starting over
- Thread starter cindyski
- Start date
krux
Member
beach sand will almost always contain contaminants. if you have a friend who has a boat, you can motor out into the ocean a ways and use a bucket and a rope to scoop some sand off of the bottom. check local alwas as there might be places this is illegal. alternately, since you are in florida, live sand from lfs should be relatively cheap.
personally, i would recommend getting some skanky live rock and starting your cycle with that. as the stuff dies off, the ammonia it creates will feed the cycle just fine. the main problem with using live sotck aside from ethical reasons, is that most of the fish that will survive the cycle are absolutely horrible community fish, and will terrorize anything you add down the road unless you get something bigger and meaner than them. that will quickly start to rule out a lot of the more common peaceful fish.
you can run a tank with only hang on back (hob) equiment, including powerfilters, protien skimmers, closed loop circulation systems etc. but you are limited to the few brands that create the equipment, and in many cases when you start to get over 50 gallons, the quality and effectiveness of these things starts to go downhill.
the biggest benefit of the sump (the underneath stuff in a reef ready) is that all of that equipment will not be inside your tank, or behind it (forcing it out from the wall) and that you have a larger selection of equipment to use, AND you get more water volume which adds to stability.
hope that helped instead of making things more confusing.
personally, i would recommend getting some skanky live rock and starting your cycle with that. as the stuff dies off, the ammonia it creates will feed the cycle just fine. the main problem with using live sotck aside from ethical reasons, is that most of the fish that will survive the cycle are absolutely horrible community fish, and will terrorize anything you add down the road unless you get something bigger and meaner than them. that will quickly start to rule out a lot of the more common peaceful fish.
you can run a tank with only hang on back (hob) equiment, including powerfilters, protien skimmers, closed loop circulation systems etc. but you are limited to the few brands that create the equipment, and in many cases when you start to get over 50 gallons, the quality and effectiveness of these things starts to go downhill.
the biggest benefit of the sump (the underneath stuff in a reef ready) is that all of that equipment will not be inside your tank, or behind it (forcing it out from the wall) and that you have a larger selection of equipment to use, AND you get more water volume which adds to stability.
hope that helped instead of making things more confusing.
patrickfox4@msn
Member
cindyski if i was you i would find away too use that 125 tank its alot easier to maintain a larger tank and you can have alot more livestock and more choices of fish and most of all cycle your tank with live rock and sand you wont be sorry. to save money use regurlar sand and base rock at the bottom and then add live sand and rock above it. i have a 125 gallon cycling right now i also have a 56 gallon up and running for 4months now doing great but i am at the point where i cant add to the 56 tank, what i did was i put the tank in the wall i use a wall where theres a closet on the other side of the wall and i put the tank in the closet and i can close the doors and everything is hidden in the closet it looks so nice when i get it all done i will email you a picture if you want let me know and good luck with your new reef and the number one thing is be patent take your time add slow to your tank talk to you later pat
cindyski
Active Member
first, thank all of you for your replies 
patrickfox, i definatly want to see those pics!!! the closet idea is great
i really want to use my 125, i even considered putting it in my bedroom, but then nobody would be able to see it. hat to put in some much effort and not let everyone enjoy! i posted here earlier that i could use it as a room divider, but i dont know how to hide the hoses & the open back of the stand.
i am at the point now that i just dont know what to do! i have to start tearing down the 125 within a couple weeks cuz i am remodeling the room it is in. so i need to make up my mind pretty quick, its not an easy think to be moving around
one more thing, does anyone put a small power head directly in the tank for circulation? that seems what it is sounding like on some if these posts.
patrickfox, i definatly want to see those pics!!! the closet idea is great
i really want to use my 125, i even considered putting it in my bedroom, but then nobody would be able to see it. hat to put in some much effort and not let everyone enjoy! i posted here earlier that i could use it as a room divider, but i dont know how to hide the hoses & the open back of the stand.
i am at the point now that i just dont know what to do! i have to start tearing down the 125 within a couple weeks cuz i am remodeling the room it is in. so i need to make up my mind pretty quick, its not an easy think to be moving around
one more thing, does anyone put a small power head directly in the tank for circulation? that seems what it is sounding like on some if these posts.
nacl-man
Member
Originally posted by CindySki
one more thing, does anyone put a small power head directly in the tank for circulation? that seems what it is sounding like on some if these posts. [/B]
Yeah get your turnover as high as you can without getting that "whirlpool" effect.... I think there are a few people on this board that maintain tanks with just PH's for circulation and nothing else (i.e - no filters / skimmers / ect...).... also circulation helps alleviate common problems like that nasty brown alage (for the most part... there are exceptions of course to every rule).
Cheers!
one more thing, does anyone put a small power head directly in the tank for circulation? that seems what it is sounding like on some if these posts. [/B]
Yeah get your turnover as high as you can without getting that "whirlpool" effect.... I think there are a few people on this board that maintain tanks with just PH's for circulation and nothing else (i.e - no filters / skimmers / ect...).... also circulation helps alleviate common problems like that nasty brown alage (for the most part... there are exceptions of course to every rule).
Cheers!