New Setup, I could use some help.

[Slacker]

Hello everyone, I have had some freshwater tanks in the past and thought I would get into saltwater. I got a good deal on a setup. I could use any help or pointers. This is what I have so far:

Tank: 55g Oceanic 48"L x13"W 22"H
Filter: Emperor 400
Protein Skimmer: Prizm
Powerhead: 2 Maxi-Jet 600
Heaters: 1 Visi-Therm 200w , 1 tronic 50W
Lighting: 1 48" fluorescent

I just got the setup the other day so I cleaned all the parts with warm water. I put the filter and protein skimmer setup in the tank. I have added 50lbs of Southdown sand to the tank bottom. Here are my questions:

1. From what I am reading it looks like I will need more sand, is this correct? If so how much should I add? I don't want to overflow the tank with sand so what would be the minimum and optimum sand depths?

2. After adding the correct amount of sand what would be my next step? Can I start adding water? If I am not putting any fish or liverock in the tank yet, can I mix my salt and water together in the tank? Can I use tap water for the initial fill if I let it run for a week or so before adding say liverock or will the tapwater cause some sort of long term effects.

I guess that's about it for now, I have searched through the forum and if there is a sticky thread or something that gives me a whole run down I would appreciate if someone could help me find it.

Thank you everyone,
Slacker

[Poseidon]

Hey Slacker! Welcome to Reefland!

Sounds like you are off to a start. In my opinion you won't need the Emperor filter. I would suggest a minimum sand bed depth of 4", add to that 50-60lbs of Live rock and now you have natures filtration method. Also your 200W VisiTherm should be more then enough, the 50W Tronic is just asking for trouble, as it is not big enough to accurately maintain tank temp.

Finally YES and NO!

Yes you can do the initial mix in the tank, and NO I would not use tap water. I did the initial fill of my 135 gallon tank using store bought RO water. I would recommend you get a Brute 32 gallon can in GRAY or Yellow, (yes it matters) and put it in the back of a truck, or SUV then buy a 5 gallon jug at a grocery store fill it, dump it in the Brute go back and fill again dump in.... Until the brute has 15-20 gallons in it, Then repeat! It will make a substantial difference in the overall water quality of the tank!

[Slacker]

Great, thanks for the advice. Another question, if I keep the filter can I get away with say 25lbs of live rock?


Thanks,
Slacker

[Poseidon]

Nope. Different type of filtration. Your power filter will process fish waste into NH3 (Ammonia) then NO2 (Nitrite), then finally NITRATE, which it cannot remove. The live rock and DSB combine to remove all 3! Now NO3 is not as toxic as NH3 or NO2 but it sure is not good for your fish either! Plus without the filter you have LESS Maintenance, nothing to clean! I know the rock is more money, but it is worth it, cause you won't need to buy anything to maintain the rock...

You may also want to upgrade the skimmer to a CPR bakpak or AquaC remora... those are MUCH better!

[vlwinn]

Hello everyone, I have had some freshwater tanks in the past and thought I would get into saltwater. I got a good deal on a setup. I could use any help or pointers. This is what I have so far:

Tank: 55g Oceanic 48"L x13"W 22"H
Filter: Emperor 400
Protein Skimmer: Prizm
Powerhead: 2 Maxi-Jet 600
Heaters: 1 Visi-Therm 200w , 1 tronic 50W
Lighting: 1 48" fluorescent

Thank you everyone,
Slacker

Slacker, I have a similar setup.

Tank: 55g Oceanic 48"L x 13"W x 22"H
Filter: 2 - Penguin 330 (removed bio-wheels)
Protein Skimmer: None (Going to purchase Prizm Pro)
Powerheads: 1 Aquaclear 402 and 1 Aquaclear 201
Heater: 1 Tetra Whisper 200 w
Lighting: 1 48" Coralife 50/50 Fluorescent 40w (going to upgrade later)

My tank has been up and running for year (started Dec 2003). I haven't had any major problems. In the beginning, I had to remove the bio-wheels from my filters simply because they were major nitrate carriers (my biggest problem). But the power filters themselves are excellent for water flow as well as mechanical and chemical filtratration. The filters cartridges help in keeping the water crystal clear. The reason I never purchased a protein skimmer was simply because, the guy at my LFS store said I wouldn't need it if I wasn't setting up a complete reef aquarium with corals and all. But he said it would also aid with the bioload of the fish, etc.

I have a DSB of about 3" (or 100 lbs.) and 85lbs of LR. Basically, that does all the biological filtration naturally. I have 2 percula clownfish, 2 domino damsels, 1 yellowtail damsel, 1 three-stripped damsel, 1 coral beauty dwarf angelfish, and 1 yellow tang. As for maintaining my aquarium, I do water changes (10%) and change the filters every two weeks.

It is a pleasure to have, but my husband is looking to upgrade to a reef aquarium sometime in the future. Looks like we are going to end up with more than one aquarium lol.

Good Luck!

vlwinn

[Samper]

The emperor filter holds a carbon cartridge right? If it does you should run carbon in it to help with a little of your water polishing. It won't do much on a tank that size. When you change your carbon change out half of it at a time.