SW Newbie, Hey Guys

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Gprime

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Joined
Jun 19, 2009
Messages
11
Location
Ottawa
Hey Guys, im new here looking to start up a 120g marine tank, i've never kept a reef/marine tank before but i used to help me aunt/uncle maintain theirs so i know some stuff about keeping a tank

what sort of things (ie plants, corals, fish/inverts) should you keep in a refugium to keep nitrates and phosphate levels down, but calcium, magnesium etc... up? im asuming it all depends on the size of the refugium but im wondering what some of the essentials would be.

in my sump would it be better to have bioballs, live rock rubble, or a mix of both? i heard bio balls can be a "nitrate factory".

is it better to have the heater sitting in the sump or in the tank? i currently do not have one yet i have marineland stealth submergable was a good one but what's the proper wattage for a 120g tank?

im hoping to be keeping clams, tube worms and anemone's in the tank with some compatible corals along with fish, so whats the proper light set up? i was looking at this one: http://buildyouraquarium.com/catalog/product_info.php?products_id=75 as it fits my budget, comes with 4 actinics just have to buy the other 4 day lights and it also has moonlights with a dimmer.

i am looking into buying an RO/DI unit so whats the minimum i would need for a 120g? if im doing 30% water changes every 2 weeks.

PVC vs Vinyl Tubing, which is cheaper/better to use? i heard vinyl tubing was better because you're using less corners/elbow joints so not as to reduce water flow.

is this sump anygood? http://buildyouraquarium.com/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=25&products_id=150 i talked with they guys at BYA and they said it includes a top of the line protein skimmer, the make is JEBO but i've never heard of JEBO skimmers, only marineland, orca, corallife, aquasystems etc.... but they said they've been using them for 9 years and they work as good as the other top of the line ones.

the sump includes:
-Overflow Box
-815 gph pump
-635 gph water pump
-JEBO Protein Skimmer
-Refugium Light with 2x 13 watt compact 6500k bulbs, and legs
-Bio-balls
-bulk heads

i know the basic water chem. for SW tanks

temp 75-70
pH 8.0-8.4
Amm/NO2/NO3 0
SG 1.021-0.25
calcium 400ppm

but im not sure as to alk and mag and salinity

more questions to come
 
Last edited:
First off, Welcome to Reef Frontiers!!!

In your sump/refugium, you want to keep Macro Algae, such as Chaeto, to absorb Nitrates.

Bio-Balls and Live Rock Rubble, will both become nitrate factories, if they are in an aerobic (oxygenated) environment. Your best bet would be a deep sand bed (DSB) in your refugium.

Heater in the sump, if possible, will be best. This way, it can't be damaged by active fish etc.

I would suggest a quality RO/DI unit that puts our 50-75 GPD.

I would use PVC, instead of Vinyl. Yes, Vinyl is flexible, which can allow for less bends, but it can also get kinked, which would decrease or even stop flow. Vinyl, also being clear, will have more of a tendency to grow algae, inside it. Rigid PVC, with glued joints is the best bet, IMO.

In my signature, there's some good information on Ca, Alk and Mg relationships. There's also a great DIY recipe for making your own Ca, Alk and Mg supplements, as well as a reef calculator, to help you figure out a dosing regiment.
 
thanks alot,

will the water in the collection bin for the RO unit go bad after awhile? or will it stay good for along time?

whats the proper heater wattage i would need for a 120g?

the bioballs and LR will both be submerged where the intake of the sump is, so no oxygenation should occur.
 
Gprime said:
thanks alot,

will the water in the collection bin for the RO unit go bad after awhile? or will it stay good for along time?

whats the proper heater wattage i would need for a 120g?

the bioballs and LR will both be submerged where the intake of the sump is, so no oxygenation should occur.
Click to expand...

The water should be fine for a while but you could just turn it on the day/a couple hours before your water changes and then turn it off once you have what you need + 5-20 gallons extra ( it's always better to have extra rodi water just in case when doing water changes especially as a semi newbie)

In reference to the rock there's oxygen in all the water (or else your tank will die of hypoxyia) and it's true that live rock can get detritus stuck on it this being a nitrate factory but if you take care of the sump the live rock will do a good job sucking up ammonia and nitrites and the macro can take up the nitrates
 
once i week i was going to take a turkey baster and blow the detritus off from the live rock, and oh yeah duh all water is oxygenated...... i thought you meant like say the overflow was sucking in air as water was going down for some reason and bubbles going on the rocks.....lol
 
For your heater, They should tell you on the packaging what size tank they are suitable for. Depending on your lighting there may not even be much need for one, but it is good to have. Do a LOT of research before you get lights, thats all I can saymy friend!! Lol.... Do a search on here for lighting and you'll see some interesting things. If your looking to keep clams and anenomes, you'll need the higher wattage of lighting, so you're looking at t-5's, or metal halides, or one heck of a lot of the others. We use t-5's on both of our tanks and are really happy with them we have a clam and sps. I know someone with a 120 that has three metal halides, and t-5's for the actinic's/ dusk dawn. I've heard the jebo is crummy. Again do a search on here for skimmers, and you'll see some good threads from recently. Welcome to RF and SW!!
 
jag, look at the lights i linked, they seem to be pretty decent and give me 5wpg, 8x80 watt = 640/120 = 5.3, theyre HO T-5's which is what im going for and if the skimmers no good ill just replace it
 
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I've never seen any reviews of the "Build Your Own Aquarium" light fixtures. The quality of the reflectors and cooling can effect the ammount of light output you get from a fixture. Just going by the description on their site they appear comparable to a Current-USA fixture quality wise. The five year warranty is a plus but you'll definitely want to find some reviews on them.

How deep is your tank? 5 watts per gallon isn't a ton of light and many people will tell you that watts per gallon is an out dated measurment. With that light you could probably keep a clam but you may want to keep it in the upper portion of your tank.
 
What I meant by oxygenated is that Bio-Balls are normally used in an area of the sump where they aren't fully submerged. They're always wet, but not submerged. Because of this, they're in an aerobic environment, which will promote nitrates. If it were me, I'd keep all live rock in the display. In the sump, I'd use a deep sand bed and chaeto macro algae.
 
ok, how deep? 2-3 inches? i was going to put LR rubble in the refugium thought, is that ok
 
any good plants for controlling phosphates that wont die if there is little? and do you just buy chaeto macro algae or what? lol
 
Macro Algae is the best way to go. Don't buy it...lol. If you have any fellow hobbyists near you, you should always be able to find some free Chaeto, when others are pruning theirs back.

You can also look into a phosban reactor. They're very inexpensive, can be used with lots of different medias, including carbon, and work very well. They make a great addition to any sump/refugium and are very versatile, in what you're using them for. If nothing else, it's a great way to run carbon. When needed, they can be used to reduce or eliminate phosphates.
 
or you can buy little phosphate things that sit in your sump which is alot cheaper then buying a phosban reactor lol. if i cant find anyone around me that has chaeto, what do i do? lol
 
You can order chaeto online, reefcleaners.org, they have all sorts of coolstuff! T-5 ho's are a good one, but you want the indivually molded reflectors. We have the nova extreme pro's on our tanks. We got those at marinedepot.com. How deep is the tank? It's a 120 so i'm guessing not too much. If it's more than 20" you'll definetly want MH, but i totally undertsand not wanting to go there. The heat and UV output of those scares me a little....:oops: Have you looked at "myteemouse"'s build thread on here? He set up a 120 earlier this year. And they did an awesome job! :D As for the skimmer, there is a whole lot of talk about these, and what the perfect one for *your* tank is. :rolleyes:You could start a thread on here asking just that, and you might get some interesting responses. Depends on what you wanna spend, and how much bioload you're gonna have, and what corals you're gonna keep. I can tell ya though, spend more on your skimmer, and you won't be sorry. They are the best thing to have, and if you get a crummy one, you WILL end up replacing it. :eek:
 
Oh and Phosban reactors rock!! We got one around 2 weeks ago, and a bunch of our monti's and acros that never colored up are now! Yay!!
 
You could always make your own sump a 55 gallon would probably fit nice under you tank and you can find them really cheap on craigslist.

Brian
 
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