Starting off on the right foot

[Danhall]

Hey all, im a noobie to the whole SW Aquarium gig but i am extremely excited to get going into the right direction. Im planning on starting up a FOWLR tank that is capable of making the switch to be able to handle coral. I have a buddy that has been guiding me in the right direction for about a month helping me decipher much of what is said on the internet and this is what ive come up with.

I have in my possession a 55 gallon tank. 48x13x19
1 quiet1one 2200 (581 gph)
2 powerheads Seio prop 350's
a hang-on-the-back overflow/siphon with a "gurgle-buster" that goes down a overflow tube to a sump (that i have yet to purchase)
Moon light (dont know the brand)

What i intend to purchase:
a 20 gallon tank (which i will adapt to a sump w/refugium)
arogonite sand
livesand
liverock (how much? and maybe "two-fer rock"? see below)
protein skimmer
sunlight Supply T5 kit
some sort of timer for it all (reccommendations?)

What im running into is that i wanna make sure that i get the correct equipment. Ive been reading a lot and finding that you get your money's worth and not to try to take short cuts cus it will bite you in the rump. One thing i WAS hoping to do however, was buy half of the liverock i need, and then buy "2fer-rock" and letting the tank cycle with just the sand and rock for a month or two so that the liverock will spread. I wanted to do this so that i could just get the tank moving, and also to save money. Then i will eventually move into putting fish in.

Any comments and/or help on my strategy/ideas are much appreciated. Im in the Spokane area if anyone was wondering!!! Thanks a bunch!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[bigblue141]

First off,

Welcome to Reef Frontiers.

I personally would get your tank drilled. HOB overflows are just a flood waiting to happen.

I'm confused at what you mean by 2fer rock.

I would join a reef club in your area in Spokane. Numerous people sell their old live rock. I would suggest around 40-55 lbs of live rock for your 55 gallon aquarium for starters.

If you have a LFS that gets live rock fresh from the oceans over sea's I would personally would by 5-10 lbs of that. There is a big risk that you will get unwanted hitchhikers with wild rock, but IMO the amount of benificial hitchhikers that you get out weigh the negative. You should also be able to get several items you are looking for through the reef club in the Spokane area for much cheaper than buying it new.

For a skimmer, I would recommend going to the "sponsor section" of this site and go to green skimmer and post your skimmer question there.

On my first tank I had 4 4' T12 VHO bulbs and an ICE CAP 660 ballast. I really liked the set up and they did very well for me. People might say get Halides or LED's. T5/T12VHO/Halides/LED's all have their pro's and con's. Just read up on them all so you can make an educated decision on which way you want to go.

Everyone has a different opinion on how to do things with Marine tanks. All the different suggestions you get worked for that individual. You can ask a question to 20 successful reef keepers with decades of experience under their belt, and you'll probably get 20 different ways of doing something. In the end, it all works, it's just what route you want to take to get there.

Good luck with your new addicition!!!

 

[Krish]

Welcome to RF!!! . As suggested, you will get varying answers as everyone does things a bit differently than others and even more so, what works for one person may not work for another so it is best to gather all the info you can, and then figure out from there which method suits you best. I can assure you that the advice you get here is coming from people who want to see you do well in the hobby so can rest assured.

With that said, I would get all the rock you want to go with (liverock and base rock if that is what 2fer-rock is) and allow it all to cycle together one shot. If you put some rock in for a few weeks and then later add more in, it may prolong your cycle so best to try get it all one time. A phosban reactor of some sort would be a nice cheap investment to add to your current list. I run the Two Little Fishies Phosban reactor with the Julian sprungs formula and love it! It will help keep your phosphate levels down so as to not promote un-wanted algae from going and they are very cheap. You can get one with pump for under $100 easily. On the overflow as suggested, you can drill the tank, but if not up to that, I've never had an issues with using a hang-on overflow/pre-filter the times I've used them. You just need to understand how yours works to avoid any issues.

Just a few quick thoughts. If you have any specific questions regarding anything like what skimmer to use for eg, I'd go to the dedicated forum for it and ask your question there so that you can get the best possible feedback to your question. We have a guy name Mark here (username skimmerwhisperer) who is the skimmer guru here and anytime he see's a thread pop up in the skimmer section, he jumps on it in excitement LOL!!! :lol: So just giving you a few tips to get the most out of your questions here.

Good luck and feel free to ask whatever questions you have. No question is stupid or dumb so feel free to ask away.

 

[Danhall]

Thanks for relying to quickly! To be honest i've never joined a forum before so this is already a great experience for me!

And i think joining the local reef club would be a great idea! i think their next meeting is really soon, so hopefully i will manage to get into it. I cant wait to talk to some people in the local area who are into this hobby!

The big thing that im running into is that i need to save up for a while in order to get these parts for a good tank. So im going to take my time and make sure i spend money where it wont go to waste and have to be replaced. (example being a crappy protein skimmer.) Im also not ready to put any water into the tank until i have all the hardware i need to get this all going. But oh man i am getting more and more stoked every day as i get closer and closer to having my own saltwater aquarium!!!

 

[Krish]

Yea it does get pretty exciting!! Glad you are willing to take your time to get the right stuff together first! Alot of people just want to dive right in without thinking things through then regret it later when they have to spend twice. Good for you . As mentioned any question you come across feel free to ask. The less problems you can avoid by the knowledge you will gain by asking questions, the better for you in the long run.

 

[TJL]

Hey Dan, Welcome aboard and its awsome to see a NOOB start off on the right track. You will succeed in this hobby with patience and a desire to learn up front. All great advice above so keep us posted on how things are coming along for you and a year from now you"ll be amased what you have created.

Cheers, Todd

 

[Danhall]

thanks again!!! Just an update, i got 2 T5 retrokits (so 4 bulbs) and each bulb has its own reflector, which was one of my stipulations for buying them. then im just going to build my own hood to house the lighting and accommodate for the HOB overflow. Past that im doing the random oddjob to make some money to buy the rest of the stuff i need to kick off the tank. Im hoping to have it all up and running by the end of january!

 

[bigblue141]

Best of luck with the build and keep us updated on your progress

 

[Danhall]

SO i have a quick question, what color is a good one to spray paint the back pane of the tank? i heard that black is a really good one. Any others to consider?

 

[rainydave]

I'm partial to black back walls as it makes anything in front of it "pop".

 

[Danhall]

Alright, i think im going to roll with the black. One that i was considering was a fade of lighter blue down into darker blue as i got further down the tank, but i dont tihnk im skilled enough to pull that off on my first SW tank. So im going o do the black. Thanks!!

 

[Krish]

Alright, i think im going to roll with the black. One that i was considering was a fade of lighter blue down into darker blue as i got further down the tank, but i dont tihnk im skilled enough to pull that off on my first SW tank. So im going o do the black. Thanks!!

I LOVE blue backgrounds!! Tried black, but didn't like it as much. All a personal preference. Here is a thread I just started 2 seconds ago where you can see two of my old tanks with blue backgrounds. Love the shimmer against it!! http://www.reeffrontiers.com/forums/f14/shimmer-me-timbers-59073/

Also, the 2 shades of blue, I will find you a thread where Jason (Sherman) did this with his tank. Looked amazing!! Give me a few to find it.

 

[Krish]

I found his thread, but for some odd reason, every single picture on his thread is "X" out . He doesn't really post here much anymore, but if you would like to see the tank, let me know and I'll have him send me a picture which I will post here. I do know he used 4 different colored spray paints to achieve the effect.

 

[Danhall]

Thats ok. I ended up deciding on painting the tank black. Just because i have never done any of this before, and i also happen to be artistically challenged and i know i wouldnt be able to pull off the correct effect. So i just rolled with the straight black. ill post pictures of it when it dries. then ill post a picture of when i have finished the hood for the tank to house the lighting!!!getting more excited by the day!

 

[Danhall]

Its been a while. but i finally got my T5 bulbs working, and turned them on. I bought 3 Giesemann powerchrome aquablue+ bulbs and one Of the same make and model, just Actinic+. To my extreme confusion, only one bulb appeared blue, and the other three were white. Now, being a guy, i understand that i may have some sort of colorblindness, but im just curious if this is supposed to be the case... Thanks very much for all your help thus far!

 

[ReefLogic]

Best piece of advice I can give you is to research BEFORE you act. Biggest mistake I see here is rushing into stuff....I don't mean here as in RF but here as in the hobby. Take your time and research and all will be fine. So word of the day is "ask...A....S....K" ask, ask, ask. Just ask every question you have. I don't agree with the "no such thing as a dumb question" mentality as there are some dumb questions....but the dumbest one is the one you don't ask.

remember a moment of embarrassment is well worth avoiding the weeks or months of frustration.

 

[Krish]

Its been a while. but i finally got my T5 bulbs working, and turned them on. I bought 3 Giesemann powerchrome aquablue+ bulbs and one Of the same make and model, just Actinic+. To my extreme confusion, only one bulb appeared blue, and the other three were white. Now, being a guy, i understand that i may have some sort of colorblindness, but im just curious if this is supposed to be the case... Thanks very much for all your help thus far!

Yea, an actinic bulb will be only blue. It is basically used as a supplemental color to compliment the other bulbs which will be whiter or in some cases even yellower. So it seems you bought just one actinic so that bulb will be bluer than the rest. Not sure what the power chrome aquablue is supposed to look like but I'd imagine not near as blue as an actinic.

 

[Danhall]

Alright. I feel reaaally dumb now. SO, if im looking for a more blue-ish color to my tank that will still provide the correct lighting for certain corals, and with minimal re-purchase of bulbs as possible... what would you guys recommend?

 

[Krish]

Alright. I feel reaaally dumb now. SO, if im looking for a more blue-ish color to my tank that will still provide the correct lighting for certain corals, and with minimal re-purchase of bulbs as possible... what would you guys recommend?

Let me get Sid to chime in here for you. He runs T5's and knows quite a bit about them. Me, I'm a metal halide type of guy . With any bulb though, usually the more away from the blue spectrum and closer to the white and yellows, the more useable light you will get for the corals as those bulbs typically has more par. The blue spectrum usually doesn't have as much par so the corals don't use much of that form of lighting. This is why it is called supplemental lighting. It makes the color of the corals and the tank itself more appealing when the blue is mixed in. Same reason why you see 50/50 pc lights. Half the bulb is white and the other half blue. Pure white or even yellow doesn't look nearly half as good as the same tank with some blue's mixed in there. Here's an example. Take a look at the tank in the link below. The picture starts out with a 6500K bulb which is very yellow. Then start clicking on the arrow to change the bulb on just one side of the tank and watch how the spectrum changes. The higher the kelvin rating the whiter the bulb and even higher you go, the bluer it gets. A 10K bulb would be considered white, a 6k goes more towards the yellow spectrum a 14 k starts going towards the blue spectrum. Just an example. I'll get Sid to chime in on the T5's though. He'll know which combo would give you the best look and the nest light for your corals.

250Watt Bulb Comparison

 

[Danhall]

Thank you so much for the help!!! May i also ask what timing you guys would reccommend for when the lights come on and off? I can only control them 2 at a time. Ive read that 2 on in the morning, all 4 on in day, and then the other 2 only in the evening works well. Will that work out?