120gallon reef setup need opinons

I set up my 120 a while back. I chose a 30 long for the sump. Works great. Run a mag 18 for return. And for flow I run 2 wp25s. I have a mixed tank and these pumps work perfect. Skimmer i have a sca302. I dont know if this helps you but this is what I have on my setup.

 

I think a 40 breeder would be a really nice sump if you have one lying around. I would make sure you have room in your stand (if that's where the sump is going) for other equipment like your top off reservoir though. If you go smaller than a 40 I'm sure you'll be fine, provided your stuff fits in it. My current sump is only 15 gallons or so, and works well enough for my 110.
As far as return pumps go, I have a waveline DC pump . It's been running for a little less than a year and I love it. It's very quiet if not silent and the ability to adjust the speed is very nice. I know another member had his seize on him though, so I can not vouch for long term dependability.
I don't use and have never really researched skimmers, so cannot offer any input on that.

 

It's the small one, I believe 3000 size and it's not the newest model. I wanted something quiet, and it worked very well for that purpose. I run less than most gph through my sump, and only run at about 3/4 speed. It keeps my overflow quiet and I can't hear it running, I also like the feed mode so I can turn it off without unplugging for quick maintance to my algae scrubber.

 

I'm using an oceanrunner 3500 (950gph) for the return on my 120. It's getting to be around 6+ years old now and I'm probably going to replace it with one of the DC pumps here soon and then will use the oceanrunner for my emergency/back-up if I need it. The DC pumps look pretty promising as a reliable return pump with little energy use.

Most recommend about 3-5X turnover for the return pump, so you would want something that can do about 400-700+ gph after the head loss.

Depending on what you plan to keep for coral, the skimmer choice is slightly on the small side if you're going for a low nutrient/barebottom system or if you would be doing any type of biopellet/carbon dosing. If you're keeping mostly softy/lps/mixed then it should work okay.

 

+1 on dc pump. I am using waveline dc 12000 on my new setup. Super quiet and powerful.

 

I use a water blaster 3000 return pump on my 120. As for your sump a 40will work but if I was gonna redo mine I would go with a 75 gallon and put a decent size refugium in it. For a skimmer I have the reef octopus diablo xs160. I would go with the bigger one I think its xs220 or something like that. Definitely go big on skimmer.

 

One of the biggest things with sps dominant tanks is nutrient control. With that in mind get yourself a gfo and or a bio pellet reactor, carbon reactor and as Jeremy said consider over sizing the skimmer if you can

 

Definitely what mike said go wit gfo and carbon reactors. Something I would do differently on mine is go with a little bigger return pump and build a manifold to run reactors. Lee's pumps and more room in sump. I was looking at a Jebao dc return at coral haven the other day I like how you can adjust flow with the push of a button. I think that's what I would go with. I have never tried one but they look well built and can adjust the flow. And the price was definitely right on that pump.

 

I think your rock scape idea sounds great also.

 

I can't remember size on return but they will hook you up. As for the manifold it just a peice with smaller fittings to hook up reactors that are built inline with your return going back to tank. You should be able to do a search on reef2reef or reef central and get some good pics. They look really nice and frees up space in sump.