Starting Again...

[shutterinfear]

I had a tank a few years back, Had really bad algae problems all the time.
Finally I just gave up. Now, I am ready to give it a shot once again.

I have a 75 gallon oceanic tank and stand.

Hamilton 4 96Watt pcs

Older amircle(s?) wet dry filter, got rid of the bio balls along time ago..

I have a Euro Reef skimmer. Pump is shot. Can't remember the model number, can someone help? Need a replacement pump.

I have a Kent bare bones R.O. system (just replaced the filters this weekend.

Have not starting filling the tank yet. Have many questions, because I want it to turn out better.

I always hated the wet dry filter, How big a tank can I get in the stand? That center brace sucks. Would like the whole deep sand bed thing, and a spot for my skimmer. Internal. \

What do you go with, one heater, or two smaller heaters?

I have only one J-tube. want to get a bigger pump. How many gallons per hour pump is right. Is there a turn over standard?

Sorry for all the questions....

 

[fijiwigi]

Hi welcome to the site, I don't have all the answers for you, But 2 heaters is better than 1 (don't want to keep all your eggs in one basket) If 1 goes out the other one is there. The turn over standard is 10x-20x tank turnover per hour.

Here is a link to purchase a replacement pump for your skimmer ASM Protein Skimmer Sedra 3500 Replacement Pump (Saltwater Aquarium Supplies > Protein Skimmers > Replacement Parts > ASM Parts )

 

[shutterinfear]

Thanks for the pump link. That will be one thing taken care of.

 

[melosu58]

Welcome to AA. Glad you are going to give it another try. I had a wet dry on my 55 that I had for 7 yrs. Alot of folks say they are nitrate factories and I kind of agree but with proper PWC`s and I also had a denitraitor they can be manageable. Why did you not like it (wet dry) before? I think your RO is a good idea. Two smaller heaters would be better. And once you get going here is a great battle plan for nuisance algea.

FantasyReef Databases-Viewing item "10 Step Plan for Nuisance Algae Control"

 

[cmor1701d]

I'll chime in with saying that you should add a DI cartridgge to your RO unit if you don't already have one. That will take your tap water down to ZERO tds (do you have a tds meter?).
.
The return pump must match the drain and not exceed the drain capacity. If you have a 1" drain then it is capable of 600gph

 

[shutterinfear]

I really did not like the wet dry because it seemed all the waste ended up sitting on the bottom, that's hard to get out without taking all the water out of the sump.

tds meter? - no I do not have one. (know what it is though)

Thinking of drilling the tank, sick of looking at that overflow.

Still wondering people, what size tank can I get into the stand? (75g)

Also wondering about power heads. How many? Is a wavemaker a big plus?

can't spend 400 bucks on powerheads. lol. Does not mean I don't want to.....

filters I have are 2 magnum, 350, and HOT. Aquaclear 300, Vortex XL(diatom)

Have the tank ouside today for good cleaning before bringing it back in.

Thanks for all the replys to far.

 

[shutterinfear]

I'll chime in with saying that you should add a DI cartridgge to your RO unit if you don't already have one. That will take your tap water down to ZERO tds (do you have a tds meter?).
.
The return pump must match the drain and not exceed the drain capacity. If you have a 1" drain then it is capable of 600gph

Could you give me a link to a good priced one. Don't have alot of cash till next week.

 

[melosu58]

I would think a 20 gallon tank would go under there maybe even a 29 but I`m not sure. You`d have to measure it out. They do make HOB overflows that will run down to your sump. You have to make sure your tank glass is able to be drilled before you can do that.

 

[Ziggy953]

With the center brace in your stand you will have a tough time getting a tank larger then 29g under it. Even if you get the 29g in there you will probably have a height issue. I'm a big fan of mulitple sumps with at least one fuge.

As for return pumps Danner Mag drive pumps are great and can be used inline or submerged.

Have you decided what you are going to house in this tank? FO? FOWLR? Reef?

Making that decision will help point you in the direction of equipment you will need to get.

As for power heads, look into the Koraila series pumps, they are great for flow, don't use much power and aren't very expensive. Tunze makes a pump similar but they are a little more expensive.

 

[cmor1701d]

Agree with what Ziggy and Mike said. Are you sure your center brace is structural? In my 125 the center brace was just a place for the doors to close against. It was nailed in, but was removed to add my sump and then hammered back in again (using a block of wood between the hammer and the brace).

Are you asking for a link to a DI cartridge. Check on eBay or AirWaterIce

 

[s10469]

I also fought with long haired green algae, I could not figure it out, no nitrates, no phosphates, and good water flow(no dead spots) plus i had no fish, just 6 hermit crabs. Everyone told me the same, get a cleaning crew, and turn the lights off for acouple days(i am sure the crabs, snails liked that). Turning off the lights worked, but it still came back. Then i talked to a guy, and he said my lights were shot. I changed my bulbs(power compacts) and sure enough that fixed my problem. Now i have snails with nothing to eat. I dont know if changing the lights really helped my blooms of algae, but a month after changing my lights all the algae was gone and now i just have beautiful coraline. Hope this helps someone

 

[shutterinfear]

How do I really tell if its just a structural brace?

I was looking at tunze power heads today.....

Ordering a new pump for my skimmer friday.

Just going to take it slow this time, and do it right.

How many power heads do you ladies/gents use on your tanks?

Do wavemakers really cut down on a powerheads life?

 

[roka64]

You can call the manufacturer and ask about the structural brace.
You can eliminate ph if you can get enough flow from either a canister filter or high output from a sump/fuge's return. I have 2 phs in my 55 and 2 Korelia 4s in my 125 with a fluvial FX5 canister filter. Flow can loosely dictate what you put in the tank. If you have high flow corals you obviously need more flow as opposed to low flow corals. Of course location of the corals can be changed....

 

[cmor1701d]

Some powerheads (MaxiJets) don't seem to suffer from being on a wavemaker. Others (Seio, Koralia) specificaly state not to use them on a wavemaker. Koralia is coming out with a new model designed to work with their controller (ala Tunze).

 

[Ziggy953]

My 72g bow has 2 PHs (Tunze 6025s - 660gph each). I have 1200gph in return pumps running and that is all the flow I have in my tank right now. I had a closed loop with a Mag7 but the SCWD crapped out on me.