starting a new marine aquarium/Some basic ideas and questions on the setup.

silverz · Jun 24, 2004

Well, I the new guy here. I've been looking into starting a reef aquarium anf have a few questions for you guys. I've had freshwater for the last 10 years and want to do something new. I've looked through old posts and talked to local stores and have come up with a setup according to them. I was wondering what you guys thought of it.

I have a 55 gallon with a emperor 400 now. one guy said i should do fish only and not a reef. the other guy said i would be fine with a reef setup.

I want to use the emperor i already have. It was recomended to use a fluval 404 along with it. Is this necassary? Seems like overkill to me. I want to use a sump setup with 10 gallon tank. I was told to use a 20 gallon instead.

two powerheads in the corners and later on ( like 6 to 8 weeks) get a protein skimmer.

For the substrate i will use playground sand and start with base rock when i add the water. When the temperature and salt mixture are correct I will add the live rock and a few damsels to get the tank cycled.

I will also be getting the correct lighting.
Do I have the right idea? Anything else you guys recommend?

OrionGirl · Jun 24, 2004

I'd prefer to use a cocktail shrimp for cycling--cheaper, no dead/sick fish, more ammonia. If you use damsels, you will have to be very careful adding anything--not only are damsels mean buggers, but the tank will only be cycled for their waste load, and will re-cycle with any additional fish.

Otherwise--sounds fair. You can go with either areef or FOWLR--the narrowness of the 55's make them a pain to work in, but that's not a reason to avoid one or the other. You will have to research your fish selections carefully--many popular and commonly available fish (tangs, large angels, many predators, triggers) will quickly outgrow a 55, but there are many, many choices still: clowns, dwarf angels, gobies, wrasses, cardinals and so on.

silverz · Jun 24, 2004

I am planning to add fish slowly so not to throw the levels off. Something like one to two a week until its full. As far as the damsels are concerned at least I can have fish while it is cycling. The guy who recomended this said if they are picking on the others he would take them back.

You don't think an emperor 400 and a fluval 404 is overkill? I can understand a smaller canister filter but the 404 is pretty large.

OrionGirl · Jun 24, 2004

I like a lot of water flow, so more is better. You really can not overfilter an aquarium--that's like saying the water is too clean. I wouldn't use media in them at first--maybe add it as the population of microfauna builds to the point where you have lots of pods and such. Mechanical filtration can trap food, where it's not as accessible to cleaners. I'm told that this isn't a big problem with canister and HOB filters, though.

You'll likely have to tear everything out of your tank to get rid of the damsels--they are tough to catch and very fast. And, they are mean, nasty fish that will rip up everything you introduce, even fish much larger than them. I've seen a number of people use damsels to cycle, then spend weeks swearing about them. Some have even used the damsel, intending to add a large predator that would eat them--only to discover that the damsels survive and torment their predator. Your choice--I'm just giving you the experience I and others have had with them.

benjen · Jun 24, 2004

silverz,

What you are describing is very similar to the setups that Ray Pollett on these forums uses. He uses one Emperor 400 per 3 feet of tank width and it works well for him. The general assessment of cannisters around here is not to buy one if you haven't already. Sand and rock filter better, and powerheads are cheaper for water movement.

Using Ray's method, I think he doesn't necessarily even use powerheads or a skimmer with the biowheels, but he does use a DSB and live rock.

Generally, unless you plan on a damsel heavy tank, there are far better ways to cycle than with damsels. Add some pure ammonia to the tank or throw in a cocktail shrimp to decompose, and you won't spend weeks torturing a fish, even if the fish happens to be mean enough to pull through. Adding a few chunks of live rock rubble or a cup of sand from an existing marine tank will speed up the cycle greatly without hurting a fish. Plus, damsels are a b*tch to catch when they start attacking other fish.

silverz · Jun 24, 2004

So, scratch the canister filter and stay with the emperor. Will the one be enough or should I get another one to go along with the first one?

Or........should I get a smaller filter to go along with the emperor to save on costs?

benjen · Jun 25, 2004

Ray Pollett advises that if you are going to use Emperor 400's, that you use 1 for each 3' of tank width or any portion thereof. So, he'd say to use 2 for a 4' tank. Hopefully, he'll notice this thread and give you more advice on his method. I am not using it personally.

silverz · Jun 25, 2004

What filters do most people use? maybe I should go that route and save the emperor for my other freshwater tank.

OrionGirl · Jun 25, 2004

I don't have any mechanical filters on my nano and reef. There is some mechanical filtration on the FO--mostly to deal with the dust particles that the engineer goby kicks up while digging (he's being kicked out today). It's DIY deal, though, because the filter media had to be replaced twice a day with all his activity. With him gone, there won't be any media in there unless needed.

silverz · Jun 25, 2004

How can you get away with no mechanical filteration?

If no mechanical filteration is required what is used in its place? I have read where sumps are used but i thought a mechanical filter was placed there.

They way i see it is that fish produce waste and something needs to clean it up. What is used instead of filter media?

Now that I look at it I just asked the same question three times.


zoomed.com	hikariusa.com		aqaimports.com	Store

Search

Search

starting a new marine aquarium/Some basic ideas and questions on the setup.

silverz

AC Members

OrionGirl

No freelancing!

silverz

AC Members

OrionGirl

No freelancing!

benjen

AC Members

silverz

AC Members

benjen

AC Members

silverz

AC Members

OrionGirl

No freelancing!

silverz

AC Members