I'm back......

[fishguy_8]

Well its been about 4 years out of the game now but my basement in my house is done so that means my wife has given me the green light to start up my tank in all of its glory! So, that being said......I'm unsure if im going to start my 180 or my 65g. Im wanting to give sps a go this time. I have a single metal halide pendant from my old tank years ago. Has anything changed as far as what vendors are recommended? Last time i ordered online from liveaquaria.com and was pleased are they still my best and most economic choice for ordering live rock? Also interested in getting some kind of worm/pods and i remember ipsf was a fan favorite back then as well. Now that I'm married with dog I'm a bit more patient so it'll be a slow process but hopefully when its all done it'll be something im proud of. Glad to be back.......at least until i get the bill

Jon

[Ninong]

Hi, Jon, welcome back! OMG, you're ten years older now than you were when you first started posting as a 17-year-old high school basketball player. How time flies.

Instead of IPSF, I would suggest Inland Aquatics for a detritivore kit and other critters because you're in Illinois and they're in Terre Haute, Indiana.

You might want to check with Premium Aquatics to see if they have any live rock because they're in Indianapolis. The situation with live rock is not what it used to be because the Kingdom of Tonga banned its export a little over a year ago, resulting in a rise in prices for the other available live rock -- from places like Fiji and Indonesia.

One of the biggest differences in lighting over the past few years is that HO T5 lighting is now widely accepted for tanks no more than 28" tall. So that's something to consider. LED lighting is still in the developing stage. It's pricey and can be expensive if you have to replace any of the LEDs. It has been getting better and better but it's still expensive. Plasma emitters are just coming of age but they should be all the rage in aquarium lighting within the next two or three years, but not now.

Good luck!

[fishguy_8]

Ninong I'm amazed you remember me but not surprised at all. Plasma emitters you say .....I feel like there is a star trek joke here that I'm missing . Are the t5 more efficient than my halide or are halides still commonly used? Thanks for the reminder about premium squatics I had forgotten about them. And for the heck of it are skimmers still used or is there some new protein blaster I'm going to need to learn about? I'm still trying to figure out my iPod touch hopefully this old dog can figure out the new tricks of the trade. As always thanks for your help ninong.

[Ninong]

I wouldn't say that T5s have replaced metal halides, just that they are certainly a viable option, especially for tanks that are only 24" tall.

[Ninong]

YouTube video clip of a single tiny plasma emitter.

YouTube video clip showing the size of a plasma emitter. Very, very tiny. I think these things will replace LEDs as the lighting source of the future.

[fishguy_8]

Pretty cool stuff.....i'll check into the t5's thanks ninong.

[fishguy_8]

what do you suggest i get from Inland? should i go for a starter kit or would you just suggest some ls and a few misc inverts to start up my tank? I saw a pretty good deal for arag alive for $12/bag (20lb bag) at P.A. so i'll probably get a few bags of that as well. I'm heading to my folks house today to p/u my tank and power heads and other hardware. Cant wait to get it up and running, works been stressing me out so this is going to be my way to relax when i get home

[Ninong]

I can tell you what I ordered from Inland. I ordered their Detritivore Kit plus some trochus snails and a few spaghetti worms. The spaghetti worms are pricey but they reproduce like crazy in the typical reef-aquarium sand bed, so you don't need all that many. I ordered six but two or three -- or even one -- would have been enough because six months later you will have three times as many and six months after that, three times as many, etc.

This is something you don't add until after your tank has finished the initial cycle. If you start out with fully cured live rock, then your initial cycle will be almost instantaneous but if you start out with uncured live rock, it could take three to six weeks.

P.S. -- Whenever you go anywhere, talk them into selling you a pound or two of real live sand from their live rock curing tanks. Almost every vendor has sand in the bottom of their rock curing tanks, assuming they keep their own live rock in stock. I know for a fact that Inland has some decent DSBs. Get two or three pounds of their live sand. Inland has a lot of stuff to look at. You will be amazed.

[fishguy_8]

I'm going to order some arag-alive sand from pa, I dont suppose there is some way i can calculate how many lbs. of sand ill need to get a 3-4 in. sand bed?

[ToddTT]

You might try this:

Sand Bed Calculator

[fishguy_8]

Thats exactly what I was looking for! Thanks! Well I have water in the tank now so putting in my order to PA today sometime. When I was working with MSU I got a pretty good discount on some swivel headed powerheads and on a wave maker so I got those up and running as well. I had a heck of a time trying to find water carboy's but eventually tracked some down my dog is mystified by them But then again I'm staring at a tank of water so who's crazy now I guess.

[fishguy_8]

I'm looking for a good HOB skimmer i had pretty good success w/ the red sea prizm any other suggestions?

[Ninong]

I'm looking for a good HOB skimmer i had pretty good success w/ the red sea prizm any other suggestions?

I'm not up-to-date on HOB skimmers. Maybe someone else will chime in.

[ToddTT]

AquaC Remora/Remora Pro Protein Skimmers

And check out the numerous reviews there as well.

Aim for a skimmer larger than what it says you need. Better to have an oversized skimmer, than an undersized one that can't keep up, or has to be emptied/cleaned constantly.

[fishguy_8]

well my shipment from pa came in yesterday the tanks finally all cleared up from the sand cloud. So when I get off work today I'll probably spend the afternoon aquascaping and then see if I can't get some pix up of the work in progress. I also sprung for a new 10k mh bulb.....good thing I get paid this week

[fishguy_8]

Again bare with me being away this long but I see the remora skimmer uses a rio pump. It seems to me these were burning out and poisoning peoples tanks a few years back. Is this something that youd recommend using a different pump for or has there been changes to the rio's so this doesnt happen?

[Steve McKay]

Again bare with me being away this long but I see the remora skimmer uses a rio pump. It seems to me these were burning out and poisoning peoples tanks a few years back. Is this something that youd recommend using a different pump for or has there been changes to the rio's so this doesnt happen?

The Remora is a good skimmer, you can get it with different pumps. Here's a link. AquaC Remora/Remora Pro Protein Skimmers

I would suggest the Mag Drive pump.

[fishguy_8]

Alright after you guys' confidence in the remora and what ive been reading about them I'm sold on it. Also, I got my cured fiji lr from Premium Aquatics last tuesday. I'll be ordering from them again they gave me a nice variety of shapes and sizes and different color rock I'm glad I ordered there. I've spotted a handful of tiny feather dusters on the rock and I've also spotted a tiny sps on one of the rocks as well, I'm sure it is dead but who knows. I went and bought a bunch of test kits today I found a lfs not far from where I live now and its painful to see all of the awesome fish and coral and know they cant go home with me today So next step will be to order the skimmer, wait for the tank to cycle, order a detrivore kit from Inland Aquatics, let the pods and worms settle in and start reproducing and then I'll probably start with coral and then add fish. I'm also considering making a hood for my tank as my wife is busting my chops about having a pendant light hung on my ceiling that I just spent all winter hanging, primer, paint etc.... I think this is the right move because then I can get my 2X55w pc's in the same hood and just have them be actinics. I think that'd be a good move as I want to do sps primarily in this tank. Hiding some of the wire's and subtracting the big bell pendent would be an added bonus that the little lady would appreciate as well. On a side note: the wavemaker I bought I'm a big fan of, the swivel head powerhead's i'm less than impressed with they just don't give me the power I was hoping to get out of them so I may have to scrap them and get something with some more pep. Its good to be back though.

[fishguy_8]

The Remora is a good skimmer, you can get it with different pumps. Here's a link. AquaC Remora/Remora Pro Protein Skimmers

I would suggest the Mag Drive pump.

Steve, is there a reason you suggest the mag drive as opposed to the maxijet? Will the pump help create more skimmate or is it just going to be more useful should I go to a larger tank down the road? Or is it door number 3

[Steve McKay]

Steve, is there a reason you suggest the mag drive as opposed to the maxijet? Will the pump help create more skimmate or is it just going to be more useful should I go to a larger tank down the road? Or is it door number 3

The Maxi-jet 1200 is 295gph and the Mag Drive 3 is 350gph, the mag drive 3 is a better pump and stronger.