Rebuilding old system. Need some help.

[Kris51]

Hi I have to say that I am very excited to find this form "reef central"; I am currently reviving an old reef system I originally setup in 1999. Had to relocate from Seymour, IN to Indianapolis, IN, in 2002; gave away all my fish and live rock away. I have moved my 110gal tank from storage to my new home in Winter Garden, FL about two years ago. It has been setting in my family room collecting dust ever since.

My original setup includes:

110gal 48X18X31high glass tank
Oak Stand and hood.
DIY Light Kit: 6 T8's
DIY 20gal Sump
ETS 600 Protein Skimmer
1 - Iwaki External Pump
2 - Little Giant External Pumps
KNOP Calcium Reactor
2 CPR overflow boxes
1 - "Liquid sand filter" have to unpack for proper name
1 - Marineland 350 Canister Filter
1 - 20p CO2 Tank
1 - 1/3h Chiller
A still working: Neptune Aquacontroller 1

I plan to update my equipment before setting up my tank.

First thing is my stand; I have had this thing a long time and afraid it might fail if I fill the tank with 110 gallons of salt water. I also need a bigger/taller storage area as it only has 23 inches of internal height. For this I plan to build a new stand as I can not find a honey maple one.

One thing before I get started on upgrades; my last setup was noisy; I mean it almost drove me out of my office. I want my new system to be as quiet as possible. Most of my decisions will be based on how quiet it is.

Lighting:

My DIY system is battered salted and scary looking.

Looking at the following replacement:

Coralife 48 Inch Aqualight W/ 4-65W Straight Pin Base and 4-3/4W Lunar Blue-Moon-Glow LED Lamps

or

Coralife 48 Inch Aqualight Pro, 2x250W HQI Lamp + 2x96W CF Lamps Sq. Pin + 4x1W LED

The question is: how much better are the HQI lamps or is there a better choose? I read somewhere that T5 are old technology, HQI are better but PC is the new choose.

I love the ETS 600 but at 26inches plus 6" -9" to clear sump water level; I just can not get it into the stand. Therefore I am looking at the AquaC EV-240 w/Mag 12 Pump as a replacement. I hope this is a equitable replacement. Please let me know if not.

ETS 600 was powered by the Iwaki I believe it has a thru put of 1500gph. The Iwaki puts out a lot of noise thats the other reason for the change.

Im rebuilding the sump using a 65gal tank. I need more room for the Mag pumps and plan to set the Aquac in the sump. The DIY sump has three outlets for the External pumps and therefore no room for internal pumps or skimmer.

The chiller I will test and see.

The KNOP Calcium Reactor I plan to keep just replacing the media.

The Neptune Aquacontroller 1, that's another story. I had this thing lockup on me several times; once during a weekend with the chiller running. Found the sump frozen and the tank in the mid 60's. So looking for suggestions!

To cut down on the noise I plan to replace all pumps with Mag Drive pumps. Hoping 6 to 8 inches of water will help cut down the noise; any experience would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

[ihavtats29]

you cannot go wrong with the HQI with the depth of the tank id go with 400w instead of 250. also id go with t-5's instead of pc's just the cost of bulb replacment is half that of pc's and the put out better par , pc's have been around for quite a while its the hot-5's that are the newer thing , 4)65 watt pc's will not be enough for the tank if you plan on keeping corals with hight light req.best thing i found out about lighting is to just go all out the first time it costs less than buyiong a $300 set then finding out you want more light and droping more$ on another set. for a quieter tank get it drilled and have some over flows installed. as long as the silicone is still plyable it should be fine id do a leak check with tap water before i set it up. if it leaks you can get another 110 tall RR to replace it. the internal over flows are in my exp. quieter to me. this is just my opinion and some may disagree

[ihavtats29]

sorry for the typo's i have 2 fingers splinted together

[Kris51]

My original choice was a 48 inch USA Nova Extreme 8x54W T5HO with 4 Lunar Lights do you think upgrading the HQI 250’s to 400’s will be good fit? Want to be shore before I purchase an $1100 light.

Thanks

[ihavtats29]

you will get better light penitration with the 400 watt i have a 90 with 2)250 watt se and im going to be upgrading to 400 watt soon the sps are not getting enough light. if you are going to have a canopy on the tank go with a retrofit kit,you can get 400 watt HQI setup for around $600 and add the t-5's later but if no canopy you will need the package set . just make sure each bulb has it's own reflector you will get better results

[Kris51]

I need to make a correction my ETS is not a 600 but an ETSS 800 XR.

[crvz]

For the depth of your tank, you may want to consider the higher wattage setup. But did you say what you plan on keeping in the tank? That would be imperative before giving any lighting recommendations.

[Kris51]

I plan to water test the tank if everything looks ok I plan to keep; however I am looking at a 190gal 60X24X30 just an inch shorter.

[crvz]

Uh, did you mean to list what you're going to put in the tank? I don't see anything.

[Kris51]

I plan to put both corals and reef save fish and critters.

[Kris51]

I'm also looking to try to automate as much of the maintenance as possible.