Saltwater reef filtration fr the 55 gallon tank

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ZacksFlowerhorn123

Aquarium Advice Activist
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Aug 13, 2011
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I have an Octopus hob hb100 protein skimmer, 3 koralia powerheads; 1050, 1400, and 425; a hob marineland 350c penguin filter, and 32 lbs of cured live rock with lots of coraline algae on them. I plan on getting a total of 75lb of live rock. (IS THIS ENOUGH EQUIPTMENT FOR FILTRATION?

SOO I WAS THINKING can iput live rock ruble and chaeto algae on one side of the filter, and carbon on the otherside? What lighting would i need going into that little filter??

I WANT TO MAKE A SUM BUT DONT KNOW HOW!nor do i have the money for it.

If i did this with the hob filter. It would filter the same as a sump right?

Also do i need a uv sterilizer? Im thinking an 8 watt uv but how long should it be on each day?? (i can set it to a timer i think) and whilst feeding the corals it would be off.

I dont use ro-di water.. I fill my water change water from the tap and put declohrinator in it. With salt of course. My top offs are taken from a drinking water purifier thing my parents have. So would a uv unit help prevent the algaes from growing do to the tap water i use.

And lastly im stmbling over what fish and inverts i can have.. I have 1 feather duster an 1 true percula. Can i add some shrimp? What kinds of shrimp??? I want a blue or yellow tang which ive been told a 55 is the bare minimum(some say 200 gallons but idk) i also like blennies and gobies.. And s7ggestions on a goby or blenny? I like the lawnmower blenny.. How about turbo snails? How many of those should i have?? Or should i not have any if i have a tang?? How many hernit crabs?? Or shuld i not have any if i have a blrnny or goby?? Thanks for any help and the tank is cycled with 0 ammonia, 0 nitrite, safe nitrate, 8.2 ph,420 calcium, safe alkalinity, 1.921 gravity, and yeah all the othertests were fine too

Ohh and my lighting is going to be a 6 bulb fixture with a built in timer, ballast hooks, 3 12k and 3 actinic bulbs with 20 led moonlights. And my tank temperate is 76 degrees F:thanks:
 
ZacksFlowerhorn123 said:
I have an Octopus hob hb100 protein skimmer, 3 koralia powerheads; 1050, 1400, and 425; a hob marineland 350c penguin filter, and 32 lbs of cured live rock with lots of coraline algae on them. I plan on getting a total of 75lb of live rock. (IS THIS ENOUGH EQUIPTMENT FOR FILTRATION?

SOO I WAS THINKING can iput live rock ruble and chaeto algae on one side of the filter, and carbon on the otherside? What lighting would i need going into that little filter??

I WANT TO MAKE A SUM BUT DONT KNOW HOW!nor do i have the money for it.

If i did this with the hob filter. It would filter the same as a sump right?

Also do i need a uv sterilizer? Im thinking an 8 watt uv but how long should it be on each day?? (i can set it to a timer i think) and whilst feeding the corals it would be off.

I dont use ro-di water.. I fill my water change water from the tap and put declohrinator in it. With salt of course. My top offs are taken from a drinking water purifier thing my parents have. So would a uv unit help prevent the algaes from growing do to the tap water i use.

And lastly im stmbling over what fish and inverts i can have.. I have 1 feather duster an 1 true percula. Can i add some shrimp? What kinds of shrimp??? I want a blue or yellow tang which ive been told a 55 is the bare minimum(some say 200 gallons but idk) i also like blennies and gobies.. And s7ggestions on a goby or blenny? I like the lawnmower blenny.. How about turbo snails? How many of those should i have?? Or should i not have any if i have a tang?? How many hernit crabs?? Or shuld i not have any if i have a blrnny or goby?? Thanks for any help and the tank is cycled with 0 ammonia, 0 nitrite, safe nitrate, 8.2 ph,420 calcium, safe alkalinity, 1.921 gravity, and yeah all the othertests were fine too

Ohh and my lighting is going to be a 6 bulb fixture with a built in timer, ballast hooks, 3 12k and 3 actinic bulbs with 20 led moonlights. And my tank temperate is 76 degrees F:thanks:

Holy cow Zack!! Umm...where to start.
The thingy for drinking water is an RO unit, that is good. It needs a DI unit to be perfect, but that is a start.
Your filtration and LR, should be sufficient.

Basically any light source for the Chaeto would work, although its hard to go in a HOB filter.

A sump does the same thing as a HOB filter, just allows more room for a heater and whatever else you want to put in there, ( skimmer, reactor intakes, outflows)the main advantage is everything is out of the tank, and you don't see it.

You don't necessarily need a UV , but they can help with a FO set-up, to help keep the water free of pathogens. On a reef set-up, IMO, the jury's still out. I don't personally know if they are killing off some of the stuff we put in as food. I hate to think they I am spending money to remove what I just put in as food for my corals, that also cost me money.
No on the Tangs, yes on the shrimp. Coral banded's are cool, as are fire shrimp, or Harlequins, but Harlequins require starfish, and only starfish as food.

A normal CUC, with about 10 snails, 4 if turbos + others, and 10 hermits would help to keep your substrate clean

Lighting and temp look spot on.

Lawnmower blenny would help with any algae that is present, although any of the Blenny or Goby family would do alright, with a deeper sand bottom.

Only thing required for a sump is the sump itself, an overflow, and a return pump. Cheapest effort, about $200+.

Hope this helps!
 
Ohh, and 1.921 salinity is astronomical, I hope this is incorrect, your salinity should be between 1.023 and 1.026 for corals.
 
Yeah its supposed to be about 1.021 last time i checked. So ill work on raising it up. Thanks soo much!!!! You helped alot!!! So if i didnt have the chaeto algae and just did live rock ruble and the other stuff itd be fine without a light ontop of the filter right? Ive also heard of just using a protein skimmer and the live rock with powerheads for filtration?

Does this really work?
 
Yes, live rock and a skimmer will do the job just fine, with regular pwc's. Chaeto just helps with nitrates, which you can deal with, with pwc's.
Best of luck Zack!
 
Thanks! Looks like im set. Ill probly post it when i get some live stock an ckrals and such. Thank you Reefer!
 
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