New to reefing.... 50 CUBE

mcidcbcmd

New member
Hey guys I am new to reef tanks. I am purchasing a SC tank 50 gallon setup/sump tank. I plan on putting in 5-7 fish and beginner corals. I want to provide the best, hassle free, no second guessing environment that I can. Here is the list of supplies I plan on getting:

Tank comes with skimmer so I'm good.
Light- hydra 26
Powerhead - Tunze Nano stream 6055
Sand bed - fine live sand
Rock - bulk reef supply - pukani
AUTO Top Off - Tunze 3155 - or the 3152 not sure yet
RODI stage 4
GFO & Carbon reactor
Colbalt heater - what recommendations?

Might get an APEX Jr. - Any opinions would it be a worth wild investment? Any other things I may need? Any help would be much appreciated.

Thanks
 
Get quality test kits for monitoring your and noting parameters. I would also put the pukani in sw to check the level of PO4 leaching before intro to the display tank. Consider adding a dosing system for maintaining your ALK/CAL/MAG levels.
 
Ok pm me with any questions as I recently started I would love to help. First you need to cycle your tank this is when the micro life in your tank grows at this stage there can be crashes if your not carful. So first I would add live rock if you want coral or dry with one piece of live what about 3 weeks and add something like 1 or 2 starter fish like clowns and go slow from there. Again pm me with any questions or in this chat!
 
do the tunze 3155, I have the same tank, I have had both the 3152 and the 3155, 3155 is the better investment for certain. The pumps are the same, it's the controller and sensors that are different.

I would recommend replacing the return pump included with the 50 SCA and get a DC pump. The JeBao DCT6000 is what I use, I have it running at 50%, works great.

with dry rock you want to watch for leaching of PO4. phosphates (po4) will leach from rocks as the rocks contain dead organic material, as it decays in the water, phosphates will rise. It's best if you can cure dry rock prior to putting it in your tank. that is what he meant by put it in sw and watch for rising po4. If you do not do this, you risk an algae battle ahead of you. It wont kill your tank off, but will more likely than not cause major frustrations and constant battles down the road.

I would look into the apex classic over the jr. I bought the jr and quickly realized I made a mistake as the extra probes I wanted and the expansion EB8 quickly took me to a price point that was more than had I just bought the classic.

Rock wise, if you havnt purchased yet. Look up Caribsea Liferock. You can get it from BRS, Amazon etc. I went this route and do not regret it in the slightest. there was no need to cure it and I am very happy with end results.
 
very cool! thanks for the advice, I didn't know that about the rock..Ill look into that for sure...any other insights on your tank build would be great..
Thanks again,
 
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