Starting to build need some advice

[brandon.l.young84]

As the title states. Moving up from a 39 gallon AIO to a 150 tall. Looking to do a mixed reef and would love some input on lighting and best way to start. Also looking for anyone with a killer deal on some dry rock for me to build some scape.

 

[Mixed Reefer]

As the title states. Moving up from a 39 gallon AIO to a 150 tall. Looking to do a mixed reef and would love some input on lighting and best way to start. Also looking for anyone with a killer deal on some dry rock for me to build some scape.

Brandon
Sounds like a great plan. I moved up from a 20 gallon to a 100 gallon. I used Marco rock and patience. I think it took me a good six months transition from one tank to the other. Sounds a bit long but felt it was definitely the right path for me. I had five fish in my 20. My tank is doing great with xr15’s and t5’s. The club has a par meter I would definitely get in line so you can get the par range you’re looking for. With a mixed reef tank you’ll find placement of corals a bit more challenging due to par or flow. At least that is what I find challenging. For corals I would seriously think about what you want and learn from your mistakes that you made in your 39 gallon AIO. For me it was plating montipora, never again. But the space in our tanks is limited so spend the money now to make it stunning. One other thing with the larger tank is maybe a calcium reactor. I’m not sure of your coral load now but it could be a bit cheaper. Anyway GL

 

[brandon.l.young84]

Tanks specs are 48x 24x 30 tall.

Brandon
Sounds like a great plan. I moved up from a 20 gallon to a 100 gallon. I used Marco rock and patience. I think it took me a good six months transition from one tank to the other. Sounds a bit long but felt it was definitely the right path for me. I had five fish in my 20. My tank is doing great with xr15’s and t5’s. The club has a par meter I would definitely get in line so you can get the par range you’re looking for. With a mixed reef tank you’ll find placement of corals a bit more challenging due to par or flow. At least that is what I find challenging. For corals I would seriously think about what you want and learn from your mistakes that you made in your 39 gallon AIO. For me it was plating montipora, never again. But the space in our tanks is limited so spend the money now to make it stunning. One other thing with the larger tank is maybe a calcium reactor. I’m not sure of your coral load now but it could be a bit cheaper. Anyway GLView attachment 208476

Yeah. I plan on putting water into this bad Larry in the next two months. Fell into a deal for some controlers apex system and trident which sucked up a fair amount of the worries in spending. I'm just worried overall about the height of the tank being 30" making sure I get enough par down there with out breaking the bank. How tall is your 100?

 

[Reefer508]

I ran a150 tall for many years. It was my first big tank. They are a little difficult to light and also clean because of the depth. I ran 4X AI Sol LEDs, was strictly LPS and softies. I grew acans and chalices on the sand bed. I'm sure i could have kept SPS at top. Also for flow I used Tunze 6105's, can't say enough good things about them. They ran for 8+ years in that tank, then moved them to a 120. 1 is still running after 15 years. Just replaced 1 with the newer version, hope I get the same durability from this one.
I'd say buy the best light your comfortable purchasing. 2x neptune sky would be my top choice with maybe a light bar or t5 for supplement.
Start slow but remember buy the best you can or end up buying twice.
GL with build.

 

[NeverlosT]

My tank is 32” tall so dont fret! Just have grabbers and long arms!

I have a ton of dry rock i didnt use in my build and some live rock too, to get you going. Im gone for a couple weeks but we can chat when im back. Im in south kingstown.

I have boutique lights but if you can find some used radion gen4 lights, buy em. They have the power and spectrum and are tried and true.