I've been wanting to get into salt and reef now for about 3 years. I was going to jump in and do a 55 gallon, but plans, and finances took those plans out of the window, and have a low tech, dirted planted 55 gallon now.. Long story short, a friend at work, had a old JBJ Nano DX laying around, that blew its transformer and ballast and he gave it to me....
His loss, my gain...
I have cleaned and disinfected the tank with a 1:1 of white vinegar, and plain tap water, and have rinsed tank 10 times, and left to dry. Also did this to the once live rock, but now very dead rock, when tank crashed, he just pulled out all the dead stuff, and let it soak in water (bad idea). The rock is now, nice white, and nothing on it, been throughly rinsed, and went for 5 soaks, fresh daily changes, with circulation, and has been drying now for 3 weeks in the sun.
Just thinking I'm going to go get new base dry rock, and a nice chunck of LR from my LFS, along with live sand.
I will be doing a fishless cycle.. Only way to go, in my opinion and experiences with freshwater over my years.
So I have still been doing research, and have a few questions, that I just can't seem to get answers to, or am confused about. The hood has been removed, and made a custom screen top.
1. The stock pump is a 160gph. This puts me roughly at 17x turnover rate. My understanding, this should be more than sufficent for some zoa's and maybe a xenia or two... Is this correct? Thinking of jumping up to a 260gph pump
2. Filtration... carbon and purigen with a sponge and filter floss in the first chamber? Perferably a media rack perhaps?
3. To skim or not skim, that is the question.. Highly debated subject.. 9g, most everything will be taken care of with weekly 2.5g to 3g water changes... and more than likely bi weekly filter rinse outs in saltwater.
4. Don't believe it will be worth time and effort to modify second chamber into a mini refugium.. space, and way water flows from first to second chamber.....
5. Lighting.. I have it narrowed down to 2 choices.. Maxspect R420R Razor 70w 15k Nano model, or the Kessil A160we... Any experience, or any pros cons to either of those..
6. Substrate, thinking a fine grain, live sand.. with being only 1-2" deep. I don't believe a DSB will be very effective in such a small footprint, and bring about problems in the future.
Thank you very much for all your time, and input. I greatly appreciate it!
-Joe
His loss, my gain...
I have cleaned and disinfected the tank with a 1:1 of white vinegar, and plain tap water, and have rinsed tank 10 times, and left to dry. Also did this to the once live rock, but now very dead rock, when tank crashed, he just pulled out all the dead stuff, and let it soak in water (bad idea). The rock is now, nice white, and nothing on it, been throughly rinsed, and went for 5 soaks, fresh daily changes, with circulation, and has been drying now for 3 weeks in the sun.
Just thinking I'm going to go get new base dry rock, and a nice chunck of LR from my LFS, along with live sand.
I will be doing a fishless cycle.. Only way to go, in my opinion and experiences with freshwater over my years.
So I have still been doing research, and have a few questions, that I just can't seem to get answers to, or am confused about. The hood has been removed, and made a custom screen top.
1. The stock pump is a 160gph. This puts me roughly at 17x turnover rate. My understanding, this should be more than sufficent for some zoa's and maybe a xenia or two... Is this correct? Thinking of jumping up to a 260gph pump
2. Filtration... carbon and purigen with a sponge and filter floss in the first chamber? Perferably a media rack perhaps?
3. To skim or not skim, that is the question.. Highly debated subject.. 9g, most everything will be taken care of with weekly 2.5g to 3g water changes... and more than likely bi weekly filter rinse outs in saltwater.
4. Don't believe it will be worth time and effort to modify second chamber into a mini refugium.. space, and way water flows from first to second chamber.....
5. Lighting.. I have it narrowed down to 2 choices.. Maxspect R420R Razor 70w 15k Nano model, or the Kessil A160we... Any experience, or any pros cons to either of those..
6. Substrate, thinking a fine grain, live sand.. with being only 1-2" deep. I don't believe a DSB will be very effective in such a small footprint, and bring about problems in the future.
Thank you very much for all your time, and input. I greatly appreciate it!
-Joe
