Getting ready for a 120 4*2*2 need advise

[youngblood421]

This will be my first non AIO tank. Im trying to find a good sump that's a good deal. no idea which ones are good and which suck. Im also interested in what you all have stocked in a similar sized tank. it will be a mixed reef.

 

[Fred2482]

What types of filtration will be in your sump? IMO a sump is a sump! If it's purely functional and no need to look nice go cheap with the space carved out for what you are trying to accomadate (roller mat, refug, etc)

 

[Surfside74]

This will be my first non AIO tank. Im trying to find a good sump that's a good deal. no idea which ones are good and which suck. Im also interested in what you all have stocked in a similar sized tank. it will be a mixed reef.

I have a tank the same dimensions as yours. I used a 20 gallon tank from Petco. Was simple and effective. A 40 gallon breeder would be even better. Don’t think you have to spend a lot. You can check out my build thread. Hope this helps you.

 

[youngblood421]

yeah I like the idea of building my own with a 40 breeder just wasn't sure that it would be as affective?

 

[youngblood421]

lights is my other issue
what lights are you using

 

[Arthacker87]

I always sat go as big as you can for extra water volume but thats just me. I have a 8ftx2¹/²x2 tank with a 6ftx2x18in sump. Why not have some extra volume.

 

[Fred2482]

lights is my other issue
what lights are you using

Assuming you are asking about LEDs? If so I love Radions! Kessils are good and I hear great things about AI primes.

 

[Arthacker87]

lighting is as cheap or as expensive as you wanna go. I have a mars aqua that I've used for 2 yrs now and does fine over my 65 but there are Much better lights. Just depends what price you wanna stay around. Give us an idea of what you wanna spend.

My tank w mars aqua 300 watt led set up

 

[Surfside74]

lights is my other issue
what lights are you using

I had 2 radion gen 3 pros and I took them off. I’m now using 3 gen4 xr15 pros. Very happy with them.

 

[Albertan22]

Go with a 40 breeder for the sump. They fit nicely into the stand of a 4 foot 120g and give you lots of room for equipment in the sump. Just make sure your stand height leaves enough room between the top of the sump and the top of the stand interior to be able to get your skimmer in and out. One of my early skimmers only fit through that gap if you twisted it just so and held your tongue just right.

 

[dohc97]

figure out what equipment you want to run and then figure out what sump fits that. the acrylic sumps are cool but honestly i would have done a tank and made my own baffles if i had the time to build, as it happened my 4x2 tank is as big as im going for the foreseeable future and so i splurged and got the fancy sump with fancy plumbing. A 40 breeder would have been good but i did not have room in the stand for that, the biggest sump i could accomodate is 30" with needing my electronics and ato reservoir in there.

 

[X-37B]

40 breeder for my 120.
No baffles, heater, sock, return pump, skimmer, carx, 3 liters of substrate pro in a bag.

 

[Surfside74]

With me running the 20 gallon instead of the 40 gallon, it left me room to do a 10 gallon ato tank under the stand as well. I have a oversized skimmer, 2 heaters, and some live rock in the sump as well as the return pump. I haven’t had any problems at all with the size