New to reefs and need some advice.

[menace78]

Ok first off I'll say that I have had freshwater aquariums as long as I can remember and currently have a 135g community tank that I love.

I recently (after about a year of researching) decided to setup my first reef tank.
I currently have it up and running and has been cycling for 4 days now and finally starting to see the cycle getting out of the ammonia only stage.

I made my first mistake already by choosing a 40g hex tank that's 24" tall ( I'll get into that in a min).

Basically I got most of this all from 2 diferent people for about $200 total (including LR, LS,.
So far I have:
40g Hex tank 24 tall 20" wide from pane to pane (not point to point)
HOT Magnum 250 Canister Filter (hang on type) with duel outlets.
CPR CYHO II hang on skimmer with rio900 Venturi pump (filter floss for return area.
50/50 95w coralife compact florescent
supplemental : 50/50 15w NO coralife 6000k
DIY LED moonlight bar in the 460-466nm range for reef use.
1 Penguin 550 power head (so far)
~75lbs of LR from a 3yr old mature system
~50lbs of LS from the same system
Kent Marine Captive Purity Ro system
API SW master test kit
API Master reef test kit
calc, Iodind, stronium & Milydenum, and Coral accel suplements
frozen, dried, flake, and liquid foods including marine and bio plankton and misc. types of seaweed foods.
1 Hitchhiker hermit crab with purple/white legs
other than that NO livestock

I would also like to add that I am planning a slow go at my first reef.
something in the order of fish in about 3-4 months and no corals for about a year or until I feel comfortable with maintaining water quality.
Not including CUC of course. And when's a good time to add them?

ok now onto the questions
first off. Is there such a thing as too deep a sandbed?
I'm hoping to put about a total of 5-6" of sand in there to help raise it up to a point where I won't have to buy MH for a while (or at least till I can design and build a stand/hood for it that will work well in my living room).
And another thing I've been getting mixed opinions when reading is weather to stack rocks against the back of the tank or not.
I would like to push my rockwork back so I have more of a sandbed to work with in the future., and how much is to much LR, or is there such a thing if you still have room to add the corals and fish you want?

Lastly is there anything in this setup that you think I will need to worry about in the future?

I plan on only housing about 4-5 fish. Wife says I have to get a clownfish or a NEMO as she keeps calling them (without an anemone) maybe a Sixline Wrasse and idk yet what else.
and of course some Shrimp and other inverts as well as a variety of soft good beginner corals. nothing to hard for a while.

Thank you all in advance for the help and advice I'm sure you SW vets can offer me.

 

[Kurt_Nelson]

Sounds like you're taking the right course... slow and methodical. Congrats.

Adding a clean up crew... as soon as your ammonia and nitrites drop to zero and you've done a couple water changes to reduce your nitrates as much as possible. Most likely, you're going to have a tank full of diatoms and some trochus and astrea snails will do wonders. Also get some nassarius snails for the sand bed.

I'm no expert on sand beds, but with a tall hex like you have, I'd do the same as you're talking about - a deep 6" sand bed. I wrestled with sand bed depth when setting up my tank... too shallow and you might as well not have one. Not deep enough and you're in the no mans land between shallow and deep sand bed which is worse than either. Not sure if there is such a thing as "too deep", but you should be OK with a 6" deep bed.

It's up to you about rocks against the back glass. I didn't go that route because I was afraid of having dead spots for circulation and wanted to be able to have complete access... front and back... to my rock work. But with your tank shape, again, I'd probably lean against the back to open up some room in the front.

You mention putting off buying MH, so I'm guessing you're aware your lighting is fine for fish only, but will only let you do really low light soft corals like mushrooms and non photosynthetic corals. Just be aware of that. If you want to do even just LPS, you're going to need better lights.

Keep researching and asking questions!

PS... Just saw this in your post...

calc, Iodind, stronium & Milydenum, and Coral accel suplements

Don't use any of this stuff since you're just doing a FOWLR.

Also, you're going to want at least one additional source of water circulation (powerheads), maybe two.

 

[menace78]

Ya I just got all the addatives from the person that gave me all the LR and LS. but i was told that even with FOWLR tank you need to supplement calc (and i know i need Alkalinity too) for proper coralline growth? is this wrong?

And I'm trying to decide on adding another powerhead, maybe a sweeping one. or just doing a closed loop with a larger pump with a few nozzles to free up the room in the tank and give me some options on current as well as for esthetic reasons luckily right now my hot magnum has dual outputs so i have the low volume outlet towards the surface to add water movement and the other one pointed at a 45 down the side of the tank with the powerhead doing the same in the opposite direction.

And yes I do know about the MH. I was told if i had a shallower tank i could have most softies , but need MH for anything beyond the easy ones. Found out that only after getting the tank >.<

 

[Kurt_Nelson]

Ya I just got all the addatives from the person that gave me all the LR and LS. but i was told that even with FOWLR tank you need to supplement calc (and i know i need Alkalinity too) for proper coralline growth? is this wrong?

It depends on your salt mix and how often you do water changes. Coraline will grow fine with 360-380 ppm CA - and you can get that with most all salt mixes without supplementing. Also depends on how much coralline growth you want. I've got a 46g, and after about 4-6 months of coralline growth, it started turning white. Turns out my water changes weren't making up for the calcium depletion. As soon as I got my Ca levels consistently above 380 by using a 2-part Ca/Alk additive and upping the Ca in my water change water, things started purpling up again.

So I guess my short answer is "just play it by ear." If you don't have any problems, then don't worry about it. But if your coralline growth slows down, then test for Ca and deal with it then.

 

[menace78]

Ty for the advice I plan on weekly-biweekly 10% changes with Instant Ocean (depending on levels). and I use a software called reefcon that keeps track of all my parameters when i test.
I'm one of those better safe than sorry people.. I test salinity. Ph, ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, and check temp every day, and calc, phosphate, and dKH test every other day. (atleast till i become more comfortable i guess)

 

[OldFishMan]

Hello;

A FOWLR tank is a nice start. Until you get coraline algae growing on the tank walls and rock you will need little if any additional Calcium or Magnesium. Also, if you want nice different colored coraline algae you will need to seed it with a rock or grunge. A powerhead in a hex tank moves a lot of water around and for a FOWLR tank, one is sufficient for now.

Be warned, water changes will not replace all the Calcium or Magnesium you will need for FOWLR with a lot of coraline algae or a REEF tank. You will chase your tail trying to eliminate nitrates with water changes also. Algae, any and all types along with a lot of snails will be a permanent solution to reduce nitrate.

GARF --- sells grunge ---- live dirty gravel with a lot of critters in it. Also, they sell snails for $1.00 a piece and coral very reasonable. You will have to order it and pay shipping but a large order pays for itself in the long run. Maybe someone close to you has snails for sale cheap as they do multiply fairly quickly.

AP test kils work well and the KH and CA test kits are low cost and very accurate. Use the KH test kit for alkalinity and the CA for Calcium. The KH kit measures directly in dkh so testing is easy and the CA kit is within 10-ppm for CA. Maintain 7-to-11 dkh of alk and 360-450 CA level. Baking soda works for alk --- to raise it --- about 1/2 teaspoon at a time for .6 dkh rise. Prestone Drive Way Heat (Calcium Chloride) a snow melter works great mixed 2-1/2 cups per gallon as a Calcium suppliment.

Kalkwasser is the best at maintenance but do not use it to raise base Alkalinity or Calcium to proper levels. It is too high in PH to dump a lot in at a time. There are many products out there just get seperate products for Alk and CA and not a combined one.

Test once a week and adjust slowly until you get the dosing close. A simple lighting change can cause your tank to use more or less Alk and CA.

1. Calcium and Alkalinity too high --- just quit dosing and let it fall to normal and then adjust dosage.

2. Calcium too low --- increase CA additive only.

3. Alk too low --- add baking soda to adjust it. Then Kalk will maintain.

4. Alk too high --- stop Kalk --- continue adding Ca additive --- when Alk returns to normal start Kalk again. With a lot of coraline Alk drops quickly 1-or-2 days --- new tank --- may take a week.

5. Magnesium too low --- add Mag to increase it. Epson salt mixed in a gallon of water will do if you cannot find Magnesium Chloride --- ( used to melt snow --- roads mainly) 64-oz Epson Salt (Magnesium Sulfate) per gallon. Takes a lot of Mag to raise if you let it get too low --- some salt mixes are very low.

There are good people here to help you --- just ask! If it sounds like a load of S**t just ask someone else. Also, someone will find fault in no matter what you decide to use. Just read all you can and let it slide.

Magnesium Chloride and Sodium Bicarbonate make Calcium, Bicarbonate, and salt! Your skimmer will remove more salt than you will introduce. And, it is believed corals and coraline algae use bicarbonate over carbonate.

Reef Central Full Article:

http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2006-02/rhf/index.php

The seven most abundant ions in seawater, in decreasing order of concentration, are chloride, sodium, sulfate, magnesium, calcium, potassium and bicarbonate.

There is a lot of Sulfate (2700 -ppm) and Chlloride (19,350 - ppm) in Sea Water --- what you add with Epson Salt or Calcium Chloride is of no consequence.

Enjoy!

OFM