New here saying Hello

K

Knox_Legend

New member
Just thought I would say hello. I just received a 135 gallon saltwater tank for my birthday. The tank has a few fish and live rock right now. It came with some kind of hob filter and and a couple of woefully underpowered cfl lights and couple heaters along with a powerhead. I want to set up for a reef tank but am unsure as to which direction I need to go. I want to get the filtration worked out and then work on the light.

I want to be able to grow some zoanthids as I am really digging them. Just wanting to say hello again and look forward to meeting some local people for some advice and expertise.

Thanks:beer:
 
Welcome! :bigeyes: sounds like you're off to a great start. i'd say the first place to start looking is for a good protein skimmer. if you're doing zoas, you won't need a whole lot in lights.

some of the gang know a whole lot about reef systems (i'm not one of them!), i'm sure you'll find help in here.

congrats on the set up and happy birthday!
 
I will be spending my time for sure scouring the web and this site for info. It is a hard hobby to not go out and just not spend a ton of money getting all this cool stuff!

Thanks for the birthday regards!
 
Welcome to the hobby and........

<img src="/images/welcome.gif" width="500" height="62"><br><b><i><big><big>To Reef Central and the ETRC forum</b></i></big></big>

Figuring out what you want to do for skimming, lighting and water movement (you will need a lot more than you have) are the 3 most important things IMO. I am assuming the tank isn't reef ready?

Chris
 
No unfortunatley it isn't reef ready. My first biggest concern is filtration I dont think it is up to the task so I'm on the hunt for a used sump/refugium/skimmer system and a live reef overflow box which I may have to buy new. Next comes the lighting and I want to go with T5 for this as I think it will be just what I'm looking for as I'm not wanting to go with demanding corals just yet.

Thanks all !
 
Sounds like a good plan. The reason I mention water flow is because your live rock will be the primary source of filtration in your tank. The more water you have flowing around your live rock the more efficient it will be. For this reason the easiest way to increase the natural filtration in your tank is to get a few more powerheads;)

Also corals, no matter if they are softies or hard corals, like a lot of flow:)

Chris
 
I need to pick up some new bulbs for my cfls so I will get at least one more powerhead to add to the tank and get some water moving!
 
Welcome. If zoas are all you're keeping I wouldn't get too worked up about a protein skimmer being high on your list of first things to get. You probably won't even need one if you can be diligent in your water changes. W/o a protein skimmer you don't necessarily even need a sump. I'd focus on flow and lighting first.

That being said a skimmer will help with nuisance algae and removing other undesirables.

Good luck and post here if you need help.
 
Knox_Legend said:
As far as flow goes how much do you think I will eventually need? And lighting I want to stick with t5 so I was thinking about these here or something similar http://www.marinedepot.com/lighting..._nova_extreme_t5_high_output_ho_lunar-ap.html

I am also going to add more live rock along with another layer of live sand to build up my sand bed a little more.

Thanks for the help so far and I will be posting here often:beer::fish2:
Click to expand...

I thought a 135 was a 6' tank. Flow depends on what you think you will eventually want to keep. I do 80X turnover on my 125 and am considering another 10-20X but it is primarily SPS.
 
I pretty much want to do some zoas along with a few mushrooms to start but would like to overbuild in case I want to go with a few more demanding things down the road.
 
For zoas and LPS you can get by with considerably less flow but, as fishdoc implied, it is really hard to have "too much" flow. What you do have to avoid is directed flow; no coral likes to be blasted by a jet of water continuously. Also, random intermittent flow is more desirable than continuous directed flow, but solutions to produce that type of flow can get expensive.
 
Sounds like a bit of a learning curve with the right flow so it looks like I have some research to do. It's good to have a local resource like this to call upon. Another question I have as far as lights go I have a 96w cfl and a 65w cfl along with a single bulb fluorescent light. I am thinking on going with a 50/50 combo 10k and a actinic for the cfl and a 10k for the single fluorescent. My question is will this be enough to keep the live rock going until I can get my t5s.

Thanks
 
That's good. Most keep their tanks at 78 - 80 or so although some will vary on either side of that bit.
 
Others may have more input on this, but I'm not quite sold on the idea of buying "live" sand from a store, in a bag. Buying from somebody that has had it in their tank for some time is different. I just can't see that it could live long in a bag. Think about the bottles of live copepods...they don't live but 1-3 weeks from what I hear, and they wind up dying on shelves much of the time. I'm sure the turnover rate for sand on the shelf isn't that good.

Also, if you haven't set up the tank yet, you may want to consider that some pet stores will sell you (possibly give) water that is already cycled. Basically, you can get water from their setup and they just add to it, making a water change for them and you don't have to cycle your tank. :D:D

Many will tell you that you MUST use RO water, but that's not really true. If you don't have an RO unit, initial startup can be expensive if you're buying water. If you're very picky and don't want to take any chances, yes you do. However, it can be started with tap water, but be prepared in case you get a burst of algae. I didn't have much problem with it in mine. I did get a little cyano but the right medication killed it off fast.
 
My tank is up and running so no cycling the fish that are in it seem hale and healthy. About the only thing I think the "live" sand I bought did was make the water cloudy till it settled that and the 40 lb bag of argonite(sp) I put in it. I just need to get the dust off the rock now from the sand I put in it.

Thanks again!
 
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