55g noob reef start up

JRR1285 said:
It looks like some people are happy with that setup. Some complain about the skimmer portion which to me is the most important part.

Doing some quick research these two seem to be highly rated HOB skimmers. AquaMaxx and BH-2000


I would do a good skimmer, make sure you have adequate water movement, and maybe add a refugium down the road. Don't bother with the canister filter for now. The live rock and sand in your tank is going to be your biological filter.

Also give this a look. WP25 It would most likely be the only powerhead/water movement pump you need in your tank. You could even go for the WP40 for more movement, though it may be overkill.
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ok ill give look into them and id only need that 1 power head for the whole tank? and also wat is ur preference on salt? i was looking at read sea coral pro salt
 
I was running 2 Koralia nano pumps (425's) and a full size Koralia 750 in my 29G. I will be taking out the last nano soon since it is not needed. Here are some videos from other people.

Vid 1 ELSE mode on a 92 gallon tank.

Vid 2 ELSE on a 29G = Way too much flow.

I run a light dimmer on mine to make it usable in ELSE mode.

For the salt I've heard that's a good one. I almost switched to it the last time I bought salt. I was using Tropic Marin pro reef but it's pricey. I switched to reef crystals and I'm just as happy. Can't beat it's price too for the 200 gallon box.
 
i see a jebo wp 40 for 129$ on amazon might look into that im doing a big order today basically every thing i need 100 lbs base rock 80lbs sand
 
JRR1285 said:
I was running 2 Koralia nano pumps (425's) and a full size Koralia 750 in my 29G. I will be taking out the last nano soon since it is not needed. Here are some videos from other people.

Vid 1 ELSE mode on a 92 gallon tank.

Vid 2 ELSE on a 29G = Way too much flow.

I run a light dimmer on mine to make it usable in ELSE mode.

For the salt I've heard that's a good one. I almost switched to it the last time I bought salt. I was using Tropic Marin pro reef but it's pricey. I switched to reef crystals and I'm just as happy. Can't beat it's price too for the 200 gallon box.
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http://www.amazon.com/JBJ-Oceanstre...0817643&sr=1-34&keywords=power+head+saltwater or maby this?
 
That looks pretty good too. I see a 1600 GPH setup that I would steer you towards instead though because I feel like the one with the two 500's is a little on the edge of enough flow or not. I had more flow than that in a smaller tank before switching to the WP25. Using the Koralia pumps I just couldn't get flow patterns I was happy with. I tried a lot of different setups (pointing them at each other, at the glass, and all different directions.

The Jebao pumps have a controller that has a few different modes. ELSE is a mode that steps the speed up and down and also pulses to get a nice random flow that creates a good undertow. The WP40 would most likely be too much flow in your tank which you could then tweak using the controller in W1 mode (3 different speeds) or adding a dimmer like I did and being able to control the max speed in any mode.

While I can't speak for the long term durability of these pumps I'm happy with it at the moment.
 
JRR1285 said:
That looks pretty good too. I see a 1600 GPH setup that I would steer you towards instead though because I feel like the one with the two 500's is a little on the edge of enough flow or not. I had more flow than that in a smaller tank before switching to the WP25. Using the Koralia pumps I just couldn't get flow patterns I was happy with. I tried a lot of different setups (pointing them at each other, at the glass, and all different directions.

The Jebao pumps have a controller that has a few different modes. ELSE is a mode that steps the speed up and down and also pulses to get a nice random flow that creates a good undertow. The WP40 would most likely be too much flow in your tank which you could then tweak using the controller in W1 mode (3 different speeds) or adding a dimmer like I did and being able to control the max speed in any mode.

While I can't speak for the long term durability of these pumps I'm happy with it at the moment.
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ok ill take that into account the wp25 isnt on amazon tho sadly i ordered my salt test kit heater refractometer still on edge on wat skimmer..lol gonna go to my lfs as the t5 bulbs are same price as on line and then i just have to make the water get the sand and cycle it
 
Refractometer is a great tool to get right away. I could have saved myself some trouble not waiting a couple of months to get it.
 
JRR1285 said:
Refractometer is a great tool to get right away. I could have saved myself some trouble not waiting a couple of months to get it.
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yeah i ordered that on ebay had ebay bucks..lol im rlly thinking about that toms aquatics wet dry system seems better then just a skimmer and a few bucks cheaper all youtube vids ive seen it works fine
 
The worry I have about it is that I can't find too many people using them on reefcentral or other forums for that matter. When I do find threads on them I see people have the same concern about the wet/dry portion becoming a nitrate factory which is of real concern for a reef tank. Some people do seem to like them and I did find some youtube vids as well showing them functioning and the idea is pretty good.

Here's a short thread on it. Like I was telling you, one of the main components of that system is not being used by too many reefers anymore (wet/dry) and the other (protein skimmer) seems to work but nowhere near as well as a dedicated unit. I just don't think you'd be getting much bang for your buck since reef tanks don't benefit much from conventional filters like canisters and wet/dry and often times those setups can be detrimental to reef tanks.

I hope others will chime in that have either used it or have more opinions on the matter. Just remember it's best to read a ton, then read some more. The more information you have the better your decisions will be in the long run. This section of the forum is full of people that are so excited to get started (and they should be) that they push things too quickly. Often times spending unnecessary money or worse yet harming marine life unintentionally.

Sorry for the long winded responses lol
 
JRR1285 said:
The worry I have about it is that I can't find too many people using them on reefcentral or other forums for that matter. When I do find threads on them I see people have the same concern about the wet/dry portion becoming a nitrate factory which is of real concern for a reef tank. Some people do seem to like them and I did find some youtube vids as well showing them functioning and the idea is pretty good.

Here's a short thread on it. Like I was telling you, one of the main components of that system is not being used by too many reefers anymore (wet/dry) and the other (protein skimmer) seems to work but nowhere near as well as a dedicated unit. I just don't think you'd be getting much bang for your buck since reef tanks don't benefit much from conventional filters like canisters and wet/dry and often times those setups can be detrimental to reef tanks.

I hope others will chime in that have either used it or have more opinions on the matter. Just remember it's best to read a ton, then read some more. The more information you have the better your decisions will be in the long run. This section of the forum is full of people that are so excited to get started (and they should be) that they push things too quickly. Often times spending unnecessary money or worse yet harming marine life unintentionally.

Sorry for the long winded responses lol
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all is well i had off work today so its been research day for me i think im just going to go with a skimmer and call it a day now i have to either hang my light from the ceiling or build something to raise it up as it dont fit the tank to well well at least the feat the bulbs fit perfectly above it
 
I like hanging because you can adjust the height pretty easily.

sjml.jpg


I don't know why it looks so blue. Hanging lights look cleaner too IMO (despite my wires being a mess right now).
 
nice i have an aquatic life 6 bulb t5-ho unit but im buying all new bulbs that nxt and do u think 80lbs of sand and 100lbs of base rock shld be enough then get like 20 lbs of live from lfs all sand is live tho
 
The sand should be good. The rock is adequate too if not a bit much. Looking for 1-1.5 pounds per gallon. It depends on how porous the rock is. If it's very porous it will be able to hold more beneficial bacteria and you can get away with closer to a pound per gallon.
 
JRR1285 said:
The sand should be good. The rock is adequate too if not a bit much. Looking for 1-1.5 pounds per gallon. It depends on how porous the rock is. If it's very porous it will be able to hold more beneficial bacteria and you can get away with closer to a pound per gallon.
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gotcha i just figured 50lbs oh dry rock wouldnt be enough..lol
 
ok so now i wate for my packages..lol got 50lbs base rock a reef octopus bh1000 heater test kit refractometer gonna go get sand and salt at lfs because its cheaper some how..lol
 
wateing for every thing to come in then i have to build my light fixture holder and such so pic updates as the stuff comes
 
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