Check my setup

[alexk3954]

Tell me if you see any problems with any aspects of this setup.

37 gal aquarium

2 Zoo-Med powersweep powerheads (1 above the rock on the side, 1 behind the rock in the center to get circulation through the caves)

1 Heater ( Anyone have a good reccomendation on what brand to get)

Prizm protein skimmer- rated up to 100 gallons

Eheim 2227 wet/dry canister filter- this releases water in surges so in a way it doubles as a wavemaker. However I have heard that this is not good for reefs. Is there a good reason why they are not good for reefs, or did I read incorrectly?

Live Rock- how many pounds? I was thinking around 50

Sand- 40 pounds arag-alive from CaribSea and 10-20 pounds of live sand from the lfs (would anyone reccomend other types of sand?) How deep of a sand bed do I want?

Corals- Toadstool leather, mushroom and star polyps, ricordia, galaxea, open brain coral, bullseye/candycane, pulsing xenia ( I cant remember the others but I'll edit this post when I do. Its mostly soft stuff)

Livestock-
1 bubble anenome
1 tube anenome
1 sallylightfoot crab, 2 emerald crabs
1 sand sifting star ( do I need anything else to move the sand around?)
1 of some type of clown fish
1 six line wrasse
not sure about the rest of the fish
10 snails
12 larger hermit crabs and 6 small ones
1-2 Derrasa clam(s)
2-3 peppermint shrimp

For lighting- 130 Watt coralife. aqualight deluxe series double linear strip 30 inches,

Hopefully you can all spot incompatibilities or just make helpful suggestions. Thanks in advance for the help

 

[Len]

:welcome:

Ebo Jagers are nice heaters, but most heaters these days are good.

Prizm skimmers are okay for your size tank, but not the best. You'd be better off with a AquaC remora or Precision Marine HOT-1.

Canister filters need to be cleaned very often in a reef tank. It's not bad to have on a tank, per se, but it is a lot of "unnecessary" work.

50 lbs of LR sounds good for your tank. As for sandbed depth, it is a debatable issue. Some choose no sand, some choose deep sand bed. I really don't want to commit my opinion to it There are many possible avenues to success.

Don't get the tube anemone. They are excellent at catching and eating fish and shrimp. Also, no sand sifting stars. These guys decimate sandbeds very quickly and often starve in the end. They defeat the purpose of having a healthy sandbed IMO. I'm also not a fan of hermit crabs, especially big ones. They will hunt down snails and sometimes sleeping fish. The only hermits to get are the scarlet type IMO. Add the six-line wrasse last because they are aggessive little fish.

Your light is adequete, but more would be better of course

 

[alexk3954]

Do I need anything to stir up the sand bed? What do you mean when you say the sand sifting stars will decimate the sand bed? Will they just eat all the little critters in the sand?

 

[alexk3954]

you also say that canister filters are unnecessary work. What other choice do I have?

 

[trido]

If you dont already have the zoo meds. I wouldnt recommend them. I have one as my only random wave action. It stops moving almost daily. It requires removing and cleaning every time. Get a couple maxi jets and use a power strip timer for wave action if possible. You will be much happier and so will your corals.

 

[pwj1286]

coralline eats zoo med alive.
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Television discussion

 

[Anonymous]

Welcome,

No to the Zoomeds. Get 2 maxijet 1200's on a Natural Wave Powerstrip wavemaker.

No to the Prism. Get a Aquac-Remora

Heater - Ebo jager should be fine.

No canister filter, It will become a nitrate factory unless you clean it weekly.

I would also recommend you get a RO/DI filter for your water. This will remove the impurities in your water helping to keep the tank algae free.
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[alexk3954]

what is a natural wave powerstrip wavemaker?

Everybody says no to the canister filter, but I have no idea what to use for filtration then. DO you have to drill the tank to make a sump? Be cause I have a spare 10 gal lying around.

Does anyone else agree that the aquac remora is better than the prizm?

I am going to buy saltwater from the lfs, so I dont need to invest in an RO/DI system

 

[Anonymous]

You dont need mechanical filtration in a reef tank. The LR will provide biological filtration. The skimmer and water chnages will remove the rest.

A natural wave powerstrip is a powerstrip that that has timers on it to turn on outlets alternating every 20 seconds to 3 minutes. This is great to connect your powerheads to to create alternating current in your tank.
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[alexk3954]

how many powerheads should I get then, just 2 so that 1 is running at a time, or would it be better to get more?

Wow, I didn't know that you dont need mechanical filtration!

should I maybe jsut put on a hang on the back filter when I do maintenance, or would that be unnecessary?

Do most of you people not use mechanical filtration?


I dont really understand skimmers, what exactly are they taking out of the water?

Ive never had a reef (obviously) and was wandering after the environment is stable, how often must you do water changes, would 10 gallon changes every 2 weeks be sufficient?

 

[Meloco14]

You can use a small hang on back filter for occasional filtration to clear up the water. I use one when the water is cloudy after a water change, or if the sand get stirred up, or if I'm cleaning algae off the sides and a lot gets suspended. It is not needed to run 24/7 though. You can also use hang on filters to run carbon to clear the water if it turns yellow, or if any corals release any chemical defenses into the water, or you can use it to run phosban or a nitrate remover if necessary. IMO its nice to have a hang on filter for when you need it, but you dont need to use it all the time. I can say from experience that the power sweeps do not last. Mine only swept for a couple weeks, then it would blow but stuck in one direction, then finally it completely died. I use maxi jets and via aqua pumps now and have had no problems. I recently bought a natural wave timer and it is a great investment. You can find them at most online shops for around $40. With it you can have up to 3 pumps with wave making action, and then there are 3 outlets that are always on. I personally have one pump constantly on, have 2 on wavemaking, and have on one during the day with a hydor flo rotator. For a 37 gallon I would say 3 pumps would be sufficient. You want to create enough flow to make sure there are no dead spots in the tank where junk can build up. Also make sure no direct flow is blasting any coral. You can play around with the pump locations and any wave making until you find a setup you like. I also have personal experience with the prizm. I used it for about a year and it never worked properly. I couldnt get it dialed in to skim well, and as a result it led to bad algae problems. I replaced it with an Aqua C Remora and the difference was huge. I have had the remora for almost a year now and I love it. I had an o-ring break, but the company sent me 2 more for free without a problem. I definitely recommend them. The only other HOB skimmer I would replace the remora with would be the Deltec, but I just can't afford it. If you have the funds, though, check out the Deltec HOB skimmer. As for water changes, it all depends on your tank. Some people do 10% weekly water changes, some only do them once a month. What you need to do is get a bunch of good test kits and monitor your water every couple days for the first few months. As long as your water quality remains high, you do not need to do a water change. When your nitrates/phosphates build up you will need to do a water change. It is also good to do a water change at least once a month even if your water quality is still good because it replenishes trace elements that are in the salt mix. But if you monitor your water quality you will get an idea of how regularly you need to do a water change. And monitoring will also let you know how often you need to add suppliments to your tank like calcium and alkalinity. You mentioned that you don't need an RO unit because you will buy your saltwater from your LFS. This is fine if this is the way you choose to go, but you will still need RO freshwater for your top offs due to evaporation. If your LFS sells saltwater, they probably also sell RO water, so make sure you use that and not tap for top offs. For your sand the majority can be dry sand, like the kind carib-sea sells. I would not waste money on the "live sand" that carib sea sells though. It is more efficient to buy dry sand and then 10-20 pounds of real live sand from your LFS. For your stocking list, I agree with Len. I would skip the tube anemone and the sand sifting star. To answer your question, yes, the star will eat all of the worms and little bugs in the sand. Basically it will turn your live sand into dead sand, except for bacteria. I would be careful with a sally lightfoot crab. I don't have personal experience with them but I have heard stories of them eating corals and attacking fish. They also get pretty big. But if you search the forums you will find that all crabs are iffy, and someone out there has had a bad experience with any type of crab. So if you get any crabs, just be careful. The amount of snails you need will vary and depend on how much algae growth you have. 10 is a good start, and you may find you need more. I would get a variety, some for the glass and rocks, and some for the sand bed. Conchs are great for the sand. Your lighting will be great for the corals you mentioned. It will be marginal for the anemone and clams though. You are off to a good start, good luck.

 

[alexk3954]

the lfs sells RO freshwater too, I already checked. I will probably get 3 of the Maxi jets, but what gph would be best for my size tank. THe lights should be fine for the clams and anenome. My uncle has a 42 gal bowfront with the same light and he has 6 clams in there, all of which have been living for a few years, he also has a bubble anenome which is doing well. The lighting should be fine, especially because the hard corals do not interest me too much.

Now that I found I dont need mechanical filtration, I'll use the money that would have gone to the filter to buy a remora rather than the prizm.

Thanks a lot for all of the help, I honestly would never be able to set this thing up without you guys.

I was told that emerald crabs eat certain pesky types of algae, is this true, or should I just forget about the crabs all together?

 

[alexk3954]

is this a good deal?
I dont really know how much the timers and powerheads cost by themselves.
http://www.drsfostersmith.com/Product/P ... 004+113782

 

[Meloco14]

That wave maker package is definitely a good way to go. It will save you money versus buying the wave timer and 3 maxi-jets separately. For your tank I would get at least the model 600, and the 900 is probably a little better. Soft corals and clams do not need a lot of flow, so there's no need to go crazy, but you definitely want a decent amount in there. Going with the 900's won't be too much, and you can always aim the current against glass or a rock if you feel it is too strong. Good flow is very important for filtration and gas exchange, so you don't want to skimp out. I am glad to hear that you have personal experience with those lights and clams and anemones. It sounds like the lights will be fine for what you want. I don't know the dimensions of your tank and the bowfront, but as long as your tank is not taller than the 42 then you will be fine. Emerald crabs do eat algae, and will eat bubble algae which few other species will. I have always had emerald crabs in my tank and haven't had problems. However occasionally someone will find an emerald crab that likes to eat corals or snails or harasses fish. So like any crab it is a chance. I would not rely on emerald crabs to keep your tank algae free either. They do eat algae, but they will also eat scrap food and sponges and other little creatures in the tank. I have seen my crab sit right next to bubble algae, hair algae, and macro algae and not even touch it. Instead he's picking at rocks and sticking things into his mouth I can't even see. IMO they are fun to watch, but are not the most useful additions to the tank, and can potentially be problems. HTH

 

[Len]

Do I need anything to stir up the sand bed? What do you mean when you say the sand sifting stars will decimate the sand bed? Will they just eat all the little critters in the sand?

The sand stars eat all the tiny organisms in your sandbed, making it lifeless. That is actually detrimental to your sandbed, not beneficial IMO. I would avoid sand stars. All the microorganisms will do all the sand "stirring" you need, but you can add a few conches too.

You can use the canister filter if you want. But I'd just run it with good activated carbon and no sponge or other media. It is the mechanical media that gets clogged quickly and negatively effects the water quality in your tank.

 

[alexk3954]

Will anything besides emerald crabs eat bubble algae? Is there any other special type of algae that only emerald crabs eat?

I think I will go with the 900 package for the powerheads, unless any one thinks I should go with the 1200's...

I think now I am only gowing to use a hang on back filter for mechanical filtration. I plam on only turning it on when the water gets cloudy, when I do water changes, or If the sand gets stirred up. Any one see problems with this?

Yay, I got my tank and protein skimmer today. I ended up splurging and got the aquac remora because everyone makes it sound so much better than the prizms.

 

[alexk3954]

I have an updated list of future fish after visiting the lfs. I have never had a reef so you guys will have to tell me if this is overstocked ( I'm sure it is)

1 ocellaris
1 six line wrasse
1 yellow tang
1 yellow watchman goby
1 lawnmower blenny
1 royal gramma
1 purple firefish

I heard that the goby and blenny might munch on algae... Neither of them would stir up the sand and make the water cloudy would they?

 

[MartinE]

You wont be sorry with the Remora skimmer over the Prizm, not even in the same class IMO.

I would say your tank is a bit to small for a tang. Might be some compatibility problems with some of the other fish, might look here for those. http://www.reefs.org/library/compatibility.html

 

[Anonymous]

I have an updated list of future fish after visiting the lfs. I have never had a reef so you guys will have to tell me if this is overstocked ( I'm sure it is)

1 ocellaris
1 six line wrasse
1 yellow tang
1 yellow watchman goby
1 lawnmower blenny
1 royal gramma
1 purple firefish

I heard that the goby and blenny might munch on algae... Neither of them would stir up the sand and make the water cloudy would they?

OK. In a 37 gallon tank.

No tang - they need allot of room to swim and usually require a minimum of a 4 ft tank of 75 Gallons .

The rest of the fish sound OK. I would only add one fish per month after the tank is cycling IMO.
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[alexk3954]

I wouldnt even imagine adding more than one fish per month or so.

I thought the tang might need a bigger tank, but as I saw one in a 37 gallon display at the lfs, I figured it might be worth asking here.

But if I left out the tang, would the tank be overstocked, or could I get all of the fish on the list?

Rob- by the fish are OK, do you mean there might be incompatibilities, or the stocking is OK, but on the verge of overstocking?