1st Saltwater Aquarium in 16 Years - Looking for advice.

[j.falk]

Hello everyone - This is my first post here on Reef Central. I'm currently in the process of setting up a 34 gallon column aquarium and right now I'm still in the research phase of things.

Today I see that a lot of things have changed when it comes to saltwater aquariums and for the past few weeks I have been diligently looking for advice on how to successfully set up another aquarium with my main goal being to keep things SIMPLE, COST EFFECTIVE and most importantly EASY TO MAINTAIN.

The only things I want to keep in the aquarium are:

- 2 Ocellaris Clownfish
- 1 or 2 Bubble Tip Anemones
- Some small hermit crabs and snails to help control algae (clean up crew pack)

This is what I've decided that I'd like to use for the initial set up:

34 Column (I'm firm on the tank size. It's the biggest tank I can have in the space I have allotted):

- AquaC Remora HOB Protein Skimmer (I'm leaning towards the S version)
- 50 lbs. live sand
- 50 lbs. of Reef Cleaners base rock (to which I plan to seed with a few pieces of live rock or Cycle brand live bacteria. Possibly both?)
- 150 watt Marineland submersible heater
- Hydor Koralia 850 power head
- BRS RODI unit for water supply with IO Reef Crystals for the salt
- LED lighting

A couple of questions that I still haven't found answers to:

How does one get purple coralline algae to grow without adding live rock? I don't really want to buy live rock from from the LFS because it is covered in hair algae and other things that I don't want in my tank. Is there an alternative out there? Coralline algae that comes in a bottle that I can seed my aquarium with?

Is there a good brand of LED lights to consider? I see so many different brands and reviews out there that I honestly have no clue on what to buy that will keep the anemones healthy?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Mark9]

For that size tank i'd get an AI Hydra 26hd

 

[Pelagic_e36]

I used a product called CaribSea "purple up" and that played a big part in my coraline growth after only two doses. However purple up does require you to have some trace of coraline already in your tank e.g. from a piece of live rock. Or you can just wait for a much longer time and coraline will grow eventually. As for lighting since you are going with column dimensions. I'd suggest a form of spot lighting like the ecotech marine radion XR15w G4, or a Kessil fixture like the A360W. Wishing you better luck this time with your build.

 

[MurphyLong]

Hello everyone - This is my first post here on Reef Central. I'm currently in the process of setting up a 34 gallon column aquarium and right now I'm still in the research phase of things.

Some background information: About 16 years ago, I used to have a marine aquarium. At the time I worked at a LFS and I wanted to "test the waters" so to speak to gain some experience with marine aquariums so I could help customers with their tanks. To be honest, I failed miserably. My inverts kept dying, the tank was always covered in diatoms/algae and I was very disappointed with how things turned out. Back then I used an undergravel filter combined with a HOB filter as suggested in several saltwater books that I had read at the time. Water was made up of city tap water mixed with Instant Ocean salt. In the end, I think I had the tank up for roughly 6 months and decided enough was enough and converted it back to freshwater. In my opinion, it was an expensive failed experiment.

Today I see that a lot of things have changed when it comes to saltwater aquariums and for the past few weeks I have been diligently looking for advice on how to successfully set up another aquarium with my main goal being to keep things SIMPLE, COST EFFECTIVE and most importantly EASY TO MAINTAIN.

The only things I want to keep in the aquarium are:

- 2 Ocellaris Clownfish
- 1 or 2 Bubble Tip Anemones
- Some small hermit crabs and snails to help control algae (clean up crew pack)

This is what I've decided that I'd like to use for the initial set up:

34 Column (I'm firm on the tank size. It's the biggest tank I can have in the space I have allotted):

- AquaC Remora HOB Protein Skimmer (I'm leaning towards the S version)
- 50 lbs. live sand
- 50 lbs. of Reef Cleaners base rock (to which I plan to seed with a few pieces of live rock or Cycle brand live bacteria. Possibly both?)
- 150 watt Marineland submersible heater
- Hydor Koralia 850 power head
- BRS RODI unit for water supply with IO Reef Crystals for the salt
- LED lighting

A couple of questions that I still haven't found answers to:

How does one get purple coralline algae to grow without adding live rock? I don't really want to buy live rock from from the LFS because it is covered in hair algae and other things that I don't want in my tank. Is there an alternative out there? Coralline algae that comes in a bottle that I can seed my aquarium with?

Is there a good brand of LED lights to consider? I see so many different brands and reviews out there that I honestly have no clue on what to buy that will keep the anemones healthy?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

You'll see lots of mixed opinions on coralline. Some love it, some hate it, and some change opinions. I hate cleaning it off my glass, personally. On my last tank, I seeded it from a fellow reefer, had them give me scrapings off their glass, and I poured it in my tank on the rocks. Went crazy with growth.

I bought some $130 LED's from Amazon, I've used those and other "blackbox" variants for years, and always had great results.

 

[j.falk]

Thanks everyone for the advice.

Mark9 - I checked them out...it says they cover an area of 18" x 18". Does this mean I would need 2 of them since my aquarium is 30" x 18" x 16"?

Pelagic_e36 - when I first saw Purple Up for sale a few years ago, I thought it was purple coralline algae in the bottle until I read up on it. Unfortunately, I don't know of any local saltwater hobbyists in my area and my LFS that does carry live rock has very bad quality rock. I stopped in last week to look at it and there was red slime and hair algae all over everything so I definitely don't want any of that in my new tank.

MurphyLong - I'm not familiar with any of the LED lights so I'm curious what the "blackboxes" are? When I previously tried saltwater, all they had available at the time were incandescent and fluorescent lights.

 

[MuShu]

Too much sand, in my opinion. I had 40 lbs in my 55 gallon and it was 1-1.5 inches. A 34 column is a much smaller footprint. I would start with 20 lbs and add more if you want. I would do dry sand instead of live. If you want to add pods or other micro organisms, Algae Barn has some great pod packs.

 

[j.falk]

Too much sand, in my opinion. I had 40 lbs in my 55 gallon and it was 1-1.5 inches. A 34 column is a much smaller footprint. I would start with 20 lbs and add more if you want. I would do dry sand instead of live. If you want to add pods or other micro organisms, Algae Barn has some great pod packs.

The sand size was actually my mistake. It should've said 40 lbs. for the sand. I was going to put a little in at a time until it was where I wanted it and pitch the rest.

I'll have to check out this Algae Barn...I haven't heard of them before. Thanks for the tip!

 

[Valentini89]

I'd save the remaining sand, you may need it (when you vacuum the sand bed you will most likely lose some)

 

[Blabomb]

I've seen youtube videos saying that you can seed your tank with coralline algae by buying a cleanup crew member with some on its shell and using a razor blade or knife to scrape some of the spores off its shell and into the tank. If you can find a hermit crap or snail at your LFS with some algae on there it might be worth a shot.

 

[Troublekitty]

I've seen youtube videos saying that you can seed your tank with coralline algae by buying a cleanup crew member with some on its shell and using a razor blade or knife to scrape some of the spores off its shell and into the tank. If you can find a hermit crap or snail at your LFS with some algae on there it might be worth a shot.

This is my plan. I saw a snail with what looked like blue coralline alge.

 

[ca1ore]

Find a local reef keeper and get some coraline 'shavings'. That'll seed your tank.

 

[thaitopher]

I would wait until the tank is at least 9 months old before addinf the anemone. They are really high maintenance when it comes to water parameters. I added a purple tip to a four month old tank and lost it in a couple weeks. For your light just make sure to research its output requirements before purchasing. The quality of tge light depends on how deep your tank is. I would make sure that you can at least hit 100 PAR at the bottom of the tank. I would strongly recommend getting live rock. Once you really get into reefing you will want to add coral and you will need live rock because some coral need to be higher I n the tank where there is a higher PAR.

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[thaitopher]

And corraline won't grow on the sand so either add liverock or it will only be able to grow on the side of your tank

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[j.falk]

Valentini89 - I would think that the live part of the sand would be dead by the time that happens and that would add pollutants to the aquarium.

Blabomb - That's a really good idea. Thank you!

ca1ore - Another good idea. Thank you too!

thaitopher - I've been mulling the anemone idea over for quite awhile now. I would never add it right away...especially after working at the LFS for 14 years (until the owner retired and closed the business down) and seeing so many of them die within weeks of arriving. I'd like to have the tank up and running for at least a year before attempting an anemone...that would give the tank time to do it's thing while giving me time to save up for an ample light source. Coral = no thanks. I don't want any coral in my aquarium. I have never liked the stuff. It's just not my thing. My tank will solely be focused around the clownfish.

 

[Dale_M]

Just so you know... you are going to get hair algae and red slime whether you like it or not. Its part of the cycling process during the first few months. There are ways of dealing with it but its best to just let things run their course, at least in the beginning.
There is plenty of reading material here and I suggest you at least read this thread more than once... http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1031074
Good luck to you and ask questions when you are not sure about something.