OK guys. I was just told about this site by a buddy and I wanting to know a coupe of things. I have a 55gal now and I'm moving up to a 125gal. The tank I bought came with a mega sump model 4. The tank is not drilled so I have to run a over flow. I was Told don't run the sump to get a canister Fluval 405 or 406. Or the fx5. What do y'all think. I also just bought a new light. It is 36in. Has 6 t5 bulbs. Would this be anuff light for my 125. The tank is 6 foot long. I was told to hang the light or build a canopy and it would be plenty. True? Plz help. Thanks.
New to this And have a couple of ?s
- Thread starter devon88
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Most will say to not to go the canister route. I wouldn't on a tank that large, for sure. Are you planning to keep corals?
A 36" light is not, at all, ideal for a 6' tank... you would only get good light on 50% of the tank. Is it do-able? Sure. Maybe you could mount it high enough to light the whole tank, but then your light strength will suffer... and you would probably have to hang it x number of feet above the tank to get good coverage. Get another 36" light, and now we're talking.
First, welcome to the forum.
What are your plans for the tank (i.e. reef, FOWLR, etc.)? Your lighting will be determined by the type of tank you are running so the light you have may or not work. A 36" light will probably be too short and give you a lot of dark areas in the upper corners.
I know many people have run overflow boxes without problems, however I have heard of a lot of people having issues getting the canisters to work right with their setup...not that it cant be done though.
This thread will help you get going in the right direction
What are your plans for the tank (i.e. reef, FOWLR, etc.)? Your lighting will be determined by the type of tank you are running so the light you have may or not work. A 36" light will probably be too short and give you a lot of dark areas in the upper corners.
I know many people have run overflow boxes without problems, however I have heard of a lot of people having issues getting the canisters to work right with their setup...not that it cant be done though.
This thread will help you get going in the right direction
Well right now all I have is a cin clown and bubble, 4 strip dam, lion, cow fish, Smaller mushroom. I want to get in to corals and others in the new tank And I was Told not to drill the tank bc we have no way to know if it is tempered or not I was told the sump set up was really hard to keep And as far as a light what would y'all suggest to use That would not dig in my wallet as much?
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First off welcome to the forum, I am not sure who is giving you this advice but you have come to the right place. Here you get advice from people doing it for years and have gorgeous tanks. I personally would drill the tank but if your not up for that run an overflow, I run a 135 but it has an overflow. I would setup your sump/refugium, this is a great place for you to put all your heaters and such.
Nah, sumps are easy. Water comes in on one end and get returned to the tank on the other end. In between it runs past and through heaters, skimmers, macro algae, filter socks, carbon etc. It is really a great way to keep all your mechanical filtration below the tank and out of sight instead of hanging it off the back or in the display. Here is a great site that explains it http://www.melevsreef.com/allmysumps.html">http://www.melevsreef.com/allmysumps.html</a>.
You are correct that you cannot drill tempered glass. However, most tanks only have tempered glass on the bottom and not on the side panes where you will be drilling. Do you know who manufactured the tank? If so you can usually contact them and they can tell you for sure. My guess is, and it is only that, your tank will be able to be drilled. If you decide to go with the hang on overflow box that will be fine. I have had them before many years ago and did not like them. If you have a power failure and you are not around to restart it you will get a floor full of water. There is a way to modify them with a small pump so that they will restart if you are not there but I will leave that explanation for somebody else.
Lighting is probably one of the largest expenses you will have. So many people want to go cheap with the lighting and then wonder why nothing grows in their tank. Another thing to think of is what you want to eventually have in your tank? Do you just want mushrooms or do you want to do the hard stony corals eventually? Go ahead and spend the money now for a lighting system that will support whatever your future goals are so that you dont have to buy twice. If you were to put another 6 bulb T-5 on that tank you could put anything you wanted to in there. A cost effective alternative will be to buy used when you can. Often times people will upgrade their lights from a T-5 to LEDs and will sell the old fixture for a fraction of the price of a new one. You can really get some great bargains. Keep an eye out on the "Selling and Trading" forum here.
You are correct that you cannot drill tempered glass. However, most tanks only have tempered glass on the bottom and not on the side panes where you will be drilling. Do you know who manufactured the tank? If so you can usually contact them and they can tell you for sure. My guess is, and it is only that, your tank will be able to be drilled. If you decide to go with the hang on overflow box that will be fine. I have had them before many years ago and did not like them. If you have a power failure and you are not around to restart it you will get a floor full of water. There is a way to modify them with a small pump so that they will restart if you are not there but I will leave that explanation for somebody else.
Lighting is probably one of the largest expenses you will have. So many people want to go cheap with the lighting and then wonder why nothing grows in their tank. Another thing to think of is what you want to eventually have in your tank? Do you just want mushrooms or do you want to do the hard stony corals eventually? Go ahead and spend the money now for a lighting system that will support whatever your future goals are so that you dont have to buy twice. If you were to put another 6 bulb T-5 on that tank you could put anything you wanted to in there. A cost effective alternative will be to buy used when you can. Often times people will upgrade their lights from a T-5 to LEDs and will sell the old fixture for a fraction of the price of a new one. You can really get some great bargains. Keep an eye out on the "Selling and Trading" forum here.
Welcome to the site. We are glad you joined us.
I agree with all the info people are giving you but can add that I made all the mistakes for you already. LOL I first had a canister, hated it. I next built my own hang on the back overflow. Worked fine but there are maint. issues that if not done will cause a flood one day. Drilling the tank is the best option. A sump will open tons of options for you down the road and not limit you. While a six lamp T5 fixture is fine it needs to be the full lenght of the tank if you want corals.
The best advice I could give you is to not do anything for the next month except read all you can on this site and ask tons of questions. That will help you make better decisions and save you a ton of headaches. Trust me, I leaned the hard way. LOL
I agree with all the info people are giving you but can add that I made all the mistakes for you already. LOL I first had a canister, hated it. I next built my own hang on the back overflow. Worked fine but there are maint. issues that if not done will cause a flood one day. Drilling the tank is the best option. A sump will open tons of options for you down the road and not limit you. While a six lamp T5 fixture is fine it needs to be the full lenght of the tank if you want corals.
The best advice I could give you is to not do anything for the next month except read all you can on this site and ask tons of questions. That will help you make better decisions and save you a ton of headaches. Trust me, I leaned the hard way. LOL
Ok first off thanks for all the advice everyone y'all have been a huge help. But I just called a glass company down here in Macon to see if they choild drill it they said they just drilled one last week. He has a way to see if it is tempered but can't make any promises So if I do drill where do I drill it and what size hole and what all do I need to connect the sump to the tank. Any thanks agin everyone
Your not going to have enough light for coral with the 36in t5's. you need about 3 watts per gal of water. Even if you added a second 36'inch to cover the 6 foot tank, you will not have enough light. (you can't add the two 36 inch t5's together)
One major different between a 36 inch and 48 inch t5 is the watts.
36 inch is usually 39 watts per bulb
48 inch is usually 54 watts per bulb
60 inch is usually 80 watts per bulb
Going by the 3 watts min rule -
39 watts X 6 = 234 /3 = 78 so that 6 bulb t5 would be good up to 78 gals
54 watts x 6 = 324 /3 = 108 That is close to your tank size, but would not be the best. You could grow 'basic' things and keep them about the middle of the tank.
80 watts x 6 = 480 / 3 = 160 would be your best bet.
Drilling isn't hard at all. I have drilled a couple with little problem. You can buy the bit cheaper than paying someone to drill it. But if you are not handy with tools it may pay to have someone do it for you.
As for location, you first want to find out what kind of overflow you want. Most store bought tanks have the holes in the bottom but that very well could be tempered glass. Others have them drilled at the top of the tank (side walls are less likely to be tempered). I went with the Bean Animal style overflow and love it. It is the quietest in my opinion and gives great surface skimming which is a big plus. Here are a couple of links to look at. The first is the web page of the guy who came up with the Bean Animal and does a great job of explaining how it works. The second is the build thread to my tank. My thread is long so you may want to skim through it but there are lots of good pictures that will help you understand it better.
http://www.beananimal.com/projects/silent-and-fail-safe-aquarium-overflow-system.aspx/">http://www.beananimal.com/projects/silent-and-fail-safe-aquarium-overflow-system.aspx/</a>
[IMG]http://www.atlantareefclub.org/forums/showthread.php?t=66530">http://www.atlantareefclub.org/forums/showthread.php?t=66530</a>
You would be welcome to stop by my house and see my tanks! I have compact fluorescent bulbs over a softie tank, 2-4 bulb t5's-1 over a softie the other over a chalice, zoa and acro tank, I have 3-6 bulb t-5 fixture over mixed reefs. I have a 72" fixture with 8-t5's and 3 MH over a mixed reef. I have a macro algae tank with 2-t5's and a paly and frogspawn tank with 2-t5s. T5's will grow any coral, one of the key factor is changing the bulbs when they need it-mine should be changed at 11 months are my corals start to loose their color. I also have hang on overflows and drilled! 
. Holley
. HolleyDo this first before you make any other decisions!
I agree with a lot of the suggestions you've gotten but you'll quickly learn that your decision on lighting will be one of the most complicated. Newer technology has made some of the advice that's been given obsolete. If you decide to go with T5s that have individual reflectors or LEDS, the 3w per gallon rule no longer applies. If you already have a 36" 6 bulb fixture, check to see if it has individual reflectors. If it does, you could add another one to give you sufficient lighting for most things (All of the commercially available 72" fixtures use 2 banks of 39w T5 bulbs).
As you can see, you will get lots of conflicting advice. Is some right and some wrong? Not always. A lot has to do with what you want to acomplish. If you were to look at the "Tank of the Quarter" for instance, you will see he uses 1000 watt metal halide lights. YOU COULD GROW A FOREST under those things. LOL But for the average Joe, that isn't an option because of the cost associated with the lights, running the lights, the chiller needed to cool the tank from the heat off the lights......
My approach is that while I love the really cool hard to grow stuff, my main objective is to have a tank that is pleasing to the eye, doesn't cost an arm and a leg and is pretty easy for me to maintain. Therefore I try to choose wisely and accept some stuff that does a decent job but maybe not the absolute best. It took a lot of reading and asking lots of questions to make those decisions.
My approach is that while I love the really cool hard to grow stuff, my main objective is to have a tank that is pleasing to the eye, doesn't cost an arm and a leg and is pretty easy for me to maintain. Therefore I try to choose wisely and accept some stuff that does a decent job but maybe not the absolute best. It took a lot of reading and asking lots of questions to make those decisions.
That will make it easier for you but (yes there is always a but) this becomes addicting. The more you do the more you will want to do. That is why taking your time now is so important. Over the next month or two, you will see lots of really neat stuff and find yourself saying "I want that". Then you will find out you can't have that. LOL
Fish are a great example of that. My bet is you want a tang or two. Everyone does. But most people just starting out don't understand that tangs require some pretty large tanks. Yup, you can get by for a bit with a small tang in a small tank but before long it will outgrow that tank. Other fish will eat your corals or fight amongst themselves. While that sounds discouraging, you will find that if you research every step you can achieve what you want. Just maybe not the way you thought it would be but the end result will give you years of pleasure. Good luck. And remember, we like lots of pictures. :yay:
