[ToxicDice]

Hello everyone, I'm brand new to the hobby and this site as well and am hoping beyond hope that you'll find it in your hearts to take a moment and help me out.

I am starting my setup from scratch and need your guys help to do it right the first time. I am in no hurry (which is a good, thing or so I've read) and want to build VERY slowly. What I have right now is a 75 gallon All-Glass Mega-Flow aquarium enclosed in a wall unit I built when I finished the basement this past year. Not much but a start none the less.

The space from the top of the aquarium to the bottom of the shelf above is accessible through the top doors and measures approximately 18 1/2" deep by 12" tall by 48" wide. Likewise the space beneath the aquarium is accessible by the two bottom doors and measures approximately 18 1/2" deep by 29 1/2" tall by 45 1/2" wide.

Here's some pictures so you can see what I'm describing (click to enlarge):
Built-in with doors closed
A little peek at my bar while I'm at it
Top and bottom access doors open
Bottom area
Top area


So my question is what next? The more specifics the better. Basically I'm looking for what else I'll need to get the tank cycled and ready for fish. Eventually, long down the road, I'll want to add corals and anemones but I don't want to worry about the lighting and stuff for those right now so please focus your help on the basics like filtration, rock, heaters, setup, etc. I've got a blank canvas, help me build a masterpiece!

Thanks in advance for your help and for taking the time to give it.

[Jeremy0322]

Wow. Alright, well first off you will need good water. Ro/DI water is the best you can get and you may want your own unit for that. You have a megaflow and room for a sump so i would suggest that. Check out melevsreef.com to see how to make one, like how to separate it and stuff like that. You will end up with chambers, and one of them should be a refugium. You are going to probably want something like a 4" sand bed in the tank as well as the fuge, but that is just personal preference. From there you are going to want around 1-2 lbs of live rock per gallon of water in the entire system. So, with a 55 gallon tank and a 20 gallon fuge(hypathetically) you would want somewhere in the neighborhood of 72-150lbs or rock.

As for a heater, it is always better to have 2 heaters because they are the things that break most often from what i have heard. With those, you want a combined total of around3-5 watts per gallon. You are also going to need some nice powerheads. If you have the money Vortec's are the talk of the town but i have Hydor Koralias in my tank and i like them just fine, and they are not 300 dollars.

And may i suggest a book or two. The Conscientious Marine Aquarist by Robert Fenner was alot of help to me and probably will be to you too. There is so much about this and with how broad that question was it is hard to give you perfect answers. I am sure that people will jump on this thread though so you will get many opinions, we all love open ended questions like these. If you need anything else feel free to PM me, i am not great at this stuff yet but you are at the EXACT same stage that I am so i can give decent answers.

[bmward64]

Jeremy is right about a lot of stuff. You should do a deep sand bed (3 or 4 inches) for two reasons, bio filtration, and that way in the future if you ever want to get fish that burrow, you can with no problem. I would recommend a sump, and you can build one yourself cheaply, just buy a 20 gallon low tank, some Plexiglas, epoxy and something to make a drip plate out of. You can get your design from the sumps they sell at your lfs, and design it so you can put your skimmer right in it, saves space and time.

I would do at least 1 & a half lbs of lr / gallon looks good and provides lots of space for bacteria which is of course very important. As far as heaters go, get two and run one all the time at the temp you want, at the same time have your other heater in there set just a couple of degrees lower so that if your main one fails, your fish aren't in any harm. Eventually, get a third and just keep it on hand because like Jeremy said, they break, that means you won't have to run out and spend that money that you might not have just enough of at that specific time.

I have never heard of the book he recommended, and I want to check it out, the one I have is The New Marine Aquarium by Michael S. Paletta, it shows you what equipment is good and what to avoid, it also tells you what fish would be good for beginning tanks, along with beginning aquarists such as our selfs, and some fish that are a little more complicated.

Good luck and have fun!!!

[ToxicDice]

Thanks for your feedback guys. I've read quite a bit about different filtering setups and I think I've decided upon a skimmer/refugium combo in the sump which (if I understand everything correctly) is the best current option.

I'll be custom designing and building the sump which will hold the skimmer, a macroalgae refugium, and return pump chamber which leaves me with a bunch of questions about layout, flow diagrams, and flow rates. I guess I'll start with some specifics.

1) The MegaFlow overflow claims a realistic 600gph flow rate. Has that been demonstrated or is it something less.
2) Is that flow rate sufficient for a 75 gallon main tank?
3) I've come close to deciding on an Aqua-C EV120 skimmer which I've researched and found to have an actual flow rate of 225gph. How do I make up the difference between the 600 *which I want to maximize) and the 225?
4) Do I need to do anything with the water coming from the tank before pumping it into the skimmer (with a Mag Drive 5)?
5) I've read that the flow through the refugium should be 2-5 times the volume per hour. How do I regulate this given the total flow rate of 600gph through the whole sump and the 225gph flow through the skimmer?

Any advice you could give me about how to build this thing that's going under my aquarium would be VERY appreciated.

Thanks guys, keep the good advice coming!

[R-e-D]

i will make it a lot simpler for you . go to your local fish store (here are a few in your area) get your self a bag of saltmix(brand is up to your likeing)and a few buckets. i would get the biggest wet/dry filter you can fit under your tank , take out the bioballs and plumb the filter into your tank. on initial set up i dont see any problems using tap water mix the salt and water in the buckets and fill the tank and filter to the proper level .. wait 2 or 3 days with the water running thrugh your system then you can add your rock to the tank and rock rubble to the bioball area to start the cycle prosses , while it is cycling add your power heads and heater(no lights needed for the cycle) .. after 2 weeks go ahead and add the sand (just move the rocks to one side and add the sand then repete on the other side . you can now stack the rocks the way you want them to stay.
Something Fishy!
Welcome to A World Of Fish

[R-e-D]

well you seem to be doing research , good for you . if you have the time and ability to make your oun sump thats great .. will make it a lot better for you in the long run .

[ToxicDice]

My wife would tell you I'm a perfectionist who spends WAY too much time researching and planning but she'll also tell you the results are impressive when I finally finish something. The builtin cabinet in the pictures was all my doing.

I do think I would be able to create this beast beneath the tank and I feel like going custom will maximize the benefit of space I have to work with. And like I said in my rambling opening post, I'm in no hurry on this, I just really want to make sure I get the guts of the system right so when it does come time to cycle it and start adding fish Im not full of regrets and wishing I had done something different. I want to do this once and I want to do it right.

Thanks fo the replies everyone!

[R-e-D]

you sound like i wish i was ... keep it up and you will be the only guy in reef keeping history not to have a box full of parts the upgraded because they dident think ahead .. lol

[R-e-D]

oh yea , the tank looks great in the cabnit .. awsome job with it!

[bmward64]

Sounds like this guy it helping you out a little more than we have been, I don't know why but I cmpletly overlooked your cycling questions... oops, like I said have fun, and I think your tank is going to be the best one around.

[stacef]

ToxiDice..Have you voted for tank of the month yet? Sorry to interrupt the thread. But you should go vote for Tank of the Month of December. Anyoen can lead you to it!! Thanks!

Back to helping the person with questions out!!

[ilovemash]

Man that is an awesome setup! Did yo make that?

[stephaniesquires]

Toxic - nice set up so far. Take some time to read through various threads here. Lots of great advice and knowledgeable and helpful people here. You can visit other sites for more ideas too. I have a new laptop so my favorites aren't available. I'll post some of my favorite sites tomorrow.
There is a dilemma with setting up a sump/fuge in the same 'box'. My suggestion for getting around the flow problem is this. The sump/fuge is divided into three sections. Sump/skimmer on one end, return in the middle and fuge on the other end. Your overflow from the tank is T'd off with the majority going to the sump, a slower regulated flow to the fuge. The fuge would have slower flow to it and you can drill bulkheads up high on this compartment. As the water from the T'd part of the overflow raises the water level in the fuge will overflow into the return section of the sump.
Hope that makes sense.

[ToxicDice]

Thanks guys, I did vote and I did build the built-in cabinet myself.

I've read enough now to know that the next thing I need to do is build my sump/refugium for underneath and do all the associated plumbing. So thank you stephaniesquires, your advice on that topic is just what I was looking for.

It seems there's multiple opinions on just about everything and I had read that you should tee off the return to send most back to the tank and some to the fuge but after thinking about it, I think your idea to tee off the drainline from the tank makes more sense since you'll be sending not-skimmed water to the fuge which seems to make more sense. PLEASE correct me if I'm wrong, I can do the plumbing either way and I want to do it right the first time.

I've also been working on the sump/fuge design and think I'm close to finalizing it except for some plumbing/flow issues. The only thing I'm planning to do that I haven't seen elsewhere is to have the skimmer empty into a second area (before the baffles) instead of back into the sump where it will be sitting so that teh skimmer is always skimming 100% water from teh tank and not some combination of tank water and already-been-skimmed water. I'm working on a diagram right now to make it more clear...

Since everyone's been so helpful, I'll toss out some more questions:

1.) Should the tank water go directly into the sump/skimmer or should there be some sort of filtration, bubble reducer, etc. before it gets pumped into the skimmer?
2.) What is the optimal location for live rock in the sump/refugium, the sump/skimmer, the refugium, the return chamber, or somewhere else?


Thanks for sharing all your guys' wisdom and experience. pleae keep it coming!!!

[Marine1]

Hey toxic dice. I like your set-up so far. I would recommend watching this on YouTube. It is a very thorough instruction on how to build a sump (there are 2 or 3 parts):

YouTube - Reef Tank D.I.Y. Sump part 1

Hope this helps.

[stephaniesquires]

Originally Posted by ToxicDice

Thanks guys, I did vote and I did build the built-in cabinet myself.

I've read enough now to know that the next thing I need to do is build my sump/refugium for underneath and do all the associated plumbing. So thank you stephaniesquires, your advice on that topic is just what I was looking for.

It seems there's multiple opinions on just about everything and I had read that you should tee off the return to send most back to the tank and some to the fuge but after thinking about it, I think your idea to tee off the drainline from the tank makes more sense since you'll be sending not-skimmed water to the fuge which seems to make more sense. PLEASE correct me if I'm wrong, I can do the plumbing either way and I want to do it right the first time.

I've also been working on the sump/fuge design and think I'm close to finalizing it except for some plumbing/flow issues. The only thing I'm planning to do that I haven't seen elsewhere is to have the skimmer empty into a second area (before the baffles) instead of back into the sump where it will be sitting so that teh skimmer is always skimming 100% water from teh tank and not some combination of tank water and already-been-skimmed water. I'm working on a diagram right now to make it more clear...

Since everyone's been so helpful, I'll toss out some more questions:

1.) Should the tank water go directly into the sump/skimmer or should there be some sort of filtration, bubble reducer, etc. before it gets pumped into the skimmer?
2.) What is the optimal location for live rock in the sump/refugium, the sump/skimmer, the refugium, the return chamber, or somewhere else?


Thanks for sharing all your guys' wisdom and experience. pleae keep it coming!!!

There really isn't an absolutely right way. I have had the water flow into a filter sock and then to the skimmer, in the new setup I will have the water flow directly onto live rock rubble. The live rock will be the only other filtration besides the skimmer in the sump.
Baffles usually go after the skimmer, just before the return to control bubbles.
The best place for live rock IMHO is everywhere you can fit it!!!! break it up to fit in the return, the sump etc.
You dont need 100% of the water skimmed. It would be very difficult to do that. There is some thought that some corals do better in semi mucky water. I would stick to a skimmer that is appropriate for your total water volume. Your LR will take care of a lot of your water 'cleaning'.
Just like uv sterilizers and other equipment, skimmers can be overused. If you have an appropriate number of fish, lots of live rock and live sand your tank will be very healthy.