| Reef Builders Forums » Saltwater Aquariums » New to the Hobby (Getting Started/Setting Up) » Reef Newbie- Here's my plan, what do you think? |
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| New to the Hobby (Getting Started/Setting Up) Think you can upgrade to saltwater? Your probably very confused, but remember ask questions and you'll get your answers on here! |
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07-21-2008, 12:19 PM
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 Reef Newbie- Here's my plan, what do you think? I am planning to make the move from freshwater to reef and am planning my tank fully prior to starting, I wanted to run my plan pass some experienced reef keepers to ensure I haven’t missed anything or to see whether I am going about it in the wrong way. Any input would be greatly appreciated as I don’t want to have to change things once set up. I have a 4ft x 2ft x 2ft tank which I plan on using as a mixed reef tank with SPS, soft corals and a few fish / inverts such as shrimp and starfish . The plan is to light it using 3 x 150w metal halide lights. A mixture of coral sand and live sand for the substrate. Ocean rock for the base of the ‘reef’ with a covering on live rock. A surface over flow from the main tank will first go through a pre-filter to catch debris and then through a skimmer (I was thinking an AquaC EV-180) this will then feed a three section sump which I am making from my old 3ft x 1.5ft x 1.5ft freshwater tank, the first section will be live rock (broken down or brought as live rock rubble), the second will be bio-balls and the third will be Chaetomorpha Algae, then through a bulbble trap to the heaters (2 x 300w) and the return pump. The sump will be lit with a small full spectrum for the cheato and live rock. This may seem over the top as some people don’t use any filters when using lives and / rock and keeping sand sifters, but I figured its better to have a lot of filtration than to little. I won’t need a chiller as I live in England and I have and old cottage whicih even on the hottest of summer days is still very cool inside I was also thinking of a closed loop circulation system using a 3000 GPH pump to pump water from several outlets at the front of the tank to several outlets behind the rock face, I will also have a second identical pump running in the opposite direction, the two pumps will then switch back and forth on 6 hour shifts to mimic tidal currents. As I said before I am new to reef keeping so any suggestion or tips would be greatly appreciated!  |
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07-21-2008, 07:41 PM
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| Re: Reef Newbie- Here's my plan, what do you think? Sounds good but dont use bio balls replace the bio balls with live rock rubble because bio balls are like nitrate factorys. and you said keeping cheto is over the top for some people?? its not Many people use it. everything sounds good please if you can show some pictures
__________________ 40 gallon Reef with a 20 gallon high sump- One Yellow Wrasse, 2 Chromis, One Scooter Blenny, 5 Hermits, 3 Snails, 2 red foot snails, one Sand Sifting Tiger Starfish, and Corals- one frogs spawn coral, one Green striped and purple mushroom rock, one pink/tan mushroom frag, one hybrid mushroom rock, one Red mushroom, 2 differnt types of green star polyps, Two Cynarina corals, , one Fox coarl, one button polyp rock , one yellow scroll coral, one Big Orange Montipora capricornis, 13 Ricordea Mushrooms, One green Yuma, Two Blue Maxima clams , One Big Yellow Trumpet Coral, a Cabbage Leather Frag, Red Sea xiena (purple), Tan Xiena, one pink birds nest, one loco lobo leather coral, one Blastomussa Merletti, and one red lobo brain coral. Soon to hook up my CA reactor. |
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07-21-2008, 08:50 PM
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| Re: Reef Newbie- Here's my plan, what do you think? Quote:
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07-21-2008, 09:38 PM
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| Re: Reef Newbie- Here's my plan, what do you think? my bad jim thats true but i would think someone would want the least amount of maintance so thats why i said that |
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07-21-2008, 10:05 PM
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| Re: Reef Newbie- Here's my plan, what do you think? Im sorry Ian. I did not mean to make you sound uninformative. I get bothered sometimes when issues like the bio-balls comes up cause people just tend to repeat what they hear. "bio-balls are nitrate factories", they can be but every public aquarium in America uses some form of them. Bio-balls collects the bacteria on its surface area and then its up to us to remove it before it becomes a problem. LR takes care of this in a more natural process so we dont think about it much. You are right. LR is better in the sump than Bio-balls. It was good advice IMO. I just expounded on it a little. |
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07-21-2008, 11:54 PM
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| Re: Reef Newbie- Here's my plan, what do you think? ....haha ok |
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07-22-2008, 04:16 AM
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| Re: Reef Newbie- Here's my plan, what do you think? Thanks for the replies, i'll think i'll go with your suggestion Ian and scrap the bio-balls in favour of more live rock, purely from a maintenance perspective, not that i'm lazy but why make more work for yourself. Sorry Ian no photos yet as it's only i the planning stage but i'll keep a photo log as i got and post it. Can either of you suggest some good books i should read as a new starter? I've had a quick look around but none of the books I've found so far are very in depth. |
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07-22-2008, 08:11 AM
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| Re: Reef Newbie- Here's my plan, what do you think? "The Contientious Aquarist" by Bob Fenner Expensive but a good book to have on the shelf. I bought a used copy from an individual. Might wanna try Amazon. |
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07-22-2008, 05:05 PM
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| Re: Reef Newbie- Here's my plan, what do you think? i am not saying anythings wrong with the books but i was going to buy one when i started off but then relized mostley every question of mine was answered online in different websites but i am sure the book is worth it |
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07-22-2008, 05:38 PM
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| Re: Reef Newbie- Here's my plan, what do you think? Quote:
The Reef Builder library is full of great reads. I still go back there and read! Its a great place to hang out! Looking at that DIY Ca reactor right now! |
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07-22-2008, 05:42 PM
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| Re: Reef Newbie- Here's my plan, what do you think? lol yea and theres many other sites besides this one that just has information and are not fourms
__________________ 40 gallon Reef with a 20 gallon high sump- One Yellow Wrasse, 2 Chromis, One Scooter Blenny, 5 Hermits, 3 Snails, 2 red foot snails, one Sand Sifting Tiger Starfish, and Corals- one frogs spawn coral, one Green striped and purple mushroom rock, one pink/tan mushroom frag, one hybrid mushroom rock, one Red mushroom, 2 differnt types of green star polyps, Two Cynarina corals, , one Fox coarl, one button polyp rock , one yellow scroll coral, one Big Orange Montipora capricornis, 13 Ricordea Mushrooms, One green Yuma, Two Blue Maxima clams , One Big Yellow Trumpet Coral, a Cabbage Leather Frag, Red Sea xiena (purple), Tan Xiena, one pink birds nest, one loco lobo leather coral, one Blastomussa Merletti, and one red lobo brain coral. Soon to hook up my CA reactor. |
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07-22-2008, 05:45 PM
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| Re: Reef Newbie- Here's my plan, what do you think? Quote:
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07-22-2008, 07:19 PM
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| Re: Reef Newbie- Here's my plan, what do you think? WHAT ?!?!?!?!?!?!??!!?!?!??!?! whats RB LIBERY THERES ONE HERE CAN I HAVE A LINK !!!! lol damn i am late now this would of helped about a year ago
__________________ 40 gallon Reef with a 20 gallon high sump- One Yellow Wrasse, 2 Chromis, One Scooter Blenny, 5 Hermits, 3 Snails, 2 red foot snails, one Sand Sifting Tiger Starfish, and Corals- one frogs spawn coral, one Green striped and purple mushroom rock, one pink/tan mushroom frag, one hybrid mushroom rock, one Red mushroom, 2 differnt types of green star polyps, Two Cynarina corals, , one Fox coarl, one button polyp rock , one yellow scroll coral, one Big Orange Montipora capricornis, 13 Ricordea Mushrooms, One green Yuma, Two Blue Maxima clams , One Big Yellow Trumpet Coral, a Cabbage Leather Frag, Red Sea xiena (purple), Tan Xiena, one pink birds nest, one loco lobo leather coral, one Blastomussa Merletti, and one red lobo brain coral. Soon to hook up my CA reactor. |
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07-22-2008, 09:07 PM
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| Re: Reef Newbie- Here's my plan, what do you think? Sorry for overtaking this thread and now we are off topic. ....sigh...the overlooked Reef Builders Library  ....Just go to the "New to the Hobby" forum and the link to the RB library is the first sticky. Been there for quite some time. The pics are from RB members and the Library was put together by Becky AKA Rlcline76. There is a DIY Thread here that is equaly impressive as well. I think it tells you how to build just about anything in this hobby. Must be 50 links there too. I have been preaching this library pretty much since its inception. It has never caught on and sees little to no visitors. Im just bewildered |
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07-22-2008, 10:13 PM
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| Re: Reef Newbie- Here's my plan, what do you think? hahahahaha ok ill check it out
__________________ 40 gallon Reef with a 20 gallon high sump- One Yellow Wrasse, 2 Chromis, One Scooter Blenny, 5 Hermits, 3 Snails, 2 red foot snails, one Sand Sifting Tiger Starfish, and Corals- one frogs spawn coral, one Green striped and purple mushroom rock, one pink/tan mushroom frag, one hybrid mushroom rock, one Red mushroom, 2 differnt types of green star polyps, Two Cynarina corals, , one Fox coarl, one button polyp rock , one yellow scroll coral, one Big Orange Montipora capricornis, 13 Ricordea Mushrooms, One green Yuma, Two Blue Maxima clams , One Big Yellow Trumpet Coral, a Cabbage Leather Frag, Red Sea xiena (purple), Tan Xiena, one pink birds nest, one loco lobo leather coral, one Blastomussa Merletti, and one red lobo brain coral. Soon to hook up my CA reactor. |
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07-23-2008, 07:31 AM
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| Re: Reef Newbie- Here's my plan, what do you think? I read about your plans for a closed loop. Very admirable - but may be a real challenge in a 120G tank. Your suggested flow rate (3000gph?) sounds like a tidal wave rather than a tidal current. You may find that many tanks of this size have tempered glass bottoms, which will explode if you try to drill it. Instead of a closed loop for this size, I would suggest looking into controllable power heads as an option. I use the Hydor Koralia Wavemaker 2 and controllable power heads in my 180G tank with success. I would put at least 100 pounds of live rock in the display tank. That's where your filtration will have its foundation. Additional LR (rubble) in the sump is fine. Chaeto is the second sump chamvber is a plus for algae control. You need to figure a way to throttle back flow through your skimmer. If you have an in-sump skimmer, it may come with its own feed pump. Most skimmers suggest a flow rate of 1 - 1-1/2 times the total volume of your system. In other words, your skimmer should be fed by a 120-180 gph feed pump. Will your tank use a reef-ready overflow? Your return pump should be "tuned" to the capacity of your overflows, otherwise you will experience gurgling, surges, and other strange noises. Finally, I also recommend the book(s) suggested above. They are references at my house and I use them frequently. On forums, you get opinions. Like bellybuttons, everyone has an opinion. Some are nice  Some are ugly Happy reefing...
__________________ 180G AGA Reef w/ SPS, LPS, fish; 95G Oceanic Wave mixed reef tank with breeding hippocampus reidi; 20G Frag tank. Ask about our Reef Cam |
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