"new to this " updated

H

hardhitta

i have had my 30g tank running about 2 month's now set up, but i have been wanting a bigger tank and i just bought 1 today. I'm looking for a lil help on what things(filter, ....) i need to maintain right

now i have the tank at home and a stable lil stand til i can do better









JUST TESTED:
PH
<hr class="bbcode_rule" />
8.2
AMMONIA
<hr class="bbcode_rule" />
0
NITRITE
<hr class="bbcode_rule" />
0.25
NITRATE
<hr class="bbcode_rule" />
20
SALINITY
<hr class="bbcode_rule" />
0.21

I THINK ITS GOING GOOD
 
Reef ready mean it has internal overflow and 2 holes drilled in the tank for a drain and return line.

Reef ready looks cleaner and makes it easier to drain down to a sump.

As far as what kind of fiters and other bells and whisles you will need.... that's hard to answer w/o knowing more about what you want to do with your tank.
You going fish only? or fish & corals? If corals, then soft, lps, sps or all 3?

You probably want to budget a protien skimmer for sure. I would not do any filters. If you have room you may want a top off reservoir, perhaps even an auto topoff system. Some method of running carbon would be helpful. Powerheads are needed for corals. If you get into hard corals a kalk drip or calcium reactor may be needed. Consider fans or a chiller for cooling. Heaters. Sumps are great. If you drain to a sump you need a return pump. Mag floats are a good investment for cleaning the glass.
I could go on and on here........
 
now would it best if i went with a sump or canister filter?
or just some ideas guys

i want to go reef this time around but need ideas on how and things i need to maintain it right
 
I personally think that a sump is the way to go. A sump gives you a place to hide things like heaters, skimmer, probes and auto top-off switches, in addition to allowing for a larger volume of water which helps with stability.
 
so could i start cycling my tank with a canister filter and then switch into a sump when my money gets a lil better?

or will a skimmer filter my tank til i switch to a sump?

now how much difference is a canister filter from a skimmer?
 
canister filters work great but you need to change out media VERY offen to keep nitrates down.

Sumps the way to go
 
how would you cycle with a canister filter? Typically you start you cycle with liverock in the tank and introduce some sort of ammonia source to start your carbon cycle. In the past people used damsels. Other methods include adding a piece of shrimp to the tank. You could also get someone to put a sponge in their tank and retrieve it after a week or so and add it to yours to jumpstart the bacteria. Additionally you could get a cup of livesand from someone and seed yours. IMO you have a lot of research to do. You really ought to check out some books. Michael Paletta is one author to look for. Definitely check out Marc's site--www.melevsreef.com--there is a wealth of knowledge there. Another good site is www.reefcentral.com. Keep asking questions here as well but use all the sources you can before you jump in and regret decisions you make now later.
 
how would you cycle with a canister filter? Typically you start you cycle with liverock in the tank and introduce some sort of ammonia source to start your carbon cycle. In the past people used damsels. Other methods include adding a piece of shrimp to the tank. You could also get someone to put a sponge in their tank and retrieve it after a week or so and add it to yours to jumpstart the bacteria. Additionally you could get a cup of livesand from someone and seed yours. IMO you have a lot of research to do. You really ought to check out some books. Michael Paletta is one author to look for. Definitely check out Marc's site--www.melevsreef.com--there is a wealth of knowledge there. Another good site is www.reefcentral.com. Keep asking questions here as well but use all the sources you can before you jump in and regret decisions you make now later.



no i just was trying to see if the canister filter would be enough to filter the 75g tank and be able to keep it clean
 
Canister filters are really unnecessary now days. Live rock is the way to go. But I dont understand why people suggest you add a ammonia or bacteria source. It just isnt needed. The live rock is live because it contains the necessary bacteria, no extra is needed. And adding an ammonia source.... Things in the live rock will die, thus giving you ammonia. And if they are truly fully cured live rock, which is almost never the case, everything in the rock has stopped dieing, the bacteria is at a substantial level. Why would you want to add more ammonia to start the death again? But if this is the case, adding damsels wouldnt hurt anything, as the rock would be at a point where its ok to add fish. You just might be in trouble when you tried to get them back out. :p
 
I will agree with the Idea of going with the sump. it gives you water volume, a place to put a skimmer, dosing systems and reactors and works better when it's divided into a Fuge/sump as it gives you a place to grow isopods and more importantly, Macro Algae.
I use canister style filters for running carbon or phosban ONLY. remember, you are setting up a micro-ecosystem with a reef tank, you generally dont find canister filters in the ocean so the closer you can get to a natural balance, the better the tank will do overall. Because you dont have a billion tons of liverock and live sand, Skimmers and chemical dosing is needed. Also consider WHAT your tank will hold. Will it be a Fish only? a Fish only with live rock (FOWLR) a full reef tank with various corals? All of these setup will have different flow and lighting requirements. Buy what you can and constantly check the sell/trade forum and the vendors posts to see who has what.
 
check this out

Tank Teardown Sale: Equipment, Corals, Live Rock
<hr class="bbcode_rule" />
in sell/trade section of the forum

would these things help me or not
 
@hardhitta wrote:
wet/dry and skimmer said:
Hi,

I would not recommend either of these. The biggest favor you can do for yourself is research everything throughly before you buy. Information from this forum is a very good start, just don't let it end here. You will find that everybody's got a slightly different approach to reefkeeping, not to say any one method is right or wrong. I would suggest finding a cheap tank and converting it to a sump/fuge, it's pretty easy and relatively inexpensive. As far as skimmers....it's one of those you get what you pay for kinda things. :)
**edit**
Info on wet/dry's: http://saltaquarium.about.com/cs/filtration/a/aa090298.htm

One other note on your stand, it looks like it's only supported by the screws, did you add additional support??

Cheers!
Click to expand...
 
You should make the next tank tour. That way you can see 5 or 6 different set ups and ask questions. Then you can do research on what you liked and make a much better and more informed purchase.
Or
You need to make friends with a LFS that you trust and have them line you out.

Good luck, you have a LOT of reading in front of you. :)
 
in my opinion I would research reef ready tanks to see if that is the way you want to go before you setup our current one. I did the same thing you did and started with a non-RR tank and now am in the process of buying a RR tank and transferring everything over...big headache...and more money down the road. There are a lot of people who use non-RR tank too but just make sure thats what you want. GL
 
actually this was my first stand build so i just needed to really get an idea of what things need to be better and plus i really needed to keep the tank off the floor cause i have small children.i also have a 30g tank that will be toredown once im up and going with the 75g. Thinking of sumping

on the other hand i'm really not sure if i want reefs, but my wife does. cause i have seen the trouble and money that it causes and by me just getting into the hobby i really need more time to adjust to it. I jumped in because of the fish and she has pressure on me for reefs
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top