My 210 gallon set up in progress

wantvws

wantvws

AC Members
Jul 15, 2007
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Waynesboro, VA
Robbie, how wonderful that you're setting up your brother's tank. Glad you found your way over to the Marine forums. What are you wanting to do with the tank? Fish Only? Fish Only with Live Rock (FOWLER) or Reef? That will best help us point you in the right direction. Oh and not to worry, that stand looks sturdy (as much as one can tell from a photo). You want to make sure it is level but it is very common for a stand to be mostly a skeleton with sides only on the front and sides.
 
I love that heavy duty wooden tank stand in the garage. It looks like a temporary stand. If you ever want to get rid of that one, let me know. :P Looks like a good bunch of rock.
 
Grins said:
Robbie, how wonderful that you're setting up your brother's tank. Glad you found your way over to the Marine forums. What are you wanting to do with the tank? Fish Only? Fish Only with Live Rock (FOWLER) or Reef? That will best help us point you in the right direction. Oh and not to worry, that stand looks sturdy (as much as one can tell from a photo). You want to make sure it is level but it is very common for a stand to be mostly a skeleton with sides only on the front and sides.
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I'm going to start simple with fish only. I want to use all of the rock that came with the tank and some shells we gathered at the beach, so I guess that I am going to start with a base of live sand and and hope that the rock comes back to "life", so to speak. The tank and the rock and coral are the only parts left of the original set-up, so I want to use it. After reading some of the other threads, I guess I don't want to use any of the crushed coral?
When my brother had it at it's peak, he had a yellow Tang, 2 starfish, a Lionfish, Royal Gramma, several anemones, some shrimp, a Sea Apple (I think...it looked like a stomach) and about seven or eight other fish. It was one of the prettiest tanks I have ever seen. I hope I can get it to look even remotely like it did. We'll see....I will be sure to keep the build thread going with pictures over the coming months.
Thanks for the interest!
Robbie
 
Robbie, it is great that you are setting the tank up again. I'm really looking forward to how it goes. You have some great looking rocks and shells to play with.

Keep us updated with lots of pics.
 
Yes, I'd skip the crushed coral and go for the sand. Typically I'd suggest not buying live sand and instead buying live rock and allowing it to seed the aragonite. You could try it in reverse but it isn't going to work fast. Not that anything in thie hobby works fast of course. If you're open to adding new live rock and mixing it between your brother's rock that would be even better.

Are the coral pieces you cleaned coral skeletons? Or are they fake coral your brother bought? If they are coral skeletons they aren't going to be super beneficial to the tank although you might want to use some as bracnhes in your rock for coralline (the hard purple algae) to grow on. Just a thought, but you might want to find another way to keep the skeltons, maybe as decoration in a basket or under glass?

I'm shocked your brother kept all that stock successfully. Typically the lion fish would have had made a quick meal of the shrimp. Sea apples are gorgeous, but be careful they can quickly crash a tank.

On the equipment you said you had I'll make a few suggestions but I'm a newbie myself so weigh in the advice of others too please.

2 Magnum 350 Pro canister filters with Biowheel Good

2 300w heaters Good

Coralife Super Skimmer I've heard is it OK, not great, but OK

2 Maxi-Jet 1200 powerheads You're going to want an upgrade. The MJs have a very narrow stream of flow. I currently have 2 MJ1200s in my 55 and it isn't enough. A good midline upgrade are the new Koralia powerheads and the Seio powerheads. Better flow distribution. About 10x turnover is what you want in your FOWLER. You'll want more if you go reef down the road. You can mod the MJs and can find posts on that on the net but I've not done it.

New 72" 4x96 Coralife light fixture That will be fine for FOWLER. If you decide to keep things like corals, clams or anemones later you'll need to upgrade then.

New Perfecto stand (looks a little dainty to me....) The one in the blue room? (pertty color by the way) looks like your typical aquarium stand. Just make sure it is level and you're good to go.

Some other things to get if you don't already have them:

test kits, I'd get either Seifert or API brand

refractometer to measure specific gravity (SG) for salt, swing arm hydrometer is OK just not very accurate. I still have the hydrometer but will be upgrading to the refractometer shortly.

RO/DI unit. Tap water is a plague to many systems. Some people get away with it, some don't. If you dare to risk it you'll want to test for copper and phosphates. Also know you may be getting algae blooms with it's use. There are many good RO/DI units out there. The one I got was highly recommended and is http://www.airwaterice.com/product/1TYPHOONIII

A quarantine tank (QT). Learn the lesson I didn't until I had a problem. QT all your livestock before you introduce it into your main display. You'll prevent introducing disease, have an easier time treating anything that comes up and also help introduce your new stock to the foods you want it to eat. QT tanks area easy to set up and I can help with that if you want.

There are lots of other optional things like sumps, etc. but the above will get you going. Be sure to read up on how to cycle a tank (you don't want to put any fish or inverts in the tank until it is cycled) and do consider joining your local reef club. They are FANTASTIC sources of local advice and bargins on equipment and livestock.
 
Thanks for the tips...I had wondered about the powerheads, but I thought this may be a good place to start. I am going for fish only to begin with, so I opted to not get the 72" light fixture with the metal halides.
As far as our water, we have a well, not county water. Not sure if that makes a difference or not since it is not treated at the plant...
I still have to make a trip to the pet store to get my test kits, thermometers, etc. It seems like a lot of small stuff that I still need to buy....
The coral is not fake...I guess it is a skeleton. there is not a ton of it, but there are some substantial pieces. I will probably just place them here and there for decoration.
I may mix in a bit of live rock with the existing stuff.
The Lionfish, I remember, was very docile (until feeding time). It never gave any problems to the other inhabitants of the tank. Unfortunately, there was some spraying for fleas in another part of the house (I think) and withing a few days the entire tank was wiped out. He never really regained interest after that. He kept two fish that survived for awhile and then just took the tank down.
My plan is to start small and see how it goes. I can't wait to see the mammoth tank with two or three small fish in it:)
Thanks again for the advice!
Robbie
 
You have to be careful with well water too, many things can leach into groundwater. Case in point, my neice developed cancer because of the amount of weed killer being used in the immediate proximity over the span of 20 years. That is an extreme case but it does illustrate what can be in well water. If you want to risk using it, at least get a few test kits to see what the quality of the water is.

I can appreciate not wanting to invest in MHs at first and with FOWLER you don't need them.

I really do like the idea behind setting up this tank. Please keep us updated.
 
Grins said:
You have to be careful with well water too, many things can leach into groundwater. Case in point, my neice developed cancer because of the amount of weed killer being used in the immediate proximity over the span of 20 years. That is an extreme case but it does illustrate what can be in well water. If you want to risk using it, at least get a few test kits to see what the quality of the water is.

I can appreciate not wanting to invest in MHs at first and with FOWLER you don't need them.

I really do like the idea behind setting up this tank. Please keep us updated.
Click to expand...
I certainly will.
How does the RO setup work? I've been looking around at them...do you use it exclusively for your aquarium, and filter the water during water changes?
Thanks,
robbie
 
Look into drilling the tank for a closed loop. That would be ideal since the tank is empty now and would provide you with a ton of flow without the power heads sitting the tank. Otherwise I'd look into three or four #4 hydor korilia power heads. I have two #3s in my 90 gal.

A sump would be better than the canister filters and provide you a place to put a skimmer, refuge, etc. Again drilling the tank would be better than using a hang on back overflow.
 
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