Flieger March 29, 2014 Share March 29, 2014 After being out of the hobby for about 10 years I'm jumping back in. My friend Orion suggested I join up here so here I am. Back when I got out of the hobby plenums, deep sand beds and MH supplemented with VHO actinics was the latest thing. I had a 120 mixed reef and things were going well until the plenum decided to start releasing nutrients (my guess). It was a mess after that. We moved from Cincinnati to Columbus and the tank stayed and a new one hasn't been set up since. I floated the idea of a nano tank upstairs in the house but the "boss" nixted that idea after the mess we had before. I tried another tack and mentioned a tank in the basement. To my surprise she said that would be great. I was thinking about an 80 gallon breeder but we did some measuring and she said "That's not going to be wide enough. Get something bigger." :-) So now I'm looking at a 125. I have already purchased a Neptune controller, Avast CS1 skimmer, DIY sump and interface cables for Jebao pumps and the Neptune controller. My plan is to run 2 WP40's through the Neptune. I plan on running GFO and carbon in a dual BRS reactor and a fuge in the sump. Any suggestions on lights (I missed the last GB on LED's), an ATO, return pump, etc. would be appreciated. I plan on having an SPS dominated tank. Thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
surf&turf March 29, 2014 Share March 29, 2014 Welcome!! I'm a MH guy for SPS. but have seen some nice SPS reefs under LED. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coral Hind March 29, 2014 Share March 29, 2014 Welcome back to the hobby! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gmerek2 March 29, 2014 Share March 29, 2014 Greetings! Love my 125 dimensions! I grew up in west Chester Ohio near cincy. Still own a rental house in Springfield. Sounds like you have a good plan! From what I hear nothing grows better than metal halides but my LEDs sure do save a TON on energy and maintenance! Frags are also a tad more sensitive to acclimate under LED but I think they are worth it by far. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JR-Tanked150 March 30, 2014 Share March 30, 2014 Welcome Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
YHSublime March 30, 2014 Share March 30, 2014 Welcome, thanks for joining! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr.Chalice March 30, 2014 Share March 30, 2014 Welcome Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sachabballi reef March 30, 2014 Share March 30, 2014 Any friend of Orion is an automatic friend in this club!!!! Welcome Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zygote2k March 30, 2014 Share March 30, 2014 Use an Avast ATO too. IMO, running controlled devices through another controller other than using the controller to turn the devices on or off is waste of time and money. Keeping things simple should be your goal. Adding levels of complexity only adds up to problems later down the line. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flieger March 31, 2014 Author Share March 31, 2014 Thanks for the warm welcome. gmerek2 we lived in Amelia while in Cinci. I'm going to go with LED's to cut down on heat from the MH as well as lower maintenance. I'm gone a lot from home for work and am trying to automate as much as I can so my wife can do as little tank upkeep as possible. Hopefully the Apex will do that for me. Any suggestions on lights would be appriciated. Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Origami March 31, 2014 Share March 31, 2014 Welcome! Take a look at the Group Buy forum. Exotic Reef Creations somewhat frequently runs a group buy on lights. They may even have some extras that they've stocked - I don't know. Send Richard (or even Monkiboy) a quick note about lights and that may help. A lot of members have invested in various LED setups from Evergrow. Back when I got out of the hobby plenums, deep sand beds and MH supplemented with VHO actinics was the latest thing. I had a 120 mixed reef and things were going well until the plenum decided to start releasing nutrients (my guess). I remember those days. My first tank was a 90 and I set it up with a plenum and MH + actinic lighting. It ran fine for a long time, though I did run through a time when I had to deal with nutrient issues. But once balance was restored, it ran fine until I replaced it with a 180 that had a DSB using Southdown sugar-sized fine grain sand. A lot of stuff has evolved over the years, but a nice tank is still a nice tank. And, I remain convinced that there are a lot of viable paths to a satisfying tank. Orion: Thank you for bringing in a new member from Ohio! That's pretty cool. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
s2nhle June 17, 2014 Share June 17, 2014 Welcome to Wamas. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flieger June 17, 2014 Author Share June 17, 2014 Thanks! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dave w June 17, 2014 Share June 17, 2014 Welcome, you will probably be a big customer of the frag swaps. There are some good stores around the area to get frags. If it's not too much trouble, you might consider running MH during the winter and LEDs during the summer to solve heat issues. Having said that, two systems are probably not as good as one reliable one. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flieger June 17, 2014 Author Share June 17, 2014 I am going to be going with an ATI 6 bulb t5 lighting set up per recommendations from Orion. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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