New to site \ reefing - local in Coral Springs

S

SaltyNole

Member
Looking for someone to chat it up with on equipment \ setup for a 125 salt with undercabinet sump.

Inherited this as a cichlid tank when I bought the house, was setup with an undergravel filter now ready to take the plunge into salt, haven't done this since the 90's and know that a lot has changed since then!!!!

Would like to see \ hear about other setups and perhaps get more info about club \ meetups in the area for when I am ready to start populating my tank.

PM me if you are able to help out!

Thanks for any assistance you can provide!
 
Lots of good local guys. Join FMAS. They meet once a month and have periodic events. Great group of guys (and gals;))
 
I feel like "plunge into saltwater" has a very old negative connotation to it. When I first started thinking about doing it, I was super scared cause this and that... Gotta have these huge tanks for stable parameters, things die so easy and you'll waste a lot if you dont babysit your tank like a toddler.

Turns out, Smaller is better, Evaporation is a B***** and the death to all tanks without an ATO. Overall though, I progressively went from soft corals to SPS ( soon acro/clams once i get the $$$$$$$$) and I didn't see an increase in difficultly.

Overall, I think I had more death in freshwater than I ever had in saltwater.
 
Thanks Mr X, that's right by my work, perfect location. Guessing I just missed the sept meeting. Will put it on my calendar for Oct.
 
Thanks necrio, by plunge I guess I am mainly referring to the investment. While I am ready to fill out some dough I hate doing something one way only to find out there was a better way or another way I wish I had done it. hence my desire to talk to someone and learn a little more.

I think I have ultimately read so much that now I'm paralyzed on deciding what would be the best way to move forward.
 
You know what. You can be a reefer on a budget. The research you read should be on equipment and reviews about it.

I don't buy a single thing unless I can get it for cheap, corals, lights, fish, rock, anything. Patience is key.. Use craiglist, fourms, meet some people. Frag swap this sunday near me.

If I were to guess, I think my bio29 has 600-700 dollars invested into it ( retail), but I think I spent maybe 300-400. Minus the bio29 of course cuz i got that new on sale :D.

But you know what, ask questions here.. People will respond, I know I will. When you can start PM send me some stuff.. I know a LOT about LED lights.. Literally spent ~Weeks of time~ studying LEDs. Price vs power etc.

In addition, there are a lot of nice guys here on the fourms. The first few people I met I went over to their house and had a great long talk about stuff I didn;t know and they just gave me so much stuff to begin with. (Corals mostly).

Edit: For example of reefer on a budget, I got a free 150g tank that needed a little resealing(easy work).. I sadly couldnt keep it because of its size and nowhere to put it.. but If i wanted, I could have filled that up with ocean water(cleaned of course) and do water changes with synthetic salt to improve the quality overtime. Ended up selling it for some coral frags.
 
the awesome thing about salt is there is more then one way to do it. you just need to build a plan to figure out what the best route to get what you want is.
 
Thanks again.

Main research I am hung up on right now is drilling for overflow since I want to set this up for reeling while starting it as a folr till I can get some quality lighting. I am looking at glass holes box draining down to a 30 gal sump, aiming for 1200-1500 gph for sump flow.

Wondering about drain setup. Position of box (middle or end of tank). Fail safes for pump failure or drain clogging. Return pump also seems to be a tough one, to get the flow and rise I need, it doesn't seem like their are many out there to choose from on many of these sites.

Next up is closed loop vs power heads, I have a built in with no room for magnets on side to hold the power heads up as tank sits on stand in laundry room with closet walls on each side of it. Now would be ideal time to plumb for closed loop with no sand or rock or inhabitants to worry about moving around. And if I go this route is drilling required or just go over the top for intake and returns here?

Rock and sand I seem to have settled on getting from Marcos site, am getting anxious to get this started and get the cycle going so I can then start shopping for inhabitants!
 
There is an amazing DIY thread in DIY for plumbing.
http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1310585

Now, I dont have experience with larger tanks because im cheap + i like smaller tanks anyways ( except my dream tank in my head). But, I like the idea of a loop system because bigger the tank, the more expensive it becomes. Instead of having Returns + powerheads in every corner, you could have some good returns and fewer(none?) power heads.

I think if you have purchased your rocks from Marcos, thats great. I hear nothing but good things from them. But, overall there are so many people "end of hobby sale" where they are giving quality live rock/base rock for free/super cheap. I was friends with this one guy that was shutting down his whole shop... He had like 601040124 pounds of rocks, some great, some just heavy boulders. All 100% free. Also, people always order more than than need, so they have extra.
 
Thanks Necrio, haven't placed the order from Marcos yet, will be reviewing this forum to see if anyone out there is putting stuff up for sale. Am looking to save some where I can so I can get this whole thing up and running with just reef capable lighting being my last major purchase that I will roll into next spring summer.

Read that thread from Bean already, thats what got me all confused \ concerned going with the glass holes box (2 2" drains only) wasn't best method. Those don't support bulkhead strainers due to their low profile. Really would like to make sure I get this decision right the first time since I don't want to break tank down and have to drill more holes at a later date.
 
if i drilled my own i think i would do the one large overflow across the whole back, with 3 down pipes. due to its ability to handle water. as for powerheads vs closed loop. depends how much you want to drill the tank. Btw make sure its not tempered. you can get a few Jaebos that will sit inside the tank and do well for cheap. koreia (sp?) pumps are good but have a small ammount of magnet on the outside. Really if you want plumbing advice id talk to mrx. He seems to be well versed in plumbing a tank.
 
SaltyNole said:
Thanks Necrio, haven't placed the order from Marcos yet, will be reviewing this forum to see if anyone out there is putting stuff up for sale. Am looking to save some where I can so I can get this whole thing up and running with just reef capable lighting being my last major purchase that I will roll into next spring summer.

Read that thread from Bean already, thats what got me all confused \ concerned going with the glass holes box (2 2" drains only) wasn't best method. Those don't support bulkhead strainers due to their low profile. Really would like to make sure I get this decision right the first time since I don't want to break tank down and have to drill more holes at a later date.
Click to expand...

Let me know if you need assistance on the configuration, I have a 700gal system using the coast to coast method of overflows. I run over 7000gal and hour through it and have to dial it back as it has the capability to out perform the two tandem reflow super gold darts feeding the DT.....shoot me a pm with your number and I can text you, stop by anytime.....custom coast to coast overflows are not hard to do and we usually make them out of black acrylic and then as stated above feed a box on the back with the bean animal setup.....many options, let me know if you need help
 
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