Moving from FOwLR to Reef..many questions

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pdwire

Aquarium Advice Regular
Joined
Apr 27, 2003
Messages
90
Location
NC
First of all thanks to everyone out there that has made my first year of saltwater a great one...now I am ready to move on.

I set up my first tank, a FOwLR, almost a year ago and it has been doing great. I few hiccups but no major crashes over the year. I am ready to try my hand with a Reef system. My current set-up is:
55Gal AGA (not drilled)
80# of FA LR
Maxijet 1200 PH
AquaC Remora HOB with Maxijet 1200
Substrate 55# of CarbiSea Seaflor special grade Aragonite
No sump or canister
Retrofit Coralife Aqualight 260Watts (48")
Livestock: yellow tang, percula clown, banded coral shrimp, feather duster, and clean up crew (snails and hermits)

Water conditions have always been good and I faithfully do a 10% water change every two weeks.

Now a couple of questions:
1) Do I need any further equipment to get started with some soft corals and some mushrooms. If I am going to add something I would rather do it now before I start with adding the corals
2) Are there standard supplements that need to be added? Recommendations? I know I will have to start testing and adjust Ca but what about trace minerals?
3) Recommendations on what inverts to start with
4) I have no mechanical filtration and I do not use carbon. Do I need to start?

Thanks for the help.
 
pdwire said:
Now a couple of questions:
1) Do I need any further equipment to get started with some soft corals and some mushrooms. If I am going to add something I would rather do it now before I start with adding the corals

I would add one or even two more MJ1200's or set up a closed loop for more flow. You need a minimum of 550gph and more is better. Other than that, I think you have it pretty well covered.

2) Are there standard supplements that need to be added? Recommendations? I know I will have to start testing and adjust Ca but what about trace minerals?

Don't add any additives you aren't testing for. You might find that one of the two part cal/alk supplements will work well for you. B-Ionic or Tech CB. Your water changes should take care of the trace elements.

3) Recommendations on what inverts to start with

I'm assuming, since you already have a cleanup crew, that you mean corals? I'd get a couple of shrooms, some zoanthids, and a Cladiella colt to start with. All of these are easy to keep and don't have any special feeding needs. Yellow polyps and green star polyps are a couple of other good ones to start with.

4) I have no mechanical filtration and I do not use carbon. Do I need to start?

IMO, you don't need any mechanical filtration. If your water starts to get a yellowish tinge to it, you might want to run some carbon. Some folks swear by AC and some swear at it. I use it occasionally in my tanks, but I don't run it all the time. If you leave a carbon bag in the tank long enough, it can become bioactive and begin to produce nitrates. You'll want to get your nitrates below 10 before you add any corals. I think you have a great foundation for a reef tank here and it should work out well for you. JMHO.
 
Thank you for the help. One follow-up question. What do you mean by a closed loop? are you referring to a sump?
 
The substrate is more of a cc than a sand. I was under the impression that more cc does not necessarily help/create a DSB. Is this correct? I would actually like to switch my cc to sand but this seems to be such a large undertaking I am fearful the tank will crash in the process.
 
If its any ease of mind.. I'm prob. not as experienced as many on here. But i just changed out my cc to make a dsb. (Thanks to everyones advice here.) Although a little tedious it was done with great success and everything is going smoothly.. Only thing you should do is monitor your conditions frequently to make sure theres no spikes. I myself to avoid crash i saved all the water during the change and put it back in as well as leaving the bacteria that was left after i changed out the cc..This is just how mine went and I did it almost a week ago.. These guys definately know their Reefs..
 
Another follow-up question. loganj, you suggested at least 550gph of flow but I have two Maxijet 1200 for around 600gph now (one sitting free and one running the skimmer). Does the PH on the skimmer not count in this equation??
 
the one on the skimmer is more of a surface flow..so IMO it doesn't count..I'm sure others will give more advice on the subject.
 
If I put three Maxijet 1200's in a 55Gal won't that cause overheating. Does anyone know how much heat a PH puts off?
 
I'm not sure about the heat thing.. IMO I don't really see an overheating prob. I run 4 PH in a 55gal. and everything is doing great. No temp. problems at all. I run 2 MJ 1200's and 2 Hagen 402's
 
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