Equipment and Livestock planning new reef tank

Leo.LA

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Hey everyone, I am planning to build a 100 Gallon (4ft long peninsula) tank. I have a nano tank for about a year now which seems to be very successful and I think I'm ready for a bigger tank in our living room.

I've done a little bit of research for equipments but I would appreciate any guidance.

Here's my plan for equipment and livestock

Red Sea Protein Skimmer RSK-300
Sicce Syncra 5.0 Return Pump
MarinePure Ceramic Biomedia
About 40lbs of dry rock and sand
MP40 powerhead
Maybe 2x 300W Heater
Xp Aqua Duetto ATO (or Tunze 3155)
then reusing my current Jebao Dosing pump. For light, maybe Kessil AP700 in a Aquatic Hybrid T5.

For water parameters, what do you guys recommend? I dont think I am ready to spend a lot for this but I'm open to hear details. Is there a cheaper monitoring system that can watch pH, dKH, salinity, temp, and calcium and alert me?

For corals, I am planning to have a mixed of LPS and Softies and maybe depending on aquascape just few SPS on top.

For fish,
group of scissortail dartfish,
royal gamma basslet
pair of clownfish
baby blue tang
group of lyretail anthias
maybe a one spot foxface? but I am worried about it's nipping behavior

Is that too much for fish or can I add more? Thanks!
 
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Zakery Murray

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Hmm Maybe not the foxface I would be too worried spending alot of money on corals just to be cheap fish food. Also May I suggest not the ap700 buy 23 seperate leds to space out to get better coverage. That amount of fish should be fine, like I said I don't know about the foxface, you could easily replace it for a couple of different smaller fish for close to same bioload. May I suggest something that goes into the sand like a sand sifting goby, or a jawfish or firefish. You could also try a wrasse, those bring alot of entertainment and color to the tank.
 
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Leo.LA

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Thanks, I will change foxface to yellow wrasse. For the 23 leds, do you have a link so I can use as a reference?
 

Zakery Murray

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2-3 leds, I meant buying 2-3 led lighting units like for example the kessil a360 and spacing them out, or hydras. Any led you would like and space them out instead of one big led.
 
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Leo.LA

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Got it. Okay then, I think I can do 2x of Kessil A360WE instead of AP700. Is there a cheaper alternative for trident monitoring from neptune?
 

Jekyl

GSP is the devil and clowns are bad pets
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I would get 2 heaters for sure with a controller. The 40lbs of rock I'm guessing is in addition to what you have? If not may want to go with more. Biomedia isn't needed. I use 2 kessil 360we on my 90 and love them. Add in the T5 and they will grow anything. Also 1 powerhead won't do it. Will need to get 2. I use jebao. They are a fraction of the mp cost and you can adjust direction.
 
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Leo.LA

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Why not monitor parameters manually and save all the overhead...
Yeah, if there is a cheap monitoring system for dKH, salinity, etc. but for now, I guess manual testing works, I just want save time and automate this if I can.
I would get 2 heaters for sure with a controller. The 40lbs of rock I'm guessing is in addition to what you have? If not may want to go with more. Biomedia isn't needed. I use 2 kessil 360we on my 90 and love them. Add in the T5 and they will grow anything. Also 1 powerhead won't do it. Will need to get 2. I use jebao. They are a fraction of the mp cost and you can adjust direction.
Mind sharing a link for a good heater with controller?

Actually, I will start with dry rock and now that I think about it, I'll get 50 instead of 40. I know there is a rule of thumb of like 1lb per gallon but I think, this time I wanna go lighter on rock and create a good aquascape.
 

Jekyl

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I use eheim heaters and the inkbird contoller
 

pseudorand

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Hmm Maybe not the foxface I would be too worried spending alot of money on corals just to be cheap fish food.
Since when are foxfaces not reef safe?

I have one and I haven't seen him nip at corals. I also can't seem to keep anything other than zoas/plays, euphilia and xenia though. Perhaps mine behaves himself when he knows I'm watching.
 

Desperado Lucky

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To the OP - I wouldn’t recommend the Tunze ATO. I love their pumps and never had problems, but the ATO I will be replacing soon with another brand (still hunting). It uses an optical sensor that never seems to function more than 2-3 days after cleaning. It’s been in use maybe 18 months, worked great for 6 months, then haven’t been able to get right since. I don’t keep critters in the sump so will probably switch to something with float switches.
 

Zakery Murray

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Since when are foxfaces not reef safe?

I have one and I haven't seen him nip at corals. I also can't seem to keep anything other than zoas/plays, euphilia and xenia though. Perhaps mine behaves himself when he knows I'm watching.
Most are reef safe, lots of people don't have problems with them. I just happened to have a naughty one who out of the blue decided to be a glutton and munch on my sps sticks.
 

Poof No Eyebrows

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I would suggest taking a step back and attacking the project step by step. Start with simply setting up the basic tank and cycling it. After that re evaluate and let the pieces fall together.
 
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Leo.LA

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I would suggest taking a step back and attacking the project step by step. Start with simply setting up the basic tank and cycling it. After that re evaluate and let the pieces fall together.
Will do. I want to take this slow since I am also using a dry rock. My nano tank was successful with live rock so I was able to add fish and corals right away. I might do an instant quick fishless cycle again with Dr. Tims Nitrifying Bacteria then for fish, I am going to start with a group of group of scissortail dartfish and a royal gamma basslet, have them be acclimated, get their spots and territories then maybe anemone pair with couple clown fish.

For corals, maybe softies and LPS like zoas, acans, hammer first then once the tank is very mature maybe add few SPS depending on aquascape. I am also thinking of adding gorgonians.
 
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