Newbie here and to the reef world...

[Pinkheine]

What's up reef peeps? Okay so we have had saltwater fish only for the past 9 years and upon selling our Tenecor Vista View we decided what better time than now to set up a reef. We had nothing sold the whole thing...

So far though we have a 120g Oceanic Tech Series Aquarium
an RO/DI and Corallife Super SKimmer. We today just put in our 'order' for a 75 gallon refugium. We custom made the stand (selling the stand) so the tank can go in the wall... everything filtration and tank is in the laundry room.. easy access to the RO/DI.

So my first I am sure in a series of questions to follow in the future is this... should we cure the rock in the tank, or cure it in a seperate container and then transfer it to the tank?? I have gotten mixed reviews on this from people I have spoken to about it.

And another question...
I have seen some people here with the leds.. the man wants to get them and hold off setting up the tank until we do have them. That is a pretty penny for lights, I know in the long run it will pay for itself but I don't think I can hold out that long LOL How do those of you here feel about lighting? If not the leds we were thinking on going with T5's.

 

[h20 freak]

I have heard mixed things about the coralife skimmers but I have no personal experience ,someone here may tell you to upgrade.

Curing the LR in your tank would be a good way to cycle it(don't run the skimmer during cycling)

To be honest with you, the only LEDs Ive heard about in this hobby are for moonlights/spotlights, not for main but it may be an uncommon type I haven't heard of:shhh:.But anyway the type of lighting you need is Dependant on what corals you want,softies would be fine with VHO and PC lighting, I believe T5's can work with stony corals and anemones but I know clams really like halides and hard corals do best under these.

You didn't mention anything about your flow, reefs really do better with good flow. Some types of coral prefer more while others prefer less, but really its better to have a lot of flow and if you get something that doesn't like it,put it in a lower flow area.

So far so good for you,you haven't rushed into anything and you're reallying on a forum/board for info rather then a fish store.How old are the membranes on the RO unit?

 

[Chiefmcfuz]

Hey and welcome to MR.

RE: LED lighting, they are out there (Solaris systems) but they are too new. They really aren't proven and are extremely new tech I would stick with MH lighting for a tank that is that deep or T5 depending on what corals you want to keep.

The skimmer issue is a touchy one, I would personally upgrade it to something better. Search the forum and read the skimmer thread.

 

[DonCisco]

When it comes to a reef tank, you are better off curing your LR in your tank, it might take some time, but you are better off than curing in a bucket.. bringing it to your tank and then shocking the tank and waiting for it to cycle.
As for the LED's, the main gimmick of them is that they are "tuned" to the right wavelength needed for corals. Around 600 and 900 nm (or somewhere in that neighborhood), they say that they can last 10 yrs, but if you live in the city and see the new LED traffic lights... you see that after only 2 or 3 yrs you see that some led's are already down. Best of luck.

 

[Pinkheine]

As for flow we have nothing as of yet.. what I had written above is all we have so far. I wasn't thinking of going with anything but soft corals but then again knowing myself.. we really should be set up for whatever it is I think I 'might' like to put in once we get going.

As for the skimmer since we haven't used it yet it could very easily be put back in the box and returned to the store.

As far as the RO it is new. We are piecing everything together this time around.

When we started our fish only 9 years ago we got it all at once and fish were in within a week haha. Live and learn

 

[Chiefmcfuz]

How warm does your laundry room get? Mine gets warm when the dryer is running. If I were you I would invest in a good chiller and make sure that when adding soap to the washer that none goes in the setup. Sounds stupid but this hobby flirts with murphy's law every second of the day.

 

[masterswimmer]

Welcome to MR. Nice to see you asking questions before going to town and setting everything up.

I have experience with the Coralife Super Skimmer 60. I used it on a 16g tank and it was worthless. I upgraded to a much more efficient skimmer VERY quickly. I don't think the 220 will be an appropriate skimmer for your 120.

As for lighting, it depends on the animals you're planning to keep and consider your future plans for increasingly difficult to keep coral as your experience in the hobby matures. I've run T5's and MH's for years. T5's are excellent for tanks up to about 20" deep. You can go to 24" depth with only softies and less light demanding coral.

As Brendan said, LED's have only been used on reef tanks for a little over a year. Long term success with them is still questionable. For the price, I still like MH or T5.

Once again, welcome to our little part of the glass box reef. Enjoy your stay.

Russ

 

[Pinkheine]

Thanks for the input guys :flirt:.... I'll be sure to use the 'search' feature before posting questions, there seems to be a massive amount of information here.

As for the LEDs I was speaking of the Solaris like Chiefmcfuz mentioned... but we are going to refrain for now I think... let other people guinea pig them out before we take the plunge.

 

[OctaviousMonk]

I second the importance of good flow. Take the time now and try to plan it out. Once you think you have enough planned add more because it is not enough. This holds especially true for some one who has never had a reef tank before. When I started I planned like crazy for flow but " Couldn't imagine corals needing more then 3 maxi-jet 900's", well live and learn. I wish I had this place as a resource back then. Good luck and Enjoy

 

[h20 freak]

Love the avatar octavius lmao


annnnnnnnnyyyyway,does the laundry have major(5 degrees is major in this hobby)temo changes when the machines are on?If so you may want to consider putting the tank somewhere else or have to spend money on chillers and temp regulaters

 

[Pinkheine]

Laundry room temp doesn't change ... it stays on average 68-70 degrees if anything in winter it gets cooler than that. But the dryer/washer doesn't effect things. We are in a basement apt. and considering I am not a girl that likes doing wash anyways it rarely gets any use LOL

I think we may have the only basement apt as far as I know where humidity isn't an issue. We were dumb lucky here.

 

[h20 freak]

Thats a good temp range, you may be able to weasel your way without a chiller like me :shhh:

I've noticed no ones has given you specific pump info so here I go.

Put two koralia 4's as your main http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod_display.cfm?c=3578+4585+15955&pcatid=15955


Or 2 of these http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod_display.cfm?c=3578+4585+16754&pcatid=16754

or really any kind that look like that,they really swirl your water around due to the structure.

and add smaller pumps to where you notice dead spots of flow,find dead spots by intentionally making bubbles come from your return pump,They will quickly fill your tank and dead spots will be easy to find.