starting new reef tank need setup help!!

new 210 gal tank & stand, need a skimmer(red sea c-skim 1200)? lfs said there was better for the money.. making a sump, have a 50g 48*12*20 or have lots of 36*12*12 glass to make smaller ones? tank needs drilled,do i drill high or low w/overflow plate inside? have 40# sand #1 size dont look like a lot, prob need more? heaters.. 3- 150w or 2 - 200w? lights - have 3- 450w mh w/huge reflectors gonna try.. too much? and somebody please explain this live rock thing do they go in the tank or sump and why do they work better than say sand or gravel or coral pieces is it more surface volume? and arnt they glorified bioballs? trying to do it right the first time any help would be great. have been reading 3reef for like 6 months and the volume of info and opinions is stagering.. also feel free to chime in on dsb or reefariums size,lights water flow.ect
any info given is greatly appreciated , thanks

 

well i can try and help ya lil bit, umm yea live rock is a good idea, your idea is pretty much right. They help seed and keep the tank full of beni bacteria. Also gives your fish and inverts places to hide. Rough key is between 1 to 2 lbs of live rock per gallon of tank. I do not have a dsb, but some do perfer, from reading some posts i hear of people haveing to change it out every so often or something. Mine is not deep, just 2 inches. Didnt see if you were doing a combo, sump, and refug, or both seperate, i have mine as the combo seems to be working fine. Skimmer is almost a must, mine runs all the time, and is always cleaning stuff up. Lighting depends on what you would like to keep in the tank. And how deep your tank is. A very deep tank that wants to keep sps should have helides to help penatrate to the sand bed. invest in an ro/di filter itll be worth it in the long run. Get a few power heads for water movement in the tank. Not sure about the drilling questions, not the best with the plumbing aspect of tanks. But i know someone else will be able to help. WHATEVER YOU DO, TAKE YOUR TIME. Do not rush anything, youll only set your self back further time and money wise. Dont be scared to spend on the better equipment, cause youll only go out later and either have to upgrade or buy another since the cheap one broke. Ill try and keep an eye on your thread and see if i can help out any futher down the road.

 

O and yea the live rock goes into the display tank, if you end up haveing extra or if you buy some cheap ugly rock, break it up into pieces and throw it into your fuge. Lights should be good, if you can mb get a t5 ho light setup to compliment your mh that would be great. May wanna go alil larger with the sump, kinda want close to half your display tank volume. You may be able to get away with say a 50 gallon sump, and a 25 gallon fuge or something in that nature.

 

wont the skimmer do most of the work and the live rock is like a place for some bacteria and alge's to grow , so more is better but less will still work if your tank is not that stocked. going to start with a sump w/skimmer of some sort and have a spot for dsb w/ a mango plant? or macroalge? have 3 400w mh for the tank.

 

Hi, I just bought a 72 x 24 stand and canopy and I'm getting either a 180 or 210 gal All Glass tank next week. I have been planning this move and I've got most everything I need. The Red Sea Skimmer I heard from my lfs is a good one. 40 lbs of sand is not gonna get it but its a start and you can always add Live Caribsea Oolite. I've added 40 lbs to my tank, use a cup and go so ever slowly down to the bottom and slowly empty it. You really need about 500 watts in heaters. With 3 metal halides you will probably need a 1/3hp chiller. With T5's you'd be ok but resticted with certain sps corals. Live rock is absolute and big time important to your biological makeup. You can always add fully cured rock later on. I just bought 4 pieces of rock and put them in my 120 gal tank preparing for the move. The big sump idea is ok. Mine is 36x12 Sealife Systems sump/refugium and it has a nice size refugium and sump and easily serviceable. The refugium is where you go with a DSB, mine is 6" but a minimum of 4" is fine with some cheatomorphia (cheato) to eat nitrates and phosphates, this keeps your water parameters right. I am getting a 15 Gal tank for automatic top off of RO water. Don't forget that you may want a sterilizer. I like them because them along with chemipure carbon keeps the water clear and somewhat ich free. Hey good luck and I'll keep an eye on your thread.

 

Yea, i also do the need sandbed in my fuge, bought two things of figi mud, as well as the exisiting bed that was in there when i bought the tank used. I go with the cheato as well, helps control phos and nitrates like said. You will need a cheap fixture to go over your fuge to help your cheato grow. I also went with the steralizer after a bad ich outbreak, though not needed i feel as though it helps out alot. If you go with alil bit of rock to start, just be careful adding in peices later cause it will cause mini cycles in your tank. Depending on how open your tank top is, as well as your house and regional temp, you may want to get a chiller to help control the heat thrown off by your lights. I would keep your macros in your fuge, its a choice of mine, some do enjoy them in their display tank just not for me. And a skimmer will help, there is no doubt about it, but you need a combo of both. I also just added a small whisper hang on back filter to my fuge, been running phosban in it, useing it as a dyi phosban reactor, seems to be helping in the battle against green hair. With my combo of softies lps and sps, i always run two bags of carbon in my sump, to help battle the chemical warfare that they unlease on each other.

 

so got my tank and stand took the stand out of the box and it fell apart so its going back and im going to half to build my own, store ones are way to weak..

 

Your stand was in a box? What kind of stand was it?

 

black pine 3 door stand made by "all glass aquariums" looks like it was dropped in shipping before i got it , once i opened the box it all fell apart , went and p/u some 2x6 gonna make new one much stronger. plumber is on his way over to put in water supply line for ro/di and figured i would put in a drain as well ( just in case....) will start taking pics soon.

 

Well that's a pain. Be careful making your own stand. It's got to be level all around. Have shimms ready just in case. Good luck and I want to see pics.