little overwhelmed

Logo/catch phrase!

 

well i have spent all day reading and now have a better idea of what im getting into but i guess now my main guestion is were to start i have not yet bought any equipment other then the tank. as of now it is running freshwater. so I will be starting from scratch. i guess the first thing i need to do is get a filtation system, but there seems to be so many differnt kinds let alone brands a models . so does anyone have any suggestions? I was thinking possibly using a wet dry system.

 

Wet/dry is popular with fresh water, but not so much in salt water. Go with a sump if you can. Honestly, I just have 2 AquaClear 50 HOB filters, a protein skimmer, and a UV Sterilizer for filtration and my softies/fish love it lol. I will have a sump once I get up enough money to buy everything I need. I think my next purchase will be a RO/DI system.

 

if your aim is to set up a reef aquarium, featuring corals, and compatible fishes
then IMO you will not need a wet dry type filtration system

unlike freshwater tanks, reef tanks do not generally need any additional form of biological filtration
reef aquariums normally feature a lot of rock (live rock/ base rock, its all the same eventually)
the bacteria involved in the nitrogen cycle, processing waste to ammonia, nitrite, nitrate etc colonise the rock surface , the sand bed and in fact every other surface in the aquarium
the above combined with good flow, in order to deliver the nutrient laden water to the areas the bacteria have colonised , is often all that is needed in terms of bilogical filtration
so no need for plastic balls, ceramic rings or sintered glass type filter media in a reef set up


I would consider a sump or sump / refugium combo
a sump is a container of water normally placed under the reef tank, from which water from main tank runs into, and a pump in the sump returns it to the main tank

some of the best set ups, feature drilled tanks to faciliate this water run out to the sump
but you can get overflow kits to do similar job, which means no need to drill the tank

a refugium is a smaller volume of water, somewhere in the sump ( created by having baffles of barriers in the sump to only allow a small amount of the water to go through this area) the refugium is a place to have a deep sand bed for nitrate reduction, and also keeping nitrate and phosphate utilising algaes

one other thing to consider would be a good quality skimmer ( they do make skimmers that will hang on the back of your tank) if you do go the sump route , then in general the skimmers available for either in sump or next to sump are normally more efficient/ effective than the Hang on back options

in addition to the skimmer, reactors which are cannisters that water is pumped through, are a good thing to have in order to run , Carbon and GFO ( granular ferric oxide that removes phosphates)

check out a few of the set ups in the Show off your fish tank forum, and that should give you a better feel for some of the terms used above, as you will see sumps, skimmers, reactors etc, in place and that will help you visualise your own future set up

Steve

 

if I went with the sump system how large of sump tank would need to be used

 

That is completely up to you. The bigger the better of course. One of the problems that you run into with saltwater is dissolved oxygen that fish can use. That is the main reason why you can't keep as many fish in saltwater as you can with freshwater. So with that being said, the more water total water volume you have, the better. This also helps with keeping your water quality it check. Another reason people really like sumps is because you can hide all of your unsightly equipment in them (i.e. heater, protein skimmer etc.). I know that Petco is having their $1 a gallon sale starting today as well. You could pick up a decent sized aquarium for cheap to use as a sump.

If you do a sump, look into the bean animal style overflow. Seems to be the way to go lol.

 

The minimum is what you need to hold all the water when the power turns off. Typically about 1/3 of the tank volume is sufficient, but as Stick mentions, the bigger the better. Get the largest one that will fit under the tank (or where ever you're going to put it).

 

thanks for the advice guys, im going to go with the sump system as u suggested. That being said i was thinking of using a at least a 75 gallon but was thinking of putting it in the basment below the main tank. I wanted to do this in order to get more volume, also trying to plane for the future. one consern i had was that i will have to pump the water about six feet back up, but guess that just means a bigger pump? also was wondering if anyone had any suggestions on what skimmer to get.

 

Good choice.

Yes, you will need a bigger pump. If you're in the basement it will be more than 6 feet, though. Just putting it under the tank in the stand would be about 5-6 feet. It will likely be more like 12-15 feet. Still not a big deal.

Some suggestions:

- Whenever someone mentions getting a 90g, I always say to move up to a 120g. Most the equipment will be the same and the extra 6" front-back makes a huge difference.

- For a skimmer I am a fan of Reef Octopus - the best bang for the buck. Look cone skimmer look at: Super Reef Octopus XP 2000 EXTERNAL Cone Protein Skimmer by CoralVue* - AquaCave

For a little less expensive: Reef Octopus SUPER SRO 2000INT In-Sump Protein Skimmer - AquaCave

- For about 12' of head pressure, look at the following: Iwaki MD-55RLT Pump

It will give you about the flow you need for a 120g @ 12'-15' of head pressure. I'm normally a Reeflo pump fan, but I couldn't find one that was right sized for your application. Iwaki makes a good pump and I've owned quite a few.