Reefer Newbie

[madtownguy]

Their site describes it as dry rock. It was live at one point so it has dried algae and other bacteria on the rock but it must be cured. They gaurantee it as hitchhiker free but say it's more aesthetic purposes because it has some color to it versus bare dry rock.

I don't think that will speed things up any, I would suggest getting 1lb of live rock from your local shop to get something in there. It's hitchhiker free because there's nothing living on it. You will need something to get bio load started, there's a ton of ways to do it. I like live rock and live sand.

 

[Anthony Reda]

I don't think that will speed things up any, I would suggest getting 1lb of live rock from your local shop to get something in there. It's hitchhiker free because there's nothing living on it. You will need something to get bio load started, there's a ton of ways to do it. I like live rock and live sand.

So if I follow the loose rule of thumb 1 pound of rock per gallon of water... would it be okay to do say 25 pounds of dry rock and start the bio load by adding say 5-10 pounds of live rock? I would love to do all live rock but I just can't afford it at the moment

 

[madtownguy]

Yeah, you could do 1 lbs of live rock and the rest dry. You could do just live sand, some people just put a piece of shrimp or something in the tank. I've just always used live rock myself. Either way you go you want the most porous rock you can find, the more surface area in your tank the better. That is essentially the bio that will filter and maintain the tank.

 

[Harold Green]

Anthony I hate to say it but canister filters don't work well with marine tanks. Some members won't agree with me but if you set up a canister like you would for fresh water it will become a nitrate factory. Members who do use one normally only put a biological medium in it and don't use it as a water filter but as a bed to grow bacteria or as a place to hold water processing elements like carbon. For marine tanks it's a good idea to have a filter that can be easily cleaned every two or three days to prevent food wastes from breaking down in the system. I have a 29 gallon frag tank with one of the ebay lights over it and monti cap corals are growing well under just the single 120 watt led light. I'd suggest if you're going to get one of the cheap e-bay lights get one of the 165watt models that have a better color variety of led's. Read, read, read and ask all the questions you can't find an answer for until you feel you have a good idea of how to set up and keep a marine tank.

 

[madtownguy]

I agree with Harold about the canister, although I like them I used Fluval rock as a biological medium and some carbon was in it also. I thought I purchased it like that but maybe they come with something else standard. I've considered adding a fluval to my current set up just because of how well it performed years ago.

 

[Anthony Reda]

Harold & Madtownguy, I had been doing a bunch of research on a filter type to use and after speaking with a marine tank specialist at my LFS, I was told the canister would be my best option as I do not have a sump tank, and the tank will be placed near a bed in bedroom (sound). Have I been given misleading information? BTW, I am still building the setup... I am not currently running anything yet. No sand, rock or water yet...I want to make sure I have all equipment prior to starting up.

 

[madtownguy]

Canisters are quiet. Everyone is going to have their own bias to filtration, I had success with a Fluval canister but also had 2 hang on tank filters. You should be fine, you just may not be able to go super crazy with corals. Some are harder to manage than others just like fish.

 

[Bensadork]

I have a 46g bowfront tank. It has 80 pounds of live sand and 50 pounds of live rock. I am running a canister filter with a built-in UV sterilizer (not sure how effective it is). I also have a protein skimmer rated for 100 gallons. That is all the filtration I am using. The only thing I have in the canister filter is some foam pads for large debris and some bags of carbon. The most important parts are the live rock/sand and the protein skimmer. As long as you do regular maintenance on the canister filter and not let too much gunk build up in the foam, your nitrates shouldn't get too out of hand. I have yet to lose a fish or a coral. I clean the filter out maybe once or twice a month and my nitrates never seem to get into the danger zone at all. Many successful reef tanks have used canister filters, mine being one of them. I only went with the canister filter because my bowfront stand had almost no room underneath for a refugium setup. The canister, however, fits perfectly in there and it is whisper quiet. Oh yeah, and im running one powerhead for water flow. I have been toying with the idea of shutting off the canister filter for a while and monitoring my parameters and see if anything changes for the better or worse. I will be sure to post a thread if that happens soon.

 

[Bensadork]

My canister filter is an Aquatop CF400UV and my protein skimmer is an Eshopps PSK-100H hob skimmer. My lighting is a 36 inch Current USA Orbit Marine LED. I picked up all of these items from the LFS for less than 200 each. The rock was the most expensive thing I have purchased for my tank. I got the tank and stand for 60 bucks from an old school friend I found on facebook. The lighting is cool because it has a remote and a control box that is already pre-programmed with lighting schedules that you can always manually adjust for your own lighting needs. I just wanted to throw out the exact names of the equipment I have so you or anyone else can look online at reviews and videos and see if maybe that is the route you want to take. All of my tanks were always freshwater but when i had to relocate for my job, I switched it all over to saltwater and I was definitely working with a budget so I did a lot of looking for good stuff that wasnt gonna break the bank. If you want to go the used route, craigslist usually has some people selling tank equipment but if you are anything like me, I have to start with brand new equipment so I am not left wondering why its making that weird noise or what did that weird stain come from? How many hours does this pump have on it?

 

[Anthony Reda]

My canister filter is an Aquatop CF400UV and my protein skimmer is an Eshopps PSK-100H hob skimmer. My lighting is a 36 inch Current USA Orbit Marine LED. I picked up all of these items from the LFS for less than 200 each. The rock was the most expensive thing I have purchased for my tank. I got the tank and stand for 60 bucks from an old school friend I found on facebook. The lighting is cool because it has a remote and a control box that is already pre-programmed with lighting schedules that you can always manually adjust for your own lighting needs. I just wanted to throw out the exact names of the equipment I have so you or anyone else can look online at reviews and videos and see if maybe that is the route you want to take. All of my tanks were always freshwater but when i had to relocate for my job, I switched it all over to saltwater and I was definitely working with a budget so I did a lot of looking for good stuff that wasnt gonna break the bank. If you want to go the used route, craigslist usually has some people selling tank equipment but if you are anything like me, I have to start with brand new equipment so I am not left wondering why its making that weird noise or what did that weird stain come from? How many hours does this pump have on it?

Everything I have purchased, I have purchased brand new. I am also leaning towards the Current USA Orbit Marine LED because it is reasonably priced and I like that you can program it to simulate 24 hour lighting cycle. Thank you for using names to research

 

[Harold Green]

As I stated above I expected some members to disagree with me on the canisters. It's not a question of who's right or wrong it's simply will it work for you without causing additional problems. The main thing in saltwater is removing nitrates from the system. Normal tank bacteria won't do that as it requires bacteria that only grows in the absence of oxygen so we're left mainly with water changes, skimmers, removing plants that absorb nitrates, and filters that can be cleaned out frequently to keep waste material caught from breaking down. Other than holding materials that may reduce nitrates the canisters won't be much help in filtering organics before they can break down. They are quiet, move a good volume of water, and they are a place to keep carbon and other chemical agents. If organics are allowed to build up in them they can create a definite problem though and that's why very few people recommend using them on a marine tank. I would research a little more on line and at other lfs's before deciding which filter will fit your needs the best.