Nashville SW setup

[AR15 guy]

You do not need special lightening for LR. If you have corals or anemones or something then you would need more light. But a NO flourescent bulb will be fine for live rock. And go ahead and add the rock it will make your tank cycle MUCH faster.

You need to look for Southdown/yard right/tropical play sand. They are all the same thing. I have been looking for awhile and cannot find any in my area. Which sucks.

You can use a canister or a HOB filter. However many people will recommend a skimmer and/or powerheads. I have been running HOB on all my tanks with good results so far. But if you get around 1.5-2lbs or LR per gallon you could just run a powerhead.

I have only used marineland bio-wheel, emporer filters, and aquaclear filters. The normal bio-wheels are noisey. Lots of water splashing. The emporers do not do this. And aquaclears are silent. I have a aquaclear running in my room. And I cannot stand to sleep with any noise. I also have a bio-wheel in there but it is a little tiny one with no wheel in it. It is quiet to.

Hope this helps.

 

[AR15 guy]

You do not need special lightening for LR. If you have corals or anemones or something then you would need more light. But a NO flourescent bulb will be fine for live rock. And go ahead and add the rock it will make your tank cycle MUCH faster. The proper calcium levels will make rock really look good. But lighting isn't a huge issue with rock only.

You need to look for Southdown/yard right/tropical play sand. They are all the same thing. I have been looking for awhile and cannot find any in my area. Which sucks.

You can use a canister or a HOB filter. However many people will recommend a skimmer and/or powerheads. I have been running HOB on all my tanks with good results so far. But if you get around 1.5-2lbs or LR per gallon you could just run a powerhead.

I have only used marineland bio-wheel, emporer filters, and aquaclear filters. The normal bio-wheels are noisey. Lots of water splashing. The emporers do not do this. And aquaclears are silent. I have a aquaclear running in my room. And I cannot stand to sleep with any noise. I also have a bio-wheel in there but it is a little tiny one with no wheel in it. It is quiet to.

Hope this helps.

 

[tnscuba]

thanks ar15, good lookin out.. someone else reccomended the emporer to me, the 400 version. But i went to petsmart and they had a sale on the canister, so i had to question it myself, because with a cansiter wont i have to just deal with the 2 tubes? DOes the emperor hob take up that much space? For at least 1 year i plan to run fish only, maybe 20to25# of LR.

ill look for that sand tomm. and post what we have here.
do i need a powerhead if i am only going to have fish only first 6months?

thanks
tennessee

 

[Phyl]

Leave off the filter, get the 1.5-2# of rock (70-80% base/30-20% Keys from LR.com) Throw enough power heads in the tank for 10-20x your tank volume in turn over (closer to 10 is probably fine with FOWLR). You're done.

You don't need super de duper lighting nor skimmer if you're not going to add corals or anemones (leave this out for 6mo to a year no matter). I don't have a filter per se. I have a wet/dry with almost no bio balls and a little filter floss but my LR is my major source of filtration. I've added a fuge to keep my trates in check for my corals sake but the fish would have been just fine with my trates at 25.

The hardest thing to accept is that you don't need to waste money on a filter. I know. But try to believe! LOL!

AR15 had it with the play sand descriptions.

 

[tnscuba]

thansk for the info tonight as always. continuing to be schooled on SW setup.
so what is the purpose of powerheads? are they live wave makes in that they add underwater motion or stream of water shooting to other side of tank underwater?

so base rock is not the same as keys rock from liverock.com? can i just start out with 25# of keys rock and not have base?

i need an extra day of the week for AA topic reading.

 

[Phyl]

The base rock will begin to turn live during the cycling process and the keys rock will seed it and make it live faster. The whole package gets you to the 1.5-2# per gallon. That's really the goal of the quest. That's what enables you to run without a filter. You really want 75-100# total of rock. The 80/20 rule is just so that you can save a few bucks getting setup. If you had a million dollars you'd get 100% lr.com rock

The powerheads stir the water. Stagnant water is prone to algae growth. You want all of the water moving all of the time so that cyano (evil) and hair algae (near to impossible to get rid of) can not take hold of your system.

 

[tnscuba]

is 75# goin to fit in 55gal tank and still give me room for 2 clowns n 1 yt, and a blenny(spelling)?
i would rather have several stones spread acros tank n stacked 2 or 3 high..then 1 large 1 that obsects the tank.

do i have to have a QT tank for a 55gal set up?

thanks
tn

 

[AR15 guy]

You should have room for that stuff. That is a lot of rock but the fish won't mind.

I told you someone would chime in and say not to use filters. You can. Just depends on your setup. If you don't plan on getting 1.5-2lbs of rock per gallon anytime soon I would use a filter of some kind. Maybe put some live rock rubble or something in it also. That would help with bacteria growth.

You do not have to have a QT tank per say but it is a good idea. That way you can monitor new fish for awhile to make sure they are healthy. A lot of people QT their LR also. Sometimes rock with a lot of die off (organisms inside it dieing during shipping) will cause your tank to go through a mini cycle. Which is fine if you don't have any livestock inside your tank, but with fish I would QT it just in case.

If you open up the box of rock and it smells dead. Then I would QT the rock or at least add it before fish. Once water perimeters get good again you can add fish. If you open the box and the rock smells like the ocean you are good to go. Most people say there is very little die off from liverocks.com.

 

[seve1]

tn

I am in Nashville and Aquatic Critter is my LFS. I quit mixing my own water 2-3 yrs ago as they sell RO saltwater as cheap as you can mix your own IMO. They are very good to work with. I started with a 55-gal with a HOB filter and a skimmer and it was great till I just had to have the Oceanic 110 I have now. The diffrence in cost between the two is much greater than the difference in size! If you would like I can meet with you at the store maybe if would like to discuss some things face to face.

 

[tnscuba]

I actually still plan on having the HOB filter, since i dont really want that much live rock as first due to cash restrictions. Same thing about having a QT tank. But once i move, ill determine amount of room for all this withing my stand.

I went looking today, rena filstar XP3 ,canister, 350gph for $179 is that a good price?

or should i stick with the emperor filter system,hob, 400gph,$75 ? Please let me know of yalls choice on this. tryin to run it with 55gal,sw, ls, minimual live rock.

No sand at HD @ one location.

daily visit to AA.

nashville

 

[AR15 guy]

E-bay has some great deals on aquarium supplies. You might want to check that out. I just got a bio-wheel 330 for 34$ shipped. Not to bad.

I would recommend aquaclear filters for HOB filters. They give you a ton of media options and are very quiet.

 

[ellisz]

I have between 120-130 lbs in my 75 and I think it is too much. I would have to have more sand real estate for a clam or other corals. Put 30lbs of LR in it and then get some dead rock if you want more. If not run a HOB filter. HOB filters are good to run carbon if you dont have a sump. Look at the big Aquaclear line of filters. These have wide bodies and are great for a small refugium. You could get by with 1 lb per gal but keep watch you bioload.

LR is just nice because it filters and it looks nice too

 

[tnscuba]

Ill check ebay--but i really dont like using paypal. Plus with all the scams now a day--i just want what i paid for. ya know.

I want to have a yt after i add my pair of clowns...but with all the yt people telling me how aggressive they are..im skeptical now. Anyone know of another tang for 55gal?

Which one is less noise, canister or HOB?

nashville

 

[ellisz]

My yellow Tang is not aggressive at all. Most say to add it last but they are not overly agressive. My damsels are another story though.

 

[AR15 guy]

I had a small yellow tank in my 38 gallon a few years ago. He was very territorial. He never once touched my 2 clownfish BUT did eventually kill a royal gramma.

This time I am setting that tank up with 2 percs, 1 royal gramma, and possibly a firefish. No more tangs for me.

 

[tnscuba]

hahah thanks ellisz. Well i do plan to add it last (from what ive gathered)
right now im thinking a pair of clowns,tank bred, a red lip blenny(i think thats how u spell it) some creatures on the sand floor, a star.... can you reccomend another fish or 2 i will be able to add to this selection. colorful fish.

tennessee

 

[tnscuba]

ar..thanks. to me each week i visit the lfs the tangs are always active and doing there left to right tank swims like buy me! buy me!! hahaha some of the colors of the other tangs dont really do it for me, so the yt has really grown on me.

i really want a pair of the black/white clownfish(percs?), but i know i have to have a pair of Nemos (tankbred). I havent read any success of establishing a tank with 2 pairs of percs..unless over 120gal.

what do you think of 1 blk/white perc and 1 orange tank bred?

thanks again.

615-tn

 

[seve1]

I have had good luck with sailfin tangs but, they are not as prolific at grazing as yt imo.

 

[tnscuba]

tang

do u have any pictures of ur tangs you can send me or post on here?
i really have only seen blue tangs or yt. hahaha newbie

thanks

tennessee

 

[seve1]

I have not figured how to post pics but, here is a link to sailfin tangs.
http://www.austmus.gov.au/fishes/fishfacts/fish/zvelifer.htm