Question: Is my equipment so far good?

[ConradSlo]

Hi guys i am going to be settting up a FOWLR / FO SW tank and of course i am new to this hobby, i was wondering if my equipment so far is good to start my SW tank, if u have any suggestion to any others things or different brand equipment please feel free to do that

Equipment:
Tank: 75 gallon tank
Sump: 20 gallons
Protien skimmer dont own yet, considering this) :Coralife Super Skimmer-Needle Wheel-125 Gallon
Filter: Eheim 2026 Professionel II Canister Filter
Powerheads: Koralia 1050 (2 of them)
Substrate: Aragonite Sand 80 lbs
Hyrdometer: Instant Ocean
Test Kits: Aquarium pharmaceuticals master test kit (tests ph, ammonia, nitrite ,nitrate)
salt: Instant ocean 50 gallon salt
Bio Balls: (thinking of putting them into the sump in one portion
Live Rock: ( havent decides if its going to be FOWLR or FO yet)
Heater
Lighting
Tank Stand
Food: Ocean Nutrition Formula 1,2
Type of fish considering to own for a begginer: damsels, clowns, yellow tails.

Any feednback please feel free i want to hear what you guys have to say some of the stuff i dont own yet so its still can change please and thank you .

Thanks, Conrad.

[Parrothead]

Welcome to reeflands

for the skimmer take a look at the aquaC remora pro w/mag 3 pump, or their in sump skimmers, much better than what you are looking at.

Lighting, look at something like the nova exteme or nova extreme pro, 48" T-5 HO units

If you go with live rock you won't have to worry about the bio balls

[leebca]

You're missing test equipment and possibly others. I don't go through lists like this, however you need to read these two posts for equipment needs:
Setting Up a FOWLR Aquarium
and
What is Water Quality

I don't care about brand names, so get what you like. BUT you want to be sure you get equipment that is properly sized for your needs. There is no general way to 'size' equipment, but there are tips on how to choose the equipment capacity you need, in those posts.

[ConradSlo]

What do you mean by i am missing test equipment if you could be more specific that would be great instead of me guessing the things that i didnt purchase yet, that would be greatly apprecaited, since i do have test kits and i believe thats all i need, i check that thread you showed it seems im not missing anything so if you could clarify what you meant by missing equipment that would be great.

Another question in FO SW tank can i have dried coral or like fake ornaments e.g fake rock, non live rocks, castles, fake plants and etc.. (i was worried that maybe fake ornaments can possibly injurt my fish since they feed off of live rock they may get confused and eat my plastic ornaments X ).
Thanks, Conrad.

[Parrothead]

You're missing test equipment and possibly others. I don't go through lists like this, however you need to read these two posts for equipment needs:
Setting Up a FOWLR Aquarium
and
What is Water Quality

I don't care about brand names, so get what you like. BUT you want to be sure you get equipment that is properly sized for your needs. There is no general way to 'size' equipment, but there are tips on how to choose the equipment capacity you need, in those posts.

Sorry Lee, I missed the missed test kits, I mentioned the aquaC skimmers based on the budget item he had mentioned, for an economical skimmer I can't complain at all about my remora on my 55, but you are right, as usual

[ConradSlo]

Ya so i have decided that the remora pro is the best way to go, i heard great reviews and its probably the most effiecient hang on and probably the cheapest, Wondering weither or not to get the drain fitting on it its only 20 dollars more, but if its useless than i see no point in getting it and btw the test kits are on the list, must off misread my list, oh well, Thanks for the help so far though really needed the extra professional help, thanks guys .
And the mentioning of getting live rock i dont now if i should since my budget is low and live rock seems to be very expensive so what i was thinking is maybe purchse base rock, i heard what you can do is turn base rock into live rock over a given set of time, and that would be great if i could do that. since live rock would cost me probably 5 to 10 dollars a pound at my local marine store.

Thanks,, Conrad.

[Parrothead]

Conrad,

Depending on your schedule, the drain fitting may or may not be of use to you, I check my skimmer cup every morning while the left over coffee is being nuked, and then as soon as I come home from work it gets checked again.....Thats an opt. that is totally up to you, it is a very good skimmer with or without the drain

[leebca]

Conrad,

I'm concerned you're not reading the threads linked. I hope you do in fact read them.

I don't like noting specifics since the entire requirements are in those posts and I myself might miss something. Sorry, but I don't take the chance to list things. But, just for this once let me point out the missing tests:

In this link: Setting Up a FOWLR Aquarium you'll see under the section titled EQUIPMENT and CONTENTS the last line (just before "Inside I'd recommend. . .") lists all the test kits you'll need. Further in the document, it indicates when to use these kits.

In this link: What is Water Quality there is a whole section titled BALANCE which shows the importance of testing water for the chemistries you don't have test kits for and why it is important.

I also pointed you to the second link above to make sure you size your skimmer properly since that info is given in that post.

I'm trying to help you, but you need to do the 'leg work' and read closely! Someone I'm sure, will be helpful if you rather not do the reading. I'll be happy to discuss anything you read that I've pointed you to. Good luck!

[ConradSlo]

Alright thanks man,