¡Help!

[fish4fun]

Here we go!
1) I'm setting up a 115gl sw/tank. I'm in need of a pump, how big should I go? I'm thinking that a mag 500gph should be good...I'm going to pump from a sump tank up about 5 ft.
2)How often should I cycle the water?
3) I have a UV Steralizer, should that go in front of the sump or behind?
4) I want to have a few fish, Panther Grouper, Picasso Trigger, Lion, Angel, and Butterfly, any order to putting these in the tank? They will all start as babies, any concern that it will be over crowed in 2-3 yrs?
5) I'm making a trip to Rocky Point, Mexico soon is it OK to bring back sand, coral, etc.
lemehaveit
3)
<img src="graemlins//confused.gif" border="0" alt="[confused]" />

 

[galina]

Well.. I'll answer the ones I know.
For 1).. screw getting one big one. Get around 3 or four smaller powerheads. Especially if you want to have LR. This will make sure there are no "dead" spots.
2) What do you mean by cycle the water? When you first start up a saltwater tank, a cycle is building up the tanks bacteria. For more information on that, do a search on the board. Or do you mean water changes? Most people change the water weekly.. from 5%-10%. Though I've talked to people who only change thier water when they are having problems.
3) I ahve no experience with UV sterilizers.. btu maybe someone else can help you out there.
4) Check out <a href="http://www.***********.com," target="_blank">www.***********.com,</a> and look at the stats of each individual fish. It gives the length for once they're full size. Add up the total number of inches and make sure you have atleast 5-6 gallons per inch of fish. You might want to also check out to see if these guys will all get along.
5) Do you mean, taking it out of the ocean? I believe that's illegal and if it wasn't, I wouldn't do it anyways. I doubt the coral would survive the trip back anyways.
Hope I helped.
I reccemend investing in a good marine aquarium book.
"The conscientious(sp?) marine aquariust" is pretty much one of the best books I've ever seen.
Galina

 

[david s]

i have a 90 and they tell me a mag 5 is small its says 500gph on a mag 5 but at 5 feet its probubly more like 325 so i use 2 maxi jet 1200 295 gph too its all prefrance but i am new and been told 10 times the amount of water as a guide

 

[chadillac]

I think David is right, I've always been told to turn the water over a minimum of 10 times per hour. As far as a pump I'm not sure that the maxi might be your best bet. You need to check the specs on pumps for rate of flow over various distances. Yeah a mag 5 does 500gph but only like a foot away or something like that I think

 

[chadillac]

sorry forgot about the uv it should come after your sump that way its pulling out even more bacteria after it has been through your sump

 

[gtc]

You should be looking at something in the 1000gph range. The mag 500 will be way too underpowered for a 115, especially at 5 feet you will be lucky to get 250gph.

 

[sweetjesus]

I have a 90 AGA pre-drilled with a factory overflow. I use a mag 24, yes that is 2400 gallons per hour. I had to mod the overflow box, but hey, you can never have too much current.
I actually would suggest a mag18 as a mag 24 is over kill. I had to plumb it into an open ended spray bar to get the flow spread out through the tank so it did not just hit the tank wall and splash over the side. a mag 18 would push 1800 GPH at 0 feet of head, and about 1000GPH at normal tank height. A mag 18 would be a great return pump for your tank, with two/three maxijet 1200 powerheads on a wave maker and you would be styling!