barbouri02
Member
Howdy Ya'll!!
I am new to this forum and even greener when it comes to reef tanks.
I've had at least 6 years or so (maybe more, time sure flies) in marine tanks (even LONGER in FW), however I kept ONLY seahorses and tried my hand at raising them. I do have future plans for a seahorse system which I hope to have running up around the same time as our "reef" system goes. The seahorse system's I used to keep ran well with cansiter filters and yes, the maintenence sucks, but I found the flow was optimal (IMO). And boy were my SH's prolific!!! lol They will have a rena filstar 2, hang on tank skimmer, regular NO lights, and thats about it except for hitching posts and perhaps a macro or two. Maybe a tiny bit of dry rock (I know about the phos associated with such rock and will take precautions), some branchy stuff or the like.
The potential reef is going to be in standard 55 gallon tank. We plan to run sump filtration on it with Skimmer and hang on overflow box. We are not wanting to drill the tank so any helpful direction you can point us towards a fail safe hang on overflow box would be greatly appreciated as we have frequent 30 sec-5 min power outages in my area!! The sump is custom built per the area we have under the tank and is aprox 18 gallons, with refugium. Another thing I've NO experience with, but it seems easy enough to research here and provides lots of benefitial options. On the tank we have a Tek 5 HO (T-5's) a four bulb system. It currently has mostly actinic blubs (we purchased it used) but may or may not change them right now as they are nearly new and have plenty of life left.
Now the 55 we hope to have LR/LS/dry rock/fish (appropriate for the tank size)/and few corals. We are attracted to mostly the soft bodied and zoo type colors. Many LFS's have said the lighting we have would easily support 90% of corals in the industry, save the intense needs of clams and hard stuff like acropra.
We do have an RO/DI unit and will be getting new membranes for it soon, the ones I have are only starting to read minimal on the TDS <2.
Let me know if these ideas are on track or where I need to adjust etc. And I HAVE read the newbie threads lol, nearly all of them and am still working on reading those wonderfully put together articles.
Also - for the questions. The reef tank -
Being that the tank will not be drilled - what is the best fail safe (we experience short power loss frequently and work ALL day, a backup power source is an option I plan to explore but what are some of the other mods or things you can buy to accomplish this?) HOB Overflow around? Im truly ignorant when it comes to filtration beyond canisters, so pointing me in the right direction or if you run/would run a system similar to me what would you suggest? See question below too. I saw some safety measures listed in the newb threads like the two holes drilled in the bottom of the return tube, and I've also seen on the top of the U tubes airline tubing connected to a pump I cannot locate to see how this works to save my life (airlifter?). Can someone point me to it and explain EXACTLY where a pump like that would reside if connected to the utube?
Return pumps - our goal is a 8-10 turnover (as was recommended by nearly ALL the coral LFS, and we are fortunatate to have quite a few). Our head height will be aprox 3 ft, the tank 55 gallons, and the sump capable of 18 or so gallons (I know the actual amount of water depending on rock and sump level will still be a rough estimate but thats what we're looking at). What in your opinions are good pumps? Price is of course a concern so if we can get a good performing pump for less then we'd likely go that route unless we are told ONLY xyz would be best and we'll just have to save up lol.
I've seen flow rate and turn over mentioned a couple times and Im just not grasping the concept of flow rate. I search and search all of these things, so please dont think me lazy, I just might take a bit longer to catch on to these reef tank specifics. So I *think* flow rate would have more to do with the motion in the tank rather than the turn over rate since the overflow is skimming the waters top essentially right? So the need of powerheads of some sort to move the water around below the surface is necessary. What would one suggest for our 55 (standard tank 48" long), a couple, and what brands as I've been looking around online and while I see the stuff available, I dont actually understand what I'll need.
"Cooking" dry rock. Now, I've never done this, and I've seen this asked before and most times the response is search it, you'll find what cooking means. I've searched and what comes up is either people who know the process and are mentioning it but not HOW to do it, people asking what cooking is to be told to go search (and I have), or really vauge explanations. I think I gather it has to do with letting dry rock sit in a tub of SW with no light. Is there a certain temp? Are there powerheads to move water around? How long I assume is until they stop leaching. Are you doing water changes? If so how often? Perhaps "cooking" should be a sticky so one can be directed directly to the how-to's. lol
Gosh, well I guess thats enough for now. I sure hope someone can help me. I feel totally comfortable with my planned SH tank, but the reef.....sump....overflow box.... TERRIFIED.
I am new to this forum and even greener when it comes to reef tanks.
I've had at least 6 years or so (maybe more, time sure flies) in marine tanks (even LONGER in FW), however I kept ONLY seahorses and tried my hand at raising them. I do have future plans for a seahorse system which I hope to have running up around the same time as our "reef" system goes. The seahorse system's I used to keep ran well with cansiter filters and yes, the maintenence sucks, but I found the flow was optimal (IMO). And boy were my SH's prolific!!! lol They will have a rena filstar 2, hang on tank skimmer, regular NO lights, and thats about it except for hitching posts and perhaps a macro or two. Maybe a tiny bit of dry rock (I know about the phos associated with such rock and will take precautions), some branchy stuff or the like.
The potential reef is going to be in standard 55 gallon tank. We plan to run sump filtration on it with Skimmer and hang on overflow box. We are not wanting to drill the tank so any helpful direction you can point us towards a fail safe hang on overflow box would be greatly appreciated as we have frequent 30 sec-5 min power outages in my area!! The sump is custom built per the area we have under the tank and is aprox 18 gallons, with refugium. Another thing I've NO experience with, but it seems easy enough to research here and provides lots of benefitial options. On the tank we have a Tek 5 HO (T-5's) a four bulb system. It currently has mostly actinic blubs (we purchased it used) but may or may not change them right now as they are nearly new and have plenty of life left.
Now the 55 we hope to have LR/LS/dry rock/fish (appropriate for the tank size)/and few corals. We are attracted to mostly the soft bodied and zoo type colors. Many LFS's have said the lighting we have would easily support 90% of corals in the industry, save the intense needs of clams and hard stuff like acropra.
We do have an RO/DI unit and will be getting new membranes for it soon, the ones I have are only starting to read minimal on the TDS <2.
Let me know if these ideas are on track or where I need to adjust etc. And I HAVE read the newbie threads lol, nearly all of them and am still working on reading those wonderfully put together articles.
Also - for the questions. The reef tank -
Being that the tank will not be drilled - what is the best fail safe (we experience short power loss frequently and work ALL day, a backup power source is an option I plan to explore but what are some of the other mods or things you can buy to accomplish this?) HOB Overflow around? Im truly ignorant when it comes to filtration beyond canisters, so pointing me in the right direction or if you run/would run a system similar to me what would you suggest? See question below too. I saw some safety measures listed in the newb threads like the two holes drilled in the bottom of the return tube, and I've also seen on the top of the U tubes airline tubing connected to a pump I cannot locate to see how this works to save my life (airlifter?). Can someone point me to it and explain EXACTLY where a pump like that would reside if connected to the utube?
Return pumps - our goal is a 8-10 turnover (as was recommended by nearly ALL the coral LFS, and we are fortunatate to have quite a few). Our head height will be aprox 3 ft, the tank 55 gallons, and the sump capable of 18 or so gallons (I know the actual amount of water depending on rock and sump level will still be a rough estimate but thats what we're looking at). What in your opinions are good pumps? Price is of course a concern so if we can get a good performing pump for less then we'd likely go that route unless we are told ONLY xyz would be best and we'll just have to save up lol.
I've seen flow rate and turn over mentioned a couple times and Im just not grasping the concept of flow rate. I search and search all of these things, so please dont think me lazy, I just might take a bit longer to catch on to these reef tank specifics. So I *think* flow rate would have more to do with the motion in the tank rather than the turn over rate since the overflow is skimming the waters top essentially right? So the need of powerheads of some sort to move the water around below the surface is necessary. What would one suggest for our 55 (standard tank 48" long), a couple, and what brands as I've been looking around online and while I see the stuff available, I dont actually understand what I'll need.
"Cooking" dry rock. Now, I've never done this, and I've seen this asked before and most times the response is search it, you'll find what cooking means. I've searched and what comes up is either people who know the process and are mentioning it but not HOW to do it, people asking what cooking is to be told to go search (and I have), or really vauge explanations. I think I gather it has to do with letting dry rock sit in a tub of SW with no light. Is there a certain temp? Are there powerheads to move water around? How long I assume is until they stop leaching. Are you doing water changes? If so how often? Perhaps "cooking" should be a sticky so one can be directed directly to the how-to's. lol
Gosh, well I guess thats enough for now. I sure hope someone can help me. I feel totally comfortable with my planned SH tank, but the reef.....sump....overflow box.... TERRIFIED.
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