Straight Up - What to Do - New tank

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schnebbles

New member
Ok - I'm reading and reading and I'm getting really confused I'm about to give up before I even start.

40b - converting from freshwater.

Getting live rock from a local person - was going to get crushed coral from him as well but now I read that's not as good as sand. Ok - I'll get sand.

Canister - have one now - I can run but what to put in? Carbon, gfo (just read about this tonight), Purigen, sponge, floss? what? and in what order?
Or, not mess with it?

Protein skimmer? ya or nay?

I was hoping to get my rock and get my old stuff out tomorrow and put the saltwater in and get it cycling with the rock. I may not have time to get my sand tomorrow - will it be ok to put that in later in the week? My work schedule sucks this week and I can't get to a store if I don't go tomorrow.

I have my 2 power heads for the sides, ordering whatever light I choose but I know I don't need that immediately.

No sump - no room. What is the BEST and easiest set up for me? I know if I run the canister, I need to clean it frequently.

I'm feeling really frustrated the more I read so I thought I'd post this. Thank you all so much.
 
Hi!

First thing first: patience.

I'm a newbie on salt water, had my fresh water tank, stopped, and after 20+ years I'm on SW for the first time.

I always had a dream to have a SW tank. My wife supported me and as a beginner, I started with a 55gal tank, with little live rock, I bought that expensive sea water from Petco, live sand, hang on back filters and a single power head.

Also, I bought and read a few books, such as the Conscient Marine Aquarist.

I had no idea about the importance of RO/DI water and I'm still learning a lot about how crucial a good light represents.

Anyway, aside all of this, there will be mistakes.

You'll not be ready for dipping your corals yet. I literally lost a Green Star Polyp due to worm infestation, that literally destroyed the coral from the inside. People say that even a nuke wouldn't kill a GSP and I ha one killed!! :(

Today, if I was starting a tank, I'd say I'd start different.

First with a bigger tank. 120 gal at least. Being with bigger tank, is better becausenif you mess with something, there's some cushion to deal, because of the volume of water.

Also, I'd recommend not using canister filters. Buy a HOB skimmer instead. At very beginning, you'll be happy and life will be good. But laternon, you'll skip some cleaning and the nitrates will raise.

I simply shut down the filters and after having a skimmer in place, life was much better and no more noise from the filter neither higher nitrates.

Also, I'd recommend a good pump. I recently changed two power heads for a Maxpect Gyre 130. Now I can tell you the difference!!

Also, I'd recommend to start with good light. Look for LEDs, but there's expensive models, so I'm still looking forward and researching. I do have a T5 with 2 bulbs (actinic and white) and I bought a cheapo LED bar to compliment the T5s. It's CRAZY how LEDs works and you must be careful, because I almost killed another coral by exposing it to the high intensity of LED. Remember, everything you do in your tank, must be really slow.

Now I'm just turning the LEDs for a few minutes a day and movedbthe coral to the bottom of the tank.

Also, you'll need persistence. Sometimes you'll look to your tank and say: jeez, why am I doing?? I'll quit this now. The tanknis horrible and will never look great as the ones I see in the forum. Especially while you're having a bacteria bloom and your water is looking disgusting.

Being resilient is key to start. And after a while, things will be better, but don't give up.

Long story short:

I also have a small tank, with no sump.

I run an Aquamaxx HOB skimmer and I do recommend.

NO filters needed.

Maxpect Gyre 130 running at 40% capacity. Impressed and really happy.

T5 light and a cheapo LED bar with no dimming. I'll upgrade my lights soon. Still researching.

RO/DI system: Spectrapure 90GPD. Mixing salt for 24h before water change.

20% weekly water change.

Very low bioload. I have only t small fishes, a few crabs and snails, a fire shrimp and couple soft corals.

Read, read, read and later on, read more.

Patience. Let mother nature donits job. Don't buy crazy chemicals to speed up things like cycling, etc...

If possible, setup a quarentine tank (I'm also researching on this, and can't tell.much) but I think on the long run that will be crucial. Imagine your tank full of expensive livestock and you loose everything due a contamination or pest/parasite.

Dip corals, otherwise you may be at risk.

My final thought is: don't mess much with the tank. Let it mature by itself and appreciate the science piece as well as the artistic side and the beauty of having a small piece of ocean in your home.

Good luck!

- BarIzoN -

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G925A using Tapatalk
 
Great advice there ^ (BarIzon let's talk, I see you're in CO as well :) )

I don't recommend getting a book. They're mostly outdated. The setting up sticky has everything you need to know.
Here ya go:
It's basically impossible not to have questions and I sure know I did when I started. Feel free to ask away! But first, read the sticky!
 
^^^This^^^
I'd say yay on the skimmer. If you are going to use the canister I'd treat it like a media reactor, gfo, maybe some siporax and any other chemical media you feel necessary but not fill the trays so the media can move about.
Lighting is a minefield. You can't really go wrong with t5ho, the cheap Chinese black box leds offer good bang for buck, it all comes down to getting the best you can on your current budget.

The biggest thing is to take your time, only bad things happen quickly. Do your research and never trust anyone trying to sell you something. 10 mins on Google will save you a lot of heartache. If you're still unsure ask on here, you may get varying opinions but everyone here is a hobbyist and wants others to succeed.
 
Take a big deep breath and relax! This isn't rocket science. It can be difficult, but if you take your time, don't try to have a mature reef tank full of fish and corals in 2 weeks and ask questions BEFORE you do something rash, you'll be OK.

Read the stickie about starting a new tank. Take your time. You don't need a lot of hardware and additives to get started. Keep it simple until you get comfortable.
 
ok, thank you all!

I'm not going to rush. However, I did buy Bio-Spira (based on awesome reviews on Amazon so I figured it couldn't hurt). But not planning on fish until the cycle is complete and I'll go slow. I do know that. I'm just overwhelmed at the equipment for the most part I think.

I wish I had room for a bigger tank - I only have room for my 40b the way my living room is set up right now.

I've read the sticky - I'm not even reading about fish yet really, until that time comes. Mostly trying to figure out my equipment situation.

Ron- my mom is in Cape Coral -love it there
 
so, if I use the cansister as a reactor, I just don't want sponge/floss or anything like that, correct?

I like seachem matrix, carbon, and then gfo maybe? What goes on top/bottom, does it matter with this type of setup?
 
schnebbles said:
so, if I use the cansister as a reactor, I just don't want sponge/floss or anything like that, correct?

I like seachem matrix, carbon, and then gfo maybe? What goes on top/bottom, does it matter with this type of setup?
Click to expand...
I'd probably run it in order of water flow, matrix>carbon>gfo. You'll still need to clean it reasonably regularly. If you add a quick change pre filter to the intake you can change or clean every couple of days may help increase time between canister cleanings.
 
Lol! My cats drink from my tank. They are going to be in for a rude awakening when it's salt

Sent from my SM-N930V using Tapatalk
 
schnebbles said:
Lol! My cats drink from my tank. They are going to be in for a rude awakening when it's salt

Sent from my SM-N930V using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
As did mine when I switched the tank to mbuna. For the mbuna splashing = food, the poor cat got her tongue bitten.
 
This is the limit of my cat's involvement. She loves to watch and moving water fascinates her, but no paws in the tank or the sump.

 
schnebbles said:
Adorable! Your tank is stunning!
Click to expand...

Thanks! Unfortunately, that tank developed a 30 gph leak in the middle of the back of the tank where the back glass sits on the bottom glass. So 3' in from the end and just inches from the wall... no getting to it from outside and the huge rock wall inside the tank meant no access there either. That tank went away and I've downsized a bit. There is a build thread for the new tank (just over 6 weeks old now) with a link to it in my signature below.

I hope to get another fun pic like that one when the new tank is fully developed.
 
Hey BigBlueTang!

Yes, in Colorado area!! Sure we'll talk! :)

Well, I think it's always good to read a book for reference. Specially when you want to go deeper in the "roots" of something. Well, this may be my perception.

So, let me ask you a question: what you think about Neptunes Tropical Fish in Highlands Ranch? I'm getting most of my livestock from there, but I got a GSP that died due to worm infestation in it. Do you have any recommendation of LFS in Denver?

- BarIzoN -









BigBlueTang said:
Great advice there ^ (BarIzon let's talk, I see you're in CO as well :) )

I don't recommend getting a book. They're mostly outdated. The setting up sticky has everything you need to know.
Here ya go:
It's basically impossible not to have questions and I sure know I did when I started. Feel free to ask away! But first, read the sticky!
Click to expand...
 
I run a canister on my FOWLR tank, I would not recommend it, but it can be done. I jsut cleaned my canister yesterday, so I will tell you what I run because it works for me. From the intake it hits foam filter, Polyfil, biomaxx, lava rock, Biopellet XL, and out. GFO is probably a good idea, but I have never run it so I couldn't tell you where to run it in a canister. Invest in a good protein skimmer, you can get by without it, but once you get one you are going to question why you did it the hard way for so long.
 
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