Diving back.. Help needed.

[luigy39]

After keeping salt water fish for 30 years, I am finally ready for my first reef tank.

There are so many options out there, that it becomes harder to get you started with the right equipment:eek2: than it is to keep the corals alive.

Because of space restrictions I have to go for a 54 corner tank, I wanted a 92 but it's just too big for the space I have available, I'm coming from a 125 fish tank 2 years ago so you understand my pain.

I have decided on the type of light I will be using, the sol led lights seem to be optimal choice to keep electric bills low as well as water temperature, I live in Florida, but I need advise on power heads, how many and how powerfull do I need them, and will one of the sol led panels be enough for this tank?

I have about $2500.00 to spend for the whole system including rocks, wet and dry, pumps, sand and the likes. I visited a local Pet shop yesterday and NOT including the sol lights but other type of lighting he quoted me about $1,800.00 for everything, but I want to make sure that I buy good quality stuff without being too expensive, I'm not rich and the pet shop did not give specific names for the set up equipment.

Any help would be highly appreciated.

 

[luigy39]

maybe not?

 

[m_wonnacott]

i would be getting names on all products because in this hobby it makes a big difference

 

[solitude127]

I would consider some DIY items to help save money. I wouldn't skimp on lighting and filtration.

 

[EricJC]

Noted you mentioned wet and dry...might want to do some research there before purchasing.

Where in FL are ya at?

 

[luigy39]

Noted you mentioned wet and dry...might want to do some research there before purchasing.

Where in FL are ya at?

South Florida, Is there an alternative to a wet & dry system?, I read there could be some nitrite build up in the long run.

 

[Aerowen]

first what kind of system are you looking to keep? a high end sps system ? or maybe a higher nutrient soft coral system? This would influence the filtration, lighting and system turnover necessary to keep your corals happy.

 

[luigy39]

Since this is my first time with a reef tank, I want to start with soft corals and then slowly move into the hard coral category and probably try to have a mixed tank with the hardiest species.

By the way, I may be moving to the 92 gallon tank option rather than the 54, the local pet shop is offerring 60 pounds of cured rock for the 92, is this enough for this tank? I also have plenty of dead corals from my salt water fish tanks, I wonder if it is a good idea to add them to the set up?

 

[EricJC]

As an alternative to wet/dry, google "berlin method of filtration"; it's what is most commonly used in today's reef tanks.

 

[divewsharks]

the rock + skimmer will be your primary filtration system, so depending on your intended bioload will determine how much rock you'll need.
Additionally the type of rock will determine its weight. based on the region its collected from, it can have different densities, meaning that 1 pound of rock collected from florida waters may be much more dense, less porous that 1 pound of rock collected from somewhere in the indo-pacific. (pores are a good thing!)
To save money i would suggest only buying a small amount of 'cured' rock and buy the bulk of your rock as dry/base rock. Places like bulkreefsupply.com sell 'dry' rock for much less. the 'cured' rock will seed all the dry rock you place in your system and as such shortly after introduction it will all be the same.

 

[luigy39]

Thanks for this information. I read somewhere that the rocks should be placed before the sand for stability purposes, it sounds a little strange to me, at the same time some people don't use any sand at all, threre's a lot of contradictory information out there and for the beginner is very confusing..

 

[divewsharks]

Yes you would want to place the rocks first, then add sand. Reason being that many critters can dig in the sand and such, and should the rock be on top of the sand and the sand changes it could compromise your rockwork.

Some folks do go barebottom (bb), it allows them to really boost the amount of flow in the tank as they are not worried about sand blowing around. By boosting the flow so high, the goal is all detritus remains suspended and eventually removed from the system as there is no place for it to hide. While my frag tank is BB my other display tanks have sand as it looks much more natural to me, plus it gives another place for nitrifying bacteria to colonize.

hth