Check List for Tank Set-up

[wpspfan]

Ok, I am about ready to drain my tanks and set it up for a reef. I just had a few ?'s before I order my LR.

What supplements will I need for the rock, while it is cycling in the tank?

Can I use Crushed Coral in my refugium, if so how deep?

Is Aqua Epoxy good for aquascapeing?

I need to know what creatures to remove from the LR that I am thinking of buying?
http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/detailed_image.cfm?pCatId=1669

Should I buy snails and crabs now of wait on the them for a later time?

Fill free to add any advice!!!

[graphixx]

Right now Will all you will need to start the cycle is a piece of shrimp. get your water sand and rocks in there with the lights and flow and throw a shrimp in there. that will kick start the cycle, and if you can seed the tank with some live sand from an allready established tank that will help also. that is all you will need for the first couple of weeks. you will want a test kit to. when you start to see algae in the tank then I would add some snails and some hermits for clean up. but the first couple of weeks I would not put any live stock in there. and for your fuge, I would use LR rubble and no sand. that works really well.
for clean up I wold get some blue leg hermits, astrea snails, turbo snails, cerith snails, there are tons of diff snails you can get.

hope this helps
Greg

[wpspfan]

I have my new improved tank set-up. I have 40 lbs of Caribbean LR in place, the tank has been going for three days and the ammonia and nitrites are peaked already. "is that good or is something wrong" I have not seen any critters on the LR but, really don't know what I am looking for. I would send pics but the site says they are to big ? How do I decrease the size of the pic, the camera is set on the lower pic quality.

[Sparky]

i wouldn't use crushed coral for you reef tank. it's a nitrate making machine. i just finished changing my 37 from cc to live sand. it is alot easier to put the live sand in now during the cycle, rather than later when the tank is through it's cycle and have to remove it. take it from me it's a real mess and a pain .

[wpspfan]

I took CC out of my old tank and replaced it with fine grain agronite, I had 90 lbs of CC and was wondering if I should put a thin layer of it in my refugium.

[wpspfan]

I found the image resizer.

[jerryc]

Nice job looks good

[wpspfan]

Here are a few more pic's

[wpspfan]

My cyclc is about over and I am going to start looking for a clean-up crew. If anyone knows of vendors that they have had success with please refer them. I have 115 gallons of water total. What are some good species and bad ones?

[dakar]

Blue legged hermits and an assortment of snails, Nassarius, Cerith, and Mexcican Turbo's are pretty much a staple for clean up crews... maybe a brittle or serpeant star once the cycle is complete. As your tank matures a bit then you may want to look into some more specialized janitors, sea cucumbers, urchins, and the like... it will depend on your tank's needs.

[wpspfan]

This is the list I got for petsolutions for a 120 gallon tank.

Polllution Control
3 Green Brittle Stars
3 Emerald Crabs
3 Sally Light Foot Crabs

Algae Control
30 Scarlet Hermit Crabs
60 Zebra Reef Hermits
60 Margarita Snails

Sand Stiring Team
3 Whites Sand Stars
24 Trochus Snails
56 Cerith Snails

This what they say, but you guys are the pro's.


As far as the tanks need I would like to have 2 clowns, 1 bubble Anamone, Long Spine Urchin, Some Feather Dusters, A Blue Linkia Sea Star, A few Colony Polyp's,A yellow tang , A blue Tang, and maybe some sort of a Blenny. LOL this may not be possible but it's something to go by. "Different types of shrimp also"

[davejnz]

Wow Will,you did a complete makeover on that tank.That internal tower overflow right in the middle of the tank had to be an eyesore.The new display looks so much better without it.I think you'll find that your sump/fuge will be much more effective than the wet-dry you had previously.Great job,i'm looking forward to seeing it progress.
BTW,remember that with a small return pump section,the water level will drop alot throughout the day.It will eventually be a PITA having to constantly refill that section.Since your sump/fuge is acrylic you can drill it yourself to fit a float-valve in it.This is a cheap but reliable way to provide auto-top off via a gravity fed reservoir or RO/DI water that is plumbed into the valve.If you have any questions on setting it up,drop me a PM or do a search here on CR.There's alot of threads about auto-top off that should provide you with the info you need.