Started Sunday 11-02 could use some help

[troutwood]

here are my specs. shooting for a reef tank

- 72 bow front
- Prizm Deluxe protein skimmer
- coralife 48" 4x65w pc
- 3 power heads
- 802 in center pointing to front
- 2 small osilating at each side pointing at each other
- Emperor fitler w/o biowheels for detris pick up while cycling
- 2x150 watt heaters
- instant ocean salt
- LFS avised 1.021 sg. I have seen nothing but 1.024 being posted for reef tanks so I split the difference and I am at 1.023
- Keeping tank at 80 degrees
- 35 pounds of premium fiji (cured) added sunday no amonia showing on my hang on the wall amonia indicator.
- want to add about 35 lbs more fri or saturday, new shipment arriving at LFS so it will be uncured.
- i am not real consistant about my lights yet. I dont have a timer, plus I dont know how long I should be keeping my lights on I have two blue ones and two white ones, sorry I forgot the tech. names

I have been very successful with my freshwater tanks for years now and have been wanting to get into a reef tank for a long time. My goal is to have a few cool fish and a lot of cool creepy crawly stuff along with soft corals and some hard corals hopfully with the lights that I have now.

The questions of the day are:
- am i on the right track
- do i have the right equipment
- what would you guys suggest I do next
Thanks,
Matt

 

[ricky1414]

you are on the right track-
keep your sg at about 1.24-1.25
definately will need more lr. shoot for about 1.5 lbs per gallon. don't add any livestock for sometime. I made that mistake.
what kind of substrate do you have? you might want to consider going with a dsb, i have heard many good things about it. 3-4" should suffice.
what's the total watage for the lights? are they normal output (did they come with the tank)? may need to upgrade to power compacts or metal halides. if you want to keep corals, you may need to do so.
the rule i didn't follow was to take it slow.. i tried to rush it in the begining, and paid the price. another hint...anything you know about fresh water, through it out the window, it doesn't apply here. good luck

 

[troutwood]

thanks for advise,

I have 60 lbs of agragate 1/2 sugar size and 1/2 special grade?

the lights are coralife power compacts 260 watt total
can i go ahead and add the uncured liverock with my cured rock. and when should i add my ground cover I havent added up to this point because i new i was going to be adding more lr and possibly moving stuff around.

thanks

 

[ricky1414]

most people would say to cure the LR in a new garbage can with a powerhead in with it. if you have no tank inhabitants right now, i can't see why you shouldnt be able to cure the LR in your tank. additionally, you should put your base rock in as soon as you can.

 

[ChrisRD]

Hey Troutwood,

With that amount of sand you're probably looking at about a 2" deep sandbed.

70# of Fiji rock is plenty for filtration purposes. If you want more for aesthetics, that's fine, but it's not really necessary.

You could add the second batch of rock right to the tank, but some people prefer to cure in a separate container. If the new rock doesn't look too bad I'd probably just put it right in and do the aquascaping.

BTW, a specific gravity of 1.025 - 1.026 would be closer to natural seawater levels.

Don't forget to check out the Beginners Guide in the Reefs.Org library.

HTH

 

[troutwood]

Thank you guys so much for the welcome, I did not fair to well with the excact same question on another site. You made me feel welcome.

I have a question i have been told and read alot of people saying that the prizm is not good. My lfs told me it would be fine. It might be to late to take it back now. Am i heading for another purchase or can i compinsate some how?

once again thanks for the help

 

[Anonymous]

any skimmer that pulls out gunk is better than nothing....the prizm requires a lot of cleaning and tweaking for maximum skimmage. it would prob. fare well on like a 30 gallon. if you have the money in my opinion, you should go with an aqua c remora....a great skimmer that's time tested...the backpac2 would be a lot better also but with the possibility of having trouble with micro-bubbles re-entering the tank...long-term though, you're gonna want somethin else

 

[Anonymous]

DON"T GET THE PRISM! I had one and it did not last. I had trouble with the motor and tweaking it is a pain in the butt. Get the BakPaks.

 

[Anonymous]

keep your sg at about 1.24-1.25

BTW, a specific gravity of 1.025 - 1.026 would be closer to natural seawater levels.

whew! i am really glad you clarified that! i nearly had a heart attack when i read that the first time.