New 150g Fowlr or reef, some questions....

[Axume]

Hello everyone, I'm new to salt water and have been doing some research over the last week or two. I have a 150g oceanic tank w/ dual overflows, sump and ocean clear inline canister filter.

I plan to cycle the tank w/ 100 or 150 lbs of live rock.... do I really need to add the raw shrimp? I will probably get uncured live rock, so is the shrimp really necessary? Should I get all uncured live rock, or a combo of live rock and base rock to save money?

I need lighting and a skimmer. The tank is kind of tall, same footprint as a 125g but 4in taller. I would like to get enough lighting for some moderate light corals to start - without breaking the bank. What is best VHO, T5, PC? What is the most economical to run (uses the least power)? How many watts per gallon?

Any advice on the skimmer for a 150g?

Also, should I wait to add sand until after the tank is cycled?

Thanks, I have more questions... but I'll wait until you guys can touch on these.

 

[tecwzrd]

Welcome to AA

The shrimp shouldn’t be necessary but I’d still make sure you have an nh3 spike of at least 2 ppm for a decent cycle. That amount of lr should kick it well beyond that unless it’s cycled from a local fish store.

Medium light corals will probably need MH lighting or MH/PC combo if it’s the standard 150 gal tank size (73 x 19 x 29) due to the depth. VHO would be the next best thing (and cheaper to run) IMO but either way it’s not going to be that cheap and you will need 500W-800W. If your handy and can build it yourself with a retro kit you should be able to do it for around $300-$500.

As far as skimmers for that tank size I’d look at the AquaC EV series, Kent Marine Nautilus EX, or ASM G3 skimmers.

Sand IMO should be added before LR mostly so you can use PVC to elevate them.

 

[austinsdad]

I second the Aqua C EV skimmers. I got one on my 155 with the overflow waste container. Check that out. It's nice, quiet, and very efficient.

Whatcha gonna do underneath the tank? Sump? Fuge? Sump/fuge ( I like that choice).

I used every bit of that 6' space and put a nice 30" sump/fuge, external mount skimmer (w/the overflow container), and a 37g tall tank with a FW reservoir.

And of course, welcome to AA!!!! Hope to (virtually) see you around.

 

[Axume]

tecwzrd- "Sand IMO should be added before LR mostly so you can use PVC to elevate them" Can you elaborate on this? What do you mean by using PVC to elevate them? I thought I read somewhere that when starting a tank with uncured live rock you shouldn't add the sand until the rock is cured?

Where would you guys recommending buying live rock? Any distributors that are using particularly environmentally friendly methods of collected it?

austinsdad- what is the FW reservoir for? I'm assuming you mean Fresh water right?

My sump is large, but doesn't have much room for live rock... what about the ocean clear canister filter? Ditch it?

 

[austinsdad]

Yes. Fresh water for topping off of daily evaporated water. Depenidng what you end up with, more light means more evap. Some top theirs off every day in order to keep your salinity level in check (since water evaps, and salt doesn't). Mine tops itself off for every 1/4 gallon lost.

BTW, what part of the country you hailin' from?

 

[roka64]

Welcome to AA!!

psst....click on tecwzrd's bold links....

Where would you guys recommending buying live rock? Any distributors that are using particularly environmentally friendly methods of collected it?

I bought mine cured from my LFS. I blieve there have been a lot of good reviews on hirocks.com

Make sure you post some pics of your tank.

 

[tecwzrd]

psst....click on tecwzrd's bold links....

I forgot signatures is off by default in the profile. The PVC elevates the rock to both keep it steady and keep it from coming down from settling/fish activity and it keeps dead spots from forming under the rock. (more info contained in the links which are bold in my first post)

As far as adding sand latter that’s doable as well but then you would have to blow it off the lr which is a pain IME. (hovering over acronyms tells you what they are or you can click on the Common Abbreviations link at the top of the page.)

The only time you want/should add the sand after the cycle is if you are using live sand (i.e. has bacteria, worms, and pods) because the cycle would kill off the critters.

Personally I think “live” sand is mostly a waste of time and expense since the regular aragonite sand will become “live” within a month or two anyways.

If using aragonite sand then I’d add it before adding lr so it too can cultivate bacteria along with the lr. If you keep your lights off or limit them to a couple of hours a day then the algae bloom will be minimal.

 

[Axume]

Thanks for all the information so far!

austinsdad- I'm from Wisconsin. Couple of real nice fish stores in the Milwaukee area, as well as in Madison.... but I'm in Stevens Point so most of my animals will probably be shipped to me....

So how do you set up so that the water auto tops your sump? Any links to advanced articles with anything to do with reef set up would be great.

About lighting.... does a Fowlr really need the 4 watts (or whatever)_pr. gallon? I really don't know how soon I'm going to introduce corals. Do anemones require intense lighting?

 

[MSU Fan]

i'm not a saltie, but there are some decent LFS's closer to Stevens Point than Madison or Milwaukee. You can try Aquatic Imports or Advanced Aquarium Systems in Green Bay or Just Pets in Appleton. Go to this thread for more info on LFS in Wisconsin: http://www.aquariumadvice.com/viewforum.php?f=98

 

[austinsdad]

http://www.marinedepot.com/aquarium...ic_top_off_water_level_controller.asp?CartId=

Never did learn how to shorten these things - or better yet, put them in those neat links like the Wizard .

Anyway, this is what I use. Mine is hooked up with a Maxi-jet pump underneath the water line in the reservoir. It's got neat little sensors to tell it when to turn on in the sump/fuge and another in the reservoir so the pump doesn't burn out it the water level got too low.

 

[tecwzrd]

About lighting.... does a Fowlr really need the 4 watts (or whatever)_pr. gallon? I really don't know how soon I'm going to introduce corals. Do anemones require intense lighting?

Once you research the cost of normal florescent lighting you will probably want to spend the extra on decent lighting from the start if wanting corals at any time in the next couple of years assuming you don’t already have florescent lighting. If you do then they will be fine for fowlr but corals are out of the question until you upgrade.

The cheapest lighting for fowlr that I could find for a 72” long tank (is that how long it is?) was this JEBO 160W unit on Ebay for $89 + shipping ($30). That would only be enough light for low light corals and most low light corals have other feeding requirements since they don’t rely on light for photosynthesis and are mostly difficult to care for.

JEBO/ODYSSEA lights are usually the cheapest lighting out there but you get what you pay for and they usually don’t last long.

For moderate light corals you really need to be in the 500W-800+W range and instead of spending money on cheap lighting and having to spend $400+ again later on for decent lighting you are better off getting decent lighting in the first place.

The most basic decent lighting would be like this 72” Coralife Lunar Aqualights Compact Fluorescent Strip Light for $320 + shipping or this 72” Current USA unit for $400+ shipping

Both of these lights are on the low end of lighting requirements and considering the depth of the tank would be pushing it for some medium light corals.

If your willing to spend the $$$ then MH/PC is the way to go for all your coral needs in the future.

Current USA 72" Metal Halide runs around $900 + shipping.
Coralife Aqualight Pro 72" 250W HQI is about $1200 + shipping. (almost twice the watts though)

You can build them yourself with retrofit kits and save a little bit though.

Lights are always the most expensive investment for reef tanks and without quality lighting you are doomed to fail in the long run.
Also most anemones require the high lighting requirements and will not survive with basic or even PC only lighting.

Lastly for sump/refugium ideas checkout melevsreef.com

 

[Axume]

MSU Fan- Never been to the Green Bay stores, will have to get up there in the next month or so. Just went to a little store in FonDuLac called Rivers and Reefs the other day. Nice little store but they really didn't have many corals when I was there. Worth a stop if your in the area though.

austinsdad- Thanks for the link, I will definatly have to keep that in mind. Man I can see how costly this hobby could be if you were doing multiple display tanks. Or one big display tank for that matter.

tecwzrd- Great info. I can get by with the two 36" power compacts I have while I set up, cycle, add non light dependent inverts ect. Then I just have to decide if I really want corals.... or if I want an Imperator Angel with other beauties not so sutable for reef setups. Probably I will end up with a reef set up, but I really would love a big Angel centerpiece fish.

Any corals that are better equiped to handle the big Angels than others? Any big Angels that are more suitable for a reef tank than others?

 

[Axume]

How about the 72” Coralife Lunar Aqualights Compact Fluorescent Strip Light + the two coralife 36" 96 watt compact florescent 50/50 that I already have. That would be 384 watts + 192 watts = 576 watts.

I know that would probably be enough for some soft coral according to what I have read. Would it be sufficient for some LPS corals placed near the top of the tank?