4 Foot Beginner

Sunny.C

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I am thinking of getting the following please advise me on this guys...

1.Ehiem canister 2217 $220au any good?

2.Rio powerhead 6hf $55au...

3.36kg rock $170au...

4.30kg sand $75au

5.Salk 8kg $60au

Are these good prices??? am i missing anything??? is that canister filter going to do the job in my 4foot tank?
 
I am thinking of getting the following please advise me on this guys...

1.Ehiem canister 2217 $220au any good?

2.Rio powerhead 6hf $55au...

3.36kg rock $170au...

4.30kg sand $75au

5.Salk 8kg $60au

Are these good prices??? am i missing anything??? is that canister filter going to do the job in my 4foot tank?
Well u r missing the protein skimmer and if u r going 2 keep corals u will need more powerheads. Is it a 55 gal{US} or 75? They r both 4 feet long. Also you didnt mention the heater u were thinking of.
 
I have a 4 foot tank and im a beginner and I dont use a Cannister Filter, but then again I have two powerheads and a sump setup with skimmer..

skimmer is a must I would say..

and if u can afford it id go with totally biological filtration, eg All Live Rock.. :hey:

I have just spent £160 on Live Rock, and now whenever I go in and pick up the odd piece (best of the bunch) to add to the tank as I go along... mind u, I know my live rock at my LFS is fully cured.. :hey:
 
It is a 55gallon...
I am not going to use a skimmer for the cycle, i can't aford it :(
I will be using a 300watt heater..
All the rock will be live rock (about 40kg)


WHat's the difference between sand and live sand?
 
Live Sand vs Sand is like Live Rock vs Reef Bones (or base rock). The Live sand already has a bunch of the organisms and wut not living in it, already seeded so to speak. regular sand will turn into live sand at some point, but the live sand you purchase will kick start it.
 
It's another word for Sump, you know when you drill a whole in the tank and have another little filteration tank in the cabinet. :grr:
 
I would get yourself a prizm or other "back-pack" style skimmer for that tank. I'd say it is worth it although i know some people disagree. Also i'd agree with the others about sand. Live-Sand is great if you can get it but i'd certainly have at least some form of crushed-coral sand.
With the filter make sure you fill most of it with the Eheim "Ehfi Substrat" and "Ehfi Mech" These are both great for marine aquariums. You probably only want one sponge and maybe a carbon sponge at the top of the filter, changed once every 4-6 weeks.
The 2217 is a minimum of 790l/h with a 1000l/h pump. This is only turning over the tank about 4 times an hour. The Rio powerhead is about 1500l/h so thats 6 times an hour. On top of these you want some powerheads directed towards your live rock, probably one either end of the tank near the bottom. You want these to be a minimum of 4x an hour each, i.e 1000l/h, giving you a total turnover of 18x an hour which would be perfectly acceptable but some will say you could have more.
One other thing you are going to need to look at if you havent already is lighting. On a 4ft tank you want a bare minimum of 72W of lighting to be able to keep mushrooms and some polyps. If you want nicer corals then you are going to have to double this, or think about getting Metal Halide lighting.

Have a good browse of all the posts and other web sites, don't rush into it and plan everything carefully if you are going to run a sump.

Ben
 
Thats another term they use here. All the lfs i talk to say something different, but they all seem to agree on one thing and that is install a sump over canister anyday. If i am going to go marine i might as well go something good so i don't have trouble later. What do you guys think?? :sly:
 
If you are confident in doing it then go for it. Just remember to test the pumps fully first to make sure they are continually powerful enough. You can buy ready made sump systems but if you can its always better to put something like this together yourself. That way if something messes up or you want to change it you know how because you put it together yourself.

Ben
 
Is there any guide docs??? or website that can guide me on making one. I don't know anything about it or how it works. Help please. :look:
 

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