Hello! New Member here...

[WildBill]

My son became interested in reefs and saltwater a few months ago. We've been doing alot of reading and visiting of LFS's. We are from Merrimack, NH.

Slowly gathering equipment, and just looking for comments and ideas.

36 AGA Bow Front (painted back black)
Aqua C Remora w/maxi1200
150W Heater
Planning on 1 1/2-2 inches of LS
Planning on 50-55lbs of live rock
30" Orbit 2x65 watt SunPaq with Lunar Lights & Fan
1-Dual Daylight/1-Dual Actinic (10,000K & 6,700K)
RO unit installed recently
Ground probe?? yes/no?
After my July vacation I plan on starting up the tank.

How many power heads (size) would I need for this setup? Any other ideas/suggestions appreciated.

 

[NateHanson]

Welcome! You guys are in the right place.

I'm pretty new myself, but one thing I can suggest is using Southdown or Oldcastle Tropical Play Sand from Home Depot instead of Live sand. It costs $4 for 50 pounds, and if you get a scoop of live sand from another reefer's tank it will be just as good as the $2/pound stuff you get from the LFS in a couple months.

For lights, you might want to look at Metal Halide right off the bat. I started with 190 watts of fluorescent over my 30g, and after only 3 months I was adding MH. You might save money in the long run by getting Metal Halide.

Good luck,
Nate

 

[WildBill]

Any Homer Depots in southern NH carrying the Southdown?

 

[~Flighty~]

We'll probably have some extra after we set up our 120, but the Londonderry one has been stocking it this summer. get it fast before sandbox season is over. it's in the garden section, not the lumber, and it says tropical , "not sutable for aquarium use"

 

[Ray]

Well seeing as the tank is empty I would have it drilled and do a closed loop system so you dont have to use powerheads. I wish I knew about that before I set my tank up.
Also are you going to run a sump or is everything going to be hang on?

 

[Moe_K]

Welcome to the group, Wild Bill.

 

[WildBill]

Closed loop

I saw a thread on reef central from a guy who did an external closed loop.

http://www.sparklingfloorservice.com/tank/closedloop.html

I am still open to this external closed loop.

 

[WildBill]

Thanks !!

Glad to be here. Hopefully in August I will start getting tank set up and filled....

 

[Ray]

Thanks for that link Bill, I was planning on doing something like that so I can remove the 3 powerheads I have in my tank now. I would have to run the pump IN my tank because there is no room behind it, but I guess 1 pump would be better then 3 PHs

 

[littlep93056]

Welcome to the group , you've come to the right place ,this is a super group of people

 

[NateHanson]

Ray, why not put the pump for the closed loop under the tank instead of inside it? I don't think it increases the head pressure any because the input pressure is the same as the head.

Nate

 

[Ray]

Thanks Nate I might try that.

 

[Shroom King]

Welcome WildBill! I also recommend the MH lights as soon as you can. Nothing really compares to them yet that I've seen. I got into this hobby when I was 16, and its never stopped peaking my interest in 19 years. My 2-1/2 yo son loves to watch our tank and I can't wait to teach him to manage his own someday.

 

[Syris]

Hey you stole my name
Welcome to BRS. NH members are growing strong

As for lighting I think it depends on what kind of corals you want to keep. If your interested in soft corals (ie mushrooms, leathers, zoanthids ect) then PC/VHO lighting is fine. Most start out this way then get into hard corals (LPS,SPS) which generally do better with stronger lighting such as metal halide (MH). So if you think you'd want some hard corlas down the road then maybe MH would be a better initial purchase for lights (maybe 175w)

The same goes for flow in a tank. Generally speaking softies/LPS can use less flow but SPS usually like a lot of flow. Closed loops are nice as they tend not to clutter the look of inside the tank but seem to require more pump/electricity for the flow. Power heads on the other hand may clutter the look of the tank but use less power. So its kind of a personal preference.

Personally I dont use a ground probe but I would defiantely recommend a GFCI outlet for the tank.

Also any plans on a sump? A ~10g or so sump would be nice to keep the skimmer, heater, ect. in This would help keep a cleaner look for the main display tank plus it would add total volume to the tank which helps with tank chemistry stability.

Later

 

[WildBill]

Thanks for all the welcome's and input....off for a week of relaxation on the "live sand" of the Jersey shore, look forward to August so I can get my tank up and running....