New to the hobby, new to the site. Few Questions.

[jetskiking]

Originally Posted by mjda
http:///forum/post/3123418
Well, I'll likely be adding a skimmer. I was mainly talking about any other kind of mechanical filter.
Thanks for all the replies so far guys and gals! It's really good to know I have someone to get help from since I don't have a LFS or personally know anyone else in the hobby to talk to.
I run no mechanical filtration on my reef. I will however throw a piece of floss inbetween a baffle in the sump temporarily if I have been stirring things up.

 

[mjda]

Originally Posted by jetskiking
http:///forum/post/3123486
I run no mechanical filtration on my reef. I will however throw a piece of floss inbetween a baffle in the sump temporarily if I have been stirring things up.
Is a sump something I will definitely need? I wasn't originally planning on using one.

 

[mjda]

Well, after just several days to a week of reading, I almost have an idea of what I would like to try to accomplish with my first aquarium. I'll go ahead and list my thoughts, so far, and let you guys critique it if you'd like. Please keep in mind I'm still new to all of this, and will definitely not be actually building this any time soon. Right now I'm just trying to get an idea of what all I need to have/do step-by-step in mind before I actually do anything.
First of all, I'll be starting with a 55gal aquarium that a lady friend I work with is giving me for free. Yay!
Now, most likely I'm going to have 2 smaller heaters vs 1 larger one. One will be mounted on each back corner of the tank.
As for the skimmer, right now I'm thinking about just getting one that will hang on the back of the aquarium itself rather than having to build a sump for one.
For lighting I will likely use the compact flourescent lights (the amount/wattage to be determined), with a custom built hood that I will make myself from wood scraps here at work.
I'm thinking about having 2 of the Koralia 3 power heads. I'm not sure if that is sufficient, but I'm thinking it will be. If not, should I go with 2 Koralia 4 heads, or 1 of each? Either way, I'm thinking I can get plenty of flow from just 2 power heads.
I'm thinking probably 75-80 pounds of live rock (undecided between Carribean and Fiji), and 60-70 pounds of live South Pacific sand.
As for the cleanup crew I will probably start with at least 1 shrimp, 1 hermit crab, and several snails. Obviously this could change depending on the fish that I finally decide on. I don't want to have anything that something else will eat!!
For fish, right now the only fish that are a "must" in my aquarium would be a set of clownfish. I'd also like to have 1 Royal Gramma. From there I'll just have to read some more and study up on what other fish would make good additions to this. Again, it's all subject to more reading and studying.
Well, that's it. That's what you could expect to see from me if I were to start today. As I said before, though, I'm still looking for a LOT more information and help before I'm even close to getting started. If you guys could just read the above and give me your thoughts that would be great. Most likely this will be my starting point, and the more I read and learn I'll just alter the above specifications.

 

[deejeff442]

only thing on my 90 reef is lr.
i have a 30 sump but with only more rock rubble for the pods.
i do run a phosphate reactor .
i would get the 2 #4's just going to have to move them around to find where they flow the best around the rock.
i wouldnt bother with live sand 70-80 lbs of lr will do the job imo live sand is a waste of cash.

 

[mjda]

My reason for wanting the sand isn't necessarily due to it doing any particular "job". It's more or less just adding to the natural look and feel of the aquarium. If I'm being honest, though, I haven't read anything about live sand so I'm not sure yet what to expect. I just assumed it was something I would want to use based on viewing everyone else's tanks and setups.

 

[oceansidefish]

Originally Posted by mjda
http:///forum/post/3123568
My reason for wanting the sand isn't necessarily due to it doing any particular "job". It's more or less just adding to the natural look and feel of the aquarium. If I'm being honest, though, I haven't read anything about live sand so I'm not sure yet what to expect. I just assumed it was something I would want to use based on viewing everyone else's tanks and setups.
You can buy dry sand.....its way cheaper and it becomes "live" sand when you cycle your tank!!!

 

[mjda]

Originally Posted by Oceansidefish
http:///forum/post/3123578
You can buy dry sand.....its way cheaper and it becomes "live" sand when you cycle your tank!!!
Thanks! Obviously I'll still read up on it quite a bit, but is there any special thing I need to add, or do, to the sand to make it become "live"?
I'm also glad you brought up the word "cycle". It reminded me of another question I had. I've read that I need to "cure" my live rock. Is that what cycling is, or is the curing process a completely different step I need to take before starting my cycle in my real tank? If it is different, do I also need to "cure" my sand (whether dry or live)?

 

[deejeff442]

here is an easy way to follow to set up and cycle a tank.
get the dry sand put it in a 5 gallon buck maybe 10-15 lbs at a time .i just use a garden hose and fill the bucket of sand with water stirring it ,let it settle for 10-15 seconds then pour out the water to get the cloudy stuff out.
do this to all the sand then put it in the dt.
then mix the salt in a seperate container from the dt if you are not buying premixed from the lfs .this will keep the nasty hard residue off the glass in the dt. fill the tank most of the way with the mixed sw.
setup all the pumps and filters,put the rock in the tank and turn everything on.if the rock is not cured or it is out of the water it was in for a while you dont need to add a shrimp to start the cycle.if you are adding well cured lr.
then get a piece of raw shrimp and throw it in the tank for 2-3 days untill you see it starting to decay.this starts the cycle.
then you need to buy a good reef water test kit,start checking everyday for ammonia,once you see ammonia it will pretty quickly turn to nitrites ,these nitrites usually hang around for a few weeks then they turn into nitrates.
once the nitrates get down to 20 or lower you are safe to add the cuc or a couple small fish.
do not add livestock too fast as the system has to catch up with good bacteria or the tank will crash.
hope this helps.

 

[mjda]

Thanks deejeff! How would I know whether or not I had cured LR or not? I would like to think I didn't just have to take someone's word on it.
Also, where could I look for "dry sand"? I don't see it on SWF or *****'s websites!

 

[deejeff442]

***** has the sand its called argonite .
there is a calculater on here somewhere to find how many pounds you need for the size tank and how deep you want i just go 2 inches deep.
i would look around on the internet for the lr is is about half the price of any lfs.i was at a lfs around here last week to get some vitimines and the rock was $10 a lb.thats crazy.
it will tell you if its cured or not.even if it says cured by the time it is shipped it will have some die off .take it out of the box and shake it around in a bucket of saltwater to get most of the loose dye off ,off the rock .
dont use freshwater as it will harm the rock.
put the rock in the tank and wait a couple days if there is no ammonia put the shrimp piece in to start the cycle.
i wouldnt get uncured unless you want to wait a month for it to cure and do alot of water changes along the way.

 

[mjda]

Have any of you ever dealt with Live Rock, Inc.? If so, what did you think?

 

[bulldog123]

Their main selling point is that they fly the rock straight to you instead of "boat rock". I could not get much of a response from anyone here or on the other larger site to the advantage on this subject. So I went to somewhere else but i'm interested in what you find out.