Wondering If Im Good To Go

[petey Z]

im about to start my reef tank and i was wondering if this would be suitable filtration
Its a 38 gal tank
Fluidized bed(sand filter) (got for extemly cheap, thats why i bought it )
10 gal sump(how much live rock and live sand should i add?, any other stuff i should add?)
40 pounds of live sand in the tank
How much live rock in the tank?
got powerheads and all that stuff

also i would like to know if this is suitable stocking
1 long nose hawkfish
2 neon gobies
1 dawrf angel, if not then 2 clown fish

anything im missing ?
lemme know

thanks everyone

pete

 

[Lynden]

Seems fine , but your forgetting a skimmer. Also, how deep is your sand gonna be? If you put in much more than an inch at a time, you'll get major die off in the sand, causing a monstrous ammonia spike. As for the rock, you should have about a pound per gallon, but with the fishes you're after, about 20 pounds should be good enough. And in the sump, only a few pounds of rock is needed, same with the sand(about two inches), and put in some caulerpa or other macroalgae for chemical absorbtion. As for your fishes, you could easily accomodate all those listed.


Good luck with the tank! Tell us how it does please.


-Lynden

 

[steelhealr]

Hi Petey 2....here's another look at it:

1) if you are going to keep corals and fish, I'd improve your filtration by keeping a good amount of LR. 1-1 1/2 lbs per gallon. So, if it were me, I'd add 45lbs of LR

2) 40lbs of live sand sounds cool, you want a 1/2" to 1 1/2" sand bed

3) ask Navarre about mineral mud for the sump

4) I would never put caulerpa in my tank. There is a small risk that it can go asexual..it 'bursts' so to speak releasing spores and nutrients into the tank. Stick with chaetomorpha.

5) I wouldn't use a fluidized sand filter/bed. It's just a different type of UGF which, IMO, are dinosauric. Some quotes from forums:

In a few words, they are the most suprior biological filter around with extremely high capacity when compared to their volume but they need a water pump that is a little more powerful than typically used by other filters. You must use another mechanical filter before the fluidized bed or it will clog up.

Having said that it is an overkill for most aquariums, but for large aquriums or ponds they can make the sump significantly smaller or you can get rid of the sump completely depending on your design...

The concept behind using the fluidized bed filter is one where oxygenated water flows up through a fluidized bed of sugar sized silicate sand (SiO2, not aluminosilicates...) that , over time, is colonized by mineralizing bacteria that will reduce ammonia to nitrate (same process as with undergravel filters, NH4+ goes to Nitrite then to Nitrate) Such a system will produce no more nitrate than any other system, it will change whatever ammonia the system produces into nitrate. The difference is that it neither removes any of the nitrate by denitrification that we would see with liverock, and the nitrate production is not linked by proximity to the aenrobic process that would be available if live rock or deep sand beds were in proximity to those processes. The net effect is an accumulation of nitrate in the water column. Unless you perform regular water changes, or have some other means of exporting the nitrogen (i.e., via algal scrubbers or through the use of a refugium and macroalga harvesting or utilize dsb and live rock in addition to this process), it will accumulate in the water column and trigger the nuisance algal blooms in a saltwater system. Utilizing this method of filtration in addition to LR and DSB is prolly unnecessary and wasteful, but I cannot give you any examples of folks who use both systems together do demonstrate this.

6) Hawkfish have compatibility problems, at times, with inverts, so, if you are going to keep shrimp in your tank or maybe lose a snail, it's a risk.

JMO SH

 

[Navarre]

I think you have a fairly solid grasp of whats needed, im pleased that you have asked for a final bit of advise here before going out and setting (then asking if its ok). I agree with most of the comments given above, I also feel you should add more liverock as you simply cannot have enough to be honest.. the more liverock the better the filtration, the more liverock the more secure the fish will feel, (especially in small tanks where you are only able to keep fish that like rock environments.

As for the sand... I would go no deeper than 2 inches in sump nor tank. If you can aim for an inch this is even better for the very reasons given above.
As for the sump.. if you could get a jar of mineral mud (not miracle mud as this costs twice as much and does the same job! ). and put an inch layer of MM in the sump and cover it with a 1 inch layer of livesand too then you will have a well seeded sump and ready for macro algae.. i too would be careful with caulerpa.. its great for nutrient extraction but extremly unstable.. if you keep the algae well pruned and leave a ligh on in the sump 24/7 then this usually stops and die back on the algae. A better algea as SH has said is Cheatomorpha, very stabe and almost as good as caulerpa at nutrient extraction.

Once the mud is settled in you canadd the caulerpa and its ready to run! No need for liverock in the sump although maybe a small piece or two would help give greater diversity in the system. As for the sand bed.. well i have got one but it no longer is used for filtration basically for the reasons that were given above. To be honest they are a bit archaic now although they are extremly good at their job. One possible way of using them in a system that i have been considering myself is to put the sand filter in the sump before the macro algae section. This means the nitrates given off will immediately feed the macro algaes and give them a firm nutrient base to grow from.

I have kept the sand bed filter as it also serves other purposes such as a fluidises rowaphos chamber, it also has potential as a DIY calcium reactor too. Dont feel you have bought a useless dinosour though, they are good things to have and as i have mentioned, its got lots of other potential uses.

IF you are considering corals in the near future then of course you need to invest in lighting at some point but as you havent mentioned this so far i wont go i nto great details now.

 

[petey Z]

hey everyone, thanks alot, Great information

You mentioned lighting, i do have a compact flouresnt (2)X96 watt light, ones a regular day light (10,000K) the other one is the actinic blue, my friend said i was good for lighting. I got a sweet deal on it too.

yea im also dissapointed that the sand filter wont be of such use, but anything else i could do with it, u mentioned a DIY calcium reactor??
Or could i just set it up for extra biological filatration.

alright thanks everyone

pete

 

[Navarre]

I would not write it off altogther. I would run it in the sump and allow the algae get a kickstart in nutrient exportation.

If you find your nitrates are climbing then you can always turn the sand filter off and use it as a rowaphos reactor or calcium reactor.

 

[petey Z]

awsome ........... one question wats a rowaphos reactor and calcium reactor??? hahah

and how do u use it as that ??

another thing, i just got 40 lbs of carib sea arag-alive, do u thing this would be enough for tank(38gal) and sump(10gal). Shouldnt i mix the live sand with some normal sand for the tank or sump??

sry for all these questions

thanks

pete

 

[Navarre]

rowaphos is used for reducing phosphate and silicates. Nutrients like this can build up in the system (not always) and cause massive algae blooms. TO use this as a rowaphos reactor you simply use rowaphos instead of sand.

a calcium reactor is used to add calium to the tank and this enables corals to grow strong. Corals will remove calium from the water and thus its can quickly become calium deficient. (mostly hard corals do this )


You would need some minor modifications to achieve this but it would be worth looking into in the months ahead. at the moment you really wouldnt need to worry about adding calium from a reactor.

 

[petey Z]

alright so the sand filter situation is taken care of

now i wondering about the sand, i got 40 lbs of carib sea arag-alive, do u think this would be enough for tank(38gal) and sump(10gal).

Shouldnt i mix the live sand with some normal sand for the tank or sump??

also when i add it, should i add 20 lbs and then wait about a week and then another 20???

 

[Navarre]

add all the sand at once. as soon as the bag is open i would not want to let the sand go unused once its come into contact with air.

Use normal sand also to create a good mix and allowing the livesand gofurther. You should have enough to do the sump and tank, just use normal sand to help it along.

 

[petey Z]

oh man ran into another problem

sry to bother you again

but do any of u know how to set up the sand filter?
the directions that came with it are no help

i tried adding the filter media and then turning it on. and this is what happened

the output of the filter was full of the filter media, i guess the media is to small, but isnt that wat its supose to be ? rly small filter media?

well im getting pretty angry hahaha

any answer would be greatly appreciated

thanks