Is this system okay? Newbie help....

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amandab

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Apr 14, 2003
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I was thinking of setting up this system and I just wanted some general opinions from anyone who wants to give them...
Tank will be 70 gallons, 50"x18"x18" (DIY). Filter: Magnum 350 canister filter. Skimmer: Bak-pac 2. Powerheads: 3 Maxi-Jet 1200's. Heater: Ebo Jager 250 watts. Lights: 4 bulb VHO ballast with 48" tubes of different light spectrums (total watts for tank, 360-410). Live sand DSB: 100 lbs. of Southdown and 50 lbs. of live sand. Live rock: 100 lbs. Inverts and corals: button polyps, hairy mushroom coral, toadstool mushroom leather coral, scarlet reef hermits, blue leg hermits, astrea conehead snails, red serpent sea star, blood red fire shrimps, skunk cleaner shrimps. Fish: 2 ocellaris clowns OR 1 ocellaris clown and one cinnamon clown ( to be added at the same time), 2 neon blue gobies, 1 fridmani pseudochromis, and 6 blue green reef chromis.
A few questions...Which live rock is better, cured or uncured? Is there a big difference? From what I can find, everyone on this list gets along, will they all be good tankmates? I just wanted some opinions before I actually did anything. This is going to be a long term project with everything being bought periodically, leaving biological living things untill last (obviously!). Thank you all.
 
If you haven't already purchased the heaters, you may want to get 2 smaller heaters insteadof one big one. A bit easier on the heaters, and a back up in case one fails.

Make sure the stand is low enough to work on the tank easily. Tanks that are 18 inches deep can be a bear--I have 2 65 gallons tanks that are difficult becasue the bottom of the tank is about 3 foot high. Anything on the bottom requires using a chair.

Be prepared for some conflicts with the clowns and the chromis. Same family, all prone to being territorial.

Cured live rock won't cause a huge ammonia spike, uncured usually comes with more critters. If you're adding to the tank (ie, after all the fish and such are in there), uncured is recommended. You can use uncured to cycle the tank.

Have you decided how you'll cycle the tank?
 
I would also suggest upgrading the skimmer. Many people think that the bak paks aren't good for anything over about 40 gallons. I wouldn't skimp on a skimmer :). If your looking for a HOB skimmer, go with the Aqua C Remora Pro with the magdrive pump. It's the best HOB skimmer on the market and the only one I would recommend for a tank over 50gal.

If your going to use the cannister filter, don't use any filter media. You can load it with some base rock if you want and also use it for chemicals (carbon, phosphate/Nitrate sponge)

Another difference between cured & uncured LR is price. You can find uncured LR online for ahbout $3.00 per pound(or less) while cured rock comes from your LFS. I don't know the prices by you but my LFS sells cured rock for between $7.99 to $9.99 per pound.

Brian
 
I was going to cycle the tank with just the live sand/ live rock, and then add inverts and fish-- 1 every 4 weeks or so, only adding things after all readings balance out and stablize.
 
OrionGirl, thanks. Good idea- using two heaters, the thought never crossed my mind. I was going to cycle with live rock and live sand, adding inverts and fish SLOWLY after all readings balance out. BrianH, Thank you too. Can you recommend anyone online with decent prices on the Remora? Also, I'm fairly limited in my choice of who I want to buy my rock from, as I have no real "Local" fish store-- they are all freshwater, no salt at all. This makes me sad, as now I pretty much have to order online and pay shipping and be afraid of the condition it will arrive in... What process would you use to "clean" your live rock, uncured, after delivery? Thanks again.
 
The best prices of seen on the Remora are at www.Bigalsonline.com/. Last time I checked they were running for around $170. I didn't buy my LR online but I planned to until the last minute so I did alot of research into. It seems that www.gulf-view.com/ had the best looking stuff, and that place seems to be highly recommended around here.
 
Voodoo,
Where on bigals did you find the Aqua C? I didn't think they carried them.

Amanda,
I'm pretty sure that Aqua C sets the MSRP & forces the MO companies to adhere to their price so it probably doesn't matter where you buy it from.Just go to http://www.proteinskimmer.com] and see if they have a list of retail distributers.
If you want to save a little try finding a used one on ebay or at the selling forums at RC. It may take a while to find one used because not many people part with them.

Since your in westchester, see how far you are from justphish . The owner is a great guy who will help you out. If not, I second voodoo's suggestion and buy your LR from Gulf-view. Dale, the owner, is a great guy. They ship to your door next day air. If you research other MO LR companies you'll see that most of them ship to a freight forwarder and you have to pick up the shipment at the airport. Gulf-view is also aquacultured rock which gets to your door within about 24hrs of being in the ocean which means you get rock teeming with life. But be prepared as this rock can come with both good and bad life. I bought 30 lbs when I started my tank and was totally happy. My rock even came with an open brain coral which has doubled in size over the past 10 months.

If you buy a large amount of uncured LR, it will kick off your tank cycle. If you buy a large amount of cured LR, chances are you won't see a powerful cycle. As long as you have between 1 to 1.5 lbs per gallon and stock very slowly, you should be ok this way also]
 
Thank you VoodooChild and BrianH again. General consensus seems to be uncured and hearing the logic behind it, I agree. Thank you both for the website info, BrianH- I looked at the "justphish" website and I was impressed, they didn't have their address posted on the web so I'll have to e-mail them. And I'll look around and see whats up with the skimmer. Thanks again...
 
Perhaps I was wrong. I haven't checked out skimmers for a month or so and I tend to forget things with everything else that's going on. I apologize if I led you astray.
 
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