steelerspgh
New member
First post, about a one year lurker- you guys are amazing the info contained on this site is second to none, (as long as you have your BS filter turned on.:lol
OK little backstory, bought my first tank 40gal in summer of 1996, had to hide it in my barracks room when i was stationed at the marine corps airstation in beaufort,sc. after it was found in my wall locker on inspection day, and was told to get rid of it,i was devastated,but requested mast and ended up getting permission from my CO to display it, as long as i kept it as beautiful as it was. im sure not many jarheads had authorized tanks prior to that incident. i was pumped and spent every hard earned tax dollar of yours that i got via paycheck into making it the best tank i could. it was amazing to my standards, and im sure would only amount to a refugium to most of yours. either way, i was hooked from that day on, a few months later my barracks roommate jason was vaccuming and put the handle of the vaccum through the front pane. fish rocks and water were everywhere, and emergency salt bucket held everything until i got back from the LFS with a brand new 75 gal. lost a few fish and never did find my percula but everything else survived the devastation, except for my roommate... ;p when i got out in 2000 i tediously bagged, bottled or packed my corals,fish live rock and sand and made the trip back home to pittsburgh. that was an experience and i dont reccomend boxing up your tank and moving, but it can be done! i had it back up and running in less than 48 hours, and all was well, then came the crash. about a year after that i bought some corline growth accelerator, it was the in thing at the time... I read the dosing instructions wrong and fish started floating, corals started separating. i killed everything. work,life,money all prevented me from starting that tank over. so here i am in 2012 with an empty 250 gallon to put up in my basement as a predator tank, and last week bought a 115T(ish) to put up in the bedroom as a full on reeftank. so what has changed in those last 11 years ive been out of the game? OMG everything! spent the last few month reading and reading and reading. im at wits end, so im now speaking up from behind the monitor and requesting some direction on what i need to buy. heres a list of everything i have so far:
115 gal tall glass cages tank 48x18x30 w/ overflow and predrilled schedule 80 bulkheads for the holes.
oak stand, canopy.
yep thats it, lol
now heres where you guys come in.
sump:im pitching my wet dry filter and bioballs and was probably gonna be buying a triggersystems ruby sump36
skimmer reccomendation:something that fits in the first compartment of that sump because i was thinking about doing an algae scrubber down there too but not sure yet, maybe just mangroves in the second compartment.
led lights was considering 1 orphek 156W for now centered, until i can afford a second, 2 should cover 48" but open to ideas, i would like to use the canopy since its gonna be in the bedroom and we like it dark!
controller: wow neat stuff, i know nothing about it, wish i had that years ago but technically i would be able to figure that sort of programming stuff out, i think... apex neptune was being considered after that exahusting forum discussion the otherday.. probably still going on.
what else do i need?
live rock sand all that stuff i got figured out as well as the cycling of the tank no prob. as far as creatures, ill take that with time, long term goal- sps lps softies fish. but one step at a time here.. i need to get this stuff ordered and set up first! any help, really i mean any help with the skimmer lights controller, and anything else you guys think i should have, would be greatly greatly appreciated
thanks in advance!
shawn.
yep thats it
OK little backstory, bought my first tank 40gal in summer of 1996, had to hide it in my barracks room when i was stationed at the marine corps airstation in beaufort,sc. after it was found in my wall locker on inspection day, and was told to get rid of it,i was devastated,but requested mast and ended up getting permission from my CO to display it, as long as i kept it as beautiful as it was. im sure not many jarheads had authorized tanks prior to that incident. i was pumped and spent every hard earned tax dollar of yours that i got via paycheck into making it the best tank i could. it was amazing to my standards, and im sure would only amount to a refugium to most of yours. either way, i was hooked from that day on, a few months later my barracks roommate jason was vaccuming and put the handle of the vaccum through the front pane. fish rocks and water were everywhere, and emergency salt bucket held everything until i got back from the LFS with a brand new 75 gal. lost a few fish and never did find my percula but everything else survived the devastation, except for my roommate... ;p when i got out in 2000 i tediously bagged, bottled or packed my corals,fish live rock and sand and made the trip back home to pittsburgh. that was an experience and i dont reccomend boxing up your tank and moving, but it can be done! i had it back up and running in less than 48 hours, and all was well, then came the crash. about a year after that i bought some corline growth accelerator, it was the in thing at the time... I read the dosing instructions wrong and fish started floating, corals started separating. i killed everything. work,life,money all prevented me from starting that tank over. so here i am in 2012 with an empty 250 gallon to put up in my basement as a predator tank, and last week bought a 115T(ish) to put up in the bedroom as a full on reeftank. so what has changed in those last 11 years ive been out of the game? OMG everything! spent the last few month reading and reading and reading. im at wits end, so im now speaking up from behind the monitor and requesting some direction on what i need to buy. heres a list of everything i have so far:115 gal tall glass cages tank 48x18x30 w/ overflow and predrilled schedule 80 bulkheads for the holes.
oak stand, canopy.
yep thats it, lol
now heres where you guys come in.
sump:im pitching my wet dry filter and bioballs and was probably gonna be buying a triggersystems ruby sump36
skimmer reccomendation:something that fits in the first compartment of that sump because i was thinking about doing an algae scrubber down there too but not sure yet, maybe just mangroves in the second compartment.
led lights was considering 1 orphek 156W for now centered, until i can afford a second, 2 should cover 48" but open to ideas, i would like to use the canopy since its gonna be in the bedroom and we like it dark!
controller: wow neat stuff, i know nothing about it, wish i had that years ago but technically i would be able to figure that sort of programming stuff out, i think... apex neptune was being considered after that exahusting forum discussion the otherday.. probably still going on.
what else do i need?
live rock sand all that stuff i got figured out as well as the cycling of the tank no prob. as far as creatures, ill take that with time, long term goal- sps lps softies fish. but one step at a time here.. i need to get this stuff ordered and set up first! any help, really i mean any help with the skimmer lights controller, and anything else you guys think i should have, would be greatly greatly appreciated
thanks in advance!
shawn.
yep thats it
