Not even new yet!

[byronious]

Hello everyone. My name is Byron & I am so new to saltwater that I haven't even begun yet. I have agreed to buy a friends 55g, stand, sump & upgraded lights. I am just reading and trying to learn all I can. Pretty overwhelming. I won't be starting until after I return home from my daughter's wedding the second week in October.

I am tentively planning a reef tank with a few fish. Here is my plan of attack. Please feel free to give me suggestions!

Place tank & stand w/o water and see if lights disturb my wife's sleep.
Buy a large rubbermaid trash can, clean it and setup R/O water with Instant Ocean & a powerhead to stir up water for at least 24 hours.
If SG is okay
Use 20lbs dead rock & 20 lbs live rock
Use 40lbs dead sand mixed with 20lbs live sand
Purchase a protein skimmer
Place two heaters, one in each corner
Run the tank for a couple of weeks checking levels to make sure nitrgen cycle is up & running.
When everything checks out okay and is confirmed by local fish store(an hour away), follow experts advice on next steps. i.e. reef friendly beginner fish.

Please tell me what you think

 

[SeahorseKeeper]

Sounds like a good plan. Welcome to r2r!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[ritter6788]

Welcome Byron!

 

[sprinklerdudes]

welcome 2 R2r, glad to have you aboard

 

[revsgirl]

Hi Byron!! Welcome to R2R!! Can't wait to see what you come up with!!

 

[revhtree Verified Admin]

Welcome to R2R!

We appreciate your membership!

Thanks for joining and please make sure and post often!

 

[KSzegi]

Welcome ..... sounds like you have a good plan .... and have begun things right by coming here!!:clap2:

 

[_Alex_]

sounds like a good plan, only thing i personally woudl change would be the salt used... i had magnesium and calcium problems using instant ocean salt.. i have had much better results using Kent reef salt... luckly for me i have a local store that sells it for $42 a box and $47 for a bucket and only a few minutes away...they dont even carry salt fish just some supplies and thats who i go to... but it has been a completly 180 in parameters stability than instant ocean evre was for me!!

good luck and welcome to the reef addiction!!! haha

 

[Nemoose]

Personally I would set up as sump for the heater and skimmer basicaly just for visual effect. But, it also adds effective volume to the tank. But, I am farily new to so... lol.

 

[byronious]

Personally I would set up as sump for the heater and skimmer basicaly just for visual effect. But, it also adds effective volume setuo e tank. But, I am farily new to so... lol.

Yeah I went and looked at the system today. The sump is about 30 gal. I would guess. The guy is going to hold everything for me until I am ready. His setup had the heaters in the sump. Looked like a good idea to me as well. The system I am geting has an overflow box to get water to the sump. He is throwing in the pump as well. So I will get a protein skimmer (ideas?) and a couple of magnetically attached blowers. I figured I would place them at opposite ends and blow one high and one lower.

 

[GratefulReef]

welcome byron. this is a great place to start as ppl have already stated. you also seem like youre going about it in a smart way, the best rule that ive learned with saltwater is keep it simple. dont go rushing stuff, i did that and had bad results. heaters in the sump are pretty common practice now you may want 3 or 4 powerheads but it depends on what youre planning on keeping and such. I run 4 on a 75 gal and am thinking of adding 1 more smaller one. i agree with changing the salt youre planning on using. if youve got time and it seems you do, get ESV salt from b-ionic its really good stuff and i know a few ppl here that also use it. instant ocean is nice to have around for that "in a pinch" situation, like setting up a quick hospital tank. which reminds me, do you have a plan for hospital/QT tank? Im a year into my saltwater tank and just getting around to it myself but easier to do now rather than later when youre just setting up.

 

[byronious]

I am planning a 10 or 20 gal bare QT with HOB power filter w/o carbon and a small air pump and an airstone. Separate net from DT net. Thinking I will use some floss from DT in QT and leave it there. Start nitrogen cycle a couple of weeks in QT before buying my first fish.

 

[Nemoose]

Sounds like an even better plan witht he sump Some sumps have the skimmer built in. You might check that before you invest in one.

 

[BarbH]

Hello and welcome to r2r :welcome: Looks like you are off to a great start with doing your research first before jumping in. Look forward to seeing what you come up with.

 

[AsphaltPays]

Hey Byron and Welcome to R2R great plan so far you got some time just surf this place for a little and you will be off and running Keep us updated Happy Reefing


Sent from my iPhone 4S using Tapatalk

 

[solar]

WELCOME :wink:
Sounds like a awesome plan to me!

Keep in mind this hobby is very addicting!

 

[skinz78]

Welcome to Reef2Reef!

If you already haven't done so please be sure to get your entry in for a $100 gift certificate in this months membership drive contest!

https://www.reef2reef.com/forums/me...sept-2012-reef2reef-membership-drive-new.html