advice for 60 gallon setup

[Johnny Reef]

Hey guys,
I am in the process of buying all my necessary equipment for setting up a Reef.
These are my plans for the reef:
60 gallon glass tank
4 powerheads: 2 at midlevel for the live rocks, 2 at surface level for wave making
100-110 pounds of live rock
a pair of Percula clownfish, some Yellow Tail Blue Damsels,
Some shrimp, snails, and other invertebrates.

My questions are:
1) would a AquaC Remora be too excessive for a 60 gallon reef?
I heard that over skimming can actually deplete the system of vital nutrients.

2)I have a wet/dry system and a cannister filter (XP3). I would prefer to use the XP3 because its more quiet than the wet/dry. Can I use the XP3 or would you all recommend me use the wet/dry for its superior biological filtration.

 

[SnowManSnow]

1) I use the AquaC Remora Skimmer with a MJ 1200 on my 37 Reef tank and it does a GREAT JOB! I don't think you'd be in any danger of overskimming at all. As a matter of fact IMO the Remora is the best HOT skimmer you can buy for a small reef tank.

2) I'm sure some will echo my sentiment here concerning your bio filtration. Your bio filtration will be taken care of by the live rock and skimming. I wouldn't recomment runnin' the can filter, unless you run it every once and a while just to polish off the water. The wet dry is also unnessissary.

3) IMO 100 lbs of LR for a 60g tank would be a bit excessive. I would simply put in enough to create a nice reef structure. Doing it by weight can be a little tricky. You want LR that has a lot of surface area and is filled with holes, crevaces.. ect.

4) Probably the most important thing with setting up a new tank will be your choice of lighting. It will dictate what you can keep in your tank. It will also be your single most expensive item, so consider carefully. IMO you should go ahead with MH if you can afford it off the bat.

5) Also, you may want to reconsider the damsel fish. I know that many use them for start up fish, but I would recommend against them. The yellow tails ARE less agressive than some others, but they will probably still become a pain later. I know this from experiance.

Good luck!
Let us know how things work out!

B

 

[Johnny Reef]

thanks for the quick and informative response SnowManSnow!
2 questions for you:
1) for lighting, I currently have a Coralife Aqualight Compact fluorescent.
48" set. 250 watts total. 2-65W 10000K 2-65W Acticinic.
Is this enough for my reef? I was hoping I wouldn't have to upgrade.
I plan to definetly keep a bunch of Pulsating Xenia's.

2) I read that The Yellow tail blue damsels were relatively peaceful. But I will trust your input and experience. What would you suggest the starter fish to be then? Percula Clownfish maybe?

JN

 

[ChrisRD]

Hi Johnny Reef and :welcome:

To answer your questions...

1) Your existing PC lighting will be fine for most photosynthetic corals (including Xenia). If you get the bug to keep very light demanding animals in the future like certain SPS corals, Tridacna clams, etc. you can always add some halides and use the PCs for actinic...

2)I've kept Chrysiptera hemicyanea (Yellowtail Damsel) in a tank with other damsel species and they were among the better behaved in the group, but considering the company I guess that's not saying much. The general consensus seems to be that if kept with less aggressive tankmates they may eventually become a problem as they mature.

As for other fish to consider, there's so many it's tough to know where to start and it will somewhat depend on what you plan on keeping in your tank, but there are many species of gobies, blennies, small wrasses, firefish, cardinalfish, chromis, etc. that are peaceful and colorful. If you don't already have one, pickup one of Scott Michael's books on marine fish. They're a great reference and would be helpful in coming-up with a fish list. Also, check the resources in our library (compatibility charts, reading lists, etc.)

HTH

 

[SnowManSnow]

Im with Chris, the PC 250w should suffice for what your wanting to do. I would actually like to add some actininc in addition to my 20k MH pendant.. don't know how, but would be nice.

There really are tons of fishes you can keep, just keep in mind what type of corals and inverts you want to keep in the future, and don't buy into any fish that will are known to not be reef safe.

Good luck!

 

[Johnny Reef]

1) Your existing PC lighting will be fine for most photosynthetic corals (including Xenia). If you get the bug to keep very light demanding animals in the future like certain SPS corals, Tridacna clams, etc. you can always add some halides and use the PCs for actinic...

When you say "use the PCs for actinic" do you mean I should replace the 2-65W 10000K bulbs for 2-65W actinic bulbs, thereby having 4-65W actinics (current compact set has 2-65W 10000K and 2-65W actinics).
That will make the water so BLUE!

 

[JustReefIt14]

how much rock would you suggest for a 120g? also what is base rock? should i get some of this stuff too?

 

[ChrisRD]

When you say "use the PCs for actinic" do you mean I should replace the 2-65W 10000K bulbs for 2-65W actinic bulbs, thereby having 4-65W actinics (current compact set has 2-65W 10000K and 2-65W actinics).
That will make the water so BLUE!

I'm saying even if you go to halides later, the PCs can still be useful - as supplemental actinic lighting (to get the look you want). They're not necessary, but some prefer the look of halides + actinic. In combination with some of the whiter halide lamps, even with all four PCs being actinic lamps, the tank won't look overly blue.

 

[SnowManSnow]

The actinics will give you better color rendering on your fish and coral if you decide to go MH later.

Reef, base rock is basically rock that is either dead live rock, or another kind of rock.. sometimes manmade that you use to make the foundation of your reef structure. The thinking is that there's no reason to spend $$ on RL that will be on the bottome of your reef structure and wouldn't be seen anyway.

 

[ChrisRD]

how much rock would you suggest for a 120g? also what is base rock? should i get some of this stuff too?

It's tough to give weight recommendations because different types of rock vary a lot in density. For example 100#s of a light, porous rock might look nice, but if it's really dense stuff you could need twice as much to achieve the same look.

As a general guideline - if you're going with a relatively light, porous, Pacific rock like Fiji, Marshall, etc. personally I'd be looking at about 100#. I don't like too much rock. I like to leave room for the fish to swim and corals to grow-out. OTOH if you're using a denser rock (like the aquacultured stuff from the Gulf of Mexico) or you just like a lot of rock in the tank, then you might want to put 150# or more.

IMO, the recommended poundages for filtration needs are generally way overstated, but then, I generally use a good skimmer in combination, so IME that takes care of most of my filtration already. Also keep in mind that most of the time these recommendations are originating from people who sell live rock.

As Snow mentioned the base rock is generally just rock with less life on it. It's fine for building the lower parts of your reef structure and saving a few $$$.

JMO & HTH

 

[SnowManSnow]

Somthing else to keep in mind for the long term is that lots of time base rock, that was once LR, will become covered in coraline and look just as cool as the more expensive stuff!!