Setting up 65 gallon

[pf1130]

I ended up purchasing a 65 gallon (36x18x24) reef ready tank and stand today. My plan is to setup a FOWLR and then maybe in the long run add some of the more forgiving corals. I want to go with about 30lbs of base rock and 20-30lbs of live rock. I need help deciding on a filtration and circulation setup. I have a freshwater tank and am used to/dont mind doing regular weekly water changes. Any sump/refugium/wetdry suggestions? I've read the debate about bioballs needing cleaning. I'm looking for an economical (relatively) and practical approach. Links to specific products/ reputable brand names would be very useful.

[Reefscape]

On the live rock, if you intend to use that as the sole source of filtration, then i would up the ammount of live rock to dead rock to a ratio of at least 60% live to 40% dead...

For flow, i would go with something like 2 Hydor Koralia 3 (http://www.marinedepot.com/ps_searchItem~SearchText~koralia~IdCategory~FIPH~v endorname~Hydor~vendorcode~HD~searchlogtext~korali a.html) powerhead's....this will give you a great flow, dispersed, and then you wont need to upgrade the flow when it comes the time to start adding corals...

For filtration..Live rock or external filter is the two main choices...Live rock is the better choice as this is natural and you dont have to clean them everyweek or replace media..if going down the live rock route, then you need about 1 - 1.5lbs live rock per gallon of tank water..

Sump wise, always get the biggest that your stand can hold...bigger water volume means more stabilty..Use live rock rubble instead of bio-balls, but thats a personal preference on my part...with live rock rubble, there is no maintenance that needs to be done as there is with bio-balls...

Skimmer wise, to add to the filtration, which i would suggest as your only just stepping out into the marine world, would be something like a Corallife Super Skimmmer (http://www.bigalsonline.com/BigAlsUS/ctl3684/cp18490/si1383371/cl0/coralifesuperskimmerneedlewheel125gallon) or a Tunze DOC (http://www.marinedepot.com/ps_AquariumPage~PageAlias~protein_skimmers_tunze_d oc_comline_nano_classic.html) ....

Hope that helps

Niko

[dmjordan]

well put. i would see if you can incorporate a refugium into your sump set up as well for nitrate reduction and a great place to get pods to populate.

[Almondsaz]

If you would like more information on sumps/refugiums the best site is: http://www.melevsreef.com/what_sump.html this gives you the basics of a sump/fuge and it's components. Also, if you look in his sump section http://www.melevsreef.com/links.html you can see a number of different sump layouts (with and without fuges).

I second what Niko said about Coralife or Tunze. You can get the Coralife skimmers much more reasonably and they do a good job which I started with. The Tunze, which I have now is pricier but really is plug and play. Skimmers seems to be one of the more heated topics since everyone has their preference. I think it is easier to say which ones to stay away from, because the others are all fairly good - unless you jump to the really high dollar ones.

Best of luck and Welcome to the forum! This is a terrific group of people.

[pf1130]

For cost reasons I'm going to start off with a mixture of base rock and live rock. I've read it may take a considerable amount of time for the base rock to become live rock. Should I go with a wet/dry to help with filtration at least in the begining (and later remove the bio balls)? Or a plain sump? Seems the wet/dry isn't much extra thats why I ask. I have been looking at
http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod_display.cfm?c=3578+3579+18365&pcatid=18365

http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod_display.cfm?c=3578+3579+18367&pcatid=18367
Any other recommendations? I do plan on adding a skimmer to the sump such as the coral life in a month or two.

[Grins]

I personally am not a fan of the wet dry systems. If you won't have enough live rock for filtration I'd personally get a mechanical filter. Once you have enough live rock you can remove the filter and use it only for carbon and such as needed. I do however feel that a sump would be useful either way.

[pf1130]

Thanks for all the help so far guys. I decided to go the DIY sump route and bought a 20H. Also picked up a Rio 2500. Below is my Sump plan, any comments? Eggcrate is in yellow, baffles in red. Neglect the baffle height dimension, im planning on leaving around 6" between the top of the baffle and the top of the sump.
http://img245.imageshack.us/img245/6937/sumpsetupfl2.th.jpg (http://img245.imageshack.us/my.php?image=sumpsetupfl2.jpg)

[pf1130]

I'm also thinking of replacing the orginal filter floss idea with live rock rubble.