First reef tank. Do I have what I need?

Jordan berry · Jul 8, 2015

I am doing my first reef tank. I decided to go with a 90 gallon long tank. So far I have...

*SC aquariums Starfire tank
*Custom stand
*Custom sump 35 gallons with 18x15x15 refugium and 1 sock
*dc9000 return pump
*2x Reef Radiance 165+p with mounting
*Bubble Maggus curve 7
*2x rw-8 wave makers
*Ato and small pump with a custom 10x15x15 bucket
*Reef Radiance 12w 38 par led refugium light with a light fixture and timer
*2× jager 250w heaters
*150 phosban reactor with little pump for 2 Lil fishies phosban
*100 lbs of crushed coral no.3 sand

Am I missing anything? I'm going to start slow but would like the equipment for SPS later. Do I need a power head in my refugium? Should I do miracle mud? I have 60lbs of life rock and was going to go get 30 lbs of live rock from my lfs. Im also going to be running a bag of charcoal when needed. I tried to get a good all around setup from the research I could do online but any advice would be appreciated.

redfishbluefish · Jul 8, 2015

I would not use miracle mud.

I think you have a great start. The one thing I'd add is a temperature controller for the heaters. Although Jagars are what I consider the best heaters, they will eventually fail. The failure that is dangerous is the "always ON" failure. A controller will protect your tank from an Always ON failure.

Jordan berry · Jul 8, 2015

Thank you. I haven't heard of a temp controller. Any of them better than others?

Daytonareefing · Jul 8, 2015

Looks like a really good start. Most people don't start with as good of equipment as you have.

Jordan berry · Jul 8, 2015

To be honest. It all started by seeing a tank and stand combo at petsmart. I thought I could get into the hobby for around $500. After a couple weeks of researching every part I was going to wait and save up for the best equipment but the wife kept bugging me with all of the invertebrates and fish she wanted until I pulled the trigger on what I thought was the best bang for the buck equipment.

The Kahnasaur · Jul 8, 2015

Consider a 3 pump doser. At least 2.

Daytonareefing · Jul 8, 2015

Just be glad your wife's on board before me and my ex-wife were on the same page we would fight about spending money on the tanks after I let her start buying fish and coral we started taking trips out of town and spending 500.00 on corals a week for a while it might have been cheaper to fight about it. I created a monster which in the end was funny. I think it would be easier to date women in the hobby because I don't want to fight about it. Now your wife will want her own tank shortly wait and see. Lol

Jordan berry · Jul 8, 2015

She wants me to get herror a 29 gallon bio cube as a sea horse tank. I told her to give me 3 to 6 months to figure out the basics instead of trying to do a sea horse tank and almost certainly killing them now. I'm fine with herror getting her own tank. The scary part is she wants to put the sea horse tank in the nusury and as far as I know she's not even pregnant atm? Lol

Daytonareefing · Jul 8, 2015

Seahorses are one of the hardest things to keep and you have to be home twice a day to feed them frozen food a 29 gallon is the smallest tank you would want for them. She should go to oceanrider.com and read the how to keep them section plus they have sweet horses.

Jordan berry · Jul 8, 2015

Awesome. Thanks guys. Looking for a good heat controller and trying to decide if I should get the jebao 4x dosing pump. Seems like a great deal for $80 on amazon but something is telling me you get what you pay for and a pump may not be the best way to go cheap. Do you guys think I should get a power head for my refugium or is the flow from the return pump going to be enough?

Daytonareefing · Jul 8, 2015

Becareful with jebao products some of there pumps don't work right out of the box. You don't need a powerhead in your sump.

SeahorseKeeper · Jul 8, 2015

Jordan berry said:
She wants me to get herror a 29 gallon bio cube as a sea horse tank. I told her to give me 3 to 6 months to figure out the basics instead of trying to do a sea horse tank and almost certainly killing them now. I'm fine with herror getting her own tank. The scary part is she wants to put the sea horse tank in the nusury and as far as I know she's not even pregnant atm? Lol

Sounds like you are doing your research. Seahorses can be tricky. It took me about 2 years to get comfortable enough to setup my seahorse tank. When I did get it going, it took like six months for me to pull the trigger on ordering them.