Need advice BEFORE I set up!

[Grizz]

You can reuse the sponge but you may get a cycle next time drop the filter in your sump it will be seeded for the next use

[Callen]

Then do I just wait for cycle in the QT to complete before I buy/add fish? And just to be sure... If I used cupramine I shouldn't put that sponge in my sump.... I should put a new one in there.... Correct?

[carey]

Correct. never cross contaminate

[jeh1487]

with tanks the bigger tanks the larger range of error you are given. so a 75 gal tank is going to have a smaller rage of error than a 90 gal tank. 75-90 are the same long but the 90 is a little taller. 90 gals are always best for new to the hobby but can cost more. I aso would suggest getting a drilled tank so that you can run plumbing underneath. if you can run a sump of 30 gal under the 90 gal tank and from there reuse the live rock you dont need to buy more to reseed but it cuts the time in half if you do i seeded my LR in a garbage can and threw some clowns in there when the pramiters were right and then started to reseal the tank and once everything was all done used the water that i seede the LR in to cycle the tank and in 1 week all pramiters were perfect good luck brother man

[Callen]

Another question: where in the sump do I put the sponge to seed it? Bio ball side or the side with the skimmer and return?

[jeh1487]

depends on what kind of reef you want to set up i wouldnt recomend bio balls trickle down system i would suggest a 3 stage sump refugum because its more effective

[Callen]

Thanks jeh. I've been up and running since June and I have already figured out that I want to replace the bio ball system with a refugium. I started with the 75 because it was free from my sis in-law. Lord knows I've already spent enough $ on other stuff.... Glad to save when I could!

[jeh1487]

ya like you said you can go to pet co and grab a 90 gal or craigslist you can find a nice cheap on. theres nothing wrong with a 75gal but its just alot harder for a first take setup. like other people said you can clean the take from the coraline alge by soaking it in vinagar what was cool that i found on my own when i was resealing th 90 gal take was i need the hard alge gone right away and i soked the spot i was working on over night and in the morning it was floating around. vinagar is good for calcium based alge and or anything that is in the tank that is calcium based. you would stick the sump under the main take or you can do some crazy plumbing and stick it somewhere els

[Callen]

Ha! For my next one I will skip the 90 and go to a 6 foot tank. There are too many fish that I like who need a larger system! I'm already on the lookout for one

[Callen]

Lets talk electricity and power! I've definitely seen my electric bill go up! How much do all of those pumps pull? I think we decided that I have a mag 18 on my return. My skimmer has a 780gph pump on it (quiet1one model 3000). 2 powerheads: the koralia 4 and cheap little aqueon 1250 i just added ladt weekend. Then of course there are the lights. They seem to pull a lot of power. Ive got a coralife hood with 2 10,000 white lights and 2 blue 48 actinic, all 48 inchers. . Right now, I've got everything hooked up with extension cords and power strips. Because there wasn't an outlet close enough to the tank. I've got an electrician friend coming over to install some extra outlets and put them on their own breaker. How many watts/ amps etc do I need to plan for?

[Grizz]

You should be fine with two 15 amp circuits just be sure to get the gfci outlets

[Callen]

Birthday and Christmas coming up. Need to make a wish list for the family. After the basic setup, what are some other supplies/equipment that might be handy or just plain cool to have?

[Grizz]

BRS gift cards, gift cards from LFS, salt, My kind give me home made coupons for water changes, sump cleanings glass scrapings. ect. I can cash them in and get a break from the tank maintenance .

[Callen]

Good ideas! Anyone else? What would a good skimmer be?

[Callen]

Oh no! Got home from thanksgiving break and the water on my tank was nearly 90 degrees! I unplugged the heater so it can cool down overnight on its own. I didn't want to shock them by cooling too quickly. Now it's down to 78. Guess ill plug the heater back in and watch throughout the day to keep it steady. Hope I didn't do any harm to the fishies

[Criptix]

Phew alot of good info.I am trying to get my tank to process 4ppm of ammonia in 24hr. I have a 45g FOWLR and went with fishless cycling.It can process ammonia in 24hrs just not 4ppm. Anyway I am grateful for this thread because it helped me to realized I need more than just a hood to keep my fish in the tank.I don't want any carpet surfers.So i am going to look into the netting kits and was it bird or fish netting at HD?My stocking plan is 2 purple firefish (noted for their jumping as mentioned in the previous posts.)six Blue/Green Chromis and a lawn mower blenny(I am beginning to reconsider this choice though.No signs of algae of any kind including diatoms.) I am also am thinking about a pair of clowns.The more I hear about them and the more I see them on this forum I want them.
I hope that you can get your tank temp back down safely with no casualties.
Good luck and happy reefing!

[Callen]

Thanks cryptix! The netting at HD was for birds. I didn't go that route because the holes were larger than the egg crate which I already have. I think the BRS kit is the way to go. Love your stocking plan. I'm at the point where I need to add to mine again. I had a pair of clowns. They were fun to watch. Will definitely add more

[Ericwm]

Originally Posted by Callen

Thanks cryptix! The netting at HD was for birds. I didn't go that route because the holes were larger than the egg crate which I already have. I think the BRS kit is the way to go. Love your stocking plan. I'm at the point where I need to add to mine again. I had a pair of clowns. They were fun to watch. Will definitely add more

The BRS kits are great. Mine went together with ease and looks great. I would recommend it. You could just get the netting from BRS and the rest at Home Depot, I would look into it and see what the price difference is. The parts are identical.

[Callen]

Send a pic please Eric! I remember you were gonna do that kit back during the summer

[carey]

I bought just the netting from BRS and the rest from lowes, the spline and rails. It comes out a few bucks cheaper that way and now I have a ton of extra spline just in case I need to redo the screening. But the difference was only a few bucks so its up to you if you want to just make one stop for shopping the parts.