Brand New Reef (me and the tank) Ideas?

[sumphead]

Hello to my new found friends. I have like all others been bitten by the reef addiction. I have until now run only freshwater but have fallen madly in love with the reef. I am preparing to set up a 72G Bow for a reef and would like advice. I live near a large city and get severe conflicting info on how I should go about this from all of the local hot spots. I have patience as I know it is needed and have purchased lighting already (compacts). Here are my initial questions:

-Eco-refugium vs. wet/dry w/skimmer? I have been told both have advantages? Experts please advise.

-Can I have the Glass bow-front drilled? at least in the top back for an overflow drain or am I stuck with hang on tank or overflow boxes? I have been told yes and no!

I have read a great deal and continue to study. Here is my plan: Critique at will please. I plan to purchase my filtraion next based on advise from here and weighing of options. Then set up live sand over cc. Then the rock. an initial invert or two. an anenome or two. an appropriate coral or two. a fish or two. All appropriately spaced over time.

Any other advice? Thanks so much! I am glad I found this site!

Ronnie-reefnewb

 

[Gauge]

First of all, welcome to aquariumadvice!

And I thought I'd tell ya before everyone on here buries you in identical responses... anemones require mature tanks. Most guys on here will recommend at least a year.

I break that rule, though. Mine's been up for about 6 months and I've had a happy anemone for a few weeks now.

 

[BillyZ]

I break that rule, though. Mine's been up for about 6 months and I've had a happy anemone for a few weeks now.

and we wish you the most luck Guage, but from my own experience and from others info, you've likely only got a few weeks left. I'm keeping my fingers crossed for you and for your anenome.

so.. Ronnie! Welcome to AA

-Eco-refugium vs. wet/dry w/skimmer? I have been told both have advantages?

Indeed they do both have pros and cons. the biggest factor, for what you've told us you have planned, as that you're going for a reef with coral, anenomes and inverts. These animals have a high sensativitly to Nitrates. wet/drys do not do a good job of removing nitrates. Wet drys are great for FO systems. you will want to go DSB/LR. and additional options are Skimmer and Fuge to suppliment that.

-Can I have the Glass bow-front drilled? at least in the top back for an overflow drain or am I stuck with hang on tank or overflow boxes? I have been told yes and no! [/quote
Acrylic = Drillable
Glass = Drillable
Tempered Glass = NOT drillable.
if it's tempered the tank (if purchased new) probably had a sticker on it stating so.

I plan to purchase my filtraion next

as i mentioned above, a DSB and LR will be 90% of your filtration. You can supliment that with a skimmer and/or a refugium.

Then set up live sand over cc

Skip the CC all together and buy a few 50 pound bags of argonite play sand from home depot/lowes. Then top that with 10-20 pounds of LS. that's your DSB.

For your cycle, you'll want all the sand, LS and LR in the tank right away. these will start your cycle.

Any other advice

you mentioned you bought PC lights already. lighting is something that many corals and anenomes have specific needs for. Research the what animals you'll ultimatly want in your tank and then ask yourself if what you have is going to be enough. Many will probalby suggest supplimenting your PCs with a MH (depending on what you want to keep) and I don't know if the order you listed the critters in implied the order you wish to add them. If so, reverse it 180 degrees, except for the inverts, add a clean up crew after your cycle is complete

HTH

 

[sumphead]

Hello again, and thanks very much. Especially for the order, I was indeed confused. How about the claim that no skimmer is needed for a "ecosystem" aquarium?

 

[BillyZ]

IME, everyone will give you a different answer as far as their "need". It certainly won't hurt your system. I, personaly, agree with the theories behind them and will be adding one to my system very soon. Hopefully a few folks that have been using them for a while will chime in with their opinions.

 

[alrmc4]

if you saw and smelled the sludge that a skimmer pulls out i don't think you would want to run without one. :?

 

[kidafius]

I break that rule, though. Mine's been up for about 6 months and I've had a happy anemone for a few weeks now.

and we wish you the most luck Guage, but from my own experience and from others info, you've likely only got a few weeks left.

I also break that rule, as my aquarium has been up for a little over 6 months, and I've had a saddle and a carpet (about 9" accross) as well as a condi, and they are all looking 200% better than they were at the LFS. The condi is the newest at about a month. The other two, I got about 3 weeks apart, I got them in mid June, about 2 months ago. They are really thriving. Could be that I have 7 watts/gallon with my PCs, though. Just wanted to throw that in to show that everyone gives good advice, but sometimes, you just get lucky. The majority would tell you to wait. I would wait if I had it to do over again.

 

[splendidus]

I have been using an Ecosystem alone on my 55 reef tank for almost 8 months now and the nitrates have been undetectable. This can probably be explained because I have a light bio-load (only a tang, a mandarin, a couple of serpent stars, and some corals) and abundant algae in the tank itself. If you plan on a heavier bio-load and no algae in the main tank I would suggest running a small skimmer. Good luck!

 

[Bearfan]

Great post BillyZ! It's amazing what you can learn by reading through old posts.

 

[captivereefs]

The ecosystems work great! I set about three up on customers tanks. I did however add a small hangon skimmer to the side of the sump just in case. On my own personal tank my aqua c skimmer barelly pulls anything out anymore since i added a large calurpa algae sump. I think eco systems work great!


Darin


www.captivereefs.com