780blaster
New Member
- Joined
- Feb 14, 2019
- Messages
- 12
- Reaction score
- 8
- What state or country do you live in
- Canada
Hello everyone, new member here from Canada. I'm new to reef aquariums and excited to get started. I have previous experience with a freshwater tank but am wanting to get a reef setup in our new house and just looking for a few pointers.
I have read through the "Supreme Guide" on this website and that has been the best resource I have found so far. Given the amount of time it takes to cycle the water and really get everything balanced, I wanted to start that sooner than later so my questions in this thread will be mainly just suggestions on equipment and setup rather than livestock care.
This might end up being long winded so I apologize for that but I wanted to highlight my current ideas and hopefully get some suggestions for improvement from more experienced folks.
I want to put the aquarium in a corner so with that I am looking for a ~50 gallon corner bow tank. I've found a few options available second hand that are somewhat local to me such as the Fluvial Venezia 190. They all seem pretty similar. I realize that these corner tanks have challenges that rectangular tanks don't (water flow, limited space underneath etc.) but rarely do I do things the easy way. My only concern with the tank is whether or not the bottom glass is tempered as I would like to drill it to run a Herbie or Bean style siphon to the sump underneath. I presume it is okay to drill as it comes pre-drilled but I would need additional holes for the setup I would like to run.
With that, I am going to try to build a custom sump to fit in the stand underneath. I'm pretty comfortable building something as long as I can find someone to cut the glass. I have seen pictures from another forum of someone doing this using basically two separate sump tanks with a transfer line connecting them.
I have found a Reef Octopus Classic 110 Int. protein skimmer for sale for a good price that I will likely pick up so that will occupy one chamber in the sump. That would overflow to another tank where the heater would go. I suppose this could also be like a refugium? Right now I'm unsure about refugiums. Everyone seems to have one and recommend one but I'm not sure yet what specifically I would need it for. That being said, I'm not sure I would make this part of the sump very big. This is something I'm hoping for some input on. I would then put in the "bubble baffle" thing followed by the last tank which would contain the return pump. The tank I am eyeing up comes with a fluval 205 canister filter that I'm not sure what I would use it for. From what i understand, the live rock should be all the filtration that is needed yet I still see some sump setups that have some form of filter. Not sure on this one and would appreciate suggestions.
I'm sure thats a long enough first post so we'll leave it at that. Just for getting the tank up and cycling i think that should be everything as far as equipment (Tank, sump, pump). Obviously salt and chemicals are required as well but thats a given. Once that part is done I will look into lights and wave makers etc. at a later date so i can have time to properly research.
I have read through the "Supreme Guide" on this website and that has been the best resource I have found so far. Given the amount of time it takes to cycle the water and really get everything balanced, I wanted to start that sooner than later so my questions in this thread will be mainly just suggestions on equipment and setup rather than livestock care.
This might end up being long winded so I apologize for that but I wanted to highlight my current ideas and hopefully get some suggestions for improvement from more experienced folks.
I want to put the aquarium in a corner so with that I am looking for a ~50 gallon corner bow tank. I've found a few options available second hand that are somewhat local to me such as the Fluvial Venezia 190. They all seem pretty similar. I realize that these corner tanks have challenges that rectangular tanks don't (water flow, limited space underneath etc.) but rarely do I do things the easy way. My only concern with the tank is whether or not the bottom glass is tempered as I would like to drill it to run a Herbie or Bean style siphon to the sump underneath. I presume it is okay to drill as it comes pre-drilled but I would need additional holes for the setup I would like to run.
With that, I am going to try to build a custom sump to fit in the stand underneath. I'm pretty comfortable building something as long as I can find someone to cut the glass. I have seen pictures from another forum of someone doing this using basically two separate sump tanks with a transfer line connecting them.
I have found a Reef Octopus Classic 110 Int. protein skimmer for sale for a good price that I will likely pick up so that will occupy one chamber in the sump. That would overflow to another tank where the heater would go. I suppose this could also be like a refugium? Right now I'm unsure about refugiums. Everyone seems to have one and recommend one but I'm not sure yet what specifically I would need it for. That being said, I'm not sure I would make this part of the sump very big. This is something I'm hoping for some input on. I would then put in the "bubble baffle" thing followed by the last tank which would contain the return pump. The tank I am eyeing up comes with a fluval 205 canister filter that I'm not sure what I would use it for. From what i understand, the live rock should be all the filtration that is needed yet I still see some sump setups that have some form of filter. Not sure on this one and would appreciate suggestions.
I'm sure thats a long enough first post so we'll leave it at that. Just for getting the tank up and cycling i think that should be everything as far as equipment (Tank, sump, pump). Obviously salt and chemicals are required as well but thats a given. Once that part is done I will look into lights and wave makers etc. at a later date so i can have time to properly research.
