New Here - Need Advice!

My best advice is to read Julan Sprung's Reef Aquarium series. 1st and 2nd Volumes are the best and most useful books ever written on the keeping of marine aquariums. By far reading these will be the best thing you could EVER do if you plan to keep marine tanks.

 

I’m back...phew...this is almost overwhelming but I love it.
So quite a bit has changed since my first post. Still going with the 55-gallon tank. Decided to scratch the sump and I have the following equipment (or at least ordered):

-Penguin 330 filtration unit: (came with the tank and after some advice from others this sounds like it should be fine as long as my live rock system is up to par. Also not going to include the bio wheels as it sounds like they are not necessary for reef tanks – maybe going to add some live rock to the unit for more filtration?)

-Reef Octopus BH100 Protein Skimmer

-25# base rock from macrorock.com: Going to go to my LFS and get about 25 pounds of live rock to mix in.

-Hydor 425 Circulation Pump 425gph.

-Generic heaters, thermometers, chemipure

-RO/DI sytem

Now, I am having some trouble with lighting, sand (live?) and salt to buy. Also if someone could direct me to a guide of how to start everything…i.e. what to add first, curing base rock and how to hook up all the equipment to get the tank acclimated I would greatly appreciate it. I am in no hurry to add fish/corral. I want to make sure my water and rocks are perfect first – part of the reason I went with half base and half live is I thought it would be a cheaper way to start a tank at the expense of time.
Any help is much appreciated - thanks in advance, your help has been awesome.

 

Any aragonite sand is fine, it does not need to be live (more of a gimmick), you can always seed your sand with a cup of sand from an existing tank. I would stay away from both crushed coral or sugar fine sand, personal choice though.

Figure out how deep you want your sand bed.
Are you going to use dry base rock or live rock? If live rock, cured or uncured?
Instant Ocean Salt is a good salt at a decent price.
Sand, Rock, Water add salt turn on flow and cycle.
Do not rush the cycle or begin adding live stock prior to the completion of the cycle.

 

Figure out how deep you want your sand bed.
What considerations do i need to take in for sand bed depth?

Are you going to use dry base rock or live rock? If live rock, cured or uncured?
My current plan is to use the dry base rock as my main aquascape (large pieces) and place the live rock around the take to help get the base rock to "take" Also I am assuming the live rock will be cured if its from a LFS but this is just a guess. The base rock claims it is cured but I planned on soaking it for a week or so in a separate tank with RO/DI water, is this necessary?

Sand, Rock, Water add salt turn on flow and cycle.
Can you direct me too or describe a cycle more? What exactly would constitute a cycle? Also what test kit(s) would you recommend?

 

As stated above, get the sand from reefrocks with the rock, and don't worry about live, it will become live. Get Instant Ocean sand to start, its basic but will fill your needs just fine. And I wouldn't get that light. you'll need to replace those 6 bulbs in a few months at $20 a piece, so I'd just get 2 of reefbreeders.com lights for $400 total and be done with it. No bulb changes for about 5-10 years that way Will save ya some cash

 

Just get dry rock and don't worry about it, much easier, IMO
get an API ammonia, nitrite, nitrate test kit and google the nitrogen cycle!

Buy a refractometer and CALIBRATE it often

Also buy a few 5G buckets and a cheap heater with a cheap powerhead to mix salt! BTW Drs fostersand smith has free shipping on anything over $49, so buy a big bucket of salt from them with your other stuff, prob cheaper, but shop around online

then once set up, get a redsea pro test kit for cal, mag, etc

 

Cosmo,

Thanks for the advice.

Unfortunately I purchased the macrorock already today. Going to check out reefrock though, still need more and free sand might be worth it. I can always add the live rock from my LFS and it will catch up eventually.

As the generic heaters went, I am not sure if they are really generic...they came with my craigslist purchase. They are actually hyrdor theo heater 300W? Thoughts on these???

As for the lights from reefbreaders, if I were to pony up and buy the 2 as u suggested, would they be 2 120 watt Bridgelux Value LED Fixtures?

 

Please review the link below. The cycle or nitrogen cycle is the bases for your biological filter the most important aspect of keeping any tank be it fresh water or salt.

The Aquarium Nitrogen Cycle


As posted earlier there are some excellent books out there. Most books such as "The Reef Aquarium" by Charles Delbeek and Julian Sprung volumes I, II and III are excellent, I have read them more times than I can remember.

This is another excellent read: The Conscientious Marine Aquarist by Robert M. Fenner

Invest in these books and the gains/rewards will be returned many times over both with satisfaction and financially.

 

yeah they are great, granted these are $200 over your current budget, but you will have to pay $120 for new bulbs for your fixture in a month or so, and then another $120 every 9-12 months for new bulbs with the T5 or you can buy the leds and not have any ectra cost. PLUS, with the leds, you can change the color of the lights immediately from bluish to white as you like! and if you get the controllable ones you can attach a controller and have a sunrise sunset effect, but thats a whole other thread! lol

 

cosmo I am quickly beginning to understand your signature.