I just purchased a 120 gallon corner tank + tons of accessories from someone I know. I have done fish only tanks - with average success - so I'm somewhere between a newbie and an average enthusiast.
Here's what I have. 120 gallon acrylic corner tank w/ stand. It has an overflow tower with two circuits for input/output. Anyways, I have a Fluval 304 canister filter, a CY192 trickle Bio-filter with protein skimmer, a diatom filter for occasional water polishing, and a Sweetwater air blower (for what, I'm not sure). It also came with a nice R/O filter for water additions. For lighting, I ordered 3 Sunpaq 96w quads for a total of 288W - they haven't arrived yet.
I've read a lot, but there are so many different setups and I already know that I can't do the whole 100lbs of live rock and 50lbs of live sand setup (becasue of cost). Here are my questions. 1) Is this setup enough for a reef tank? 2) Does lace rock that has been in a cycled fish-only tank for 8 months do any filtering or is it only live rock that does this. I'm not clear if the bacteria in the lace rock that is likely growing will actually help filter the water. 3) If I use my rock, coral substrate sand (it's not "live") and the current 80 gallons of water in my current FO setup and then add 40 gallons of filtered fresh salt water, do I really need to cycle? I know the filter media in the trickle box won't be established yet, obviously, but the water will be full of bacteria. 4) Can I do a pseudo-reef setup where all the rock is lace/base rock as long as the filtration is good? I'd be ok with just smaller fish and a host of invertibrates, but it would be nice to eventually throw in some anemone's/corals.
Any help would be greatly appreciated!
Clint
Here's what I have. 120 gallon acrylic corner tank w/ stand. It has an overflow tower with two circuits for input/output. Anyways, I have a Fluval 304 canister filter, a CY192 trickle Bio-filter with protein skimmer, a diatom filter for occasional water polishing, and a Sweetwater air blower (for what, I'm not sure). It also came with a nice R/O filter for water additions. For lighting, I ordered 3 Sunpaq 96w quads for a total of 288W - they haven't arrived yet.
I've read a lot, but there are so many different setups and I already know that I can't do the whole 100lbs of live rock and 50lbs of live sand setup (becasue of cost). Here are my questions. 1) Is this setup enough for a reef tank? 2) Does lace rock that has been in a cycled fish-only tank for 8 months do any filtering or is it only live rock that does this. I'm not clear if the bacteria in the lace rock that is likely growing will actually help filter the water. 3) If I use my rock, coral substrate sand (it's not "live") and the current 80 gallons of water in my current FO setup and then add 40 gallons of filtered fresh salt water, do I really need to cycle? I know the filter media in the trickle box won't be established yet, obviously, but the water will be full of bacteria. 4) Can I do a pseudo-reef setup where all the rock is lace/base rock as long as the filtration is good? I'd be ok with just smaller fish and a host of invertibrates, but it would be nice to eventually throw in some anemone's/corals.
Any help would be greatly appreciated!
Clint
