help Setting upo new reef tank alot of question any suggesti

[tampavii]

12604.1

Hi

At the present time I am in the middle of upgrading from 110 with fish only to an 225 with live rock and fish.

Right now I have added 200 lbs of Southdown sand and 50 lbs of live sand to the 225 along with some sand from from my 110. I am running wet dry with bio balls. I just added 1 gallon of bio balls from my 110 .The last few days water was very cloudy from the sand. today i built i stand for the rock. I have about 25 lbs of sand in the 225 and another 200 lbs of rock curing in a large cooler with my Aerofoamer 630 skimmer running. Today I placed a stand I built for the rock and after moving sand around its very cloudy once again. I am also running a fluval 404 and keep cleaning the pads and carbon.

My ammonna is in the middle range on both the cooler with rock and 225 nitrite was in middle range few days ago and after testing today its very low. No nitrate yet in both. PH is aroun d 8.3 in both water temp 78 in both. Should I add few demsel fish to help cycle?


When should i add the 220 lbs of live rock ? Should I run the skimmer after placing the 220 lbs of live rock into 225 tank. Or just run for few hours? When or how long should I run my UV light ?

I have not tested for Calium or ALK yet What is best kit on the market to purchase? What other stuff along with names should I added to the tank. I am new to reef setup

Once everything is calm and test OK then I will add my fish ,sailfin tank,Hippo tank. tomato Clown, Sohol tang, Kole tang . I have few trigger and lion fish that i am going to trade or sell .I want to setup this tank with shrimp ,crabs ,easy coral ,feather duster ,mushrooms.

Any help or suggestion.

I have read alot and hope I am not getting in over my head .I am so confused I dont want to do anything stupid and kill my fish which I have for 2 yrs . What is best stuff to feed corals? What other trace stuff does this tank need ?

I wait your reply and help

PS As for the cloudy water in the 225 there is alot of dust on the rock that is in there now. Will this kill all the good stuff on the rock ?

Should i add more stuff from my 110 to help cycle and bio filter?

thanks Capt Gene

PS I bult the rock stand out of plastic rod and egg crate stuff for lights . This way most of the rock will be few inches off the sand but the stand with be covered with the rock .If anyone wants to see the stand I have few pictures. However I cant see the stand in the tank as I make this post because of cloudy water. i have turned down my ampmaster 3000 pump so it doesnt blow the sand around . Cant wait until the sand settle once and for

 

[AF Founder]

Hi,

Before answering your questions we need to know what your ultimate goal is for this new tank. For example, is this to be a fish only tank with live rock, or a reef tank with corals, etc.?

 

[tampavii]

The tank is going to house all my tang that a have in my 110 ./Thyey are Kole ,hippo,Sailfin,sohol plus tomato clown ,foxface . I have few trigger and loinfish but they are not going into this tank.
I am looking to setup live rock with so simple corals ,feather duster ,mushrooms plus small sand (bottom fish) shrimp, crabs, snails.
Thanks GB

 

[AF Founder]

GB,
I'd let the live rock and sand bed do the filtration for you; that way you will not accumulate nitrates as quickly as you will with a trickle filter. I'd also use an efficient skimmer. Tangs need to eat a lot and you need to export their waste as efficiently as possible.