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seamonkey

seamonkey

Junior Member
Location
West Milford, New Jersey
Rating - 0%
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Hi I just wanted to introduce myself. My boyfriend and I just set up a 75 gallon system. This is our first attempt at marine/salt/reef keeping and we had a load of equipment but weren't sure how to connect everything. So we hired Alex from Absolutely Fish to come in a connect the system, tell us what we still needed to buy, and hopefully learn something. We were on line in front of "bad coffee" last night at AF's Midnight Madness sale, and that's how I ended up here on this forum.
So, a little background: We have both had success with a range of freshwater systems over the past 15 years (90 gallon cichild tanks, 80 gallon planted tanks, 55, 30, 20, and 10 gallon set-ups).
The bulk of the equipment for our 75g reef was acquired for free from a friend that was getting out of the hobby (new wife & new baby= no fish). Some of the stuff we had already, like RO/DI units.
This is what we are working with: 75g tank with built in overflow; custom built stand; 2 Maxxima Hi-S RO/DI units; Marine Technical Concepts HSA-250X protein skimmer with a PSW-10 automatic waste collector; Marine Technical Concepts MINICAL calcium reactor; 10lb C02 tank with C02 regulator; a variety of powerheads, several pumps, and a custom built sump that is adequate for a 250g system. Obviously our sump and protein skimmer are way bigger than necessary for the system we have but they were free and from what we've learned bigger can't hurt.
We just dropped some cash picking up the rest of the stuff we needed; Current 1/3 HP In-Line Tower Chiller; Coralife 492W 48" combo light; Aqua Ultraviolet Classic 25w UV Sterilizer. I am sure I am forgetting to list something but that seems about right.
We have the tank set up and are currently in the second day of cycling. We added 115 lbs. of live rock and 60 lbs of live sand. I can't give parameters of the water right now because my boyfriend is the one with the science degree and he handles all of the chemistry. As soon as I get the readings from him I will update.
Whew...
So please, since I came here to learn please send me some advice. We certainly don't want to start adding critters to this tank if we are missing something, either in terms of equipment or knowledge. Thanks for reading, and thanks for your help.

Also, how do you post pics in this post? I can sow some images of the set up so far...
 
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DevIouS

DevIouS

- Untitled -
Manhattan Reefs
Location
Da B - X
Rating - 100%
108   0   0
sign0016.gif

Welcome aboard....!


I see BC was promoting our great site...:lol:

Sounds like you have a good equipment list.
Can you tell us what kind of live-stock you plan to keep (i.e. Fish Only or Reef).



Also, to load pics.....you can click on "photo gallery" (on the top margin) & upload your pics there.
You can then take the image code link from that pic & copy / paste them to your post.

Good luck!
 
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bad coffee

bad coffee

Inept at life.
Location
Location: Location:
Rating - 100%
27   0   0
Welcome aboard!

I'm sorry I didn't officially introduce myself last night. I'm Brett. Now who are you? (which people in line? So many people there last night!)

Your equipment list looks really good right now. Some ideas for you.

Take the UV off the main tank. You don't really need it, and it's killing good bacteria as well as bad. Save it for your quaranteen tank.

Don't worry about tuning in your calcium reactor until you have some corals. Then your Ca needs will go up and you can set the reactor to what your reef is consuming.

To post pics, if you're just starting the thread (or you click "go advanced" below the quick reply box)

Click the button labled "manage attachments"
then hit "browse" in the popup window.
Find the file(s)
Click "upload"

Then close the 'attatchement window' and hit 'submit' button.

Tada

Welcome to MR.

B
 
E

ezee

Senior Member
Location
Brooklyn
Rating - 94.7%
18   1   0
Seamonkey,

Wow, nice gift! Welcome to the site. Since your request for advice was fairly broad I have two fairly broad responses. These are the two best pieces of reef advice that I personally have to give.

Take it slowly, when stocking, buying or making changes and manage what you expect accordingly. Good things happen really slowly most of the time and bad things can happen really fast.

Do your homework beforehand. Know about all the things you want to do before you do them, ie. don't ask about the requirements for a particular coral/fish after you have already bought it. Read the reef sites for info and ask lots of specific questions.

Best of luck and welcome!

E
 
M

masterswimmer

Old School Reefer
Vendor
Manhattan Reefs
Location
NY
Rating - 99.6%
450   2   0
Seamonkey, glad to see another new face. Seems there were a fair amount of 'plugs' for MR at MM last night.

I couldn't agree more with what ezee said. Take it slow and do your research first. Ask all the questions you possibly can before you make a purchase, for a couple of reasons. First, you'll determine if your pending purchase is appropriate for your system. Second, I can almost guaranty that the great members on MR will be able to direct you such that you WILL save money. Thirdly, it can become very expensive and frustrating buying the wrong livestock and drygoods more than once (because you bought inappropriately the first time).

Since your tank is only a couple of days into its cycle, you've got some time to do some research and ask lots of questions. Best of luck. I hope we'll be able to help make your reefing experience a successful and rewarding one.

Russ
 
seamonkey

seamonkey

Junior Member
Location
West Milford, New Jersey
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
DaRealDvs1 said:
I see BC was promoting our great site...:lol:

Sounds like you have a good equipment list.
Can you tell us what kind of live-stock you plan to keep (i.e. Fish Only or Reef).
Click to expand...

yes, brett was there last night promoting the site...braving the weather...having a good time winning all of the free StressZyme samples...:lol:

As far as what type of tank we are planning on making, this going to be a reef tank. very minimalistic, if that's possible (i know this hobby is addicting). :splitspin we may be buying a house in the next 8 -12 months and do not want to have to break down a very involved system when the time comes. i suppose breaking down any system is a nightmare, but we'll cross that bridge when we come to it.

jiggy said:
welcome.. where in jersey r u located? theres a few guys on here from jersey
Click to expand...

we are from north jersey, i can spit to the garden state plaza and it takes me 5-15 minutes to get to the GWB .

bad coffee said:
I'm sorry I didn't officially introduce myself last night. I'm Brett. Now who are you? (which people in line? So many people there last night!)

Your equipment list looks really good right now. Some ideas for you.

Take the UV off the main tank. You don't really need it, and it's killing good bacteria as well as bad. Save it for your quaranteen tank.

Don't worry about tuning in your calcium reactor until you have some corals. Then your Ca needs will go up and you can set the reactor to what your reef is consuming.
Click to expand...

NP about the introductions, it was crazy last night. the weather and the poor drivers were enough to deal with...we were the people directly in front of you. my boyfriend was the science guy yelling out the crazy answers to the questions...he also made the "my mother" comment. :lol:
we don't have the UV running yet. and we have been receiving conflicting opinions about running it. some swear by it others say no way. I think what we may do is connect it but run it only if we encounter problems. as far as the CA reactor, we just completed a calcium reading and it is at 360 mg/liter so i figure that is pretty good for the second/third day of cycling, we'll take your advice and see what happens once we start stocking the tank and adjust it accordingly.

fyi: we went to AF today to return a bag of livesand we didn't use. i was talking to one of the staff who told me that as a result of last night's craziness they are looking to revamp the whole scenario for next year. something like having a pre-sign up list to cut out the curiousity seekers and people who brought their kids, generally the non-serious hobbyists. whatever they do there needs to be something. we didn't get out of there unitl 2:15 this morning and we spent some serious money.

an update about the system with regard to the water test readings this evening: (please remember this is only day 2/3 of our cycle)
PH = 8.0
Nitrate = 0.0
Nitrite = 0.3 (3 mg/liter)
Ammonia = 8.0 :grumpy:
CA = 360 mg/liter

i suppose the ammonia and nitrite levels are to be expected in a new tank. we are adjusting the protein skimmer cause i think the water flow through it is too powerful which may be impacting the ability for it to foam properly...so we added a ball valve to the connection to regulate the flow (since the pump is sans-regulator and over the max suggesting flow rate) and we will see how that works.

thanks for the great advice. i plan on spending some time browsing around here, reading and researching. i have some decent books too. if you have any suggestions please forward them. also, if you know any good external sites please do tell. when we are ready to start stocking i will probably pester and post with requests for suggestions. :0)
 
M

masterswimmer

Old School Reefer
Vendor
Manhattan Reefs
Location
NY
Rating - 99.6%
450   2   0
Hey monkey, having a high ammonia reading after 2/3 days of cycling is not only expected, but a good thing. You want to see it spike, then retreat to undetectable. Likewise with the nitrites then nitrates.

Some pictures of your setup would be helpful to us in making suggestions. For instance, the skimmer output might be right. We wouldn't know unless we saw the pic though. See what you can do about posting some visuals for us.

You commented on the conflicting opinions on UV useage. Keep in mind, no matter what you read, the likelihood of hearing opposing viewpoints is a high probability......on any topic, not just UV. There is more than one way to do things right in this hobby. After you've done your research and spoken to some credible sources for information, your decision which way to go will at least be a decision based on research, trials and tribulations of others and hopefully some quantitative testing. There's lots of ways to maintain a successful reef.

swimmer
 
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