Okay, so here is my current setup... I plan on having a few pieces of sps and maybe a clam or two down the road... I also want to have 3 chromis and 2 clownfish (type unknown atm)... possibly another couple fish, but havent fully planned it out yet.
I dont want too much in the tank, as I like the tanks that have lots of open space...
Tanks:
124 gallon tank (4'x2'x2')
75 gallon sump (only about 40 gallons in it at anytime)
Lights:
2 x 250MH
2 x 65w actinic
Pumps/water movement:
2 x custom sealife Velocity T5 pumps for returns (one return goes thru a scwd for extra water movement)
1 custom sealife T5 closed loop attached to a scwd and two spray bars at the back of the tank just above the sand spraying into the live rock
3 Maxijet 1200's attached to a wavemaker powerbar
CPR overflow (1400 gph model I believe)
Sand/rock:
4-5inches of caribsea sugar size sand
140lbs live rock - some really cool stuff on it now
rock is supported by eggcrate with pvc legs hidden under the sand
Skimmer/filtration:
Aqua C skimmer powered by a mag 7 (noisy and IMO, not very good skimmer, requires constant adjusting and barely pulls anything into the collection cup)
Cooling:
2 x 106cfm fans... temp stays under 83 with lights on, drops to 80.5 at night
Also have an RO/DI unit that does 100gpd (or so it claims).
Using Kent Marine salt.
No additives, no fish in the main tank yet. I do have 38 snails (maybe 4 turbos, 10 astrea, 15 cerith, 6 margarita and 3 stomatella) and a lettuce nudibranch (who has grown quite a bit!)
Ph is low, 7.7
Everything else is great, 0 ammonia, nitrite and nitrate. Phospate undetectable, calcium at 400 etc... I have tons of little white moving things on my glass - I assume they are 'pods of some sort.
I have a QT tank that is running with 3 chromis in it. This tank is a little 29 gallon with a hagen powerhead filter and some pvc in it for hiding... tiny hood with small flourescent light.
I had a huge bout with the hair algae, it was nasty but is finally going away...
I aslo have a couple spots of purple cyano? on my sandbed that come back no matter how often I suck them off the sand bed... (dont interpret that the wrong way!)
What sucks about this tank is that I have to add about 5 gallons of water per day for topoff - maybe more. because of this, the water level in my sump changes and my skimmer goes out of wack. Altho, even when the skimmer is "in wack" it still doesnt seem to pull out much. The berlin classic turbo I had at first pulled out more and I was so frustrated at that skimmer I "upgraded".
I am thinking to add another skimmer - maybe a small remora or so? - to the tank. Am I crazy to spend even more money on a skimmer?
I am also thinking to add a refuge and 10 gallon topoff by adding a bookshelf style stand beside the main tank and have the refuge overflow to the main tank... I am thinking to use another 29 gallon tank for the refuge. I dont know what lighting I should use tho... any suggestions? Should I use MH or just a simple flourescent setup?
Any suggestions for improvement? Anything glaring I am overlooking before I toss my chromis into the main tank in two weeks? This is my first marine tank, I had freshwater as a kid... but no tanks in 10 years or more...
Sorry for the long post...
I dont want too much in the tank, as I like the tanks that have lots of open space...
Tanks:
124 gallon tank (4'x2'x2')
75 gallon sump (only about 40 gallons in it at anytime)
Lights:
2 x 250MH
2 x 65w actinic
Pumps/water movement:
2 x custom sealife Velocity T5 pumps for returns (one return goes thru a scwd for extra water movement)
1 custom sealife T5 closed loop attached to a scwd and two spray bars at the back of the tank just above the sand spraying into the live rock
3 Maxijet 1200's attached to a wavemaker powerbar
CPR overflow (1400 gph model I believe)
Sand/rock:
4-5inches of caribsea sugar size sand
140lbs live rock - some really cool stuff on it now
rock is supported by eggcrate with pvc legs hidden under the sand
Skimmer/filtration:
Aqua C skimmer powered by a mag 7 (noisy and IMO, not very good skimmer, requires constant adjusting and barely pulls anything into the collection cup)
Cooling:
2 x 106cfm fans... temp stays under 83 with lights on, drops to 80.5 at night
Also have an RO/DI unit that does 100gpd (or so it claims).
Using Kent Marine salt.
No additives, no fish in the main tank yet. I do have 38 snails (maybe 4 turbos, 10 astrea, 15 cerith, 6 margarita and 3 stomatella) and a lettuce nudibranch (who has grown quite a bit!)
Ph is low, 7.7
Everything else is great, 0 ammonia, nitrite and nitrate. Phospate undetectable, calcium at 400 etc... I have tons of little white moving things on my glass - I assume they are 'pods of some sort.
I have a QT tank that is running with 3 chromis in it. This tank is a little 29 gallon with a hagen powerhead filter and some pvc in it for hiding... tiny hood with small flourescent light.
I had a huge bout with the hair algae, it was nasty but is finally going away...
I aslo have a couple spots of purple cyano? on my sandbed that come back no matter how often I suck them off the sand bed... (dont interpret that the wrong way!)
What sucks about this tank is that I have to add about 5 gallons of water per day for topoff - maybe more. because of this, the water level in my sump changes and my skimmer goes out of wack. Altho, even when the skimmer is "in wack" it still doesnt seem to pull out much. The berlin classic turbo I had at first pulled out more and I was so frustrated at that skimmer I "upgraded".
I am thinking to add another skimmer - maybe a small remora or so? - to the tank. Am I crazy to spend even more money on a skimmer?
I am also thinking to add a refuge and 10 gallon topoff by adding a bookshelf style stand beside the main tank and have the refuge overflow to the main tank... I am thinking to use another 29 gallon tank for the refuge. I dont know what lighting I should use tho... any suggestions? Should I use MH or just a simple flourescent setup?
Any suggestions for improvement? Anything glaring I am overlooking before I toss my chromis into the main tank in two weeks? This is my first marine tank, I had freshwater as a kid... but no tanks in 10 years or more...
Sorry for the long post...
