Soon to be, beginner.

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Kendiverdown

Kendiverdown

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Hi everyone! My first post.
I am about to get my feet wet here. I'll give a run down of my plans here. I have done quite a bit of research on starting a community reef aquarium and I'm sure i need to do plenty more.
About a month ago I bought a used (5 year old) setup. 140 gallon (60"Lx18"Wx30"H) plus a 40 gallon sump. Light, protein skimmer, apex classic, return pump, 125 pounds of live rock, 4 40# bags of sand, 2 power heads, test kit RODI system, plus more. Everything looks pretty good. This is perfect timing as I am completing a remodel on my house. I plan on putting a drain in the wall and a fill line in the wall as well. I want to ask for some ideas that I may need to consider when setting this up. I want to shoot for success with little set backs. I am patient and not in a hurry to "just get it running". I want it to look great and I want it to function efficiently. Of course I don't have a million dollars to spend but a few hundred here or there won't break the bank. I'm pretty sure I have everything I need to start curing and cycling. One question I have is since everything has been torn down and dry for about 2 to 3 months. Would it matter if I cure the rocks in my tank after I aquascape? Or would it be better to cure in a Brute can? Since this is a used system and been dry is there anything that I should worry about as far as pollutants? Cleaning? I don't want to have a, or try to limit the, "oh, crap I shoulda done that" moments. While I have the opportunity to streamline as much as my budget will allow anyway.
I am still coming up with a dream list of fish and corals. I am unsure as to how many fish would be ok with this system. I do know I want a Purple Tank and possible another tang, trigger or angle all that would have to be reef safe. My thoughts are maybe 3 or 4 larger (5"-8") if that's possible, 2-4 Clowns, 4-6 cardinals, and a couple wrasses, again I'm not sure how many I can get away with or if these would be a good fit for my wants. corals are defiantly important to me in this system. I have no idea what I want though. I think they are all awesome so suggestions there are welcome!

Thank you!
Ken
 
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AS
Welcome to Reef 2 Reef
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AS
Thank you. I’m super excited to start this project! Been wanting to do this for years and haven’t been to. I will certainly post pictures. Might be a few weeks before I start. I wanted to get some feedback first. It’s all new and overwhelming.
 
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Welcome to the club. You’ll want to get new bulkheads for the plumbing. That is one thing you don’t want to chance with being older.
As far as curing, if you are patient, then you can just cycle the rock with it curing it in a brute tub with bacteria is fine as well.
As for mistakes, you will run into them. You’ll want to change them as well. And as long as you have a plan, you can do it simpler. There are things I did with my frag tank I never did with my display tank and I’m happy but there are things with my main that I wish i did right off the bat(manifold for my reactor and chiller and uv). All of which are currently on both tanks but added afterwords. When you learn about something, you’ll want to fix it as the hobby evolves.
 
Tidal Gardens
hi welcome to the reef going to love it here!!
lots of fun/info/fun/help/fun...
 
scabbedwings616 said:
giphy.gif


Welcome to the club. You’ll want to get new bulkheads for the plumbing. That is one thing you don’t want to chance with being older.
As far as curing, if you are patient, then you can just cycle the rock with it curing it in a brute tub with bacteria is fine as well.
As for mistakes, you will run into them. You’ll want to change them as well. And as long as you have a plan, you can do it simpler. There are things I did with my frag tank I never did with my display tank and I’m happy but there are things with my main that I wish i did right off the bat(manifold for my reactor and chiller and uv). All of which are currently on both tanks but added afterwords. When you learn about something, you’ll want to fix it as the hobby evolves.
Click to expand...
Thank you. I didn’t even think about that. Even though it makes perfect sense! The other think I was thinking about. Is putting another bulkhead for a direct drain to the drain in my wall. To make water changes easier. I don’t think this will be terribly hard because the tank is acrylic. I also am thinking about adding a line off the drain line to be able to fill a 20 gallon quarantine tank with display tank water.
I am at the very beginning of this process and trying to think of everything I can soI can do it now instead of later.
someone also said I might need to buy new probes for the apex because it's been 3 months since they were in any water and have likely dried out.
 
Nutramar Foods
If the live rock has been out of water for a while would there not be an issue with ammonia leaking from dead critters in them? I’d assume curing them outside the tank would be best bet.
 
Kendiverdown said:
Thank you. I didn’t even think about that. Even though it makes perfect sense! The other think I was thinking about. Is putting another bulkhead for a direct drain to the drain in my wall. To make water changes easier. I don’t think this will be terribly hard because the tank is acrylic. I also am thinking about adding a line off the drain line to be able to fill a 20 gallon quarantine tank with display tank water.
I am at the very beginning of this process and trying to think of everything I can soI can do it now instead of later.
someone also said I might need to buy new probes for the apex because it's been 3 months since they were in any water and have likely dried out.
Click to expand...
You might need to buy new probes but you can see if they work. ph probe is the only one you need to have in the water as the others need to be calibrated when they are dry.

for the qt tank you can use the old water but it isn’t ideal. You’ll want a completely separate system if you are making a qt tank. Having it all on one system isn’t good and things could leach into the main tank.
 
Deltec
Getting ready to build my water making station. I have well water that has a water softener. When installing the RODI system, I assume I should install it so the softened water supplies the RODI? Would the softened water pose any problems with the RODI membranes of filters?
Thank You!
 
a 10$ whole house filter w string,works great if can plumb in before ro unit ;) need pics,i can send some:)
 
Ecoscape Reef Rock
fishguy242 said:
a 10$ whole house filter w string,works great if can plumb in before ro unit ;) need pics,i can send some:)
Click to expand...
I have a canister filter before the water softener then I have a string canister filter after the water softener. As long as the water softener itself won’t cause any problems for the RODI I will tap into the water line after the string filter. That’s the plan. Lol
 
Tidal Gardens

IF YOU HAD TO TAKE A REEFING EXAM, WOULD YOU PASS?

  • Yes!

    Votes: 32 45.7%

  • Not yet, but I have one that I want to buy in mind!

    Votes: 9 12.9%

  • No.

    Votes: 26 37.1%

  • Other (please explain).

    Votes: 3 4.3%
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