UPDATE

walter84 · Jan 2, 2016

So months ago I posted on what I was hoping to start in the near future. Today I went and bought a 6 gallon cube off of some one who had just started College and his parents weren't maintaining his tank right. It is 6 gallons with 12 pounds of live rock and sand. Hammer head soft corals and a peculiar clown fish. Not to mention a ton of extras including two power heads and 1/2 a bucket of marine salt. He has had it up and running for over a year before he sold it to me so I feel pretty confident I can keep it going. (I have had freshwater since I was 8, I turn 38 this year. I sold off all of my stuff when we moved out to the Midwest so -2 years)

Now this is the big news, when my wife saw how excited our 4 year old got about having fish again. She took my phone when I was in the bathroom and messaged a guy on craigslist who I had been watching and was selling a 110gallon acrylic tank. (it was a late Christmas gift she had been planning on) So in one day I went from no tank to 2 tanks. The guy even thru in a 4ft T5 light just to get rid of it. So for $350 Got this big tank a custom stand a 55gallon sump with pump and plumbing and the T5 light fixture with bulbs that had only been used for 2months plus 2 replacement bulbs. I am still in COMPLETE SHOCK!!! However it does explain why she got me The Conscientious Marine Aquarist for Christmas.

Tomorrow my plan is to Level the big Tank and then go to the pet store and get two heaters for the big tank, then fill it and start cycling it. Perhaps get a small side mount filter to put in Sump until I figure out what I am doing. If I take some of the filter media from the little tank the will help jump start this new big one right?

I know I have a long way to go and I will be building it slowly. My biggest question is do I need all of my sand and rock in place immediately or can I do the sand then slowly add Rock as I can afford to do so? Should I take some of my live sand and rock from my little tank to further help jump start big one?

I hope I did this right.

Thanks,

Walter

P.S. I plan to build a hood to mount the lights into and they will not sit on the tank.

kschweer · Jan 2, 2016

Congrats!!! Best of luck with them!

Reefing Madness · Jan 2, 2016

walter84 · Jan 7, 2016

The person I bought this 1 year old 6gallon tank from said this was a hammerhead soft coral.

Do I need to feed it? He said he was giving it freeze dried shrimp that he crushed up. Also how often do I feed it assuming I need to feed it lol. Guess I dove in deeper than I thought.

Dtackett · Jan 7, 2016

awesome bud! its not a hammerhead (that's a shark) or a hammer coral, its a frogspawn, but its ok, youll learn the differences. you can feed the frogspawn if you like. they will readily accept most frozen meaty food or foods like reefroids.

as for rock, I would just buy 100 pounds of dry rock from reefrocks.net or find a local guy on CL selling rock out of his tank (I wont pay more than 1.25 a pound for live rock out of someone elses tank) however if you buy live rock from someone you need to know what to look for. look for aipstsia, algaes, majano, and critters like nudis. its best to have all or most of your rock in before you do anything else as its your main source of bacteria.

walter84 · Jan 7, 2016

Thanks

walter84 · Jan 7, 2016

I was thinking of starting big tank with a deep sand bed then building my sump. Which I need to figure out. It's funny I have read so much more already then I ever did with freshwater even when I was breeding Discus. And certain things still confuse me. I know I will figure it out as I go I just want to kill as little live stock as possible.

Dtackett · Jan 7, 2016

walter84 said:
I was thinking of starting big tank with a deep sand bed then building my sump. Which I need to figure out. It's funny I have read so much more already then I ever did with freshwater even when I was breeding Discus. And certain things still confuse me. I know I will figure it out as I go I just want to kill as little live stock as possible.

it was a little easier for me, I used sumps in freshwater too. this 75 for example had a 29 gallon sump with dual overflows and sock filters that ran through a layer of polyfill before being returned.

its actually pretty simple to build a sump. a lot easier than you probably think. but you said it came with a sump... is the sump already built?

walter84 · Jan 7, 2016

No sump is just a 55 gallon tank with return pump

Dtackett · Jan 7, 2016

ok. so the most basic thing you would do is order your protein skimmer, I recommend the SCA 302. when you get it, place it in the 55 at the very beginning where your outflowing water from your tank would go in first. get a piece of glass cut or cut one yourself but get it cut to 11.75 x 16 inches (I believe that was the right size, measure the inside width to be sure) then place it about 2 inches away from the skimmer and silicone it in place (use GE1 silicone or an aquarium specific silicone). at this point anything you do is extra. this is the most basic style of sump. its a 3 chamber sump.

skimmer section
refugium, mechanical filters, reactors, etc
return pump and Auto Top Off (ATO)

I know, im a great artist.

Reefing Madness · Jan 7, 2016

http://melevsreef.com/allmysumps.html

walter84 · Jan 11, 2016

Are there any good places to look for deals on that skimmer. Amazon has it for $179 and change is this good?

walter84 · Jan 14, 2016

Ok went with the SCA 302 skimmer.

I have found another local who is downsizing his hobby. So is 100 pounds of live sand going to give me a DSB in a 60"x18" tank bottom? And is that sand plus 60 pounds live rock with some corals worth $225??