My setup and plans

[Dubge]

Tips and recomendations are welcome.

75 Gal with corner overflow
3 - 402 powerheads (not sure of the flow)
Wet/Dry filter with bioballs rated for tanks up to 125 Gal
Prizm Delux skimmer in the wet/dry (will be replaced come spring)
500 or 600 GPH pump in the filter for the return
250 W thremometer
strip light with a 50/50 (will be adding a 4x65w PC this week)
40 lbs live rock base rock mixed (will be slowly buying more and adding it after it cures)
40 lbs sand (1/2 live)

What should I focus on for imprvement in the future? I want to start adding some corals, nothing that needs a super light system. I just want some movement and color in the tank.

thanks
Ray

 

[hdtran]

Boy, you're going to get grief for that castle 8) (what next, a plastic clam with a diver and pearl, operated with an air pump, like what my kids want me to get :wink: ).

Seriously, very nice looking setup. When you set it up, don't put the bioballs in the wet/dry. Just use the wet/dry as a sump. Rely on your LR & LS for your biological filtration. If you're talking the bagged "Live Sand" (sealed bags, cost $40 for a 10-20lb bag), skip it. Just use regular aragonite; the LR will colonize the substrate. If you can get your LFS to give you (or sell you) a cup or two of their substrate to help you colonize yours, great!. If you're buying mail order LS which is 'fresh from the ocean' or something like that, that's fine.

Be sure to put in all manners of valves so you can shut flow off to service the sump, etc. without dumping all sorts of water on the floor. At some point, you may want to set up either a DSB or plenum or refugium (or combination of the above) in your sump for nitrate reduction.

Have fun!

 

[Anonymous]

Boy, you're going to get grief for that castle 8) (what next, a plastic clam with a diver and pearl, operated with an air pump, like what my kids want me to get :wink: ).

Not any more grief than if he kept calling clowns "nemos" or a regal tang "dory" or a skunk cleaner "sebastian".... :lol:


What's the plan for the new skimmer? / If you haven't done it already, why not go with 4x96w PC lights instead? Opens up more options for what you can keep later on with probably not that much more cost layout... (You'll lose quite a bit more if you try to sell the 65w setup to upgrade later on...)

Norm

 

[Dubge]

You think that castle is bad....you should have seen the tank when I first started it with all the plastic plants in it! The wife was a little pissed when I took them all out and put in rocks, she said it looked like the moon. The castle is in there for my daughter but as soon as I can add enough rock to fill in everything I will be taking it out.

I am getting the lights used so I will at least have something to start with.

As for a skimmer I am not sure what I will be getting, I will have more money come spring when I start my business back up (shut down for the winter)

Everything I listed is already set up and has been for 3 months. How much live rock should I have in before I take out the bio balls?

The sand was the bagged kind and I only used that because the LFS recomended it

thanks for the tips.....OH and sebastian was the crab from the little mermaid....Juaque was the shrimp My two girls are 2 and 5 so I watch those movies everyday.

Ray

 

[hdtran]

Huh, I thought Sebastian was from a different movie... (8, 6, 4, so sort of been there done that...)

Go ahead and fully populate with LR, then, every week, take out about 10% of your bioballs. The bioballs, fully populated, are [speculation mode on] too efficient at converting ammonia to nitrite to nitrate, which are all aerobic processes. Thus, the contention that they are nitrate reservoirs. [speculation mode off]. You probably want to eventually get to around 1.25 to 1.75 lb/gal of LR (90-110 lb I think, but you've got to check my math).

Don't bother with any more bagged LS. This is basically LS mixed with bacterial cultures. Observe that there are no storage instructions on the bag, no 'use by' date, etc. Not even as good as yoghurt... Real LS (mail order harvested LS, for example) is cruddy looking, but is full of not only bacteria, but micro-hermits, snails, worms of all sorts, baby stars, etc.

I happen to own an AquaC Remora Pro skimmer (hang-on-tank), and am very pleased with it. Look at the AquaC in-sump skimmers (I think 'urchin'?). I know lots of folks swear by the Euroreefs too. My LFS recommends the Prizm Pro (but not the regular Prizm). I think lots of folks also like the CPR line.

Cheers!

 

[PeeJ]

why the heater in the tank if you have a sump?

 

[Anonymous]

:lol: Ya.. - Sebastian was from a different flick.. - Good catch.. (With 12, 11, 10 and 7 they all start to run together after a while.. - And no, not all mine..)

YES on Euroreef.. (Proud / happy owner..)

Double on the heater.. - Drop it in the sump, get it outta sight, looks much nicer without the gear-clutter..

 

[Dubge]

Ya I will do that this week! I am also going to move that powerhead to a corner that is next to it.

Ray