Advice needed for starting new reef aquarium

[mark6871]

Hi All. First time on here and hoping to get some much needed input from you guys on my new marine system I am in the process of setting up.

I have had a nano marine aquarium in the past but it wasn't too successful!

This time I am converting a tank I once had as a tropical freshwater.

It is an aqua oak large cube aquarium holding approx 150 litres.

I think I've got my head around most of the equipment apart from the filtration.

I really don't fancy drilling the tank unless I have to.

I already have a decent large external canister filter.

My thoughts are to use this, a hang on bubble magus q3 skimmer and then live rock and wave maker.

What's everyone's thoughts on this? Would it be enough? If so what media should I put in the canister?

Look forward to hearing your thoughts.

Thanks

Mark

 

[arnoldndana]

I'm sorry, about how many gallons is that?

 

[arnoldndana]

I have a 125 gallon reef with 2 hob tidal 110 gallon filters and a canister filter and a hob skimmer, 2 heaters, and 3 pumps for water circulation, haven't made up my mind yet what I'm gonna use yet so they're just temporary. The canister has water polishing floss, the hob filters have bio media, sponge, polyfilter, and chemi-pure blue in them.

 

[mark6871]

It's around 35 gallons I believe. So not a massive tank. Do you use treated tap water or ro water for your water changes?

 

[arnoldndana]

I use treated tap water right now. I have a filter connected to my kitchen faucet just haven't changed the filter out yet.

 

[arnoldndana]

I haven't started water changes yet. My tank has been cycled for about 2 weeks and was told by the guy who owns the LFS to wait 3 months to do a water change so I can build up the sand bed for what I want to keep but I do top offs and check my parameters diligently.

 

[Sniperhank]

You should check out our articles section about cycling. You need to present an ammonia source and after the bacteria base builds up so that ammonia is processed in a 24 hour period, you then do your big water changes to get the nitrates in check.
I would recommend using ro/di water. Treating tap water isn't taking out all of the nasty stuff in our drinking water that can be harmful after the levels build up over long periods of time. Ro/DI water pulls everything out of the water so that we can control what is going into our systems. It is important because so much is in our water that you can't even test for...like fluoride.