just getting started.. need advice, PLEASE HELP

gbfan41649

Member
I have a 55g with fl lights, the tank came with 2 over the tank filters. Should I start with these and/or use undergravel w/powerheads.. or use bio-wheels? can someone explain the difference. Should I buy Dolimite? Crushed coral, Sand? I will be usind tap water to fill tank.
I have seen wet/dry sytsems when using these do you still use other filter systems?
What is a drilled tank, sump etc?
 

wyvern

Member
Welcom. Before you do anything. Get a couple of books and read them! Whish I had done that! I have sooo many problems now. Fixing them now is going to be a b----. DON"T use tap water. Use reverse osmosis water. Get test kits and all of the equipment before you even put water in the tank. Get rubbermaids, PH, and heaters to cure your live rock. Set up a quarantine tank at the same time as you set up your display tank. Let them both cycle BEFORE you add fish. Listen to what the people on the message boards say, think about it, then ask some more questions, think some more, then do whatever you need to do. Don't be pressured to do anything until you are ready.
Hindsight is 50/50. I"m not beeing mean....just realy frustreated!!
 

hagfish

Active Member
The "over the tank" filters are usually called hang on back or HOB filters and they are decent for mechanical filtration and to move some water. 99.9% will tell you not to use an undergravel filter because they trap waste and cause nitrates. Bio-wheels also trap waste and cause nitrates and most don't use them.
Sand substrate is preferred by most. I'm not sure what dolimite is actually, but crushed coral is big enough that it traps waste and again can be a source of nitrates. It can be cleaned when doing water changes by siphoning and stirring it up, but it's not really worth the hassle. Sand is MUCH easier IMO.
You may want to reconsider the tap water and look into an RO/DI filter. Just do a search on these boards and you can learn all about them. Basically though, you have no control over what might come through the tap. And the water company is only concerned about making it drinkable to humans, not crystal clear for sea life (which has much higher demands). Also, tap water often changes in quality from season to season as the water company has to add or remove chemicals to adjust for changes in environement.
Wet/dry can also be a source of nitrates. I wouldn't use it.
Best mechanical filtration you can have is a protein skimmer. I suggest you don't skimp on it.
Don't underestimate how important biological filtration is either. That comes from your live rock and/or live sand. IMO, this is the most important filter you can have.
A tank is drilled so that water can overflow into a sump or refugium. In the sump/fuge, the water is then pumped back into the main tank. The purpose of a sump/fuge is to increase total water volume (chemical dilution), provide a place to store things like a skimmer, heater, and other filters, and in the case of a fuge provide a place for some extra biological filtration in the form of live sand, live rock, and even macro algaes which consume nitrates as food.
In summary, the important things here are....
1. Biological filtration is a must
2. Skimmers make life easier
3. Don't buy things that trap waste and increase nitrates. Some of them work when mainained well, but money is better spent on more LR or a better skimmer. Or maybe even a fuge.
 

wyvern

Member
Originally Posted by fighting0
I thought it was 20/20? ;)
Your right. I'm so frustrated that I can't even see straight.
Wow Scotts, what a great link. Thanks!!
 

gbfan41649

Member
Limited budget(very tight) (2 boys in college)
Then I should use sand?How much?
How do use power heads w/o under gravel filter?
Live rock. How much to start?
What kind of filteration system? please explain difference. LFS here no help they just want to make sale.
 

scotts

Active Member
WY, Thanks, I wrote that then tried to delete it because I tought it was stupid. Then to my surprise the mods actually made it a sticky for awhile.
GB, OK ready for this about your sand question? Do a search on here for Southdown. It will lead to many threads that have talked about sand and the different types. Also if you are lucky enough to get that in your area it is a good start. But whatever type you will need around 40 to 60 pounds for your tank.
Powerheads go on the side of your tank and are used for water movement in your tank. do NOT use the undergravel filter!!!
For LR again about 40 to 60 pounds.
SWF sells both LS and LR and from what I have heard the LR here is very good, although I did not buy mine from here. I learned about this site after I had bought my tank.
 

scotts

Active Member
OOOppps forgot something. To really answer these questions people need to know what type of tank you are looking for, a reef tank, a fish only, a fish only with live rock, and what type of fish, there are many fish that are not compatible with a reef tank. In other words they will eat the $40 coral you just bought.
 

gbfan41649

Member
So should use sand instead of CC?
Does LR present any problems in maintaining tank? LS?
Using HOb filters is ok? with a power head? any other filters? will the LR help the process?
so many questions ..... not enough time to write them?
 

nudilove

Member
Hi there,
Yes PLEASE use sand! Its wonderful and you wont end up chucking the crushed coral in a month when you find out that you should have gone with sand.
Liverock and Livesand are an IMMENSE help to the biological filtration of your tank! I really dont see a detriment to them at all.
Using an HOB is alright, but a canister might do better, forget the biowheel, the live rock will be all the bio filtration you need.
Considering your budget, if you can, buy base rock, it's not as pretty but has alllll the benificial bacteria as liverock and is about 75% cheaper, then invest in a few nice pieces of LR and it will seed all of the rest of the rock in time.
 

gbfan41649

Member
I'm going to use sand. Does LS help cycle the tank? LFS said that it would set my tank up ias if it was already an established tank. Is this true?
What is base rock? I will add some LR.
Can I add a couple of damsels to start the process?
I have a bunch coral where I had a tank years ago. Red, White and some blue peices.
 

gbfan41649

Member
Also what is RO water?
where do I get it? How does it cost?
Why not tap water? declohrinated of course
Also we have so natural spring that comes out of the hills here in KY can I use that?
 

inck243

New Member
RO water is Reverse Osmosis water is water that has been specially filtered, and the result is very pure water. You don't use tap water because it may haver certain minerals in it that can be harmful to everything in your tank. I would guess natural spring water is not good to use aswell, because it probably has lots of minerals from the ground that you don't want in your tank.
I dont know about sand but if you mean going in your back yard and digging out some sand i wouldn't suggest this...
base rock is like live rock but it has nothing living on it.
Adding sand to your tank will not make it suddenly ready for fish.
And putting fish in an uncyceled tank may cause them to die.
Lots of questions can be self answered if you read every entry in the FAQ. thats what i did, i dont even have a tank :)
 

wattsupdoc

Active Member
You can buy sand from home depot if you get the right kind. Walmart sells RO/DI. Search the posts!
Search the posts!
These questions have been answered several times.
Search for oldcastle sand or southdown. Also search for wallmart RO/DI.
 
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