Looking to get back into SW

Hi everybody!

After over three years of not having a tank set up (horrible crash, mostly my fault), it's time for me to get back into it. I will be moving into my newly built town home in the beginning of July (fingers crossed) and after recovery from the shock of buying new construction/my first home, I would like to put a tank together.

A little bit about my history with salt water. My little brother and I used to work for Chad when he owned The Pet Factory, and thus how I got started. I purchased a used 55gal tank and stand from him, along with a Reefkeeper 10g sump, and an unknown PC light fixture. That's basically what I stayed with for the two and a half years I had the tank running. So, I kept mainly soft corals and fish. The crash happened while out of town and we had a power outage followed by a power surge that fried (among other things that I was dumb enough not to protect) the pump and one of the ballasts in the lights. Long story short, I came home a week later to most of my corals dead, and only my yellow tang a two blue damsels still alive.

So, since my set-up was fairly beginner to begin with, I'm not quite up to speed on what will make this setup a more pleasurable experience. I'm looking to get a custom made tank with the dimension somewhere around 48" x 24" x 24", that pending on what the space ends up being finished (hard to determine from studs) and what the Missus will approve of. Lighting, I'm looking at either T5 or MH. I want mixed reef, with the ability to do SPS. Basically, any other recommendations? Skimmers, cal reactors, etc? My uncle firmly believes in no skimmers or calcium reactors, but he had a pretty brutal tank crash too a couple years back. So I'm open to suggestions. :D

-Alex

No need to buy "custom" with the size you mentioned.  That's a factory 120g footprint you can get from most major brands and anywhere local that carries aquariums.  IMO, the 90 or 120 are the perfect size tank.  Incredible flexibility with what you can do, big enough to show, not so big as to demand a dedicated room.  Anyway, Yes to the 120g.

Totally personal. My new tank will be a open top. First one Ive had that way.

That's what I figured, but just thought I'd make sure. :) Your cabinet work is amazing, and the closer we get to setting everything up, I'd definitely be interested in buying a stand from you. We haven't found anything that we like (except that black and fake stainless-steel stand at The Aquarium, but I don't want a half-cylinder), so we've decided custom is the way to go on that.

Also, I still have my smaller Reefkeeper sump, but I know it will be way too small for a 120gal, so I was toying with the idea of maybe drilling it and plumbing it to a 20gal tank to use as a refugium/area for a skimmer, or maybe putting it up for partial trade for anyone that might have a bigger sump?

Aha.. I'm taking a wild guess that you're the man behind that stand?
Kudos, because you impressed my fiance. I had to drag her to The Aquarium to look at stuff (she's not a fish person, she likes pets she can "actually touch"), and upon seeing that stand she said "Oh man, this is perfect! Can we get it, please, please, please?!" Well, if I don't mind asking, how much would something of the rectangular variety set us back?

Welcome to a great club alexmetal!

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