[greyowl]

Well I have introduced myself, it is now time for me to tell you about my aquarium plans. I am planning to set up a 50 gallon tank. Why 50 gallons? Long diversion, oxygen is not very soluble in water and the solubility in salt water is even lower. The surface area of the tank is proportional to the amount of oxygen dissolved in the water. The surface area of a standard 50 gallon tank in 720 sq inches, while a stand 55 gallon tank is 606 square inches. So a 50 gallon tank has a great surface area. A 50 gallon tank is also shallower. The concentration of oxygen decreases with increasing depth. This is important to me as I am going to eventually add corals to my tank.

I am going to be away for a long trip at the end of March so I am planning to start setting up my aquarium in February. This will mostly consist of buy all the necessary hardware (I already have 2 - 5 gallon buckets). Water is not a problem as I can get RO water from my lab. By the time I am ready to go on my trip I will have LR in the tank curing. Being a chemist this is good, because if I were at home I would be testing the water two times a day. I think that I probably should wait for the tank to cycle before I really start to test nitrogen.

QUESTION 1. Does one feed their living rock? I don't plan to add fish to the tank until June (after I return from a second long trip) From what I have read on this list most people add fish to their two to three weeks after adding live rock. I will be having the live rock in the tank for two months before I add my CUC.

I am thinking of adding 30 lbs LR probably Fiji rock. I am planning on adding some sterile base rock and in a year or so it should be growing all of those little critters that we are fond of.

I am planning to use a sump. I am not too sure how big the sump will be. I am interested in adding a power filter to the tank (hanging off of the side). There are several advantages to doing this, first additional aeration of the water, and increase flow in the tank. The return from the sump will the same end and I am planning on a power head. I will not use an activated carbon filter, year it will remove nitrogen and organic, but it will also remove beneficial minerals and the carbon is also remove salt. I was thinking of a simple pad filter. My concern is that this will filter the small microorganism that will be food for the coral, etc.

QUESTION 2. Does anybody on the list use a power filter? What are your experiences?

Enough for now. There well be another burst of questions sometime next week.

Cheers,

Bob

[glampka]

1st off - Welcome to RB Bob! It is encouraging to see that you've been doing your homework but of course you would - you're a chemist!!!
Don't know how long your trip is going to be but do you have a means to handle such things as fresh water top offs when you're gone?
A few questions that might help us give you some answers:
1. what kind of tank do you plan on keeping - reef or FOWLR?
2. How much base rock are you going to add?
3. What other equipment besides the ph & power filter were you thinking of?
There's no need to feed the LR when you're gone.
You'd be better off getting yourself a quality protein skimmer than using the power filter. Power filter with carbon could be used if you wanted to "polish" the water from time to time. I've never heard of carbon removing salt. Any minerals that may be removed from the water are usually added back when you do partial water changes.

[greyowl]

The acronyms on this list are killing me. Definitely a good quality protein skimmer. I am planing on inverts, fish, and maybe after 6 months coral and who knows what else. I have a fish wish list a mile long. I am going to limit my fish to approximately 6. Definitely don't want to overcrowd the tank. Definitely a couple of clowns. Inverts: snails, a couple of shrimp and a clam. I am planning to take things really slow. Haste make waste. I live just outside of Phillie and in the next couple of months I am planning on visiting several of the local lfs. I can't wait to see their faces when I ask them some of the stupid questions that I may ask of this list :-)

Cheers

Bob

[glampka]

Good luck - just keep in mind that the lfs is in business to sell YOU stuff. They will tell you anything & everything to get you to buy something that you probably don't need. We're here as hobbyists - we have nothing to gain by giving you answers to your questions. Most of us have learned the hard way & if we can keep you from having to learn those painful lessons the hard way we will.

[aquasalt]

Welcome to RB! I thoroughly enjoyed reading your decision-making process on a 55 gal over any other size tank!

Jim

[greyowl]

I didn't expect lfs to be any different than any other salesperson. I just hope that they don't wear loud clothes like a used car salesperson (my apologies to any used car salesperson on this list).

Bob

[Lazy Iguana]

I would not worry so much about oxygen saturation. First off, a good skimmer is going to keep your water close to maximum dissolved oxygen levels. Good circulation in the tank will prevent any dead spots with no flow. Together this means plenty of oxygen in the water.

And if you get a drilled tank and a sump - this will add even more oxygen. A sump will also increase water volume and surface area.

Just a thought.