First time poster- Setup Advise

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Yarg

Aquarium Advice Newbie
Joined
Dec 8, 2004
Messages
2
Location
Fort Myers, FL
I've had a few FW community tanks, Africian & South American Cichlid Tanks, and lived with people who have maintained SW tanks.

For the past 3 Years I haven't had a tank because i've been living in an apartment.

We recently built a house and i'm going to tackle the feat of maintaining a SW reef aquarium.

I began by purchasing a used 55g tank with a pine stand. Also included was a seaclone 100 that has a maxijet 1200 running it. Also 3 aquaclear (30s? smaller type) and an aquaclear 100?

At first I was planning on just keeping the 55g and using that for my reef and keeping a fuge in the stand. Since then I have decided to have the 55g be my fuge and buy a new 75g with a stand and use that as my reef tank.

I live a few miles and have been fishing all my life. The 55g refuge that I have I want to have a 6" or so DSB and keep planted red mangroves and some other type of seagrass or vegetation I also plan to have a small amount of live rock in the tank also. In the fuge I want to keep a couple of pinfish and other livestock that I will collect locally. Some neat things I have caught before in my cast net/siene net include baby permit and other assorted things.

The 75 gallon I want to be my reef tank. I plan to have around 150 lbs of liverock and a 2" or so live sand bed. The live stock will consist of a couple of clowns a yellow watchman goby and then maybe a few more fish along with a cleaning crew, some corals and an anemone.

Here is a list of the current equipment that I have or plan to buy.

Have Already:
55g Tank with stand
Seaclone 100 with maxijet 1200 pump
4 additional maxijet 1200s
red sea wavemaster pro
3 Aqua Clear 30s?
1 Aquaclear 100?
Ebo Jager 250W heater
Overflow Bows with a U Tube
Rio 1700 For the Sump Return.
Custon Sea Life Single 96W PC Fixture with a melted Boot

What I Plan to Get:
Orbit 48" 4x65 PC unit with Legs and 3 Moonlight LEDs (Getting Thursday)
75g Tank & Stand



Here are my questions.

1)Is having a fuge that size over doing it?

2)is a 250W heater enought for that much water volume?

3)does anyone have any experience in collecting wild Live sand and using that in aquariums?

4) Can I still get the rewards of a DSB in a fuge or does the DSB have to be in the main body of water

5) for a sump that big would I need to use 2 overflows or would one HOB overflow be suffucient. I was thinking about buying the 75g reef ready

6) what kind of lighting would you reccomend for lighting the 55g and also the 75g. I'm unsure what kind of lighting would be needed for mangroves and other vegetation

7) assuming I got the seaclone to skim properly would it be enough for that much water?

8) I plan on driving up to tampa and getting "The Package" for the 75g and using that liverock for the 75 and having a small amount in the 55. I can take the LR back in my truck and save a ton of money. Out of liverocks.com and TBSW who would you guys reccomend to get the best bang for the buck.


Overall this started as just a 55g reef tank with a small sump and now it has grown into pretty much a 75g reef tank and a 55g localish habitat tank Be cause of my love for fishing and the water.

Please give any and all advise on any aspects of my setup. Most importantly I would love to hear about wild harvesting or livesand and wildlife.

Thanks for your help in advance.
 
Welcome to this habit. I'm pretty new at this, but the best advice I can give is get rid of the seaclone and get a better skimmer. The one everyone here recommends it the AquaC Remora Reef ready. I'm waiting for my LFS to get one in for me. He says it is well worth the wait (he usually doen't sell these, but since he won't use what he has in the store - he ordered the Remora for me.) They also recommend liverock.com, I found a local supplier to get my LR from. That way I get to pick what I want.

I don't know about the laws in Florida, but it may be illegal to take reef fish without a license. If you do, make sure you do a long Qt.

Not much help - but welcome. :wink:
 
A fuge that big is not unheard of. I've heard of fuges bigger than the main tank. I'd be safe and get maybe 2 200W heaters for redundancy. But you can start out with the 250W. How are you going to divide up the 55g into different compartments?

Get the Remora Pro or Urchin Pro or maybe even an EV series (from AquaC). Thats a lot of water you're dealing with.

I would try getting the 75g with builtin overflows ("reef ready"). It'll move a lot more water that way, and you're saving some headaches with overflow siphons. I'm not sure what return pump to use on such a system, but someone will surely chime in :)

No idea on mangrove lighting. A DSB works anywhere (its not light dependant). What kind of corals are you interested in for the 75? You could probably start off with a 4x65W PC light for soft corals and some LPS. Its hard to overlight
 
Welcome to AA!!! :D :D
A 55 gallon fuge is wonderful! The more water volume the better for your water quality and stock. You won't be filling it to the top anyway.
You may want to split up the 55 into sections. One to house your return pump and skimmer and the other to set up your fuge.
If you can get built in overflows, I say go for it. Looks nice and the plumbing is easier. Also cuts dows on the chances of a flood if something ever goes wrong. Thats the other reason not to fill your sump near the top, leaves you some room for error should the system ever shut down due to power outages, etc.
Be careful what you take from the wild, check local laws and I would not take anything close to the shore. If you are going to get sand, go out a mile or so and dive for it (or get someone to dive for it for you). Too many pollutants on our beaches that you do not want in you system.
I have a DSB in my tank, I would prefer it in a fuge. It can get rather unsightly. I would suggest about 1-1.5" sand bed in your main and a DSB in your fuge.
 
Could you fit 4x96 over a 75 and not have light and dark spots? Its still a 48", right (the tank)?
 
You're going to want more swimming room than 75g. Go for at least a 120! I ended up with a 120 because of size constraints and am kicking myself for not getting the 150!

I have 2 overflows and 2 returns with one Mag12 returning to them. It provides the perfect amount of flow for the overflows. I also went with 2 heaters for redundancy.

Good luck and enjoy! Welcome to AA!
 
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