Marine Setup Check

[RoyalGrammaPrincessHannah]

What "extras"are you referring to? Like the lighting for corals? If so then yeah, you could wait until you have it well cycled and have a few fish even and have some extra money saved up to get the expensive lighting. It WILL be the single most expensive thing, and expensive maintenance you have if you decide on corals. The bulbs are reccomended to be replaced bi-annually or at the very least annually. The protein skimmer isnt necessary RIGHT off the bat, but after fish have been in there for a while, it will be. Other than that, well i guess it all depends on if your going to wait to get corals with the refractometer and test kits and stuff like that.
A sump is just an extra tank set up under your aquarium in the cabinet where all the equipment is like the protein skimmer and the filter so you dont have to look at all the ugly stuff. They would also allow you to have a smaller size main tank if room was an issue or something because that would be like an extra 20 gallons right there. [at least] In my opinion, you need good filtration, including LR, aragonite sand, filter and protein skimmer. Others say that a filter isnt necessary, or that a skimmer isnt necessary. You want the water as clean as possible, right? Then why not use all of it? I would say that you need a better filter than what comes in those starter kits. I dont have one, but i dont know if people usually put lights on their sump, I guess it doesnt matter. The sumps arent COMPLETELY necessary, but do help. You were mentioning cost, and a sump is a big extra chunk.

 

[mirage47]

The extras I was refering to were things like the ozone makers and the MH lights.

I would love to have these and I would love to have a full blown reef tank but at the moment I just can't afford the extra grand or more its gonna cost me to get these so I would assume I will have to settle for just a fowlr setup.

I don't have a problem going with a sump and I had planned on some sort of undercabinet setup right from the start its just that the tidepool was simple and kinda idiot proof and I just havn't found a good site to tell me more about sumps and how to set them up as well as the plumbing that goes into it.

As for a skimmer they just sound like the coolest thing ever and for what they remove I wouldn't want to skimp here or with the LR.

One question about the LR. Do I need to have 1 - 1 1/2 lbs per gallon total volume of the main and the sump?

 

[RoyalGrammaPrincessHannah]

The amount is not crucial, but 1 pound per gallon seems like thats what fits well I guess. But it depends on what kind you get. Tonga and fiji can look the same in size, but one is MUCH more porous than the other[cant remember which] meaning that it will be much lighter than the other. But if the porous one is the only kind you get, you will end up with what looks like a lot of LR, compared to someone who mixes, or goes with the denser one. Think surface area!
So the pounds are a little of what to go by, but I guess just get what looks like enough to cover like half the bottom's surface all the way across. Like if you were building a structure for corals to be epoxied onto. Just dont crowd crowd up all the room that the fish swim, also leaving no space for water circulation. There can be too much, or too little.
If you are looking at damsels, gobies or royal grammas, they like the rocks that are kind of hollowed out on the inside, with lots of nooks and crannies, crevices and hideouts and the like. So get something fun for them to call home! Plus the more surface area in and outside of the rock, the more hitch-hikers.

 

[Navarre]

Although all these devices are beneficial tothe system (i have ozone too ans swear by it) they are not essential.

What i would recomend is you start simple yet effective.

You state the tnk is pre-drilled so i would recomend you keep withthis and put a sump under the tank. I had a 100 gallon system with sump and this had a sump withthe following dimensions. (36x15x18).

The sump merely needs to house your heater and skimmer (i recomend a good skimmer) and i would suggest you use a Mineral mud system with algae. This is very easy to setup and a great sump choice for beginners and experts alike.

The tank will need 90lbs of liverock as you as you seem already prepared for. With this done (you have already listed the things like test kits and rfractometers etc). then you are all set to go. The only question you need to ask yourself is the lighting.
If you want corals in the future then MH are a great option... You dont need them for many corals but ask yourself this.. If you purchase lower powered lights to deal with 70% of corals will you be satisfied later when you get the itch to try that 30% of corals that are brighter and trickeir to care for (the challenge really is almost irresistable).


Things like ozone/calcium reactors etc can wait for a later date when you are finally up and running. Cannister filters are not needed although they are beneficial should you want to polish the water or place medications inthe tank.

As for occupants...

Dwarf lions will be ok in the system but a lionfish such as the volitns will simply outgrow it very fast. Remember that these fish are predatory so anything that will fit in its mouth will be targetted.

Tangs... nope not IMO, you need a minimum of 100 gallons (UK ) for the tangs you have listed. I would say that you might get away with a yellow eye tang as these remain smaller but this is about all you could have.

Large angels... Majestics "might" work but i would say that this is probably pushing it slightly. I have a picture somewhere of a full grown Blue Ring angel in my 100 gallon tank (i was caring forit whilst someone was getting a new tank. The fish looked HUGE in the system and totally out of place. Dwarf angels will be fare more adept at living in a system such as the one you are proposing.

Remember that tanks such as 90 gallons seem huge or at least very large in the freshwater world, in the marine world however, this is considered average sized and nowhere near large enough to house large marine fish. )

 

[littleimp]

The purpose of a predrilled tank is to have a sump underneath the tank to house your heaters and filtration. I woul ditch the biowheel, I'd go with at least 6 maxijet 1200s powerheads (the best affordable powerhead available in my opinion) if powerheads are what you want to use to creat most of your flow.
RO water is the only way to go, tap water simply has too many nitrates, and phosphates in it. Using tap water will only hamper the overall health of the system, nuisance algae, stunted growth of corals... the list goes on. I used tap water as well when I first started, I would never go back to tap water again, too many unknowns in it.

I tunze stream kit would be better.

 

[superman]

I don't know if money grows on trees where you live...

 

[mirage47]

OK now I have a bunch more questions.

Yeh Navarre I probably wouldn't be satistfied with only 70% of the corals....actually I know I would be. So looking at some of the lighting fixtures on Liveaquaria.com I found some that would suit me I think. My biggest question is how many watts do they need to be. And do they have to be 48'' long or would the 36'' one work with a suspension kit work assuming the wattage is correct?

Second I kinda understand what a mud system is but does anyone have anmy good sites where I can read up on this. Also do I need to partition the sump with this mud system. And do I need any powerheads in there or is it enough circulation between the overflow and the skimmer?

Littleimp
I didn't know what a tunze stream kit was but now that I saw the price...hehe....yeh right.

Now as for what fish I would want to keep. I can't see getting a lionfish right now as I don't want to be spending a ton on fish only to have the lionfish eat them. So I am going to look at the beginners section on liveaquaria and see what looks cool to me. I would love to buy some fish from in town here but we don't have too much except for the petco and I don't think thats gonna be a good choice from what I have read. Fosters and Smith is only an hour drive from here but they were pretty slim on what they had in stock and they suggested ordering them through the mail from there shipping center in california.

Once again thanks for your help.

 

[Navarre]

A mud system is very simple.

You have a bed of mud, (i usually mix it with live aragonite sand to help the sand bed become live faster).
Then simply get some macro algaqe either from your lfs or local marine users (even memebers on here) and plant this in the mud. You will need to partition the sump to tstop the algae from choking the return pumps and cloging pipes but that is just about it really.

You wont need a powerhead in the sump as the flow created by the system is good enough. To fast flow means the algae wont have enough time to strip the nitrates out of the water before its returned to hte main tank.

 

[mirage47]

OK this is going to sound like a really stupid question but where do you get the "mud" from? Are we talking about the same kind of wet dirt I can find in my backyard (obivously I wouldn't use that) ? Also I just started reading the new marine aquarium and hopefully this will add to my knowledge.

As for the sump does it matter if its glass or acrylic? I assume its easier to do the partitions with acrylic then it would be with glass unless I could get the glass place to cut what I needed. Can you use acrylic partitions in a glass tank?

Thanks for the help as usual.

 

[Navarre]

You buy the mud from your lfs. There are 3 types as far as i am aware on the market. Miracle Mud, Mineral Mud and err.. one from Kent but i cant remember its name )

All do a very good job and i recomend any of them. The Miracle mud is by far the most expensive at over twice as much as Mineral Mud. The Kent Product is cheapest i think.


You can use acrylic for a sump if you prefer. I even know people that have used overflow tanks and storage tanks (house storage tanks) for sumps. Very cheap and holds lots of water. I had a glass tank partitioned with acrylic and it was useless, the silicone simply fell off the acrylic after a few weeks and rendered the partitions useless.