[Brett A Ross]

Hi I'm new to the hobby. I have had smaller fresh water aquariums in the past. I have built an in-wall stand under my steps in a finished part of my basement,for a 75gal all glass aquarium. The carpentry part has been fairly straight forward for me. Now comes the hard part setting up the system. after much research on-line and advise from my lfs, this is what I have come up with. I would appreciate any input on this system and stocking advise. first off it will be a fish only system with a few hardy inverts, such as shrimp, snails and hermit crabs for clean up. The only fish I must have, is of course NEMO for my daughter. I would like it to be a colorful community aquarium. I should also add I have not bought any-thing yet so comments on my choice of equipment would help to. I want to do this right and provide a good home for my fish. I hope I have not been to long winded and thank you in advance for the service you provide. My planned equipment is as follows.

75gal display tank

50gal tank to be made into sump to house wet-dry filter, skimmer, pump and Refugium with 4-6'' dsb in refugium

rio2500 return pump

turbo flotor 1000 skimmer

crush coral in display tank

1 Rio 1100 power head for water circulation

dead coral and dead rock for decorations with live rock later ( to expensive around here to by all at once )

[Reefland]

Hi Brett A Ross, Welcome to Reefland!

Here are some quick suggestions for you.

Make sure your tank is a reef-ready tank so you don't have to use a HOT overflow.

Don't consider a wet/dry filter of any sorts. They are pretty effective for Fish-Only tanks however going with just a straight sump and refugium will be much better and will prepare you for some coral if you wish.

RIO's are not the best options for pumps. A MAG7 or MAG 9 would be a better return pump and Maxi-Jet's or Tunze's are better for internal water movement.

Nice skimmer, should do great!

Crushed Coral can lead to problems (a quick search will turn the results). A live sand bed would be a better choice.

Live rock is the best biological filtration you can get. Don't mess with dead stuff, get the good live rock now and save yourself some heart-ache. If it is very expensive locally, sometimes online prices including shipping can be much cheaper.

[Brett A Ross]

Originally Posted by Reefland

Hi Brett A Ross, Welcome to Reefland!

Here are some quick suggestions for you.

Make sure your tank is a reef-ready tank so you don't have to use a HOT overflow.

Don't consider a wet/dry filter of any sorts. They are pretty effective for Fish-Only tanks however going with just a straight sump and refugium will be much better and will prepare you for some coral if you wish.

RIO's are not the best options for pumps. A MAG7 or MAG 9 would be a better return pump and Maxi-Jet's or Tunze's are better for internal water movement.

Nice skimmer, should do great!

Crushed Coral can lead to problems (a quick search will turn the results). A live sand bed would be a better choice.

Live rock is the best biological filtration you can get. Don't mess with dead stuff, get the good live rock now and save yourself some heart-ache. If it is very expensive locally, sometimes online prices including shipping can be much cheaper.

Thanks for the advise I thought I might be getting some so-so info from my lfs ( suggested the wet-dry ), after what I have been reading here for the last month or two. could I start with just 15 or 20 lbs of live rock with a light load and ad more as I go, before I add more fish.

[jaydm93teg]

Originally Posted by Brett A Ross

Thanks for the advise I thought I might be getting some so-so info from my lfs ( suggested the wet-dry ), after what I have been reading here for the last month or two. could I start with just 15 or 20 lbs of live rock with a light load and ad more as I go, before I add more fish.

im no expert in fact i kind of just started but i did as u were saying i have a 55 gallon tank and i started with like 15 lbs of live rock and added some more after my tank got done cycling just before i put the nemo fish in by the way they are great fish.

[Reefland]

The only problem with adding more live rock to a tank that already has fish/coral/inverts is your taking a chance of spiking ammonia/nitrite/nitrate from any die-off on the new live rock, if it is not fully cured. I would suggest adding the full load of rock you desire before adding any fish or corals.

[saltjunkie]

heres what i did.. may not be right or the suggested path....

i got as much live rock as i could the first time around....
and built my tank around that... didnt add any more...



use a sump/refuge.. not a wet dry...

mag pumps are great.. i have had one for atleast 3 years, and have only cleaned it 3 times....hasnt failed or anything..


after a very long time and a few moves of the tank... i then bought dead rock, and put it under all my well establised live rock.. now my tank is full.. actually a lil too much at this point..
here are before and after pics.... not sure which will show up first.. but you will see..

[Brett A Ross]

Originally Posted by saltjunkie

heres what i did.. may not be right or the suggested path....

i got as much live rock as i could the first time around....
and built my tank around that... didnt add any more...



use a sump/refuge.. not a wet dry...

mag pumps are great.. i have had one for atleast 3 years, and have only cleaned it 3 times....hasnt failed or anything..


after a very long time and a few moves of the tank... i then bought dead rock, and put it under all my well establised live rock.. now my tank is full.. actually a lil too much at this point..
here are before and after pics.... not sure which will show up first.. but you will see..

I may go that route i cant afford top by 80lbs of live rock in one shot after buying all of the equpt. I would have to also find a new place to live wen the wife found out.... by the way nice tank if mine turns out half that good i will be very happy... are you useing live sand in your display tank or crushed coral... also if you didnt notice my spelling sucks

[zhenya]

Hi Brett,

If I may add to this,I would do exactly what saltjunkie said.Buy as much Lr as you can and start with that. Do not add lots of livestock in the beginning and let your live rock mature along with your tank and add more LR as you can.When you have enough rock and your tank has matured ( roughly 3-4 month), you can start adding livestock and anjoy a successfull reeftank.
And please, do not use CC for a sand bed.It may plague your tank with problems for a long time as far as nutrient build up problems and resulting in unwanted algal growth.

[Brian35]

brett,

I am in the process of removing my CC. It is a bad nutrient factory! BAre bottom or DSB!

I am hopefully going to be able to migrate to sand soon

[Brett A Ross]

Originally Posted by Brian35

brett,

I am in the process of removing my CC. It is a bad nutrient factory! BAre bottom or DSB!

I am hopefully going to be able to migrate to sand soon

well it looks like the crushed coarl is out.. you know the advise i have been getting from my lfs look worse all the time. from the wet-dry to the crushed coral. hey by the way what do you guys think about this aggrirock stuff. i'm sure thats not spelled rigth but i hope you know what i,m talking about.

[Brian35]

the wet/dry filter is great for the first months and getting the tank going! I have used a marineland emperor for almost 5 years. It makes great water current but on the downside can be a nitrate factory. You have to watch it.

Crushed coral is not a bad choice for a FOWLR. But again its big with trapping nitrates. By all means do it your way with what you want as there is no proven, all mighty correct way to run a tank. Crushed coral has worked for me for 5 years without a problem. Im just moving on to another way of doing things.