wantsome8
12-18-2002, 1:38 AM
i plan on setting up a 48 inch 40 gal sw tank. my set up is going to be a custom sea life power compact fluoresent with two 65 wat half day light half antic lighting. a prizam protien skimmer and a costom sea life wet dry with a rio 2500 pump. my questions are how soon after i set the tank up can i add my live rock? is it enough lighting and filtration? is ordering live rock off the web ok if its from a reputable place? do i even need a wet dry filter? if not could i still use it in my system? i lost my reciept and cant take it back.
OrionGirl
12-18-2002, 9:03 AM
If you order the LR from the net, you can add it immediately and use the die off to start your cycle. If you get cured pieces locally, I would wait until the tank has cycled, or you risk killing off the cool critters. There are several great places to order rock fromthe internet--Check out a thread in General Marine on good places to get LR.
You don't mention if you have a sandbed--if not, it would really help to have about 4 inches of sand on the bottom, and about 60 lbs of LR. Depending on what livestock you want, this, the skimmer and a cleanup crew should be fine.
As for lighting--looke like you've got about 3 watts per gallon. This will be fine for szome critters--mushrooms, buttoons, some polyps--but you'll want to avoid the higher light corals. Clams, for instance, are out, but scallops would be a an alternative.
You can use the wet dry as a sump (no bio balls), or add some sand to it as well. They are good for providing water movement.