new to saltwater 55 gallon set up questions

The friendliest place on the web for anyone with an interest in aquariums or fish keeping!
If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.
See posts with no answers
If you want to keep your pod population I would go with skimmer in the first section. Also wont suck anything in from the refugium. :)
 
Ok so before the refugium. Thank you. I suppose i can do a search to find out what and when to add to it besides the 3 inch sand bed , lr, and macro.
 
Thats pretty much what goes in there, those 3 things. :) You can get different kinds of macro and add pods to it to help a population along. Some people put fish or inverts in there if they are being harassed in the DT, or other things like snails. Me, I just have the basic three in mine. SO far the macro seems to be doing it's job as my nitrates just measured at 0. :-D
 
Pods are little creatures that look almost like lice that live in your refugium and on your live rock. Very helpful creatures. Fish eat them as well, some fish eat them exclusive of other food too. Mandarins and other dragonets eat them instead of prepared foods so some people really like to have alot of them.

Theres a lot of good information people shared in that build thread, it's a bit long to read but everyone on this forum contributed to it. :)
 
update... just got my big canister filter for the oscars new to me 125 gallon tank. sweety pie and i have been talking about this saltwater deal and how to make everything fit in the living room. this is where im at.

we have to buy wall mount tv stand and maybe get rid of the couch first.... how messed up is that?

we are committed to holding off on a larger aquarium until our feet are at least damp with some experience, so the 55 gallon is set in stone. at least ive got that figured out... i was thinking that if im going to modify my stand i may as well make it how i want it. im going to put a 40 gallon breeder under it for my sump. this will give me more water in my system for my mistakes and a larger area for my refugium... im up in the air if i want the overflow box that carey recommended or the lifereef one given that they are both rated for the same 600 gph. if you read lifereef's "testimonials" its very convincing and i wouldnt have to plug something else into the wall.

ive been looking fairly hard at reef octopus skimmers... but they dont come with any real installation guide. on their in sump non recirculating skimmer with the gate valve. do i just let it dump in the same compartment its sitting in or plum it over to the next portion of the sump? are there any other skimmers out there that are more beginner friendly? expensive doesnt make them the best but you do tend to get what you pay for. is there any more advice on them that anyone wants to share?

im chomping at the bit to get started on this project.
 
carey said she was using the taam rio hyper flow return pump. carey or anyone else how do you like it. you mentioned that you where concerned with quality? also i think that for lack of any reason im going to go with the nwb-150 for my skimmer. and if no one can give me a reason not to use the hyper flow pump im going to get the 17hf model. also if anyone is interested i found someone that said they use google scetch up is a fairly easy little program to use. im using it to figure out how to fit everything in my living room and refugium. hope every one is having a wonderful day
 
For the two months or so that its been running I havent had any issues with the hyperflow. I also use a smaller taam for my water changes, works great. :)

I'm only comparing pumps like the mag drives when I talk about quality, the mags come really highly regarded but are also very expensive.
 
is some of this stuff just a crap shoot? at some point its like ford to chevy to dodge... they all get the job done. some are priced higher than others, and there is always someone thats had great luck and one with really bad luck. is that about right? if that is the case who is to say that the taam isnt just as good as the mags? i mean its got at least 2 positive reviews from you right?

i suppose a pump for water changes would be handy to have too. oh and i was thinking about a low water level shut off switch for the pumps and then read somewhere that they make them... pricey little thing though, anyone ever run across any wallet friendly switches?
 
When you look at it like that, I agree. You could get a mercedes and theres someone somewhere complaining about it. LOL I think the Taam will get the job done and how i figured it, even if it did fail, I could still buy another one for the price of one mag drive. In looking online people seem to like the pumps, I don't believe there was anything mentioned that was a concern for me personally.

Not sure what you mean by shut off, you mean have a float valve in your return section and if it drops then the return pump shuts off? I've seen controllers that do that, theres an ATO controller that I believe has that feature.

JBJ ATO Automatic Top Off System Water Level Controller - AquaCave

Cheapest I've seen one for btw, but I'm not just ready for my ato system yet so I'm still in the research stage on controllers and the such.
 
yeah its just a little float switch. you plug your power cord(s) for your return pump/skimmer into it and if water level gets too low(evaporation or leak or some four legged pet desiding to drink it dry or knocks something loose) the switch cuts power to what ever is plugged into it. no real controller other than what level you set it at.
 
Ah i get it. Haven't run across that item in my journeys. :) It's even simpler than a controller. But yeah, that is pricey protection for a pump that costs less than the switch. LOL
 
ha yeah... i know 12/24 volt dc and can make cool little trinkets with it, but 110 ac im lost. all i know is the white wire goes to the silver screw of the outlet and that may have changed.

oh well maybe ill walk around the hardware stores here and see if i can find some 110 relays.

anyway at least im getting my list written down now. ha thats leaps and bounds further than i was at the start of this thread. and for me, the refugium im thinking of i needed footprints of the pump and skimmer so i could plan baffles. but!!! it should be big enough to carry over when we get a larger aquarium to replace this pending 55 set up.

i still have to buy every thing. :(


lol at this rate i can say i have a fowlr tank in about a year. hopefully. or at least a 55 with rock.
 
It'll all come together faster than you can imagine. :) atleast this way you will have a good solid foundation of knowledge to help you in any future tank adventures:)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

T
Setting up an Indian Tank
Replies
8
Views
831
Andy Sager
Andy Sager
Q
Newbie - Help in setting up new acquarium
Replies
3
Views
650
Aiken Drum
Aiken Drum
F
Sump for 36 gallon fresh?
Replies
3
Views
328
Andy Sager
Andy Sager
K
I don’t think my 55 gallon tank has ever cycled in 1 year?
3 4 5
Replies
98
Views
3K
Aiken Drum
Aiken Drum
D
Setting up Red Sea Reefer XL 525: Maybe
Replies
1
Views
466
Colin_T
C

Latest posts

Back
Top Bottom