Hi everyone. Last year for my son's 5th birthday, we bought him a 37 gal bow-front off of craigslist. We started w/ some damsels and a few others and we quickly found that it takes more than a week for a new tank to cycle. We still have the damsels though.
Hi Indydakota. Im new on here too but I want to put in some warnings/recomendations...
Over the past 15 mos we have gone through a few fish and a green bubble-tip learning a lot along the way. Now everything has settled and our stock includes a yellow tang, 6-line, ocellaris', red-bulb, the damsels, and a couple of frags.
Do not put damsels in your tank!!!!:mad2: They will become extremely aggressive later on and could potentially kill anything you put in after. Chromis are an exception. The six line is of the same temperment when they get older, avoid these as well.
Because both of my kids, and now my wife, have really started to enjoy the tank, we have decided to expand. Recently we bought a 150 gal tank (72x18x28) w/ a 29 gal sump/refugium. I am missing some parts to this larger set up and I was hoping to get some suggestions/recommendations as well as any advice in case I missed something...
Still need:
Lighting - Budget is a concern for us, but I understand that we will end up spending some money in this area to get what we want. I have narrowed it down to what we want. The criteria are: LED w/ a timer the ability to program sunrise/set, clouds, storms, etc... We are not very consistent on turning the lights on and off at regular times every day.
For LED's look into some Vortech Radions they are full spectrum and full timer controlled through a computer with a usb and wireless signal. Alternately you could get the new pendant lights from Kessil and hook them up to a tank controller[also a good decision]. something cheaper from Fluval or Aquatic Life might be ok for you too.
Inline pump - I just need something large enough to cycle the water. I've seen things online that says the tank needs to be cycled 10x, 30x, & 50x. So this part I am unsure of.
Different corals need more or less water-flow. If you start putting in lots of SPS corals they need to be blasted with that 50x turnover. If it's just fish and soft coral, they only need enough to keep detritus from settling on things [10xflow] If it's in the budget, look into controllable powerheads from Vortech or Tunze[big help]. If you want to only use the return pump, look into Sea-swirl and use what are called eductors on your output pipes.
Sand/Live Rock - I heard about (and was thinking of) using playground sand for the bulk of sand bed, and then slowly move the sand from my existing tank over. The same with the rock. I'm just not sure of using playground sand. As far as the rock, I've seen some interesting things like Aquamaxx & Caribsea dry rock but I'm open to suggestions on what to use.
Do NOT use playground sand!!!!! :facepalm:It can contain silica which when dissolved will become toxic to the livestock. Find as porous of a rock as you can, not just as much rock as you can stuff in I.E. poundage. [looking for surface area here]. Dry sand and rock is enough, just add some kind of nitrifying bacteria. Bio-spira/Dr Tims.. Any rock you put in the tank will be covered in good algae eventually. Find stuff that you like the shapes of that will be easy to aquascape.
For filtration, I'm planning to use a 3 section sump with the 1st section containing my overflow drain and my coralife 220g skimmer. The 2nd section would have either sand or mud (I'm open to suggestions) and some kind of plant that filters the water (I'm clueless in this area) and hope to grow some sort of copepods or similar organism. The 3rd section would be my return.
Get as large of a sump as will fit in your location as possible. 60-80 gallons+ would be nice, but might not be possible. It will add stability in the form of more water volume. Look into using filter socks in the first section as well. Eventually you should upgrade the skimmer to a +1 size and as good of a quality as you can. I use Miracle Mud in my refugium. It's like a giant time-release vitamin for your tank if a bit pricy.... Make the refugium as LARGE as possible to aid in the nitrogen cycle. Use Chetomorpha algae [spagetti algae], or if you can grow Ogo algae you can even feed it to your fish.:dance: Ideally a refugium should feed the tank by gravity so the pods don't have to go through the pump to get to the display tank. It's not always possible though. For a return pump, find out what your tank likes as far as temp. A water-cooled submersible pump might be a good thing. Shop around for pumps with adequate GPH at an acceptable power draw, they are all very different. [Oversize it a bit for later additions and valve it down for now] Good luck Have fun....P.S let us know how you do...:wave:
Merry Christmas
I know that this is a long first post for me, but I figure I should just jump in instead of just saying hi. Thanks to all who respond and from my family to yours, have a Happy Holiday and Merry Christmas.
