[Lucky692369]

I just set up my new 90-gallon AGA Reef-Ready with single overflow. Things are working fine and my cycle is almost ready for the fish.

My question is:

I started with about 3" of finely crushed Aragonite, not sand. Should I add sand and remove the Aragonite since I have read here that the DSB is the way to go.

I am trying to use the Berlin system here for Biological filtration since I have currently 25# Live Rock and will be adding another 100# this week.

I am running a 20-gallon Sump with Mag 9.5 Return Pump and Kent Marine Protein Skimmer and (2) Visitherm 250-watt Heaters. I also have (3) Maxijet 1200 on a RedSea Wavemaker.

Any suggestions would be most welcome here.

I have just started this hobby and don't even have fish yet but I am still enjoying the interesting learning experience thus far just setting up and getting it to run properly. I can't wait to start having some fish.

I plan to keep a mini-reef type tank with about 8 total reef-safe fish ( about 28" total Full-grown ).

[scubadude]

[quote]Originally posted by Lucky692369
I started with about 3" of finely crushed Aragonite, not sand. Should I add sand and remove the Aragonite since I have read here that the DSB is the way to go.

you could probably keep the bottom inch, but I would mix in as much fine sand as I could get try to get atleast a 4" SB to start. The aragonite is good for the tank but the finer grain is in higher demand for the sb fauna to migrate in.

I am trying to use the Berlin system here for Biological filtration since I have currently 25# Live Rock and will be adding another 100# this week.

I would wait till this extra 100# is in your system and gone through a cure process as well, you will need to watch your ammonia, and trites and trates.

I am running a 20-gallon Sump with Mag 9.5 Return Pump and Kent Marine Protein Skimmer and (2) Visitherm 250-watt Heaters. I also have (3) Maxijet 1200 on a RedSea Wavemaker.

what type of lighting are you running?

HTH and welcome to RL!

[Lucky692369]

For lighting, I am going to start out with a VHO Rerto Kit attached to my Canopy.

This kit has the Icecap 660 ballast with (2) Super Actinic bulbs and (2) 50/50 bulbs. This is only 440 watts Total lighting and I know that I need to add more to keep SPS and clams that I would like to keep later on after tank is established.

My plan is to upgrade to (2) 24" PFO reflectors with Mogul sockets for (2) 400watt MH with the (2) 110watt VHO Super Actinic mounted along side them in the reflectors.

I also plan to use (1) Icecap 4" fan blowing in and (1) blowing out of the open back of the canopy for circulation. I think that since the reflector has some shielding, I should not have issues with blowing directly onto the MH bulbs since the air should not hit them directly. I also do not plan on using whatever brand MH bulbs that have this problem anyway.

This is my plan so far for lighting. I gathered all this information for this sites Lighting BB.

I will add pics of the tank setup so far the end of this week when I get the lighting finsihed and installed.

[Lucky692369]

I changed over from 4" of Crushed Coral Aragonite (120lbs) last night to a 6.5" DSB using 250lbs of Home Depot PlaySand.

I used the procedure given from Mikeman (thanks)
and all went quickly and easily.

I have not finished cycling since this is a new tank, so I had only 25lbs of Live Rock to worry about which made this all pretty easy.

Anyway, tank already has crystal clear water today and I am going to purchase and add the remaining 65lbs of Live Rock today (total of 90lbs Live Rock).

I am also installing the lighting today onto my canopy. I will attach a pic of this sometime this weekend.

The sand I got is Silica sand. Has anyone had issues with this sand or will everything be okay? Please advise.

I tried to get Southdown, but the HD here does not carry that kind. I am in Athens, Georgia.

Does anyone know where the nearest HD with Southdown would be?