgarron]

A quality mh bulb should last a year. I run mine 9 hours a day and my t5's come 1.5 hours before the mh and go off 1.5 hours after. My temp. increase is 1.5 degrees.

[e_baer]

Originally Posted by NATIVEVAMAN

Now you know I have to take acception to the use of metal halides.Let me point out s few basic facts.Metal halides have a far hotter operating temperature.You can actually touch a t-5 fixture while its on.If you touch a metal halide fixture you will be burned.The bulb life of metal halides is about 6 months since the extreme heat burns up the phosphors that give the bulb its color.T-5 bulbs last 2 years.You might find a metal halide bulb for as little as 60$'s each you will need 2 for 120$'s.6 48 inch t-5 bulbs will cost 150$'s for all 6.The metal halide bulbs would be very low end,the t-5's would be the best available.Metal halide bulbs come in 7 or 8 different color temperatures and while you have two bulbs it is not a good plan to mix colors.T-5 comes in 6 or 7 colors and you can mix and match them to your hearts content to achieve a well defined look for your tank and to achieve high growth levels.I would be remiss if i didnt mention the cost of electricity used to run these bulbs.Its all very simple really. 500 watts of metel halide is equal to about 320 watts of t-5 and the bulb and ballast systems for t-5 are far more efficient.Dont let anyone scare you with the tank depth thing.T-5 ho (high output)is good to depths of 19 inch's inclusive of sand beds.T-5 vho(very high output) is good to depths of 29 inch's.In short metal halide lights are the technology of the last decade.

Even with the vho t-5, will any useful light even reach the bottom of the tank? I know you said 29", but if they got t-5, what corals would they be able to keep at the bottom of the tank? Would this limit them to mushrooms and low light level corals? Or will they be able to have clams and sps?


Also, with the t-5 vho is there a difference with the bulb life and running temps?

[NATIVEVAMAN]

If you read some of the old articles on mh lighting you will see some that say the bulb is good as long as it burns.More recent articles written after the comon use of light meters that read in kelvins idicates that mh bulbs begin to shift to yellow or red depending on the bulbs original degree's kelvin.This has been known to cause algea blooms and occurs in 6 to 8 months.There is a new bulb out that claims to last a year but it costs 140$'s.

[NATIVEVAMAN]

There are litterally thousands of tanks out there with clams and sps growing at all levels.

[reefnoob1991]

But you have to wonder how good the growth is in those tanks

[e_baer]

I guess it also depends on how many bulbs you have, what degree (k) each bulb is rated and so on.

If I had to re-do my whole lighting, I would definately get t-5 from what I have read about them.

In another 5 years the LED's will be as common as PC.....who knows whats gonna be next!

[reefnoob1991]

I've heard they haven't shown growth as good as MH, and on the forums alot of people i've seen buy them and then return due to not liking the lighting or other factors.

[NATIVEVAMAN]

You dont have to wonder about a thing.All you have to do is look at tank pics on just about every forum on the net to see fantastic growth from t-5 lighting.I would like to point out also that coral growth is primarily an effect of color temp,with 6500k giving the best growth and 20000k the worst.That would be regardless of light source.currently 17000k is the highest you can get in t-5.

[reefnoob1991]

No what I mean is...when you said all types of lighting I was talking about growth in the metal halides vs t-5 vs vhos vs pcs...i'd be curious as to see that test of the same SPS with the exact same water params, etc.

[NATIVEVAMAN]

I recently did an unscientific survey of for a for sale thread on another forum and found like 20 cases of people selling metal halides and 1 selling t-5.I would say the reverse is true.People are dumping metal halide for t-5 as fast as they can.In europe where the whole reef tank thing started t-5 rules.