120 Reefish build

[Brad.Sedore]

Hey guys.. not really new to the forum but for some reason it wont resend me my password? anyways down to buisness since christmas ive been building up what was suposed to be a pred tank but is going to end up being a fish with soft corals and mushrooms tank. anyways specs on it so far

120 Xh tank
Double tube fixture (going to be replaced with a coralife 4 compact fixture)
1 eheim classic 2217 running pure mech
1 eheim pro 2 2028 running some mech and some bio
2 phosbans running in line off 1 maxijet 1400 1 running pure mech the other running chemipure running off into a spray bar
1 Coralife twist 18 watt sterilizer
1 koralia magnum 4
2 koralia nanos
2 jager heaters
aprox 260lbs of live rock

current stock
1 snowflake eel
1 firefish
2 blue chromi
1 hoevens wrasse

had some other stock but had some brooklynella wipe out most of my stock pretty quick im trying to save my saddle back clown and tomato clown in a treatment tank right now.

anyways heres some pics. open to thoughts or suggestions

 

[mr_X]

my suggestion would be to get rid of some of that rock.
i would also rethink the lighting. the corals and fish would look a lot better with some choice T5s over them instead of a CF fixture with no color options.

 

[Brad.Sedore]

besides the space its taking up does too much rock really have any negative effects?

 

[the_fish_man]

be careful with the eel my dad use to have one he was feeding it ......... it bit his hand instead of the food

 

[Brad.Sedore]

mine eats frozen mysis off the bottom .. no hand feeding for me haha

 

[the_fish_man]

lol ya my dads had to be target fed

 

[Brad.Sedore]

i watched a guy at the LFS try and target feed a tesselated eel probably about 3 feet long... it missed the target and hit his hand... and that was the moment that i determined i dont want to target feed an eel

 

[the_fish_man]

lol ya not fun having a target fed one

 

[mr_X]

besides the space its taking up does too much rock really have any negative effects?

as long as you can manage to have as little dead spots as possible (places with inadequate flow) there are no negative effects, except of course, lack of swimming room.
it's just going to be a bit of a challenge accomplishing good flow in the tank with all of that rock in there.

 

[uscamaro]

as long as you can manage to have as little dead spots as possible (places with inadequate flow) there are no negative effects, except of course, lack of swimming room.

You could keep it just for corals as long as you get upgraded lighting then add 1 or 2 small fish (clowns?). Lack of flow all around the rocks will build up a lot of waste if you have bigger/more fish. Do you have a sump you could put some of those rocks into for filtration?

 

[rush]

I would definitely reconsider the lighting and get some T5 HO. I would go with at least a 48 inch 6 bulb fixture. That is what I currently have on my 120 gallon. But I also have LED moonlight effects from reefkeeper. If you plan on keeping corals the power compact will not do what you want it to. I would also recommend a sump system instead of canister filters. Definitely want a protein skimmer for a 120 gallon. And yes i would sell about 60 pounds of that LR, give you the cash to buy a skimmer I would keep about 170 lbs of LR in you DT and the other 30lbs in your sump. That is my opinion anyways. maybe because that is how i have it set up haha.

 

[Brad.Sedore]

in all honesty i really dont see many if any dead spots. when i feed the food seems to run through the tank before getting sucked up by any f my filters. i really dont see any spots where it builds more less the rock higher up is just acting as a background and really isnt as big as it seems. ive got 3 skimmers for sale i just cant bring myself to trust one..

the canisters are just to catch the waste eventually it will be 2 canisters running pure mech and the phosbands runing mech and activated carbon. is there any way to test for bad flow besides watching food travel through the tank?.

also i changed one of my smaller PHs out for a magnum 4 and do have the option to add more high power PHs if thats what it would take... as for a sump its kinda out of my league its another thing that ive never really trusted myself with

 

[rush]

what would you not trust about a sump or a skimmer

those are some main requirements for a tank that size

i would not trust myself without them lol

 

[mr_X]

well, if it's just piled up against the back wall and there is still plenty of swimming room in the front, then i'd probably use a pair of koralia 4's attached to the sides of the tank, facing each other. that should do a nice job.
i would also suggest a protein skimmer over a cannister filter.

 

[Brad.Sedore]

its mostly that the skimmer can overflow that sketchs me out

 

[rush]

in sump skimmer cannot overflow anywhere except into your sump, but in sump skimmers do not overflow

only HOB models can overflow from the collection cup onto the floor, that is not the case with in sump skimmer

 

[Hinds04]

I kinda like the look of all that rock. I would be interested to see a side view.

 

[Brad.Sedore]

I kinda like the look of all that rock. I would be interested to see a side view.

 

[Brad.Sedore]

update added a compact flourecent light fixture

 

[Just.A.Bit.Salty]

Nice light is much better looking. Tank looks good!