new in the hobby, have a lot of questions about hardware !!!

[Flamenco-t]

Okay,

I am new to saltwater....not a stranger to aquarium, I have owned several crazy freshwater setup with arowana, CK, bichir and etc..

I have an 50 (Edited) gallon setup with Seaclone 100 protein skimmer and a power head.

Objective is to keep easy to maintain coral and community type fish...no eel, puffer, box fish yet...

Question 1 (Filtration):

I know I need about 80-100 lbs of live rock. So at this point, my whole filtration system will only consist of 100 lbs of live rocks and the protein skimmer.

Will this be enough ? or Do I need to run a power hang on filter such as emperor 400 ?

What is a live sand ? Do I need it ?

Question 2(Lighting):

I have Coralife 48" aqualight, 2 - 65 watts 10,000K and 2 -65 watts True Actinic 03 Blue straight pin base compact fluorescent lamps

Is this sufficient ligthing system ?

Question 3(COral):

with the above ligthting system, what kind of coral should I be looking for ?

Question 4(Fish):

What do you guys recommend as far as community fish that are hardy, do not produce a lot of waste and easy to maintain ?

Question 5 (More Filtration):

I do understand the concept of sump, but what is an overflow in relation to sump system ?

What is dry/ wet system ?

I know what refugium are for, but is it necessary for my setup rigth now ?


SUMMARY:

From what I have gathered by talking to other LFS employees ( I have visited over 20 int he last 2 weeks) Most of them reccomend the live rocks (plenty of them) and Protein skimmer for filtration. Ligthting is great, but I could not get straight answer on coral and fish...

Any help is appreciated...

thanks again for your help

Stan

 

[disbjohn]

You can easily start off with some soft corals with the light you have. I wouldn't recommend any hard corals such as SPS yet. You don't need another power filter...the live rock and protein skimmer is all you need.

Live sand is live sand. It has beneficial bacteria, various pods and organisms that are beneficial to the tank. The sand can also act as a buffer.

 

[Flamenco-t]

Can you recommend some soft corals ?

what makes them "soft" corals and "hard" corals ?

thanks again

stan

 

[Jaguar]

Soft corals are anything without a hard skeletal structure or base with the exception of Pipe Organs. Xenia, Leathers, Ricordea, mushrooms, zoanthids, polys, Kenya Trees are all soft corals. You can probably keep filter feeders as well. Featherduster worms and sponges fit in this catagory.

All I can say is set your tank up LR, skimmer, lights, powerheads and such. Let it cycle and when it's ready start adding your soft corals. Almost everything is compatable with soft corals so by that time you'll have a better idea of what types of fish you'd like to add.

You'll probably need more then one powerhead though. Reef tanks like lots of water flow in different directions. Don't count on your return pump giving you your primary water flow.

Cycling a SW tank isn't normally a slow process so just take your time, and add things slowly. From my experience all new arrivals take anywhere from 1-4 days to settle in, adjust, and get used to there new home.

Have fun and learn. I'm only a few months into the hobby and already in over my head. :roll:

 

[disbjohn]

@Flamenco-t wrote:

some soft corals include musrhooms, zoanthids, green star polyps, leathers such as cabbage and finger, kenya trees, and xenia.

hard corals have a calciferous skeleton. SPS stands for small polyp stony....

Check out melevsreef.com for a great wealth of information.

For more info and pics of various corals click here

 

[rocklymber]

I'll try to answer your questions as much as I can, but keep in mind that I'm fairly new to saltwater as well, so take what I say with a grain of salt. Most of what I'll tell you is information that I gathered from books, other hobbiests, etc. So, here goes...

[Question 1 (Filtration):

I know I need about 80-100 lbs of live rock. So at this point, my whole filtration system will only consist of 100 lbs of live rocks and the protein skimmer.

Will this be enough ? or Do I need to run a power hang on filter such as emperor 400 ?]

I would say that using live rock and a skimmer (assuming that the skimmer is powerful enough for your tank size) that it should be enough. I don't really know much about seaclones. You can run a power filter with carbon or somesuch in it, but it isn't necessary. I don't use a power filter on either of my tanks.

[What is a live sand ? Do I need it ? ]

Live sand is sand that is already teeming with the teeny life forms that are beneficial in a marine aquarium. Live sand purchased from a LFS can be expensive. Most folks prefer to buy plain sand and then 'seed' it with a cup or two from an established tank. Usually the members here will just give you a cup if you ask. There are certain kinds of sand you can buy at home depot and seed with live sand, but ask around to find out what kinds are ok and which ones aren't.

[Question 2(Lighting):
[
I have Coralife 48" aqualight, 2 - 65 watts 10,000K and 2 -65 watts True Actinic 03 Blue straight pin base compact fluorescent lamps

Is this sufficient ligthing system ? ]]

This lighting system will be adequate for most corals. Think about it this way, you're trying to reproduce the ocean in your home, so your light system is actually a tiny sun.

[Question 3(COral):

with the above ligthting system, what kind of coral should I be looking for ? ]

Corals that I successfully kept under similar lighting conditions: green star polyps, zoanthids, palythoa, clove polyps, xenia, modern (donught) coral, mushrooms, kenya tree, frogspawn. Basically any of the 'softies'. The hard/stony corals (SPS/Small Polyp Stony) require more light and flow, so best to wait on those until you upgrade. SPS corals are the ones that look like cactus, or plates, or colored sticks.


[Question 4(Fish):

What do you guys recommend as far as community fish that are hardy, do not produce a lot of waste and easy to maintain ? ]

Some fish I'd recommend are: royal gramma, sixline wrasse, clown goby, orchid dottyback (you can't keep the gramma AND the dottyback together). Clownfish are fun to watch, but keep in mind that they're damsels at heart, so can be somewhat aggressive and territorial.

[Question 5 (More Filtration):

I do understand the concept of sump, but what is an overflow in relation to sump system ?]

The overflow is what hangs on your tank and allows the water to flow into the sump.

[What is dry/ wet system ?]

I have no experience with a wet/dry system...maybe someone else can answer that question...


[I know what refugium are for, but is it necessary for my setup rigth now ? ]

A refugium isn't necessary, but I can tell you that I run both of my systems with a 'fuge, and it's made life sooooo much easier. The macro algae that you cultivate in a 'fuge helps with filtration. I can't give you much more information than that, other than to say that when I ran the 20 gallon system with a sump only, I had some trouble keeping nitrates in check, and when I added the 'fuge, they went down and never presented a problem again.

So there you have it. I hope I didn't come off sounding like a know it all. I know how frustrating it can be to ask tons of questions and not really get the answers you're looking for. The information I gave you is just stuff I have compiled over the last year or so. Hopefully it saves you a little running around and trouble.

Maybe someone with a little more experience can jump in and either confirm or deny what I've said...

Welcome to the boards!

 

[disbjohn]

wet/dry systems aren't recommended for reef tanks because they can be nitrate factories. If you are going fish only then this shoulnd't be a problem.

 

[Flamenco-t]

Thank you so much to everyone that have replied..

Great wealth of information from past experiences from everyone and I really appreciate it..

I did more research last night, I think I am going to start with the LR and skimmer first, let it established the tank and I'll add a few corals before any fishes.

I have been looking at refugium system as well, I know from reading many resources, bigger is better, but for 55 gallon, would 20 gallon total volume for sump/refugeium be enough ?

What kind of return pump back to the tank should I look for ? Should I do external pump or internal ? What size overflow will I eventually need when I decided to do the sump/fuge system ?

Lastly,

Assume I am going with 100 lbs of normal home depot play sand, how much live sands do I need to "seed" it ? and how long do I leave it until the whole 100 lbs sand is seeded ?

Thanks so much for the info on the sand (money saving) and coral...definitely give me better idea next time I am going to LFS to start my first corals

stan

 

[Jacjr14]

honestly, I would look on the forums for sale section for corals because many LFS's charge alot for their coral and on the forums you can get small frags to start out with. So that way if the coral is going to die off becuase something is not right you only kill a small piece and not a whole colony

 

[disbjohn]

@Jacjr14 wrote:

I can give you some GSP for a starter coral for you.

 

[Flamenco-t]

@disbjohn wrote:

I can give you some GSP for a starter coral for you."]

Thank you

I'll keep that in mind...and I will definitely get back with you once the tank is ready.

Right now, I have everything in and working on the sand and LR. So it may be a few weeks or so before I can take up on your offer...

many thanks

stan

 

[taliesin]

20 or 30g would be just fine for the 55. Are you planning on putting the skimmer inline, or in the sump. If it's in the sump you will need to make sure that the sump can handle that size.

I have seen it recommended that you should be able to do 5 times the volume of the tank through the sump per hour.. anything faster than that a refugium doesn't work as well.

I would not recommend using the regular play sand in the tank.. if you need to do sand from home depot.. use the pavestone sand. it works better... me personally, I bought some sand online from dr fosters for the 200g.. and it was only like 15 or 18 bucks for 20 bucks... as for the live sand.. I would plan on just buying a 20lb bag from the LFS.

 

[bimmerzs]

Hi,
I am new to the hobby like yourself, the only difference is that you found the boards while you were starting up. I found out about DFWMAS a few weeks after I started, (it's amazing how much money you can spend in that short period of time) and have since found a wealth of info and knowledge. You were wondering about sand....there is popular alternative to the live sand found in the fish stores and it's less than $5 for a 50 pound bag. It called pulverized limestone and it's sold at Home Depot, the manufacturer is Pavestone, it's in a brown paper bag and located in the garden section of the store. If you do a search of this forum you will find an example of what the bag looks like, it's gotta be the exact same bag/brand. Like mentioned before you use this and get a cup or two of sand from established tanks to seed it and in a couple of weeks it's all live. You can choose live sand from your local fish store but as someone told me....how "live" can the sand be if it's been sitting on a shelf for who know's how long in a sealed bag. Of course there are eggs and larvea that will hatch but you can get the same effect for less money.

Cheers!