new to reef

[zep]

Hey all,

I have a 120 gal system 4x2x2 which is currently fallow after a nasty outbreak of crypt it was origonaly a fish only system but the wife has convinced me to look in to the possibility of making it reef.

So the big question is where to start ?!?!, im guessing all my equiptment in system will be fine for a reef system ( skimmer power heads etc ) along with the water quality, i used red sea salt for reef systems when i set the take up as it was on special at my lfs.

The only worrie i have is the lighting, i'm currently running 2x aquaray 600's and ofc id have to add more rock into the system currently only have about 30 kgs approx .

I am completely new to reef system i have no clue what to put in to them etc as i have never looked into reef systems. Any and all input would help and be appreciated

 

[BarbH]

Hello and welcome to r2r, what type of powerheads are you running in the tank right now? Also I had started a thread last week on suggestions for corals for someone starting last week, here is the link https://www.reef2reef.com/forums/re...corals-you-would-recommend-not-recommend.html might help in giving you some ideas

 

[zep]

Thanks you,

The power heads i have are jvp 102's 5000 lph currently only one in the tank as 2 was abit over kill for the fish. I was thinking of running 2/3 more smaller ones say about 2000 lph.

My wife loves the gsp star/ daisy corrals but heard they can be a pain as the spread like wild fire. im not sure i have enough rock for a reef either.

current aqua scapping would that be acceptable like i said am totally new to reef setups

 

[wysiwyg]

yeah you would wanna add some more rocks for sure. other wise follow barbs link and shoul help you a ton. welcome to r2r

 

[zep]

Thanks how much should i add in ? currently 30 kg in atm

 

[zep]

also do i have enought lighting only running 2xaqua ray 600's currently

 

[BarbH]

I agree with adding more rock, if my conversion is correct you have about 66lbs of rock in there right now. If my conversions are correct for your powerheads using general rule of wanting about 20x flow you will want about 9000 lph which 2 of the jvp's that you have would put you right there. For gsp an idea you could do is having it on it's own rock to help control it spreading. It is a nice looking coral, but as you said from what I hear it can spread fairly quickly. Do you have a sump set up on this system?

 

[BarbH]

also do i have enought lighting only running 2xaqua ray 600's currently

Not sure about that one, search shows that they are a LED light, if you don't get much response on this thread about them you can always post about the lights in the LED section

 

[zep]

yeah 66 pounds is 29.8 kg so i was guessing about the same amount again.

Yes i do i have a 4 chamber sump housing my heaters, skimmer plus carbon and some other filter stuffs. Would buying say 3x 3000 lph heads be more beneficial than having to 2 heads and the return head ?

 

[BarbH]

For the amount of rock maybe look at about another 15kg which would put you close to about 100lbs could go with less if using really porous rock.

 

[revsgirl]

Hi there!! Nice lookin' tank you got there!! Glad to have you here on R2R!! Make sure you ask any and all questions you need!! Everyone around here is always ready and willing to help! Happy reefing!

 

[zep]

That would be cool and cheaper lol , i don't mind adding more rock just don't want the tank to end up looking like a massive wall of the stuff.

Would like some room at the front and back as i still want a few fish in the system. Thinking of doing 2 banks of the stuff on a diagonal across the tank and then bridging the two banks with a massive bit of the stuff

 

[BarbH]

I understand about not wanting to do a rockwall If you haven't already spend some time looking at different members tanks to give you some ideas, also having an idea of the type of corals that you would like to keep will help in planning on what you do. Sounds like a good idea that you have going. Time to get ready to head off to work.

 

[Steven R]

1.Strong skimmer, precision marine is a nice skimmer for the money.
2. Reliable test kits
3. Research everything you want to add before you add it to the system.
4. A water purification unit RO/DI is the best. Or you can go to the grocery store and get distilled water.
5. Good salt mix. I use Brightwell Neo-marine. But Reef crystals works great to but does not have the elements you need to replace in it. Solved with simple dosing.
6. Calcium additives.
7. Alkalinity additives both your calcium and Alk additives can be simplified by using a number of two part additives I use Brightwell Reef code A&B really easy to use.
8. PH additive I use Brightwell 8.3 Reason I use this is it stops raising the PH @ 8.3 but will continue raising the Alkalinity helps out a"lot maintaining proper levels.
9. Magnesium additive. You might not have to use this if you do correct water changes but always good to have on hand. I use Magnesion also by Brightwell.
10.Patience
11. Some good books.
12. An extra powerhead and heater so you can mix your water overnight and temp, SG, match everything.
13. At least 3 clean five gallon buckets. ( for mixing and changing water ) only use them for the tank.
And that is your basics I touched on most of it but there is always more and I am sure someone will catch what I missed hope this helped.
Good luck and take your time.

 

[zep]

Thanks for all the comments and help.

im not gonna add anything into the tank for a while yet. That way can get the stuff im missing power head and additives and also make sure i don't have a repeat of the problems i have had before

 

[Loki]

I also have a 120 4x2x2. I love the dimensions of the tank . I have about 80lbs of Pukani dry rock from bulkreefsupply.com in my display as well as some in my refugium. Pukani is a very light and porous rock and the 80lbs I have looks like a lot more. I would say it may be a good idea to triple the amount of rock in the tank to give more hiding places for the reef inhabitants as well as more surface area for all of the bacteria to house.

I would also recommend upgrading your flow as stated above but maybe with smaller powerheads. If all/most of your flow is from two powerheads you will have problems with no/low flow areas, especially once you start adding more rock.
Just for example. In my tank I have a Danner Mag drive 18 for my return pump, two Ecotech Marine MP40w ES, and a Reeflow dart pump (closed loop). So I have 4 things that each creat a significant amount of flow pointing in all directions to try to eliminate dead spots in the tank.

Here is a picture of my tank. It is only 3-4 months old in this picture. You can see the 80ish lbs of rock, the two MP40's on the side glass, the mag 18 is returning through the black tubing on the upper left, and the closed loop return are the two holes on the back glass.

Welcome to reef2reef

 

[strange33w]

Ya I would add a little rock to your display not a lot though. You could also add a little in your sump if you need more for filtration. Going into the reef world research will be a big help that way you don’t add stuff that will not mesh down the road. Good luck and keep updating your build here.

 

[zep]

4x2x2 is very nice for a reef my lfs has a couple and they look fantastic. I really want to get my hand on a couple of mp40s they are amazingly good( so i've been tolled ) but cost the earth .

I'm gonna take things nice and slow, i don't want to rush out buy 150£ worth of rock to find out im no good at reefing .

I am thinking of building one side of the tank up now with my current rock and adding a small mushroom frag and a daisy polyps from my mates tank, then building the other side up in a few weeks would this be a problem ?.

 

[BarbH]

Would you be getting live rock or dried rock?

 

[zep]

which ever would be better