Help With First Reef Tank

[jaredly]

I just started my very first reef tank. It is a 29gal. I have 30 pounds of sand and a canister filter.

I am not sure the best way to get it started. I think I am going to buy a little peace of live rock. Is there anything else I can add right away to help it cycle?

 

[spooda420]

welcome.... to RF.

IME canisters are best suited for FW. Most people use a rule of thumb .5 to 1.5 lbs per gallon of water for LR.

Mix up some salt water (aim for 1.021 - 1.025) let it mix over night and test it in the morning put that in the tank.

let it cycle for 3-4 weeks testing weekly, you need to get as close to 0/0/0 on all your test ammonia/nitrAte/nitrIte

its gonna take a while to cycle in the mean time decide what you want ie FOWLR or a REEF.

Go to www.wetwebmedia.com for further research.

Dont buy any inhabitants until the tank is FULLY cycled. Research before you buy, not afterwards.

ask questions if your not sure,
HIH
C

 

[NaH2O]

Welcome to Reef Frontiers!!! Hope you enjoy the website!

Here is a link to a section in our resource library. You will find some good articles that will provide some valuable information: Tank Start-up, moving, and general research

Spooda has given you some good advice. It is important to have a few test kits on hand to measure your ammonia, nitrites, and nitrates. That way you will have an idea on when you cycle is over. Also, a piece of fresh shrimp put into the end of a pantyhose will provide the necessary organic material to jump start the cycle process. This is a more humane method to cycling a tank than using a "hardy" fish. The more live rock you add, then the better the biological filtration. Do you have a skimmer for the tank?

Asking questions is a great way to learn or clarify something that might be confusing. We are here to help, and all have different experiences to give advice on.

Do you know what kind of live stock you want to keep? (i.e. fish, corals, other invertebrates)

 

[gobie]

hey wecome to frontiers you wanna run a reef eh? cograts and good luck hope to hear that things will work out just listen to what a lot of the posts have to say . i would make a first suggestion. get the best skimmer that you can afford for your tank.make a plan that you want a skimmer that can handel a 55 gal tank in case you decide to up grade. buy the basic tests amonia,nitrite, nitrate, ph and, calcium.
the best bet it to educate your self as much as possiable and don't think twice about asking questions there is no dumb questions even if you dont know how or wha to ask we all can help you figure it out.

 

[Angelscrx]

Something else to think about is if you are going to get a skimmer and you don't have a sump you will want a hang on type skimmer. I am not too familiar with canister filters since I never used them and have no plans to use them. I like to get as natural a filtration system as possible (ie live rock, macro algaes, sandbeds, etc). Sounds like you have some good advice going already so the best thing I can tell you is have patience. Building a reef from scratch takes time. Don't rush into anything and do your research. Welcome to the friendliest place on the web.

 

[wrightme43]

Welcome, Welcome, Glad you are here, this is a great place to learn and be of service to others. Keep coming back, its lots of fun and we will be glad to help. Steve

 

[SaltwaterTeen]

I use a canister, just to get rid of floating junk, but my system is also natural filtration

 

[gobie]

I Use A (mag 350) Canister Filter For About24 Hours With A Micron Filter After I Storm My Tank For Mec Filter Only. Other Than That I Use My Refuge And Skimmer

 

[wrightme43]

I use a rena xp3 cannister as a place to pump water threw my purigen. I love what purigen does for a tank. If anybody hasnt used it, give it a try, I was amazed. It is regenrable with bleach. And I mean it is awesome. Lasts about 3 months between regen. and I take it out and rinse every thing in the rena every two weeks. I know if you wait to long they become a nitrate factory. LOL
Basicly what I am saying is there is more than one way to a healthy, happy reef tank.
It really is a learning experince, and I have not met one person who was happy with thier first tank anyway.
Always learning and improving and changeing things.
Look at it this way, its always a good excuse to get a bigger tank. LOL
Even Mojo, late at night, thinks of a ways he would of done his tank differnt. (I think no proof yet) LOL
For a good build up storey of a nicely done reef tank, search for MAXX and his project 58 image intense reef tank build up thread.
Have fun!!!!! The people here are great.
Steve

 

[wrightme43]

Oh yeah here is a pic of mine.

 

[jaredly]

Wow thanks for all of the advice. I had the canister left over from when I had fresh water fish. I have a lot to learn, and it looks like I found a great place to start. So what does a skimmer do? Oh I am not planning on buying any fish for a few months, I really want to take my time and do this right the first time. I have one piece fuji live rock. I got that hopping it would help the cycling prosses. I read some where about the shrimp trick, I also heard you can pee in it and that will work. Is that true, or a joke to see if a nabe will try it I also heard lighting is really important. I need to get a testing kit. Where can I finde a cheap light and testing kit. I looked at good light at the local pet store. 130watt is $150.

Nice to meet every one.

Here is a picture of my tank!

 

[wrightme43]

Thats what I had on my 29 gallon, I was able to keep, brain corals, mushrooms, green star poylops, zoos, and a green bulb tip anenome. I did have the live rock stacked very high. LOL
Corallife makes a good light. if that is what you are talking about
Cheap test kits are just that. If you can try to spend 60 bucks on ammonia, nitrate, nitrite by salifert. It really is worth it to know what those three are, a little error there will cost much more than 60$.
A skimmer uses air bubbles that stick to poisons in the water and particles so they can be removed from the water before they rot and poison the water, they also add lots of oxygen to the water.
I used a prizam skimmer on my 29 gallon and it worked great for me. It hangs on the tank the only filtration I had was a emperor 280 with the bio wheel removed and the prizam skimmer. I had about 40 lbs live rock, and 4 bags of live sand AragAlive brand figi pink.
My tank did just awesome like that.
My investment in the tank consisted of 40 for the emperor
99 for the skimmer
160 for the light
4.99 a lbs for the live rock
29.99 a bag for live sand.
and fish and corals
Hope that helps you in some way.
STEVE

 

[jaredly]

That helps me get an idea of what I need to buy, thanks. Oh the canister I have is a 350 mag with 2 bio wheels. I wish they made a skimmer that would hook up to it. Check out the picture I added above.

 

[NaH2O]

LOL - pee in the tank would absolutely add ammonia, however, if you do it....could you keep it to yourself? :lol: You can add a bunch more live rock, and allow some of the die off to fuel the cycle process, or add the shrimp, or both . I used uncured live rock on my tank, and did somewhere around 1 pound per gallon of water in my system.

As for lighting - it depends on the kinds of corals you want to keep. Take a look at pics in the member's gallery, or tank shots from threads. There is a thread of full tank shots that is wonderful. Also, they will help you plan for your aquascaping. Here it is: Show me your full tank shots.

If you go to our Sponsors page, you can check out the many vendors that support our site. Check them out, as they will likely have good prices on test kits and lighting. It will at least give you an idea of what is available from the comfort of your computer chair . Luckily for me, Premium Aquatics is my LFS, so not only can I shop on their website, but then I can go and bug them .

Hope this helps!

 

[Katchupoy]

Welcome... please add my two cents...

1) refractometer.... very important.
2) lighting.... for $150.00......hmmm you can already buy a 250MH retrokit complete with bulb.

Why? lets see... you buy the PC light today, then upgrade later..... why not go to MH for the same price? will save you a lot of money...

Not saying PC is crap... they are good... Im just thinking of the price equivalence.

Thats it.

 

[Angelscrx]

For a 29g a maybe a 175w MH would work for most hardy corals huh? You also have to plan how high you want it from the water due to heat issues. How high from the water would the 250w MH have to be to not cause heat issues? I have PCs and they work fine in my 55g tank but I will be upgrading to 250W MH in my new 150g tank.

 

[Katchupoy]

Also, you dont have to rush yourself into buying the lights.... you still have around 3 months saving time. Why? you need to buy some liverock first., then cure it together with your sand. And like Nikki said, there will be major die offs.

1) Test kits.
2) RO/DI filter.... If you dont have one, then you can buy it from local supermarkets. Those vending machine types that sells for 39 cents per gallon.
3) Lots of patience.

Also if you can DIY a hood to fit the retrokit and hang it from your ceiling... That would be great. So you will have an open top configuration.

 

[jaredly]

Ok a few questions. What does MH and PC stand for, also what is RO/DI filter?

Katchupoy,
Thanks for the advice on waiting, I was about to go and buy a light right away. I am going to wait on that and buy all of my live rock off of ebay.

 

[Katchupoy]

MH is metal halide of lighting...
PC is power compacts...

RO/DI is reverse osmosis with de-ionized filter. You can get RO or RO/DI.

Yes, thank you for following up on the lights... the idea here is when curing liverock, you need lights. you just need it to do its thing biologically. Some use NO (normal output) lights and put actinics on it.

Since you already have the hood. maybe you can borrow or ask for free NO actinics from your fellow reefer in your place.

in that way, you can still appreciate and watch your tank while curing it. you will be amazed on how many living things already living on the rock. that is if you get a very good liverock.

also check your local reef club. a lot of people do come and go, and most of the time they sell it cheap.

 

[gobie]

mh = metal halide lighting
pc= power comact flourescence
ro= reverse osmisis di= deioinisation (this is for fresh water pureifining)
ps don't wast all of your money on ebay live rock check your papers classified ads for tanks and live stock around. there is always someone getting rid of really good stuff and you get to see before you buy it. you can get you rock for as little as 2.00 per lb