A 150 reef tank from dry tank to cycling

I

iowasteve

Guest
Hello All!!!
My name is Steve, And I am lets call it a born again virgin in the reef tank hobby. I had one 25 years ago.. But with so MANY new toys I am looking for suggestions on all equipment To begin with. I have the tank its a deep blue 150 gal tall with stand and the over flow and such holes in the bottom... I know I am using 170 pounds of live sand and I think about 100 pounds of live rock maybe 150. So which are the best test kits... skimmers filter systems . I am all ears!!! Or eyes I guess!
Steve
 
saltwaterdud3

saltwaterdud3

Member
Hey there,
Just letting you know there's an excellent FAQ section on this forum. It would be a good idea to start there.
WELCOME!!!!
 
saltwaterdud3

saltwaterdud3

Member
Everything now days depends on your budget. If you want something that is flat out amazing and almost takes care of itself, you will have to pay for it. There's a lot of DIY stuff that you can learn on this forum as well, which may make some of the more expensive equipment be more within reason.
If you are going to have a sump, like you said, a simple blue and white filter would be enough for filtration, besides some live rock rubble. You could try a turf algae scrubber if you like to go the more natural route. You could go skimmerless on your system and have a large refugium with a few different types of algaes.
You need to do some research on what kind of tank you want - fish only, SPS reef, LPS reef, or a softie reef. You'll need to decide if you want anemones with your softie corals so that you can plan your lighting and filtration around the type of inhabitants you have.
There are, as you said, all kinds of new little toys. You can try automatic dosers, kalkwasser stirrers, homemade phytoplankton dosers (made out of a wine chiller, lol!) turf algae scrubbers (nothing new, but still nifty.) phosphate reactors, calcium reactors and all different kinds of protein skimmers. Some are better than others - and I'm sure by reading and paying attention to reviews of products and asking specific questions about things you can get a good idea of what you will need.
Hope all of this helps.
 
I

iowasteve

Guest
Well budget really isnt a issue just a great tank the family can enjoy and no stress for me ...lol. A Refugium will be used maybe 2 I really wanna start a good crop of food before i add fish copepods... I made my frozen fish food the last time using gelitin and clams shrimp and silversides and fresh spinach.ground it added the gelitin poured into a candy tray 3/4 square 1/2 inch deep. plus I have always grown brine shrimp that i feed live into the tank. and use a high quality flake food and algea discs. Is this gonna be ok this time around or should i be just buying frozen foods and brine shrimp.....
Steve
 
I

iowasteve

Guest
My next question is live rock and sand im gonna use both. I know the live sand cannot dry out but while aquascaping and epoxying the live rock in place is it ok to just keep it damp??? or should i fill the tank 3/4 full and do the whole reach over and have the wife screamin no i want that peice over there!!!!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top