Advise please

[Hulkster]

Hi

Im about to buy a percula 90 so will have all the eqipment needed to setup a reef tank. Ive been reading up for about 2 years now but i read so many conflicting reports im starting to confuse myself. Please can someone give me some advice on the steps to setup my new tank? i want to use live rock but will I still need tuffa rock etc etc?

Thanks

 

[Hulkster]

oh and when initially setting up a tank do i need to use RO water or just water out the tap?

 

[Navarre]

Hello and welcome to the Forum.

DONT use tufa rock. Although its cheap to buy its a potential timebomb. The odd thing about tufa rock is that it acts like a sponge, people find that it would store up things like ammonia, nitites etc, even medications. These will be stored in the rock for a long period of time then without warning it would dump/or leech these back into the tank causing all sorts of instability or even crashes/deaths.

Stick with Live rock, its more expensive but its what nature designed and cannot be beaten.

Stock with livestock slowly, get your cleanup crew in as early as possible. Use RO water for filling your tank, for top up and water changes. Using tap water can cause all sort of problems at later stages.

Good luck with the project

 

[Great Lakes]

Hmm, what is a percula 90?

Yes, you will definitely want to use RO water to start.

I mix the salt and water right in the tank. After a day, I then add my substrate. Then after another day, You can add the liverock once you have assured your basic water parameters are OK.

The best way to do live rock is to get it at the local store, out of a tank, fully cured, and take it immediaetly home to your tank.

At this point all you need is some moderate water ciculation and some decent lighting.

Have the tank yet? And where do you live?

GL

 

[Navarre]

Percula 90 is from the Aquamedic range i think. I havnt ever seen on myself but they have great reports by many people. One of the few tanks over in the UK that are well designed for Marine use.

 

[Hulkster]

http/www.aqua-medic.de/cgi-bin/php/displ...ang=en&cat_id=1

Here is a link to the tank etc etc. Ive worked it out at 75 gallons but i may be wrong.

Im in Essex in the uk.

How much is RO water to buy?

 

[Navarre]

Depends where you go really. I live in Cornwall , the RO down here costs 50p per gallon. I have seen it as cheap as 30p per gallon and also as expensive as £1 per gallon.

RO units are a very good buy I can direct you to a very cheap place in the UK to get RO units if you like.

 

[Hulkster]

If you could that would be superb.

With live sand do i use that instead of crushed coral etc? and do i add live sand and live rock once the water is at the right salinaty?

Cheers

 

[Navarre]

You dont need to fill the sand with live sand. 1 bag (or even a cup from your local shops tanks (as long as they take from their inverts tnks to ensure no copper is in it).

1 bag of live sand and the rest can be crushed coral. You dont need alot of live sand as the sterile sand will son become live.

Normal sand is definately cheaper

Get the tank up to temperature and SG. Remember that SG changes with temperature so make sure that you get the temperature right before you fine tune the sg. If you add salt to a cold tank then when you raise the temperature you will find the SG is wrong.

Once these are within perameters then you can add your liverock.

 

[Hulkster]

sorry what is SG?

 

[Navarre]

SG = Specific Gravity. (Salinity)

Any range within 1.021 and 1.026 is ok. I run mine at 1.025 I know alot of people have theirs slightly lower at about 1.023

 

[Great Lakes]

Not a bad size tank.

I work it out to 90 gallons.

Only trouble I see is the 150 watt will be inadequate when you start to put corals or any other light loving creatures in it.

Unfortuneately, many aquarium manufacturers just put adequate lighting in their systems.

You will need to get into the 400 to 500 watt range when adding anything other than fish.

This is what I dislike about marine advice. I am always telling someone they need more light...

GL

 

[Navarre]

I think you will get away with 150w halides if you want softies or medium light loving hard corals. Perhaps acros etc will suffer and they would need placing very close to the surface. I think a 250w for this size would be adequate for anything you wanted though.
I have 400w over my maintank but these are not as popular as the 250w ranges in the UK.

 

[Hulkster]

is that down to the bulb i put in or do i need a new lighting unit?

 

[Great Lakes]

You would need to swap just the ballast I believe.

150 watters are fast falling out of popularity here in the states.

I know some goofballs that would insist you need a pair of 400 watters over that size tank. Most light freaks claim a halide for every 2 x 2 feet is the requirement.

But I think a single 250 would suit you well.

GL