reef set up

[pro2k]

If you are wondering, I'm trying to bump everybody down and have my name on ever y topic. :lol: I have a 55gal that I'm setting up and I was wondering how much live sand I should get and how much LR . My fuge is only about 10gal , how much sand and rock should be in there? Where's the best place to get this stuff? Thanks!

[Reptoreef]

I'm a lover of the DSB so IMO, go with a 20 tall(DSB fine sugar sized grain 4-6" deep 20"x13" or so). You can go with a fine grain bagged aragonite and just add a couple of cups of live sand or a few small pieces of LR and the fuge will populate and grow to become fully "alive" of a period of time. Where do you plan to have the skimmer, if you chose to use one?

[dakar]

Post away my freind..... I guess the determining factor is really going to depend on what you are planning on housing in the tank. And your personal tastes, are you intending on adding macros/plants to your display tank that will require deeper sand to be planted in?

For example, before we took down our 55 long we had a 3-4" deep sandbed, it worked out quite well. Now in the 180 I went half as deep. Not for any particular reason, just looked good to me that way..

Cost savings, we use Southdown sand, if you can find it, it runs around $5/50lb bag at Home Depot stores....it seems this will be become increasining difficult to find, but there are many other choices available, but at a much higher cost.

I like 4" or so in the fuge as it gives any anerobic bacteria a less likely to be disturbed place to live.

Now of course there are benifits for keeping a bare bottom in your display tank as well... Davejnz would be a good resource to tap for that route.

LR, i think the general concensous is around 2 pounds per gallon. Density and/or how porous (equates to total surface area) of the rock can make differences as well.. We started with a bunch of base rock at the bottom and added LR on top of it, now the base rock is very much alive.

Hope this helps some...

[pro2k]

Thanks guys. I don't plan on any macro/plants in the display tank just LR and easy to keep corals, anemones and such. I really like the look of sand on the bottom of the display tank but I thought it had to be LIVE sand? You can use sand from home depot? In the main tank I want about a 2inch layer. And for the live rock I was thinking around 100lbs. How much base rock could I get away with? What's the minimum rock I could start with to get the tank started and cycled? You guys rock!!! :mrgreen:

[bjpembo]

i agree on the sand numbers but my opinions differs on the live rock, i like to go with a bit less depending on the size, shape, and density of the rock, i prefer 1-1 1/2 lbs per gallon. my reasoning is that you have a plan a reef for the long term, if you fill your tank to the max with rock now, you'll have to remove some later on to make room for your corals as a lot of the things you buy will come on their own rock. you'll still end up with the same volume of rock it'll just be a bit slower. also another thing to keep in mind if you are buying your rock local, look for large unusual shapes, if you buy a lot of small rocks and pile them up like a mound of potato's, your reef will look like, well, a mound of potato's, and you'll have poor water flow because the rocks wont have as many spaces between them. as for the sand, i like the look of the dsb but i am currently contemplating going bare bottom and replacing my substrate with hdpe cutting board to protect the bottom of my tank from falling rocks. the tank i have now does not have an algae problem but tanks in the past of mine have, and since a dsb is basically a sponge that absorbs nutrients that you don't remove from the display, i figure one day the sponge will be full and I'll have algae again, so I'm thinking I'll head that off and keep my tank as a bare bottom so that i can keep it clean, and be able to have higher flow rates without worrying about a sandstorm. i do however plan to keep my dsb in the fuge for now, since its remote, if i have a problem with it, i can just take it offline and remove it relatively easily.

[bjpembo]

well you beat me there, yes the sand can come from home depot, if they have southdown/yardright sand in your area. its best to use aragonite sand because it comes from the ocean and wont cause you problems. if your unsure if the sand is aragonite put some on a plate or whatever and pour some vinegar on it, it should bubble and foam as the vinegar reacts with and dissolves the calcium in the aragonite sand, if nothing happens and you just have wet vinegar sand, dont use it. if your going to use the sand in your display you should go for either just an inch or less, or 3-4" or a bit more. its been argued that the 2" area isnt quite deep enough to function as a dsb but is deep enough that it would be difficult to keep clean. as for your base rock, you can use roughly a 60% to 40% base to live ratio and come out fine, of course you'll have less diversity because you'll be using less live rock but if your on a budget, theoretically you can use all base rock and one live rock and still be fine, the bacteria are what makes the rock and sand live and they'll spread to the rest and eventually it'll all be "live" oh, another note on your sand, you dont "have" to buy any sand bed starter/seeding kit or any of that stuff, the critters from your live rock will move onto and into the sand making it just as live as if you bought some starter kit.

[pro2k]

Awesome info that helps alot....... I'll go with about 1 inch for the sand in the main tank and 3-4 in the fuge. So I can use the southdown sand in the fuge as well? What else should go in the fuge? (Like what? A couple pieces of live rock and a handful of macro algae?)

[pro2k]

I forgot that I have about 50lbs of crushed coral (I think that's what it is.....looks like little pieces of shells and what not) sitting around. Is this stuff acceptable as a substrate for the main tank? And where do you guys get your LR online? Where's the best?

[bjpembo]

yea the crushed coral is ok, it'll hold detritus a little more because of its shape, but also becaus of its shape it'll give little cavities for critters to hide in. and yep southdown for the fuge is good, put that in to a 4-6" depth and a couple of your smaller rocks, or your rubble from the rocks you get, and some macro, chaetomorpha works best because it wont try to sexually reproduce killing itself and making your tank dirty. as for online rock, mine came from www.liveaquaria.com and im pleased with it and i think most others have been too.

[dakar]

Looks like BJ got the majority of it covered for you, so I'll toss in a single side note, when you get the fuge up and ready to roll, just holler around for Chaeto don't pay any online or LFS for it, at any given time there are dozens of folks trying to get rid of some. A small ziplock bag will get you a good start, and in a few months you'll be looking for folks to take some of it off your hands..

[pro2k]

Rock on! Thanks. One more question......I've been looking around at different online stores and they offer CURED and UNCURED rock. And I've seen something that said even CURED rocked has to be re-cured once you get to your house. So what exactly is the procedure? Keep in mine the fact that this will be a new up and running tank with nothing in it.

[pro2k]

I've been looking around for sand and I've found stuff of all different sizes. (from like .2mm-2mm) What size is ideal?

[bjpembo]

uncured rock is shipped more or less from the ocean to you, then you'll have to place it in a tank or other container with powerheads, a skimmer, and heater and let the die off finish and the tank to cycle. the rock will be raw and completely covered in all kinds of things. cured rock is sent from the ocean to the online vender that cures the rock for you then when you order it they box it up and ship it to you. you still have recure it because there will be die off since it'll be out of the water for 24 hrs but there wont be as much die off because the rock isnt completely covered with things straight from the ocean, they took care of that part already. with uncured rock you will likely get more hitchhikers, some pleasent some unpleasent, and your cycle will take longer to complete and will be a lot more smelly. with the cured rock a lot of the hitchhikers are gone from the rock, into the tank at the vendor but you will still get things such as crabs and pods and other stuff. the cured rock is by no means devoid of life, its just been cleaned up some. your cycle will be quicker and smell a little less, still stinks though, because the rock is cleaner than uncured. its pretty much a personal choice on the rock. if you want to take the extra time to cure uncured rock, its cheaper so go for it. if you dont want to take the time with the uncured spend a little more and get the cured, either way it'll take some time, because it has to be cured or recured. as for the procedure, since your tank is new you can cure your rock in there. theres no animals to affect and it will seed your sand bed. just put the rock in, aquaspace as best you can, your water will become cloudy so it'll be hard, then make sure your skimmer is running wide open as you want to skim as much as possible. and keep your salinty, temp and other parameters in check. first you'll see your ammonia levels rise and as they start to fall your nirite levels will rise and as they fall your nitrate levels will begin to rise, when your ammonia and nitrite are zero then your cycle is complete.

[bjpembo]

if your going for dsb oolitic is the key word, basically sugar sized and smaller. for the 1" bed just to cover the bottom, any size will do.

[pro2k]

If I put the rock in the main tank to cure how much water change and frequency are we talking about? Thanks for the awesome info. You guys save me a lot of time and research and I appreciate it immensely!

[bjpembo]

while the rock is curing no water changes, it'll dilute the ammonia and nitrite making your cycle longer, its a phase the tank has to go through so let it. as soon as your test for zero amm. and nitrite do a 50% water change and then you should do 10-15% water changes a couple of tiems a month, some do them weekly, others biweekly. avoid large changes after the initial 50% because when you change that much water your more likely to have ph swings, temp swings and sg swings because of the new water.

[pro2k]

I looked up the southdown sand (yardright) and the company says the sand is not suitable for aquarium systems. What gives? http://www.yardright.com/sand.htm

[dakar]

That's so it can be re-packaged as aquarium sand for a rediculously higher price for LFS's. To the best I know and have read there is no difference, someone reportedly did an analysis of some sort between SD and some other caribean sand, they showed to be the same. Wish I could quote the sourse on that one.

Another way to look at it, take a poll of sandbed users and what sand they are using.

By the time we finish this thread off we'll have a complete "how-to" on setting up a reef, keep the Q's coming!

[pro2k]

Well, I gave up trying to find the southdown around here. They all said to check back in the spring/summer so I just bought some Caribsea argomax. It's the sugar sized sand but it cost $25 for 30lbs. I'm gonna need 2 bags for the fuge and 1 for the tank. This hobby really nickels and dimes ya to death! Between this hobby and my R/C helicopters and off-road motorcycling I'm gonna go bankrupt.......

Keeping this 1 million questions to set up a reef tank going, how much and what kind of lighting do I need over my fuge? (it's 20gal)

[dakar]

For the fuge you can use anything, perssonally I prefer the power compact flood lights, another trip to Home Depot will locate them for you, they burn 19w of electric but output is ~ 75w @ 2900K, I run two, one 24x7 the other during the regular photoperiod. If you go that route look for the package that says PAR38, think they are Lights of America (LOA) brand. You can special order them up to 5100K, but the 2900's seem to be doing fantastic for chaeto growth.

[bjpembo]

i use a lights of america utility light, supposed to be the same as a 500w incandesent bulb. so far i've had good luck out of mine, lots of growth on the chaeto, retpo and probably a few others here got theirs from my batch. not sure of the kelvin rating of the bulb, since mines been burning 24/7 for nearly a year im sure its taken a nose dive which is why the algae grows so well. algae like other plants grows better in the red spectrum of lighthing which is why the 2900 gives better growth than the 5100, thats moving into the yellow white color. as for the disclaimer its partly for the reasons listed above but its also a disclaimer so you cant sue the sand company and say they didnt tell you not to use it in an aquarium if something happens and your tank crashes. i've heard that some home depot stores have directions not even sell you the sand if they find out its for a fish tank. someone posted something about that on rc once.

[pro2k]

Thanks. Hey would the DSB in the fuge work if I used 1.5inches of the crushed coral(I already have) and then 1.5-2inches of sand on top of that? Also, my girlfriend wants to know if we can put a seahorse in the fuge? :oops:

I gonna try to show some pics of what I have setup as soon as I fins a place to upload them.....

[bjpembo]

you can mix the cc and the sand if you like but you try to layer it with the sand on top, all you'll end up with is the sand sinking into the spaces between the cc. either use all sand or mix the little bit of cc in with the sand before adding it, thats how it'll end up anyway. i dont know much about seahorse's but i assume a fuge would be an ok place for them to live but id suggest that you wait a while on even considering a seahorse until you've masted keeping a simple reef, seahorses are specialized feeders and are very sensitive to their surroundings, deffinately reserved for advanced aquarists, even with 5 years, personally i dont feel that im to that level yet.

[pro2k]

I have the tank all set-up with the plumbing, the lights, the pumps and everything. I filled her up with tap water this morning to test it and flush everything out and it works like a charm. No leaks, drips, or anything but the dang Mag 7 pump is LOUD. Is there anything I can do tao make it run a little quieter?

[dakar]

Sounds like things are coming together for you, good deal!

Are you sure it's the pump making the noise or is a piece of plumbing vibrating aginst something? What is the pump sitting on? If it's external, you can set it on some high density foam rubber to absorb vibrations, an old mouse pad works well.

[bjpembo]

mag pumps are normally extremely quite, i have 3 on my tank and you have to touch them to know they are running, one of them is even plumbed externally on my calcium reactor. i think you have one of two things going on, either the pump has some air trapped in it making it rattle or you have a bad pump. try unplugging the pump several times in a row with a few seconds between each restart, if theres any air trapped in there that should help get it out.

[pro2k]

It sounds like it is vibrating on the glass at the bottom of the sump. I don't think I have it deep enough either because there is a whirlpool by the pump intake.

[bjpembo]

do you have the plastic difuser that goes on the intake of the pump on there? if not that should take care of the whirlpool, or at least help it, by adding that, dont put the foam on there though. if not then you may need to deepen the water. the mag 5 for my skimmer is only about 3-4" under water though and i dont have a whirlpool. if the noise is just from the pump vibration just put something i there to cushion it, i used a ring of pvc pipe for mine until i replumbed to take care of it. just cut it the thickness you need and stick it between the pump and the glass.

[ReefLuvR]

This is a great thread you guys! Keep it up. I was going to jump in with personal experience, but since I learned everything from you all a year or so ago, I don't have anything new to add! Pro2K, you've got a great bunch of experienced reefers here helping you. Be assured that with time, you'll have a gorgeous reef. I do. Thanks guys :D

[pro2k]

Ok, everything is setup and the tank is filling up with RO/DI water right now. I probably won't get any live rock for a few weeks but might throw a damsel or two in there for something to look at. Is it ok to go ahead and throw some of that spinach stuff in the fuge?? (Calupera?) Does anybody have some they want to get rid of?

[bjpembo]

i would recommend against putting a damsel in there at all, not even for the cycle, for one thats cruel, you can cycle the tank without one, and two, unless you want that fish to take over your entire tank and claim it as his own and attack and most likely kill any fish you add later on. simply put, if your gonna have a reef, and peaceful reef fish, a damnsel isnt a good addition. you'll end up po'd and taking all your rock out to catch them.

[pro2k]

how do you cycle it with out fish or rock?

[bjpembo]

all need to cycle your tank is the live rock that your buying. it will have the bacteria that you need on it to start the cycle and you wont torture any fish or youself later on trying to get them back out. if you dont have rock yet you can use a raw cocktail shirmp as a kick start. just take one and toss it in. as it decays your bacteria will have something to feed off of. you really should have your rock in there though so you'll have the space for the numbers needed to support a reef.

[pro2k]

Alright, I'll just circulate the water until the I get some rock in. I think I'm going to get 45lbs of base rock and 45lbs of live rock. Is that acceptable numbers to start with? Thanks for help!

[dakar]

That should be just fine to start off... It'll take a few months for the base rock to start to liven up, so once the tank has fully cycled go easy on adding bioload so the bacteria colonies will have the chance to fully populate the base rock to keep up with the load.

It's been said many a time but worth repeating, the only things that happen fast in a reef are of the bad variety. You are getting ready to enter the hardest part of this whole ordeal... waiting for the cycle to finish, looking at a box of water and rocks for 6 weeks or so is just torture.

[pro2k]

where can I order some algae for the fuge? And what is the best species to get? Should I put it in the same time as the rock or is it ok to put it in before or after?

[Reptoreef]

Thermos trade, of course... Listen, BJ helped me once and I've helped others by sending some chaeto via priority mail(you send me $5 for the shipping). Voila, you get your chaeto.

[pro2k]

awesome! Do you take paypal?

[bjpembo]

no, he takes hallmark stuffed with cash!

[pro2k]

If I make up some extra RO water in a closed container for top-off, how long will it keep?

[dakar]

I always keep 30 or so gallons of both RO and fresh saltwater on hand. Plop a heater and at least a powerhead in there (an airstone wouldn't hurt too) and it'll hold for weeks so long as the water is in motion and no debris can can in there.

IMO SW mix should be allowed to age for at least 3-4 days before use (I prefer a week). This allows for very thorough mixing as well as good O2 content. Just be sure to clean out yor container(s) each month, same for the powerheads.

[bjpembo]

indefinately. just make sure that your using a food grade storage container, i.e. rubbermaid brute trashcan, or an instant ocean bucket works good if you only need a few gallons.

[pro2k]

Thanks for all the help guys! I was gonna start a new thread for this question but decided to keep this thread going. Kind of a complete reef setup thread.....

I have rock coming in tomorrow morning and was wondering exactly how I should proceed with it. The lady on the phone said to pluck all the sponge, chicken liver, and sea squirts (whatever that looks like), because those will certainly die off and by taking them off now it will help cycle the tank faster. So what's the best method to do all this? Should I take and lay all the rock out on newspaper, clean them up, and decide which piece should go where? She also said you shouldn't have to scrub the rocks with a brush. But it wouldn't hurt to brush under the sponges to get them completely cleaned off.

Thanks again guys! :-D :D :) :-) :lol: :razz: :mrgreen:

[jerryc]

I thank ID rinse it of in some Ro water to get the trash of.

[bjpembo]

dont rinse in anything but saltwater. freshwater will kill all of the stuff growing on the rock, making it pointless to have spent 160 bucks on it. you can dip it a large container of sw to rise off the funk and dead and dying things and you can pick off the sponges and such or you can leave it on there and just put it in the tank and let the skimmer take care of it as it dies and falls off the rock, its pretty much up to you. if the rock has lots of mud on it you may want to scrub it some and you can scrub off the sponges and things but other than that, put it in the tank, you'll be suprised at the things that start appearing after a few weeks.

[jerryc]

BJ is right i shod have stated it instead of taking it for granted about the salt

[pro2k]

How do you post photo's on here? I got some live rock today for you guys to look at.....looks like a bunch of dead stuff to me...all brown, white and green!

[bjpembo]

click on the post reply button and at the bottom of that page you'll see the file attachment area.

[pro2k]

Oh I see now..... I was hitting the image button (img)....... lets try it....

[pro2k]

Does this stuff look ok? I have no idea............ I was going to cycle the tank with just this 44lb box but I think I will get another one tomorrow. Might as well cycle the tank with all the rock, right? If I buy it later I will have to cycle it in a trash can or separate container and that would be a pain in the butox. Might as well get'r done....

Is it advisable to leave the lights off? It is so tempting to run the lights and just gaze at the mysterious wall of rocks!

[bjpembo]

looks like live rock to me! and yes imo it is better to cycle with all the rock at once because you will have to cycle it seperately if you wait, or you'll have a completely new cycle in the tank. as for the lights its kinda up to you. if you have a good skimmer that is pulling the gunk out you can run the lights a little to help keep any photosynthetic hitch hikers alive, ie macro algae, coraline and such. but you will need to keep an eye on the tank and not run the lights more than a couple of hours or you'll have a huge micro algae bloom with the nutrients being so high. when my tank cycled i started out with the lights on 3 hrs a day, after my skimmer stopped puking all over the place i bumped it up an hour every 2 days until i was at 8 hrs and held it there. shortly after that i got a new job and moved my tank 300 miles, after that i bumped the lights up to a total of 12 hrs a day.

[pro2k]

Awesome! I just want to run them for like 15 minutes or so before work to get a good look around. I will order another box or rocks tonight and they will be here thursday morning. I really didn't spend to much time pulling off dead stuff. I just rinsed in salt water and pulled off and scrubbed off the obvious stuff. I didn't see any worms or other signs of life but maybe they will show up later on when everything settles down. Can't Wait!!!

[bjpembo]

if you scrubbed anything you did more than i did with my rock, i just put it in there. and let er bump. you'll start seeing lots of life about a week or 2 after your nitrite reaches zero.

[pro2k]

THis next batch of rock I'm not going to scrub or pluck anything. I will just rinse it off in saltwater and throw'r in :mrgreen:

[dakar]

Sometime over the next week or so get yourself a small flashlight with a red filter, might as well move one of your favorite chairs next to the tank as well, you'll be spending a lot of time there. Report back when you find yourself counting all the little feather dusters and stuff that magically appear cause 'they weren't there yesterday', and all the rest of the itty bitty's running around in there.

This is really a neat time to watch for all the small stuff that is generally taken for granted later, nature at it's finest... might as well since you can't do anything else while you wait and test and wait and test some more..........

[pro2k]

well, the euro-reef skimmer came busted up so I have to wait another two days before the replacement arrives. Will the rock be alright without a skimmer for a few days??

[dakar]

I wouldn't worry about it... everything should be just fine....

[bjpembo]

agreed, after all, you only have rock so you wont be hurting any animals. keep in mind though, its gonna stink a little longer and take a little longer to cycle. not that you can do much about it except tell them to overnight your skimmer at their cost lol.

[pro2k]

Well, they said they would ship it 2nd day but they actually shipped it ground......won't be here until Tuesday. :evil:

[pro2k]

And to boot my 2nd shipment of LR that I paid next day air didn't show up. At least it got stuck in California where it's much warmer :roll:

[pro2k]

So it's ok that my live rock is turning white and stinks to high heaven :shock:

[dakar]

yup.... perfectly normal. Should only last a couple days or so. After that it either starts to go away or you get used to it :lol:

[pro2k]

I got the rest of my rock today! Makes 88lbs in total.....I don't see how you could put 2lbs/gal man. My looks like a brick wall as it is! Is there a concern of the bottom of the tank blowing out from all that rock on top?

The book I have says to cure the rock then take it out of the tank suck up the detritus lay down the substrate and then put the rock back in. :roll: ......I ain't gonna do it!!! :twisted: I already put a thin layer of sand down and I don't want to go through trying to figure out how to stack the rock again! :mrgreen:

Now, should I wait for it to cycle before adding the macro in the refugium?

[pro2k]

Thanks for all the help guys!!! Shhhhhh...I'm sure I'll need more but we won't tell anyone......

[dakar]

Now I'd just let it make soup for a while... a power head or two to keep things stirred up would be a good thing. I'd hold of on the macros for a bit, let the ammo and nitrite start cooking away... as soon as ammo and nitrite drop off and once nitrate has peaked and starts coming that's when I'd add the macros. You could probably add now and not hurt anything, just a guess, but I'd hold off just the same.

[pro2k]

Without any filter how's the water every going to clear up? Or will the skimmer help with that?(if mine ever shows up) Seems like the tank has been kind of hazy (foggy) ever since I added the salt. I wonder if there is a salt residue of the front glass

[bjpembo]

the skimmer will clean the water some, the bacteria will eat some of the stuff, and some will settle out. and yes, wipe your front glass, its probably fuzzy 8)

[pro2k]

Everything is cleaning pretty good with the addition of the skimmer. The water is crystal clear and the smell is gone. I just did some testing and the ammonia is around .25 and the nitrite have skyrocketed to 1ppm or more! Is this normal? I've added a powerhead in the tank to get some more water movement.

[dakar]

You are right one track, Nitrites will likely go higher than that yet.... then both ammo and nitrites will settle down and nitrates will climb, once everything completely zeros out your system will have cycled. There is no way to accellerate the process, it can be lengthy or short, depends on your luck more than anything.

[pro2k]

When the ammonia and nitrites read zero then I should add the algae eating crew and the macro algae?

[pro2k]

I just took some readings again today and the ammonia is coming done less then .25, nitrites are >= 1, and nitrates which I would assume should be low, tested out to close to 50ppm!!! I didn't think it would be this high already.....what gives?

[dakar]

Unfortunately there is no magic formula to figure this stuff out. I've heard of tanks cycling in 3 weeks and others that took 3 months. 4-6 weeks seems to be the average.

[pro2k]

So nitrates this high is normal for the cycle? Should I wait it out or do I need to do a water change?

[pro2k]

Today has been a horrible day!!! Last night I was moving things around on my tanks powerstrip and somehow the heater cord didn't get pushed in all the way and was without power. I got home from work today and the house was like 50 degrees because the pilot light on the furnace blew out. SO....without a house furnace and without a tank heater the water was about 68F!! I immediately corrected both problems and also went out and bought a second tank heater in case something like this happens again. Do you think temps that cold killed everything?

[dakar]

I doubt it did any serious harm, since it was for a short period of time everything should be fine. The second heather is a good idea to keep around, if you can get it plugged into another electrical circuit or something that would be even better.

Now that your reef is warming back up, go fix the furnace! hee hee

[pro2k]

I did some testing today and the ammonia is almost zero and the nitrites have come down to less the 1ppm. I also bought the ActiveHome pro by X-10 to control the tank lights and pumps. It's pretty nice...I have it set up to run the two powerheads in the tank. First, the left one kicks on for 1.5min then they both run for 30 secs. After the 30sec the left shuts down and the right one stays on for another 1.5min. And then they cycle repeats. I thought it would be nice to have them both running for an interval to really create some turbulence in there. It also controls the main lights, refugium lights, and the moon lights. Not bad for $50!! I was hoping that I could plug the powerheads into a dimmer type module and reduce the flow at night but it didn't want to work. Bummer....

[dakar]

For anyone else considering looking into setting up their systems using X10 controllers PM me for details, we've just established an affiliate program with them, still building the whole site for it but there is enough set up now so that you can get a great deal on components/systems, plus free shipping! (on all orders over $50).

We'll send out a press release after I get the rest of the site set up.
Again PM me for the URL's.

[pro2k]

I'm using the ActiveHome pro and it works well although there is some timer issues in the cm15a module. Compared to buying a wavemaker and controllers it's a bargain for sure!

[dakar]

Soon enough I'll have complete control over my tank via a webpage using some of this stuff. Too bad we can't get any better discounts for ourselves than we can offer for anyone else.... but it beats paying their normal prices.

[harlin_james]

this is a great thread for the newbie like myself.

currently moving and just broke down my 55gal african chiclid tank. kinda sad but cant wait to get started on a reef tank.

I have a few terms/questions that i want to ask about after reading this thread:

1) what is DSB, LF?
2) what is..

detritus: decomposing matter from dead organisms?

calupera andchaeto: algae?

[Reef_Angel]

Welcome Aboard!! We're happy to have you here at Captive Reefing and invite you set down your roots and share your new set up progress with us!! You actually have a better start than you realize on some of those terms! Soon enough you'll know them all. :lol:
DSB = deep sand bed
LF or LFS? = Live Fish Store

What is detrius? Some of it can be what you wrote there. Decomposing matter from dead organisms....meaning dead fish, food matter, and all the good stuff that settles in the bottom of your tank that accumulates naturally in a reef environment.

Calpura and chaeto are forms or macro algaes. Generally used in the refugium for nitrate export for your main tank. If you ever need chaeto to start your refuge, ask on the board for assistance. There's usually a reefer here that is happy to send you some of this quick multiplying algae!

Algae: You'll run in to all sorts of this stuff in your tank as I'm sure you already encountered in your african chiclid tank. There's green algae, cyano or what some call red algae, hair algae, brown algae..... when you experience then you will know what they are. That's when the board comes in handy. We've all had them and we all have ways of curing them. Generally our ways all match, so there's not much advice here that's bad.

When you post a question or comment, many people will answer and comment with additions, solutions, and ideas to help you with a question. No question is ever a dumb one so please always ask if you have one!
Again, welcome to CR!!

[dakar]

Welcome Aboard HJ!

Here's a link to our Frequently Used Acronyms (http://www.captivereefing.com/viewtopic.php?t=340) in the FAQ section), might come in handy for you.

[harlin_james]

ill never be the guy who doesn't hesitate to ask the questions. LFS - gees. :-D

my first question is what items will be absolute necessary to get this started with the tank and stand taken care of?

-substrate: live sand, aragonite sand, crushed coral...dolomite? i also read about a bare floor with a sponge or padding of some sort.. what gives with this?

I have been told that my eheim and powerhead can be used but best bet is to get other components for filtration and circulation.

- protein skimmer: venturi skimmers are better than air driven skimmers for daily care and are more effective..?

- lighting: what is the best solution for a long term 55 gallon reef tank? I also have a custom hood that hid my original stock fixtures but with the ballast and Mh lights, how hot do they get? Not as cool as fluorescence obviously. And is there such a thing as too much light or watts per inch? for inverts, fish, or anything in a coral environment. Are there high output fluorescents that can give adequate light to maintain the tank?

- marine salt: avoid ones with phosphate and nitrate.. is one brand better than any other? instant ocean was mentioned in this thread, reef crystals or coral life..

these are just off the top of my head. I have only been able to put in a few hours of research and countless day dreams of marine life in my house.

all help is appreciated in advance.

ps. if you would rather post a thread or link than answer these basic questions, no worries. in fact, throw the whole kitchen sink at me. I am so jazzed about this, the more info the merrier.

[dakar]

Here I'll throw a nickel's worth at it, there's a great deal of into posted, already, but repeating helps keep things fresh in my mind too..... besides if I'm typing I'm not working on stuff :)


My first question is what items will be absolute necessary to get this started with the tank and stand taken care of?

-substrate: live sand, aragonite sand, crushed coral...dolomite? i also read about a bare floor with a sponge or padding of some sort.. what gives with this?

Personal choice as far as substrate goes, that bare bottom thing you've seen is called 'starboard', Davejnz wrote up some good info on his project log (http://www.captivereefing.com/viewtopic.php?t=578&highlight=starboard) about running a bare bottom.


I have been told that my eheim and powerhead can be used but best bet is to get other components for filtration and circulation.

- protein skimmer: venturi skimmers are better than air driven skimmers for daily care and are more effective..?

Some are better than others, to a point you get what you pay for, if your a DIY type person and don't mind tinkering you *can* save a good chunk of change here.... the operative word being can. Some of mine DIY's worked great others.... well not so great.


- lighting: what is the best solution for a long term 55 gallon reef tank? I also have a custom hood that hid my original stock fixtures but with the ballast and Mh lights, how hot do they get? Not as cool as fluorescence obviously. And is there such a thing as too much light or watts per inch? for inverts, fish, or anything in a coral environment. Are there high output fluorescents that can give adequate light to maintain the tank?

This is going to be more dependant on what you want to keep, there is such a variety of options out there for different types of Fluoro's, High Output (HO), Very High Putput (VHO), Power Compacts, hundred or more configurations. Halides run pretty hot, but the heat can generally be managed with a couple of fans. Everyone has thier own preference. Best bet would be to cruise around the photo galleries here and look at the tank picktures, most have there lighting listed in their signature line, if not they'll happily tell you. Cruise around as many tanks as you can in person and get an idea of what each looks like and go with you want. There are pros and cons to each, and some good combinations that work great too. Again another area where a competent DIY'r can save some big $$$.



- marine salt: avoid ones with phosphate and nitrate.. is one brand better than any other? instant ocean was mentioned in this thread, reef crystals or coral life..

Another salt war in the making? Naw, use the search function on the navigation bar on the left and see what others have had to say about each brand. Many differences in salts, and they all react differently for each person with the major ones being your water source. (My Opinion) BTW what is to be your water source? RO/DI unit, tap, or you going to (blech) buy it?

If you are really just trying to get things cooking, pick your substrate (if any), mix up your water, get some Live Rock and an ammonia source if needed (a raw peeled cocktail shrimp is perfect) throw in a couple powerheads and get the cycle started. Of course get a decent test kit so you can watch the cycle. You'll have up to 4-6 weeks to get everything else like lighting and stuff sorted out, and have plenty of time to read, read, look at pictures, drool, and read some more :D Looks like this thread is going on 6 or 7 pages now, but it's packed with good information on getting your reef started.

And of course fire away with any questions, there are a LOT of folks on here with a LOT more knowledge than I could ever hope to know. I'm certain they'll chime in here shortly as well. But that's what the board is for to capture as much as it can.

[dakar]

Opps, forgot one important question, are you 100% possitive the tank you are going to use has NEVER had any copper in it? A lot of medications for fish (such as ich treatments) and stuff are copper based and even the smallest trace amount can do some very bad things.

[harlin_james]

uhhhh. i know i have used ic treatment before. a long long time ago. years to be more specific.

will the test kit be able to tell? or should i just rinse the tank best i can and put some fresh water in and have it tested at my local shop?

[jerryc]

You can get copper test i thank you will be all right if you don't do repeated
treatments.
My best advise at this time is get a good water source RODI or you can Buy it
from a lfs but it is the difference in success or failure