My new reef aquarium

sparty059

sparty059

Active Member
Hi all,
So I just ordered 50#'s of live rock off of Salt Water Fish and should be getting it tomorrow. I've had salt water in the tank for about three weeks mixing (long than needed I know) and will turn the heater on tonight to warm the water up to a good temp. Tank is either a 55 or 65 gallon hexagon. I have my AI Vega mounted above the tank and two koralia pumps running (I believe a Koralia 4 and a Hydro Koralia Evolution). I currently have a HOB Filter Fluval 305 attached without any carbon or items in there (just the sponges).
As I mentioned in my headline I'm planning to make this a Reef Aquarium (maybe a fish or two) but mainly a tank for corals. Will the HOB be sufficient, or should I be concerned? If I have to I can build out a small refugium and place it under my work station, but would prefer not to if it's not required.
What type of filtering should I place in the cartridges in the HOB? I believe there are somewhere between three to five bins to place filter/carbon. Should I also look at investing in a HOB Skimmer?
I learned from last time I set up a tank that patience is key so I'm willing to take this as slow as I need to.
Lastly, I'm not entirely sure if I want to have a sandbed. Is it possible to keep coral in a tank without sandbeds, or would it be in my best interest to add a sandbed?
Thanks in advance everyone. I'm glad the time has finally come around. I'll post pictures of the aquascape once I set it all up tomorrow morning/afternoon.
 
bang guy

bang guy

Moderator
In my experience you will not need a mechanical filter for the health of the animals but the sponges you mention in your HOB will help with water clarity. The 50 pounds of live rock will be sufficient filtration as long as you have enough waterflow (two Koralia should do the trick).
Sand is optional but 1/2" of sand will produce a lot of zooplankton for your corals to eat.
 
bang guy

bang guy

Moderator
Sand is actually pretty stable unless you have an animal digging under the rock. If you follow the 'three point' method the rock will remain stable even if something is digging.
 
sparty059

sparty059

Active Member
Ah ok. That makes sense.
Has anyone has any experience with the Fiji rock that came from SWF store? I'm hoping it'll be some great rocks that I can form some type of aquascape with it.
 
bang guy

bang guy

Moderator
There was a trend several years ago to use a white plastic form fitting insert instead of a sand bed. It's similar to cutting board material. It has the advantage of looking nice, protecting the glass, and easy to si[hon up accumulated detritus. The disadvantage is the small surface area compared to sand and, of course, no spawning sand bed infauna to feed the corals.
 
sparty059

sparty059

Active Member
Hey all,
So I've finally put the live rock into my tank. Pieces were a bit bigger than I was expecting so it almost looks like a pile of rock in the center of my tank. But there are a number of caves in there that will look nice once I have life in there. My only concern is the same I had with my 150 gallon tank. Water movement. As I mentioned above I have a Koralia 4 and a Hydro Koralia Evolution in the tank. I've also added a Koralia 1050 at the top of water movement and my HOB Filter is also adding some water movement.
The only problem there are spots where no matter how I move adjust fix my powerheads I always have two spots that will be dead. It doesn't even seem to be completely dead as in the sense occasionally there will be a small burst hitting and moving some of the debris. I've never even on my last tank perfected the powerhead placement and always had dead spots. I feel like the only way I can make it hit every spot is to just put another powerhead in there. Which to be honest boggles my mind since it's only a ~60 gallon hex and I'm using decent strength powerheads yet I still have an issue with these spots.
Are there any tips or tricks that I should be aware of? I have one pump at the very bottom that fires under all of the rocks which should ultimately shoot through all the gaps which should resolve but it doesn't. HELP! :)
 
sparty059

sparty059

Active Member

Just had a quick question that maybe someone here can answer. I took a look at my tank today and noticed that there are small (like centimeter small) black things on my glass. Almost looking like ticks/slugs. I never saw this in my first aquarium but I also never looked as closely as I am right now. I had put around fifty pounds of rock in the tank, and I also have had it cycling for about a week now. Is this normal, or should I start looking at potentially cleaning this tank out?
 
tthemadd1

tthemadd1

Active Member
Do they move around quickly or slow like a slug? Best to look under a microscope. Most likely good healthy stuff. Checking would be good though
 
sparty059

sparty059

Active Member
It seems they're pods. So I should be in decent shape. The cycling process is well off. Currently the rocks are starting to get red all over them. Should be another week or two until they start to go back to normal. I'm digging these LED's though! Makes even the plainest rock look colorful.

 
sparty059

sparty059

Active Member
The cycle has been going for close to two weeks now. Entering Phase: Diatom Bloom - The ugly rock chapter. Possibly looking to run to the local fish store to buy a turbo snail just to see if he can clean up some of this. I know it's part of the cycle, but it's just so ugly to look at.


 
austin34

austin34

New Member
The reef tank needs regular cleaning to save it from dangerous algae. The rocks are mostly suffered with these algae with the passage of time.
http://www.m-tech.com.au/caravan/caravan.php
 
tthemadd1

tthemadd1

Active Member
I don't see it as a huge negative. Almost all tanks go through different "blooms". Keep your top off water ro and make sure you have good oxygen exchange. Once your tank makes it through the first six months these issues will dissipate. Maintenance is needed in my tanks not cleaning. Keep your nitrates low and your phosphates to 0. Do research on different methods and be patient. Remember the oceans of the world are millions if not billions of years old. It takes time to create a perfect ecosystem. Remember all ecosystems are on the verge of collapse but with regular maintenance everything will be fine.
 
sparty059

sparty059

Active Member
Totally agreed. I'm fully aware and accepting that this is part of the normal cycle process. I've added an additional 30 pounds of rock today which puts me right up near the 80 pound marker in my 65 gallon hex. So I think I'm complete with adding anymore rock. I have plenty of caves and a nice tall structure that doesn't look like it's going to budge... hopefully. Also since I don't have a sand bed I can peak under the tank to confirm there aren't any dead spots that would cause any algae/cyano outbreaks from lack of water movement. The tank currently is fairly cloudy from all the restructuring of the rock, but I'm definitely excited with how the new structure looks. Check it out!

 
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