My New Purchases

[n0rthstar]

Barry,
Wow a price list and everything! lol... I'm a total newb, I'm still in the researching stage so I'm pouring through all of this stuff trying to figure out what it all is, let alone what I want. I appreciate the time you took for that. How come you don't need the biofilters anymore? The P.C. lights work fine for the LR and corals? Do you even need a special light for LR? I know you have corals but I'm asking for myself. Does the calcium growth on your LR count as corals? What kind of heater are you using? What brand are your powerheads? Thanks again! Sorry for all the questions.

 

[hot883]

Originally Posted by n0rthstar
Barry,
Wow a price list and everything! lol... I'm a total newb, I'm still in the researching stage so I'm pouring through all of this stuff trying to figure out what it all is, let alone what I want. I appreciate the time you took for that. How come you don't need the biofilters anymore? The P.C. lights work fine for the LR and corals? Do you even need a special light for LR? I know you have corals but I'm asking for myself. Does the calcium growth on your LR count as corals? What kind of heater are you using? What brand are your powerheads? Thanks again! Sorry for all the questions.
No problem, I will help all I can. The heater and 1 power head came with the tank set up from Walmart. The other P.H.'s came from wally world too and were like $18 each for 170 gph.
LR needs No special lighting. I was having great coraline growth (not considered coral) in the stock tank with the stock lights.
I don't need the bio filters anymore because I have the sump/refugium setup under the tank in the stand. Basically it's a 12 gallon tank with the water leaving the display tank and entering into 1 chamber. It then moves to the next chamber and goes through different algeas that I bought and crosses over LS and chunks of LR. That filters it, and then it passes into the last chamber where it gets sucked out to the maintank up on the stand. The protein skimmer is supposed to be mounted (in this case) in the last chamber of the sump/refugium, but I have it hanging on the back of the tank.
You can use a wet/dry filter or a sump or a refugium or a combination of any and all. Wet dry filters need maintenance often where the others just basicall need monitoring and minor care. You can do a search on here for those typrs of filters and see what everyone thinks. I love a refugium hands down because the algeas that you grow in there takes out the bad nitrogens etc. plus is a refuge for pods and hurt fish. Not sick ones, but hurt.
The most important info I can give would be to set up a quarantene (sp) tank QT that ALL new fish MUST stay in for 3-4 weeks before going into the main tank.
Got long winded so I will stop. Anymore ???????? just ask.

 

[n0rthstar]

Awesome. I've been trying to figure out what kind of sump I want. It'll have to be a small one because of the way my stand is set up but I don't really want a wet/dry from what I can tell. Seems like they add alot of nitrates? I've got a stand that has two little cabinet doors on the sides and has a hole in the back of each cabinet, I'm guessing for cords and tubing. I guess I'd put a little sump in one side and something else in the other. Canister filter maybe? I could use some help there. Lol.. As for the lights, stock lights sound good for now if that's an alright thing to do. I wouldnt consider getting into corals for a long time. And yeah, I'd definantly get a QT. I've been messing with animals for far to long to consider throwing a new one in with a stable environment. I've heard that putting new fish in freshwater for a few mintues before going into the QT tank can rid them of parasites? Is there any truth to this and is that safe?

 

[hot883]

Here's a pic. of my stand with small doors. I had to move it from the wall, cut out the back supports, insert the sump and then move it back. What a pain.
Fresh water dips do help on some parasites, gonna have to do a search on it, cause I do not know.
Canister filters I know nothing about except they need cleaning regularly too.
The second pic. is week 1. The 1st pic. is month 4 when I changed out my filter system and substrate.

 

[n0rthstar]

Yeah my stand is set up very similar to that except there is shelving in the middle and the stand itself is smaller. It is the same size as the tank basically, it all fits directly under the tank. I'm not sure if I could even get a 5 gallon tank into one of those cabinets..I could make a custom sump out of something else though.. I guess I'm just trying to figure out like... barebones.. what do I need to get to keep fish happy and healthy and still keep it simple and keep my costs down. Filtration and lighting wise at least for right now..

 

[hot883]

Originally Posted by n0rthstar
Yeah my stand is set up very similar to that except there is shelving in the middle and the stand itself is smaller. It is the same size as the tank basically, it all fits directly under the tank. I'm not sure if I could even get a 5 gallon tank into one of those cabinets..I could make a custom sump out of something else though.. I guess I'm just trying to figure out like... barebones.. what do I need to get to keep fish happy and healthy and still keep it simple and keep my costs down. Filtration and lighting wise at least for right now..
What filtration do you have now and lights? Istarted with 2 HOB 400 size bio filters and 1 power head. Stock lights that came with it too, like for 2 months. Everything was fine. When you want to get corals and such, better lights and better filtration will be a must. HTH

 

[n0rthstar]

I don't have any filtration right now. Like I said I'm still in the research stage. I've got this 55 gallon tank that used to be a frog terrarium, but I broke it down and now it's sitting in my room empty. I can't stand having an emtpy tank... lol. Anyways, I've always really wanted a saltwater tank.. I've had my scuba license since I was 13 and I adore saltwater fish. My favorite is the Volitan lion.. but I don't want a predator tank... they seem from what I've read to do ok with other fish their size...
Either way, I guess I'm looking for what filtration I would need and what kind of lighting would be enough to keep some small soft corals but somehow that I could incorporate a lion into the tank too, and I've heard they can't take super bright lights.