Hi i am new to marine fish i am looking to set up a reef tank in the next few months. my tank will be about 200 litres
i am finding all the different set-ups confusing so i was wondering if anyone has a reef tank if they could explain all the hardware they have and what job it is doing, absolutely everything.
and i have a lot of questions.
1. what is the difference between a power head and a wave maker?
Both move water. A powerhead just sits in the tank and moves the water around, while a wavemaker does much more. There are many kinds of wave makers, but mostly they just move the water in a more complicated fashion, such as alternation directions and such.
2. how does a sump work (need Detail)
A sump is essentially just a space to hold extra water, therefore increasing the total water volume of your system and providing more stability. It also has the benefit of housing filtration (like a skimmer), hiding your heater in there, and you can also have a chamber within the sump called a refugium for even better filtration.
http
/www.melevsreef.com/allmysumps.html is a great resource for sumps, especially if you want to build your own.
3. i watched a video on setting a tank up and they didn't use a filter what replaces the filter and is it better to have the replacement or a filter?
There's a few different options here... You don't really need a standard filter as in freshwater for your tank. Lie rock will essentially do the same thing, housing your bacteria and acting as a natural filter. As long as you have live rock and powerheads for flow, I usually tell people to ditch other standard filters. In larger tanks, (30g +) I usually recommend a protein skimmer for additional filtration.
4. what is an ro?
RO is Reverse Osmosis Water which is just a type of filtered water. It is so filtered, there is literally nothing else in it. If you want to do corals, you're going to want RO water.
5. what is a t5 bulb?
T5s are a fluorescent bulb. Other ones such as T8 and T10 exist, the number is just the diameter of the bulb. Certain size bulbs will only fit in certain fixtures though. T5s are usually preferred for reefers as they are great for corals, more efficient than some other bulbs, and tend to be on the cheaper side than others too.
6. do anemone count as coral?
Anemones are technecially not corals, so no. They do, however, have very similar requirements as coral since they also photosynthesize. They are extremely sensitive to water conditions and need good lighting and flow to lie and thrive.
7. is a regular rock Classed as live rock as rock isn't living?(what is live rock)
Live rock is called "live" mostly because it contains millions of bacteria within it. This is the good bacteria that breaks down ammonia and nitRITes into nitRATes. Once you put the rock in your tank, your nitrogen cycle begins. Other than the bacteria, it can also have other things (called hitchhikers) which can be good or bad, from plants to little animals like crabs, urchins etc.
8. how often do you need to do ammonia and nitrate tests?
Ammonia and NitRITe should only need to be tested when the tank is first being set-up to track the process of the nitrogen cycle. The only other time is if you think there is a problem going on with your tank (fish deaths etc.) NitRATes are going to be your primary concern and are what's going to be removed by doing water changes and partially by a protein skimmer if you decide to have one of those. How often people test, varies per person, but at the beginning you'll want to test often (at least once a week).
9. is a fan mandatory to cool the light?
That largely depends on the type of lighting and the way the fixture is designed... For example, I have a 4 bulb T5 fixture that did not come with fans. You cannot keep a cover over the bulbs if this is the case and it can also lead to increased temperature in the tank as heat is given off (my lights heat up my tank an extra 3 degrees about).
10. is the sand you put in the tank just sand like from beach sand?(i wasn't going to get it from a beach but is it that sort of stuff)
I DO NOT suggest taking sand... In many areas that is illegal to begin with and also there can be a lot of bad things in that sand. Just buy some dry aragonite sand from your lfs and use that.
11. what is the best way to cycle a tank?
Live rock, as mentioned above. Depending on the quality of the live rock, it can take as little as 2 days or as much as a month to cycle the tank with it.
12 what lights are needed (day and night) and how long should they be on fore?
This depends on what you want to do with your tank. Do you want corals? If so, what kinds? Stony corals (LPS and SPS) are going to need more lighting than soft corals. Clams and anemones also require higher lighting. I suggest looking around and seeing what you want and then use that to figure out what type of light you need. "Night lights" or moonlights, are not necessary.
13: is a carbon and a rfo necessary and what do they do?
Not sure what you mean by rfo. Carbon is Not usualy necessary, especially with RO water, but usually recommended. Carbon takes out toxins in the water and helps to clear water as well.
14: what is a refugium?
A refugium is a chamber (section) within a sump. Most people use it to try and further reduce nitRATes and phosphates by using things such as macroalgaes (similar to plants) which use nitRATes and phosphates to grow. In order to do this, however, the macroalgae needs a light to grow, so you would need a light over the refugium.
sorry about all the question but i would rather know than leave it and i would love to know what your complete setup is
I have a link to my 75g in my signature... In there I have most of my plumbing with sump/refugium explained and with pictures. I did DIY on most of my tank, so it might help you out to take a look.
