My first salt tank: 55gals.

This thread is great.

I am also setting up a new tank its a 58 gallon. It's about 3 weeks in.

I just got a bak-pak2 and the directions says to clean the bio-bail/bio-balls every three months. I am guessing this is to handle the nitrate problem as well as other nasty things. Just a guess because I have never had a tank before so i'm a total newb.

58gallon
192Watt PC lights (10k / Actenic)
2 damselfish
80Lbs live sand
bak-pak2
11Lbs live rock (will buy some more every week or so to get about 80Lbs)
AquaClear 500 (now i'm thinking of taking this off because of this thread)
powerhead 301 right side
Maxijet 1200 left side

Deeproot

Tank Shot
imag0157.jpg
 
Very nice! So is your tank more of a cube shape, or is the picture deceptive? I'm loving my tank so far. I'm looking forward to learning more about this. I'm going for some lights within the next couple of weeks. I should have painted the back of my tank before I started any of this. Now I have to wait until I move next year to move the tank and paint, lol.
 
midmichman80 said:
Anyone else think the bio balls in the Bak Pak skimmer might trap detrius and become a nitrate trap as well? I have heard this from many people, but am no expert, just trying to save you from problems later, much like the cannister filter. Someone correct me if I am wrong, just my thoughts though.
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I've heard 50/50 on them. Some folks cut the recommended cleaning/maintenance in half and hadn't had problems. I just didn't have the space for a sump so I had to try the cannister as an alternate. We'll see. I've been doing a lot of testing to try and monitor it.
 
You could always use the cannister empty, just for the flow it provides. I have taken all of my bio media out of my saltwater tank (which goes against every thought in my freshwater mind...lol). But the LFS I am working with swears that nothing else is needed other than the liverock. So away I go! Good luck to you. Wish we had a big sw tank, but the 24 gallon we have now is going to be plenty time consuming.
 
ChunkyMonkey
Yeah this tank is more square at 36.5"L x18.5"D x 21.5"H.

I was just at the pet store looking for some more live rock but they didn't have any with any growth. I got a better timer for my lights, the Coralife Aqualight power center for 3 sets of lights. I will let you know how it turns out.
I have blue lunar lights on all night and then in the moring they shut of and the 10k comes on for an hour then the actenic comes on and they both stay on for about 9 hours then the atenic shuts off and 1 hour later the 10k turns off and the lunars pop back on. Does this sound like a decent start for the lighting scheme.


Deeproot
 
DSR said:
You could always use the cannister empty, just for the flow it provides. I have taken all of my bio media out of my saltwater tank (which goes against every thought in my freshwater mind...lol). But the LFS I am working with swears that nothing else is needed other than the liverock. So away I go! Good luck to you. Wish we had a big sw tank, but the 24 gallon we have now is going to be plenty time consuming.
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My LFS claims the same thing. The owner and I have become very close.....since I'm practically in there every day. :) He claims that the filter I have (Emperor 400) is pretty much for the sole purpose of surface movement (especially at the top for appropriate gas exchange and such). I currently run the filter with filter floss to help trap some of the bigger particles. Someone had suggested using live rock rubble in the filter chamber, but in my opinion, that just will lead to nitrate galore.


Deeproot - I would keep the AquaClear on there (with no media). Atleast just for the surface agitation. The two powerheads you have on there is sufficient for below the surface water movement. It looks great so far! I remember setting up the tank for the first time. I had oh, maybe 5 pounds of LR (in a 75-gallon, nonetheless) and I sat in front of the tank thinking to myself "wow, I'm going to need a looooot more LR to make this tank seem 'full'!" Started with 5 pounds, been adding about 5 pounds each week. LR isn't exactly cheap! Since everyone else is sharing their tanks, perhaps I should post a picture of mine just to feel "cool". Hehe! =)
 
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mlefessler,

I am going to do a 5 gallon water change tomorrow because i have tons of nitrates. I am going to take all the filtration out of the AquaClear also. Live rock is expensive. I went to a really nice marine fish store and bought some man made live rock. It is covered in coraline specs (or what ever it should be called). It is over 20Lbs and cost $50. They said it has been awesome and I did see alot of the tanks there using it and it was very nice, covered in coralline of all colors. I can post a pic of it every few week if anyone is curious about how it will work out.

ChunkyMonkey,

Do you want to keep our tank development together in the same thread.? I would like to see how our tanks grow together and feed of the wealth of information we are gaining from here. I don't wanna be a thread jacker, but I can start a new thread if you wish.

IMAGE_159.jpg


Deeproot
 
Let's keep it together....This way we can compare the benefits of keeping or ditching the filter material in our skimmers/filters.
I think that would be a benefit to others too. We can try water changes at the same time if possible, but keeping a routine at the least for personal fish health if needed. I have two black and white ocellaris clowns and two cleaner shrimp. Added after each other, not at the same time. It was crazy, the cleaners and clowns just knew what to do. There is a section in the rocks that looks like a full service station, lol. The clown pulls up and the shrimp steps out to "top him off."

I'll have some pics in a second.

My back right corner doesn't seem to have flow as I can see some stuff settling on the powerhead and bottom of tank. MMy kid is ABSOLUTELY loving this tank. The Otherwise the flow seems kind of neat in the front. When I put the food it, you see it fling around about a 10"x10" vertical area for the clowns to snake on without it hitting the base.
 
I feel like a jerk sometimes when I comment. But here i go anyway.

I flog this topic to death (canisters). the reason I say no to canisters is they trap detritus. Detritus breaks down = pollutants in the tank..aka Nitrates. Nitrate trap is the simple explanation. Useless maybe not it has positives but the goal is keeping nitrates down in Salt since we have intense lighting (if reef). That alone is a problem for us because more nutrients means more algae and or cyano issues to battle and larger or more frequent water changes.

Now my sig has explanation about Skimmers so you can get more in depth understanding of there purpose.

As for the Bakpaks it is recommended that you take bio balls out. WHy? Because they have one bacteria type which converts bad stuff to nitrate... it is desired to have rubble rock in there which will contain both beneficial bacteria vs one.

Octopus makes hob skimmers but i have no experiences with them. Just lots of good reviews and first hand experience friends who say they are good. I have the sump version and I cant tell you how darned happy I am with it. I am so glad I bought that as my replacement skimmer.

not advising anything just providing feedback on some things i read in here. Anywho...thanks for posting more stuff. I've been busy to visit this site and missed out on the convo.
 
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