My wife has been into freshwater aquariums since we met and has a nice 46 gal community tank. It is one of the nicer setups of its kind that I have seen in a home. You know most freshwater tanks look more like a murky pond than something that should be in the living room so I think hers is exceptional. That being said there really isn’t much you can do with it. One day she finally breaks down and gives me the go ahead to start a salty, after much persistence. AND SO IT BEGINS! I found on craigslist a “Complete 75 gallon reef set-up†which includes a; Oceanic tank, black wooden stand and canopy, 8x54watt t-5 light fixture, Koralia 750 power head, Aqua C Remora Pro skimmer, and small refugium with light for $350. Doesn’t sound like a bad deal, and with the money I save VS. new equipment I can get my project started a little sooner. Immediately I don’t like the refugium, a 29 gal wouldn’t be overkill would it? My protein skimmer is the kind that hangs on the back of the tank so my refugium is going to be just that. I plan to have a low flow and deep sand bed. Still not sure what else to put in it yet but I’m studying hard and open to all suggestions. The silicone is still curing because I just put the baffles in it last night. Thursday when I’m off work I’m going to go ahead and put the pump in, fill everything with tap water and turn everything on. This will be for three reasons, one my son (5) helped me with the plumbing, two I don’t have an RO/DI yet and three I want it to look like a tank for a few days with lights and everything so we can make sure this is where we want it to sit. That’s as far as I have gotten for now. Other than my son says I have to have a Nemo I’m not certain what livestock I want yet. Any suggestions will be researched and appreciated. P.S. If anyone is interested in the little refugium I would be willing to trade for some live sand, live rock or future frags. It actually cleaned up nice drop me a line and we can negotiate, I'm easy.
Welcome to the forum, hopefully you can join the club and make it to one of our meetings. I'm looking forward to following along with your build.
Thanks, I joined last night. Are the meetings 5 year old friendly? I have Saturday the 17th off but my job doesnt afford me many weekends so if i cant bring the wife and kid I probably won't attend.
Yes, your welcome to bring the family. The next meeting is at The Fish Bowl in Searcy. If you have any questions feel free to ask on-line or just reach out to any of us. If your in Bryant area feel free to stop by.
Be prepared to upgrade you protein skimmer, make sure your sump will fit a 12"x12" space for it now. HOB Skimmers are OK but you'll want to upgrade sooner rather than later. The next major question is how much coral do you intend on purchasing, softies, LPS, SPS. If you have clowns then you have to get a Anemone (is this even debatable???), so plan on getting good lights now before you do what I did and buy cheaper lights than pay even more to upgrade later. If you want corals the time to decide is now before you buy your first fish. Uncured Live Rock is much cheaper than cured LR but it requires two months cycle time (nitrogen goes through the roof and you battle cyano/algae) But well worth the investment IMO. Welcome to the hobby!
Clowns will do just fine without an anemone and anemones can do fine without clowns. My clowns don't touch my anemone but hang out in/on every other coral and macroalgae in my tank. If you do get an anemone wait until your tank is at least stable for 6 months or more. You'll have much better success in keeping it alive.
If I do get a sump skimmer I Will have another sump also. My refugium will not have enough flow for the purposes of skimming. I’m going for a deep sand bed and lots of contact time. Time will tell if my skimmer is doing a good job. I think I already have good lights, am I wrong? As for Clownfish or any fish for that matter I plan on having most if not all of my corals established before introducing fish. This includes an anemone! Haddens carpet to be exact, any opinions on those? I’m not sure what corals I want yet. I have 100lbs of dead rock on the way. http://www.reefcleaners.org/index.php?option=com_virtuemart&page=shop.browse&category_id=3&Itemid=58 I am currently running PVC for my wave maker system that will consist of two 800 gph or so pumps that will alternate flow from one side of the tank to the other. I have the base laid for my concrete back wall that includes water returns from both sides of the tank and a neat overhang that hides the overflow. (pics coming soon) Once the wall is finished, maybe a couple weeks, I plan on curing it dry for a time and then in water for as long as it takes to stop any leaching that may occur. The goal is to hide any and all equipment that doest look like it belongs on a reef. Once all of that is done I plan on starting the ammonia cycle and then when that is complete add Live rock and live sand to the existing dead rock and sand in the tank. Fish are a long ways off for now and as with any well laid plan I expect to have surprises and make changes accordingly.
Lights are good sorry missed that, but do check the life on the bulbs, toss every year. Looks like you have a good plan, the live rock you will be adding is cured LR? uncured is much cheaper, adds more diversity to your tank, but takes 2 months to cycle (due to lots of nitrogen added), and some of that diversity is byropsis, dinos, and other pests. Look forward to seeing pictures.
The guy I bought the tank from put dates on the bulbs but I don’t know how long this thing sat without the lights on so I will probably start changing them out a few at a time once I get to that point. Thanks for the advice. Here are some construction pics, and with any good job site it is a mess and we are waiting on materials to proceed. Once I get my dead rock I will be able to finish the plumbing and start covering the wall. Should have my wave maker and pumps in a couple weeks. PS The wife is getting involved now so the marriage is still a go! LOL
I plan on ordering my pumps and wave maker within the week. Thinking about getting four Mag Drive-5’s (500gph) and a Red Sea Wavemaster Pro wavemaker. Anyone got any opinions on this; too much flow, not enough?
