Neptune Aquatics

Newbie Help

cfide

cfide

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Hi,

I finally had some courage to start a reef tank. I was hoping to start slowly but because of the nagging from someone, I ended up setting up the tank last weekend. I have 38 lbs of live rock, 80 lbs of live sand in a 50 gal tank. I am running xp3 canister filter with floss and some powerheads. The light fixture on the tank contains 2 x 96W power compacts of 10000K. I am considering running an external overflow eventually but not sure yet. I found this website thru a search engine and since it is local I was hoping to get some advice. I am guessing this is equivalent to SFBAAPS(San Francisco Bay Area Aquatic Plant Society) which I am a member of. So, here are my questions. I tried to do some search but did not get an hits for them.

1) If I am using live rocks and live sand from an already established tank, I do not need to wait for the "curing" right? I do not see anything live in these rocks. I thought there would be some crabs, shrimp, snails, etc that came with it. Anyways. I was planning on getting more rocks..

2) Do I need a protein skimmer before I add the corals?

3) I see there are some interesting water circulation methods. I am more interested in the ones which can be hidden among rocks. I found a brand named Koralia. I was thinking about using 2 of their nano pumps(265gph) + xp3 canister filter(350gph). Will this be enough water flow?

4) As far temperature goes, different sources list different numbers. 74-78F to 80-84F. I assume this depends on the corals I want to keep?

5) Any ideas about using tap water and conditioning it to get rid of trace elements? Or do I absolutely need RO water?

I know about water chemistry in planted tanks but I am not very knowledgeable about saltwater tanks at all.

Thanks a lot in advance
Cem
 
Welcome, Cem!

Here are a few suggestions:

- Most people don't use canister filters on reef tanks. Some will tell you that no filter is better than a canister filter. You'll certainly need to clean it often so it doesn't become a "nitrate factory".

- A protein skimmer will help, but is not strictly necessary. It's possible to run a nice tank without one, especially if you're consistent with water changes.

- You should make sure ammonia drops to 0 before adding animals. Throw a piece of raw shrimp into the tank, wait a couple days, and measure ammonia. If it's 0, you're good. If not, you need to wait for it to cycle.

- The koralia's are cool. I use them and like them. Seems like you might want more flow than just two nanos on a 50g, though.

- IMO, 78 degrees is a good target point. 80-84 is too high.

- Learn about calcium, alkalinity, and pH!
 
Hi, Cem. Nice seeing you here. There are a few of us sfbaaps members on here. Doug, Eric, and Boun. Throw out the canister filter, get yourself 2 k4s instead of koralia nanos. The canister filter will become a nitrate trap. In reefkeeping we don't want nitrates unlike in planted tanks. I would use RO water for sure. Typically our tap is not good enough and will bring on bad forms of algae. I would say anywhere from 74-78 is a good shooting point for temp. Some people like to run their tanks slightly on the cooler side. Last but not the least join BAR, become a member and go to some meetings.
 
Hey Eric, by "k4s", do you mean "Koralia #4"s? so you are saying I dont need any filter except for the liverock and sand?

I will definitely attend some of the BAR meetings. Saltwater always got my interest but I was very skeptical about the maintenance requirements. We will see what happens. I will start with easy corals and see where it takes me.
 
Lol, I am Ian. not Eric. Yeah I did mean koralia 4s. I'm saying you don't need a canister, but I would use a protein skimmer for sure. Some other tips. Get your self a refractometer (and calibrate it) and a lot of test kits. You need to be able to test for kH, calcium, magnesium. Other kits you may want to get are nitrate, ammonia, phosphate.
 
Welcome to the Dark Side ;D
If you don't have a sump, you can keep the canister but remove all the filter stuff inside. Put some carbon/Phosban in there instead.

If not you can sell the filter and get one of these reactor.
Phosban Reactor
 
Sorry for the typo, Ian. :)

Ok. I will look into the Koralia's.

That Phosban reactor looks interesting. I think I will need to get a sump. I can;t hang all of these things in the back. Thanks for all the suggestions. I see a bit of light at the end of the tunnel,now!
 
Ian, K4s sound like a lot of gph.. 1200 x 2 = 2400pgh

The tank I have is a 3ft 50 gal tank, with the sand and live rock, I think volume is more like 40-45gal. So,

30 turns x 45 = 1350gph < 2400gph

I am not counting the flow from the canister/sump. The price difference between K3 vs K4 is not much but will too much turbulence effect the inhabitants later? I want to get the right equipment in one shot.
 
Grrrr...you guys are not giving any more incentive to switch out my smaller tank for freshwater with this many defects coming over from the fw side :D

Koralia are great for your needs.
 
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