seting up tank, few final questions

[bheusmann]

I'm setting up my 75G tank tonight. I have a few final questions that I would like advice on please.

*Wet/Dry filter: my tank will not have any live rock in it yet during setup and cycling. I will not have the $ to add a the correct ammount of LR right now, it will be added periodically. I will be using aragonite as substrate. Should I use the sponge filters for my wet/dry overflow and sump? Should I use the bio balls? As live rock is added, can or should these be removed?

*Return Pump / Powerhead: what is a good submersable return pump, cost effective? What is a good powerhead to add to the tank for circulation, again cost effective?

*Adding substrate and water: I will be putting in the substrate first, for the initial fill, using tap water with conditioner to remove chlorine and chloramines. I will then add salt to bring the tank to the correct silinity. I will not have any live rock to cycle the tank, should I use the raw shrimp? LR will be added incrementally in time. I will be proabably be doing 20% water changes every 2 weeks b/c of my job, 100% travel. I will either use RO & D/I water from my tap or H2O from the LFS.

Any help you could give with these final questions would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.

-Bryan

 

[blorkiemom]

I'm too new to answer all your questions, but I know you'll get a lot of advice to use RO/DI water instead of tap! Tap water can cause all kinds of problems down the line, as I understand it, and the hassle of filling a bunch of jugs at the supermarket will pale in comparison to fighting algae and weird minerals down the line. I will be filling my 75 soon, too, and it's going to take me about 5 trips to the store to get it full (and about $25 in water!) but I think it will be worth it in the long run.

I had the same questions about pumps and powerheads, and the Mag Drive pumps and Maxijet PHs seem to be the faves on this board. That's what I went for: a Mag Drive 9.5 and Maxijet 1200s. (I got 4 for under $70 on ebay--two for the tank, one to mix SW, and one just 'cause. I have no doubt in will come in handy at some point and since they retail for $40/each I couldn't pass up the deal.)

Have fun tonight!

 

[Atari]

Use all of the components in the wet/dry for now.. once you have around 75lbs LR, then you can start thinking about removing the bio balls slowly.

I recommend Maxijet 1200's too.. get atleast a couple for now.

As for the order of setting it up, everyone will have their own preference and advise accordingly so this is how I'd do it: Fill up with water.. turn on heater and start circulation.. mix in salt to correct salinity.. add substrate. Don't worry about making the tank cloudy because this is going to happen whichever way you do it. If you add the substrate before the water then you are going to get air trapped underneath which isn't such a good thing when you're trying to create an anaerobic environment.

And yes, you need to throw a raw shrimp in to start the cycle.

 

[darb2]

I can understand the lr thing. But I would get some dry base rock. It was less than $1 /lb at my lfs. When you add a peice of lr to the tank, set it on top of the base rock to start seeding the base rock.