Time to dip my toes into some saltwater...

R

Richer

AC Members
Aug 7, 2002
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Edmonton, AB
Before you start reading, there's a couple things I want to say...
Boy does the water taste funny over here :p
and thanks in advance for being so patient... I know this is going to be one heck of a long post.

My parents are in the process of designing a new home, and they've asked the homebuilder to put in an in wall aquarium in the living room. When the house is built, it'll be my job to fill that hole in the wall with a tank. Since my parents have always been fascinated with saltwater, this gives me a chance to give SW a go.

The design isn't final yet, but my guess is the hole in the wall is probably going to be able to at least hold a 100+ gallon tank. So for now, lets assume my hypothetical tank is 100 gallons to make things easy.

The goal of this hypothetical tank is a nice looking FO setup, low in maintanence... with the possibility of upgrading to a reef system in the future (which I assume is the same as upgrading a FW FO tank to a planted tank in terms relative maintanence). The low maintanence is an important factor, since my parents will probably be doing most of the maintanence (ie. removing stuff from the skimmer, FW topoffs, etc.), with me coming in once a month to do a water change. Now from what I've read, it seems like the best setup for such a tank would involve using LR, a DSB and a skimmer for filtration.

So here is what I plan to do for this hole in the wall:

100 gallon tank
30 gallon sump
100 lbs of live rock, or more if the aquascape demands it
a bunch of powerheads for water movement
a skimmer of some sort
sand from a hardware store
A RO/DI unit of some sort will be purchased as well

Does that sound about right? Am I missing anything essential (other than lighting, because I'm getting to that)?

Now for lighting... I'm actually not sure how much lighting I'll need for a FO setup... being a plant person, I have no problems in investing money into a decent light system, but since this isn't going to be my tank, I just want something economical for this tank.
Would CFs from www.ahsupply.com work?
How many watts of CF lighting would you suggest?
Does LR need lighting in order to perform its biological filtration function?
If I put LR into the sump, would that need lighting? (related to previous question)

I understand that the main function of a DSB is to remove nitrates from the water column by converting it to N2 gas. I've read conflicting things about a DSB...

Does a DSB need critters to keep the sand stirred? if so, what kind?

I live in Canada, so ordering stuff from the States is a no-go... so I'm gonna need to special order stuff through the LFS.

I plan to order my LR through various LFS, I figure since they get their LR through different sources, I might get better bio-diversity, does that sound like a good idea?

One more question to top off this ridiculously long post... how does a refugium work? Is it needed in a FO tank? How would one go about setting one up?

Thanks to everyone who answers =)
-Richer
 
I'm going to reccomend a few Books to start with.

Get either "The Coscientious Marine Aquarist" by Robert Fenner and "Natural Reef Aquariums" By John Tullock.

In wall setups have a number of issues to deal with. Traping moisture can cause mold and fungus problems, so you need good air flow. Second they can trap heat and cause the tank temperature to rise to unhealthy temperatures.

Lighting: For Fish Only With Live Rock ( FOWLR) you can use what ever looks good to you. Power Compacts will work fine. LR does not need any special lighting to function properly.

What is on the other side of the wall? Do you have plenty of access room? If you want it easy to maintain, just use two Emperor 400 filters and forget the sump and skimmer. Make sure you have room to do water changes.

I use live sand beds and LR in the tanks I set up for customers. I think they do a great job of helping a tank to run correctly.

Check with www.IPSF.com and www.inlandaquatics.com One of them probably ships to Canada. They both sell the detrivores you need for the sand bed and tank.

Ray
 
Welcome to the Dark, er, I mean Salty Side, Richer!

Sounds like a good plan. Here's a few things to think about in addition to what Ray has already said.

To cut your folks workload, you might think about adding an auto-topoff system, with an RO reservoir, using a float switch in the sump.

If your local LFSs have good live rock with lots of stuff growing on and in it, great. The ones around here never do. TBS ships to Canada. Nice rock, and you could just order a box for the "icing on the cake."
 
There should be plenty of room to work with... its a 3000 square foot house, and only two people living in it. The auto-topoff suggestion is a good, and I'll definately keep that in mind =)

I see where you're going with the mold and fungus, and I'll make sure to alert the builder to that potential problem... and as for temperatures, that shouldn't be a problem. It only goes over 25 degrees celcius a couple of weeks out of the year up here (there has been a snowfall recorded in every month of the year except July... and there's still snow on the ground right now!) and this house will have central AC.
I was thinking about using a sump and skimmer, because I want to leave the tank open to as many options as possible... I like my tanks to be flexible in terms of filtration, livestock and whatnot. I also like to keep water conditions as perfect as possible... believe it or not, but all of my FW tanks have a nitrate reading of 10 or under... so if I can get nitrates down to zero on a SW tank, I'd like to do that.

I'm hesitant in ordering LR online, because it'll cost a bundle for parents... I can get fiji rock for 7.99 CND a pound. With currency conversions and shipping, it'd cost a lot more to bring up LR from the States. However, I will look into the suggestion of bringing up one box, perhaps a box of LS as well.

Thanks for the suggestions, keep them coming please! =)
-Richer
 
Richer, you might just get some (about 70 pounds) of base rock and maybe 30 pounds of some high quality live rock from tampa bay saltwater.
 
I would start with compact flourescents, and plan to add MH when you convert to a reef system. The PC will be great for the FOWLR stage, and useful in a reef, allowing you to start with some of the lower light reef organisms first.

I know Ray doesn't like sumps, but I am a fan of them. As long as your parents will be reliable about topping off and checking the sump, I don't think there's an advantage to using powerfilters versus a sump.

Welcome to the salty side--wonder who else we can draw this way? Hmmmm....Mo? :laugh:
 
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