First reef, In final planning stages Easy Livestock list suggestions?

[weyfirstreef]

Never had SW or Reef but extensive Chiclid experience in the past. Out of hobby for 15 + years.

I am converting my african setup and expanding volume to start first reef or sw for that matter. I have a pretty good handle on filtration nitrogen cycle etc for FW. little to no experience with SW livestock at all. Looking for good rugged starting species list. Hearing Softies specific species to reasearch and compatable fish?

read new Marine Aquarium working on Some Tony Calvo stuff and surfing for info.
as well.

The set up is robust 75 Gallon display recieving about 1000 gph from basement via a 30 gal sump (hub) upstairs under the display. only about 500 gph will actually make it up to the display tank the rest will recirc to the basement.

The tank it self will have a mag 350 and an Aquaclear 500 for mechanical filtration. Thought I might use mag 350 for Chemical media but need suggestions on tis as well

The basement will have 2 75's and a 180 (refugium) plus the main sump lots of movement down there between tanks. a model 5, model 7, 4 large pwerheads a lot of bubbles before and after the refugium

two skimmers an old red sea and an octo, UV sized for 900 GPH, sponge prefilters on all pumps etc.

will premix ro in a seperate 180 tank.

any livestock lists suggestions etc would be appreciated. Good reading material whatever.

I know this is a little open ended but a minimum kill ratio would be nice however how unrealistic

I am listening...............

Thanks

 

[banshee1]

Make sure that none of those tanks that your reusing have not had copper treatments used in them.

 

[banshee1]

Start with a good cleanup crew of hermits, cerith snails, turbo snails, nassaurius snails, mabey a serpant star, start away from sand sifting stars.
Good stater corals wood be hammer corals, mushrooms, xenia, green star polyps (be carroll with these, they can grow quickly!)
Fish...clowns, yellow tang, cardinals, stay away from any angels at first till you get your water right.those can be expensive losses

 

[Pat02026]

Your not going to want to be using much of any mechanical filtration either; nitrates and reefs don't go well together. Use them while doing tank maintenance, to pick up any large floating debris and that's about all. Floss and bio-mechanical media tend to produce too much nitrates for our reefs. Your live rock and a quality protien skimmer will handle 90% or more of your filtration; the rest is handled by water changes as well as a plethora of other media used in the hobby (ie carbon, GFO, biopellets etc) but sounds like you have a very nice setup on the way. Just do some research on filtration and what's currently being used.

 

[Old Glory]

You are setting this up with a 75 gallon display; 30 gallon sump; with 2 75 and 2 180 gallon tanks in your basement?

Wow.

 

[danzig]

You are setting this up with a 75 gallon display; 30 gallon sump; with 2 75 and 2 180 gallon tanks in your basement?

Wow.

This sounds like a tough job, and alot of maintenance =p Thats quite the dive into saltwater (pun intended)

 

[weyfirstreef]

thanks no copper in at least 10 + years

 

[weyfirstreef]

Thank you i was planning on getting the refug up and really running well before i added on the display tank itself. Once the tank has cycled on the rock do i need fish before the cleanup crew or will they also work on clening up after the cycling on the live rock?

 

[weyfirstreef]

The tanks are all setup already except for the 180. But I am curious why do you say a lot of maintaince? I have always found more water easir and more stable and I missing something?

 

[pdd]

what are you going to use for lighting. If you are going to keep any corals, even softies this will determine what you can keep.

If you have a cover (such as egg crate etc) to stop them from jumping out, Wrasses are nice such as: blueheaded fairy wrasse
http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/prod_display.cfm?c=15+2971+1153&pcatid=1153 or a salon http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/prod_display.cfm?c=15+2971+369&pcatid=369

Blennies are okay such as bicolor or algea. Firefish are also good additions

 

[Platehead]

Start with a good cleanup crew of hermits, cerith snails, turbo snails, nassaurius snails, mabey a serpant star, start away from sand sifting stars.
Good stater corals wood be hammer corals, mushrooms, xenia, green star polyps (be carroll with these, they can grow quickly!)
Fish...clowns, yellow tang, cardinals, stay away from any angels at first till you get your water right.those can be expensive losses

1+ for Xenia, star polps, and kenya, it takes a nuclear explosion to kill them. I have them and wished I didn't. But they are great corals to start out with though. Also you should get a good clean up crew like banshee1 said, it is important to the system that you have one.

 

[weyfirstreef]

Thank you for the Mechanical filter comments. This is something I do not really understand clearly. If there is a fixed source of waste production ie fish etc doesnt that waste have to be disposed of through the nitrogen cycle, water charges regardless of how it is actually removed is not nitrate production unaviodable? I get the protien skimmer physically removing it form the equation all together thus no nitrates but anything has to cycle throught to nitrates doesn't it?
In theroy if I had a single path of water and the first stop was a skimmer i would think everything that did not get skimmed had to nit cycle one way or another.By idea ws that the mechincal filters could control solid waste best that then could be pyhsically removed periodically (say weekly maintaince)from the line more easily than adding to the bioload I was planning on using mainly live rock frags layered in individual milk crates (brand new and rinsed) within the sump on top of live sand. this would allow me to remove a stack of crates temporaily to a swing location to collect deitritus fromn the sump. The I could replace the crates with minimal impact.
Thoughts on this approach? Please keep in mind I enjoy the mechanics of the hobby as much as the fish them selves.

Your not going to want to be using much of any mechanical filtration either; nitrates and reefs don't go well together. Use them while doing tank maintenance, to pick up any large floating debris and that's about all. Floss and bio-mechanical media tend to produce too much nitrates for our reefs. Your live rock and a quality protien skimmer will handle 90% or more of your filtration; the rest is handled by water changes as well as a plethora of other media used in the hobby (ie carbon, GFO, biopellets etc) but sounds like you have a very nice setup on the way. Just do some research on filtration and what's currently being used.

 

[weyfirstreef]

I keep refer to the 180 as a sump in reality it is the refug

 

[weyfirstreef]

I have not picked out the lighting for the display tank yet. for the refug I have an old 6' with two t5s (i think small diameter flouresecnt ) and three 250 watt metal halides. I have been told the metal halides are not a real requirement for a sump??

I was reading a tony calvo book which said the intial curing of live rock should not be lighted anyway becvause the algae bloom actually kills more good growth than the added light would promote.

for the Tang chiclid display i will be converting to the reef I currently have a single bulb flouro that i rewired with a bunch white( and multi colored to white leds) mainly for the coloring effect and shimmer that I like. I would like toi keep this for cosmetics and purchase a nice new 4' light for the actual photosynthesis support etc.
Do you know of any harm to the LED light show for an hour or so each night? It's a jimi Hendrix thing and is a lot easier to change than multi colored sand and a treasure chest

what are you going to use for lighting. If you are going to keep any corals, even softies this will determine what you can keep.

If you have a cover (such as egg crate etc) to stop them from jumping out, Wrasses are nice such as: blueheaded fairy wrasse
http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/prod_display.cfm?c=15+2971+1153&pcatid=1153 or a salon http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/prod_display.cfm?c=15+2971+369&pcatid=369

Blennies are okay such as bicolor or algea. Firefish are also good additions

 

[pdd]

With the kind of water volume you are talking about and a large fuge, mechanical filtration is probably not needed unless you overload your display with fish. the skimmer, fuge and water changes should keep nitrates in check with a normally stocked tank. the fish load for a reef tank is considerably lower than most FW. A common mistake is overstocking then wondering why nitrates are always high no matter what is done. A filter sock over the return pipe is used by many to remove larger particles from the water column. They should be changed regularly, how frequently depends on the amount of material they collect, but usually weekly is good as a rule. cheaper than running a mechanical unit.

 

[Dashiki]

Why 180 ruge and not 180 DT?

 

[pdd]

Three 250W halides is overkill for a fuge even a 180 gal one, a lot of power draw there. I would go with a couple of 6-8000K t5s to promote cheato macro algae growth. You can likely get a ball of start cheato from someone in the club if you post a request WTB forum (usually people give it away).

lights off during curing and getting nitrates lower is not a bad thing and will help slow any algae blooms.

Not sure on the LED show, depends on how bright and the colors that are used and the fish can see. If the fish don't seem to care go for it. should not hurt the corals

 

[banshee1]

I agree that the mechanical filtration if not needed..especially with that water volume.it will probly make things worse not better.definatly better off with just some cheato..natures filter pad

 

[banshee1]

Also I don't think the lighting you have for the dt will be adequate.one flourecent with some leds isn't going to cut it.your better off using a couple of those mhs you have or investing is a coupe good led pendents.what leds are you using in that fixure?if they are not 3 watt each running of good drivers they will not be good

 

[weyfirstreef]

thanks for ideas i will try to keep the stocking levels down. what is a good rule of thumb ? fresh i used 1" per gallon. do inverts ount on bio loAd?QUOTE=pdd;1053923]With the kind of water volume you are talking about and a large fuge, mechanical filtration is probably not needed unless you overload your display with fish. the skimmer, fuge and water changes should keep nitrates in check with a normally stocked tank. the fish load for a reef tank is considerably lower than most FW. A common mistake is overstocking then wondering why nitrates are always high no matter what is done. A filter sock over the return pipe is used by many to remove larger particles from the water column. They should be changed regularly, how frequently depends on the amount of material they collect, but usually weekly is good as a rule. cheaper than running a mechanical unit.[/QUOTE]