Coming back to saltwater aquariums

[wild man]

My name is Bill and I am getting ready to come back to the saltwater aquarium hobby after a few years away. I am in the process of purchasing equipment to set up the 125 gallon tank I just acquired. I just got done reconstructing the stand and giving it a three coats of paint. I have to drill the tank to put in some bulk heads and have a 55 gallon tank for the sump. I thought I would try to see all the new information that may be available and came across this forum. Looks like you have a great little community with lots of support. Can't wait to participate in the future.

 

[wild man]

Couple pics, before and after.

 

[mr. limpid]

Very nice cant wait to see the progress. What kind of set up you going with reef, fish only, etc.

 

[wild man]

I have always been a fish guy, so I am going to go back to a fish and live rock setup. I'm excited about trying a refugium with some algae and see how I like that kind of setup. I'm still trying to do some research on it and see how I want to divide the 55 gallon up.

 

[woody189]

I began this hobby about 3+ years ago, and had to stop it 2 yrs ago because of school.
I am also just getting back into it (in the process of cycling). Reef isn't really any harder than FOWLR. When I first started up my tank, I said I was going to have only fish, but then I realized all I had to do was by some lights and I could get corals. I even had a clam which I loved and there was no problem. All you need are a few extra test kits and a good set of lights. Just something to consider if you were ever on the fence about it.
The stand looks great.

 

[gemmy]

I can't wait to see how this progresses!

 

[wild man]

Thanks everyone!! I will post updates as I get them done.

 

[wild man]

I added a trim board around the top of the stand to cover the plastic trim on the tank and placed some foam on the top of the stand to cushion the tank and try to eliminate any pressure points. The stand is now sitting in it's new spot.

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

 

[woody189]

Quote:
Originally Posted by Wild Man http:///t/392108/coming-back-to-saltwater-aquariums#post_3480173
I added a trim board around the top of the stand to cover the plastic trim on the tank and placed some foam on the top of the stand to cushion the tank and try to eliminate any pressure points. The stand is now sitting in it's new spot.

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD
Really nice. You build the whole thing?

 

[wild man]

Nope, the original was a under constructed commercial stand. I just gave it an upgrade.
Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

 

[flower]

Hi,
Welcome to the site....I'm just following along, I like the stand. Did you save any other equipment or rock from before?

 

[mr. limpid]

It looks like a good start for a bar, just need the tapper, lol

 

[wild man]

Yes, I did keep a few things like power heads, canister filter, a couple of test kits. I also picked up 120 pounds of live rock from my local mom and pop fish store when they decided to close up shop last week. I made them an offer on what they had left in stock. There is another person locally that has some live rock for sale that I want to go look at and ask them a few questions. Hopefully they have never had any parasite problems or medicated the tank. Might have to take a copper test kit with me.
LOL If that was a bar I would never get my uncle to leave.
Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

 

[woody189]

How many lbs of LR you gonna get? 120 seems pretty good. Make sure your test kits are accurate because they go bad after a few years. PH's may not work. After 2 years, all my cheap PH's stopped working and all my expensiver ones (Koralia, Skimmer pump, QuietOne return pump) are working fine.
lol it does look like a bar
edit: just realized you have a sump too. yea, get more

 

[wild man]

Getting new test kits is a good idea now that you said that it makes sense.
Yeah I have a 55 gallon for a sump and plan on putting some in there also. The stuff I have right now is the denser Fiji live rock. So 120 pounds sound like a lot more than it looks like. lol

 

[mr. limpid]

And to add to your test there are different types of copper out there and you need two different test kits to test for both. Sea Chem for cupramine and the others test of the other type of copper.

 

[mr. limpid]

I was reading the Sea Chem literature on cupramine, it says there is a product called cuprisorb for copper removal and heavy metals.

 

[wild man]

Cool, thanks for the info!

 

[wild man]

When purchasing protein skimmers, does everyone still recommend the "double your tank size" for capacity? Bigger = better?

 

[mr. limpid]

Bigger may not be better if the manufacture is crap. Buy good quality like Octopus and you don't need to go bigger. Go bigger if you plan on a lot of bio load, like aggressive tank.