New Aquarium

D

dwinzent

Reefing newb
i have been setting up fw tanks for about 8 years and was finally encouraged to set up sw by a friend. i have a 120g tank that used to be a red lobster aquarium with a chiller and abot 1 in glass. i have a few questions though seems how this is my first reef.

1. what lighting is required?
2. what PH do i need to start my cycling? mine is about 8.0-8.1
3. what salinity and temps are best for reefs?
4. how big of a protein skimmer will i need?
5. what is the best livestock for a beginner?
6. are bio balls and wet dry filter a bad way to go?

thanks for any answers! I will probably need more help as my journey goes on.
 
Last edited:
dwinzent said:
i have been setting up fw tanks for about 8 years and was finally encouraged to set up sw by a friend. i have a 120g tank that used to be a red lobster aquarium with a chiller and abot 1 in glass. i have a few questions though seems how this is my first reef.

1. what lighting is required?That depends on the types of corals you like.But generally speaking,something along the lines of a 6 bulb with individual reflectors T-5s or even 175 watt metal halides will do the trick
2. what PH do i need to start my cycling? mine is about 8.0-8.1Thats a good PH.But its probably going to drop once you get ammonia going in there.No need to really worry about the PH untill after the cycles done.
3. what salinity and temps are best for reefs?1.024 to 1.026 I perfer mine at 1.026
4. how big of a protein skimmer will i need?Get one rated at least double the tank size and dont skimp here.Get the best you can afford,even if you have to sale your first born.:mrgreen:
5. what is the best livestock for a beginner?Trick question? A pair of clowns are good to start with.Just do your research on this one and pick a good hardy fish.Also stock slow.It takes time to build a reef,so go slow.1 or 2 fish every 3 or 4 weeks is the general rule of thumb.
6. are bio balls and wet dry filter a bad way to go?That all depends.I've ran them with no problems.Other say their nitrate factories.Truth is,anything thats not maintained will cause you headaches.Bioballs will do alright,but they have to be rinsed out ever so often.

thanks for any answers! I will probably need more help as my journey goes on.
Click to expand...

Welcome to the site and ask away.Were here to help.
 
thanks i have a couple more questions to add sorry i was in a hurry earlier.

1. do you need crushed coral for sand or will any do?
2. is there a problem with running two protein skimmers at once?
3. will refugeums get rid of nitrates?
4. can you seed sw aquariums with fw bacteria? i have algae left over from when i broke down the tank my sw is in and it has still been living on the glass after 2 weeks.
5.is there cheaper rock i can purchase and create live rock?
6. is live rock and fish required for cycling?

once again i am a noob and will most likely ask more questions as my journey goes on thanks for helping!
 
crushed coral or sand is good :)

get your base rock (which is cheaper) for the bottom and add that before you put in your sand/coral so if you end up with fishies that dig they won't tunnel under and crash your whole LR setup. base rock is cheap and turns into live rather quickly, quite a few of my rocks were base and now have coraline and some buttons on them. use 1-2 lbs of rock per gallon.

i cycled my tank with LR but didn't use fish, go get a piece of shrimp and let it sit in there for a while, thats the fishlife free way of doing it :) don't add any fish until everything is at 0s.

welcome to the world of reefing! i myself am new at reef SW but love ever minute of it!
 
Oh you'll think of a few thousand more questions as you go:D
#1 Go with aragonite sand.Crushed coral will lead to nitrate problems on down the road because it traps and holds fish waste and uneatten food.Plus its hard on the sand dwelling animals they you'll want to add later on.
#2 No problem at all,if thats what you want to do.Just make sure to get 2 good skimmers.But I'd still make sure that each of them are double the tank size.
#3 Yes.If not completely,then it'll sure make a dent in em.
#4 No.FW bacteria wont survive in SW.
#5 Yes.You can go with dry base rock which is usually a lot cheaper and seed it with a few pounds of live rock.You'll want the live to get the pods and coraline algae along with the bacteria that needed.
#6Again No.What ever you do,dont use a fish to cycle with.You can use LR to cycle.But you can also ghost feed or use a piece of raw table shrimp to start the cycle.
 
Yote is right on... But I think he missed the question about temperatures. You'll want to keep your reef tank between 76 and 80 (ideally).
 
are uv steralizers good? I imagine they keep algae down but do they kill good bacteria?
what are the best sand cleaners?ive heard starfish and snails are good.
is it possible with proper filtration to not have to do water changes for several months? when should water changes be scheduled?
 
UV sterilizers kill bad things -- like algae spores and parasites. But they also kill good things, like plankton that corals and fish eat, and good bacteria. I wouldn't recommend one for every tank, but they are useful in certain situations, like if you are having an awful algae outbreak, or if you keep a lot of disease prone fish (like tangs).

Stay away from sand sifting stars. They usually starve to death after a couple months, and that's after eating everything in your sand bed, including all the good fauna. The best sand cleaners are nassarius snails. Sand sifting gobies are also good, but tend to dump sand on corals so they can be a pain.

In the beginning, you should do water changes of 10 to 20% of your tank's volume once a week or once every other week. As your tank matures, you can cut back on water changes, but they are especially important in the beginning, when your tank is young (for about the first year or so). Of course having a good skimmer and/or refugium helps.
 
if there is a way to measure how much circulation should i have? my pump for my wet/dry is supposed to be just under 900gph(its a eheim printed in lph)with a spray bar, i have a power sweep power head rated for 160gph and another powerhead guessed to be around 100gph so that would make my tank cycle about 9.5 times an hour. is that too much or not enough? i was thinking of adding on a hang on refugeium that i have that would filter around 200 gph.which would circulate just over 11 times per hour.
 
How much flow you need actually depends on the kind of corals you keep.
Large polyp stonies (LPS) tend to like a bit less flow.
Some soft corals like a slow gentle flow while others like fairly strong current.
Small polyp stonies(SPS)like a strong chaotic flow.Basically with these,if your sands staying on the bottom,you dont have too much flow.
 
what do you need to do to feed corals and clams? are clams hard to keep in an immature tank? how much coral can live in one aquarium? how long does it take for frags to grow into larger corals? what type of currents do mushroom corals like?

once again thanks for answering all my questions!
 
Soft corals will get their nutrients from the water around them.So when you feed the fish,you'll be feeding the corals indirectly.You'll want to start with the easier softies,so theres really no need to worry about coral food just yet.
I'd hold off on the clam for a while.They tend to do better in more established systems.
As for how much coral you can add to the tank.As long as the corals arent stinging each other,then you can cram the tank full.You have to be careful about what types of corals your adding though.Some corals fight for space with chemical warfare while others have a nasty sting.
On growth rates,Theres a lot of factors on this one.Water quality,coral predators,types of corals,their health.
As for mushrooms.low to moderate flow usually makes them happy.
 
i have heard that light bulbs should be replaced every once in a while. is this true with all types of lighting? i have two coralife fixtures with two $50 bulbs each i could see how that could get expensive.
 
Power compact bulbs need to be changed every 6 to 9 months.T-5s every 12 to 18 months.Metal halides once a year.
What happens,is as the bulb weakens it changes spectrium.Shifting more to the red wave lengths which algae perfer.
 
Hi Dwinzent,

Welcome to the Reef.
Everyone is giving you great advice. If you do your homework before adding anything to your tank, you will be MUCH better off in the long run.

May I suggest you hit your local bookstore and check out the following :

1.) The Conscientous Marine Aquarist - Robert M. Fenner
2.) Natural Reef Aquariums - John H. Tullock
3.) Marine Fishes PocketExpert Guide - Scott W. Michael
4.) Marine Invertebrates PocketExpert Guide - Ronald L. Shimek

Those will get you off on the right foot and I can guarantee, 5 years down the road you will STILL be referencing them.

Good Luck.
 
I still read the fenner book it right by the toilet. Ive probably read it 8 times but I always find something new in it.
 
Another good book,is "Aquarium Corals by Eric Borneman"
It tells a lot about where a certian coral is found on the reef and how it lives,which will help you keep it happy and healthy.
 

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