Equipment more or Less?

[klp]

You did not list any of your test equipment or I missed it. Your water quality will dictate where you need to concentrate your efforts as your tank becomes populated. Then you can decide whether you need/want more equipment. Water quality is key such as alk, calc, salinity, ph etc depending on what you plan to keep. Water changes may keep them correct. Depending on how you populate your tank that may not be enough. Research any and all fish and/or invertebrates you want by visiting stores and websites. Find out what their needs are so you can better anticipate where you are headed. When you know where you are going your path will become clearer. While plans always change with time at least you will have a starting place based on knowledge.

 

[Mandee]

It was more me asking about the equipment people use.
I see tanks with high end and lots of equipment then I see tanks with bare minimum. And they still look thriving, that's all I was saying.

I have a 220 gallon tank wirh dual overflows. I have a Eshopps PSK300, I have a sump heater, lights, and jebao rw20 (2), air water ice typhoon stage 5. I have set up anything yet because I am doing alot of research to make sure I know what way I want to go and what I am do.

 

[Harold Green]

Looks like you're off to a great start. Do you have the pump for your sump yet? Assuming you have two 1" durso drains you'll need to measure your head, height between bottom of sump and top of display tank. Shoot for a pump that will flow just under 1200gph at the head height you measured. Try to use as few bends as possible in both the drain and return lines. My personal preference is to use two filter socks in the sump and they will keep the water crystal clear. Downside is they need to be washed every two to three days.

 

[Mandee]

Looks like you're off to a great start. Do you have the pump for your sump yet? Assuming you have two 1" durso drains you'll need to measure your head, height between bottom of sump and top of display tank. Shoot for a pump that will flow just under 1200gph at the head height you measured. Try to use as few bends as possible in both the drain and return lines. My personal preference is to use two filter socks in the sump and they will keep the water crystal clear. Downside is they need to be washed every two to three days.

Yes I have 2 return pumps. The head and height do you mean The measurements for the line?

My sump has dual socks..

 

[acidtablockshifty]

yes thats what he is talking about the height of the return pump lines here is calc for it, http://www.reefcentral.com/calc/hlc2.php also i would say from my experience to definitely spend the time hard plumbing the system it is so worth the effort, and the fittings for the soft line just don't flow the the same, use threaded union's, in areas you may have to modify later and section of soft line right of the return pumps maybe right into a union onto hard pipe that way you can easily take the pump out for cleaning/repair. I used the calculator after the fact and found with my setup a mag 12 was only really going to get me about 760gph of transfer, looking into changing to bigger and using eductors on my returns.

i kinda wish i had a controller on it now even though its not necessary, you can save a lot in setup time, money, and effort, i would really like to know if my tank was crashing for some reason too, probably the first thing i would buy if i were to do it all again. now i fight myself every day, you dont need it, i need it, you dont need it, i need it

pretty much the list of things needed is return pump, heaters, skimmer, ro/di, power heads, ato, some type of media reactor for future use everything else is convenience

 

[Mandee]

yes thats what he is talking about the height of the return pump lines here is calc for it, http://www.reefcentral.com/calc/hlc2.php also i would say from my experience to definitely spend the time hard plumbing the system it is so worth the effort, and the fittings for the soft line just don't flow the the same, use threaded union's, in areas you may have to modify later and section of soft line right of the return pumps maybe right into a union onto hard pipe that way you can easily take the pump out for cleaning/repair. I used the calculator after the fact and found with my setup a mag 12 was only really going to get me about 760gph of transfer, looking into changing to bigger and using eductors on my returns.

i kinda wish i had a controller on it now even though its not necessary, you can save a lot in setup time, money, and effort, i would really like to know if my tank was crashing for some reason too, probably the first thing i would buy if i were to do it all again. now i fight myself every day, you dont need it, i need it, you dont need it, i need it

pretty much the list of things needed is return pump, heaters, skimmer, ro/di, power heads, ato, some type of media reactor for future use everything else is convenience

Honestly I have no idea how to do the hard plumbing.....

 

[Mark...]

In the beginning you should focus on the tank, sump, plumbing, pump, power heads. lights, heater, ro/di water filter system and skimmer.

Then when its up and running smoothly, and the tank has been cycled. (another conversation). Start adding fish, coral etc while learning feeding and nutrition.

Dosing, ato with kalk, GFO and carbon can be the next phase.

If you look at everything at once your head will spin. Go slow, do research and enjoy the process. It takes time and patients. And remember nothing good happens fast.

 

[Humblefish]

@Mandee My suggestion would be to reach out to someone from a local club who can walk you thru some of this. There's only so much you can learn online. Where I live (Louisiana) we have a couple of great online forums; people who live nearby are always willing to lend a helping hand to newbies with new tanks. Obviously, you want to take sensible precautions and be safe about this - i.e. don't just let anyone into your home.

If I were you, I'd keep your setup as simple as possible for right now. Try to learn more as you go. Stick with hardy corals/fish. Of course, you will probably want to upgrade/add more equipment as you gain more experience but better to do that than add a bunch of stuff you really don't understand right now. Just my 2cents.

 

[Mandee]

@Mandee My suggestion would be to reach out to someone from a local club who can walk you thru some of this. There's only so much you can learn online. Where I live (Louisiana) we have a couple of great online forums; people who live nearby are always willing to lend a helping hand to newbies with new tanks. Obviously, you want to take sensible precautions and be safe about this - i.e. don't just let anyone into your home.

If I were you, I'd keep your setup as simple as possible for right now. Try to learn more as you go. Stick with hardy corals/fish. Of course, you will probably want to upgrade/add more equipment as you gain more experience but better to do that than add a bunch of stuff you really don't understand right now. Just my 2cents.

That's more the route I'm going for simple start up and then move on. For being simple I have a decent amount of upgrade equipment. But I also don't know much.
I have a couple people who will help but 2 reefers in a room and the only thing they agree on is to disagree lol
I also want to be apart on putting my build together but I know alot of people just tend to take over. Not bashing or anything.

My local reef club is about 2 hrs from me in NY. that's the only sucky part.

 

[Harold Green]

Basic drains. Set the sump into the stand. You should have a bulkhead fitting where your 1" standpipes connect to the tank. The idea is to pipe from those two pipes down to where you want to pour into the sump. Usually that's where the filter socks are. You want a union just under the tank so you can remove the pipes for maintenance. Now find the specs on your return pump. You should find a table that states flow per foot of height. Measure the vertical distance from the bottom of the sump up to the top of the tank. Thats your head, how high your pump needs to lift water. Your pump should have a height rating of the amount of flow your two drains will allow or just under that amount. Set up your pump in the sump. Now you'll come off the pump with a tee to allow two 3/4" lines to run up to the two 3/4" bulkhead fittings. Again you'll need a union just below the tank at both bulkheads plus one at the pump to allow the pump to be replaced or cleaned. Lot's of videos on youtube that show how it's done. Lot's of ways but the simplest is usually the best. Keep bends to a minimum to improve flow. I like 1" and 3/4" pvc for piping and the unions are available reasonably cheaply on amazon. You can use flexible tubing but it tends to degrade with time whereas the pvc is probably good for the life of the tank and less likely to leak down the line.