new to reefing

tonybwill · 10-01-2007, 01:44 PM

I have a 180 gallon tank. Still working on better lighting and filtration. Tank is 8 months old. I have 1 foxface, blue damsel, maroon clown and a blenny. So far i have 100 lbs. of live rock. also some button colonies. I am using a fluval fx5, hang on skimmer 2 power heads.Lighting used are fluorescent approx. 250 watts.
** Please give me some advise to what i should upgrade. Tank has very little brown and green alge. Water conditioning is also very good. I know i have a long way to go.

**JF2381** · 10-01-2007, 01:59 PM

Welcome to reeferscafe.com.
Is the tank reef ready? By your description I would assume no.
What kind of skimmer?
What type of corals do you plan on keeping? Our answers will depend on the answer to this question.
First thing I would do is get rid of the canister, nitrate factory in the long run and get 2 overflow box (if drilling is not an option) and setup a sump.

gsago1979 · 10-01-2007, 02:47 PM

What is your long term plans for this aquarium...do you want to make it a full blown reef tank...if so what type of corals do you want to keep...Are you using fluorescent bulbs from like lowes or are these actual reef VHO lights? Their are many ways to set up and maintain your system some significantly more complex than others...It is difficult to make any suggestions without knowing more about your current set up and your long range goals...

Key important equipment for any saltwater tank...
PROTEIN SKIMMER
SUMP/WITH OR WITHOUT REFUGIUM
POWERHEADS FOR WATER MOVEMENT
A Refractomoter (Salinity Tester)
RO/DI Water Filter System
Full Panel Test Kit for each of the following chem levels:
Nitrates
Nitrites
PH
Ammonia
Alkalinity
Calcium
Magnesium

Lighting is another important feature of your tank but is highly determined by your goals with your tank...

let us all know some more information abuot your set up and what you want to do with your tank...

There are many great sources of information on this sight take advantage of many of them...

Remember though what works for some may not work for all...

tonybwill · 10-01-2007, 02:54 PM

thank you all, love this site lol

**JF2381** · 10-01-2007, 02:59 PM

Glad you like the site.

**JF2381** · 10-01-2007, 03:04 PM

Regarding your question on the shoutbox.
gsago1979 has a post documenting his sump build. He took a regular 55 gallon and added baffles to it.
DIY Sump Operational

The overflow boxes you will have to buy them.

If you are handy and want to take it on. DIY overflows
DIY Overflow Box

The easier route.
CPR Overflow Boxes

take into consideration the gph that you want before you buy the box.

gsago1979 · 10-01-2007, 03:43 PM

From my experience...Overflow boxes are a pain in the buttocks...if you can drill your tank it is the best way to go, or if your not afraid of a little work and down time, buy a predrilled tank and swap them out...I tried the overflow box trick and after flooding my tank three seperate times went out and bought a reef ready tank...

The problem with most overflow boxes is if you lose power they have a tendency to not kick back in and your tank will overflow until your sump runs dry.

**JF2381** · 10-01-2007, 03:45 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by gsago1979

From my experience...Overflow boxes are a pain in the buttocks...if you can drill your tank it is the best way to go, or if your not afraid of a little work and down time, buy a predrilled tank and swap them out...I tried the overflow box trick and after flooding my tank three seperate times went out and bought a reef ready tank...

The problem with most overflow boxes is if you lose power they have a tendency to not kick back in and your tank will overflow until your sump runs dry.

Ditto!

THEJRC · 10-02-2007, 02:41 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JF2381

Welcome to reeferscafe.com.
Is the tank reef ready? By your description I would assume no.
What kind of skimmer?
What type of corals do you plan on keeping? Our answers will depend on the answer to this question.
First thing I would do is get rid of the canister, nitrate factory in the long run and get 2 overflow box (if drilling is not an option) and setup a sump.

For the most part I agree, except for the "first thing".... and that is a gotcha!

Canisters are a double edge sword! I've used them for years in fw and brackish, and use them now in reef and have GREAT luck with them..... lets get to the other edge shall we....

in any environment if you dont clean the canister REGULARILY... your hosed.... clean the thing....

in reef environments the biological section of the canister becomes more of a PROBLEM than help... get rid of it!!! I replaced the bio section of my rena with a bag of phosphate sponge, I clean my canister every two weeks, in fact i use it as a quickie extra 2 gallon water change!..... it's all sponge filter with exception of a bag of carbon and a bag of phosphate remover now!! It's become my greatest ally as the flow and options (spray bar, easy movement and cleanup, etc) as well as the extra mechanical filtration has helped immensely...

but I cant stress it enough, I clean it every other week.. in fact quite often I clean it once a week just because I see it and know what it can cause if I let it go!

canisters are great, it's been amazing at mechanical filtration and I attribute a great deal of success to my use of the thing... but if I didnt maintain it constantly I'd probably be blaming it for my biggest failure as well.

if your up for the maintenance and can keep an eye on it, keep it... if you want to go el natural and let the tank do the work, keeping it would be a disservice to yourself... simply put.

and if you keep it, an added hint... pick up a second set of media, that way when you change you can just swap, run the old media through the dishwasher (no soap and no wet/dry cycle) or rinse it out in the sink when you have time... goes a long way... and DEFINATELY remove the bio media! it's great for mechanical and chemical ONLY... a lot of people recommend adding live rock and still cleaning it and all I can say is cleaning it removes the idea of biological. so why waste the LR, put it in the sump where it's needed.

Canisters are great
Canisters are terrible

it all depends on how you can wield a double edge sword!