looking for some advice

[tgriffin]

I will be setting up a 60 gal corner uniquarium in the next few weeks. This is just an acrylic tank with a built in sump and skimmer. I am planning on a soft coral tank. It originally came with bio-balls but have been removed. The only thing in the sump is two black foam filters (in different stages), which I figured is for straining larger material. It has a submerged return pump, and has been drilled to allow for two additional powerheads, which I was thinking would be too much current for softies. I have a 250 watt HQI and a 65 watt actinic for lighting and am planning on a 4-5" sand bed with a decent amount of marshall island live rock. The guy I bought the aquarium from said that this should be enough for filtration. I am wanting some other opinions on this. I was thinking about putting rock rubble in the sump, but only want to do this if it will be beneficial to me. Any thoughts or ideas would be greatly appreciated.



Sorry for such a long post, but I'd rather ask now than ask later after I have killed a lot of expensive livestock



Thanks

[LJA]

Will you have any fish? If so, how many? A skimmer is really a great investment, not really needed as long as you have other means of filtration and always remember your water changes. If you implement cheato macroalgea in your sump and remember your water changes and don't have a huge bioload you should be fine with what you have.

Also remember those filter pads must be changed regularly. (You could clean them but thats not really worth it IME).

Cheak out the stickies at the top of this forum for detailed info.

[Guygettnby]

yes it would be beneficial to replace the bio balls with live rock rubble and i would also make sure you run carbon. i run carbon in all of my tanks, always have and always will. now the skimmer i dont know what it is rated for so i cant say for sure if that enough. i also think that is plenty of light for softies.

also depending on the sump setup you may want to use some poly fill to filter out any fine debrea. it is cheap enough that it can be replaced once a week and will help keep stuff clean.

[tgriffin]

I have a clear for life venturi skimmer. It is built into the sump. I am planning on about 5-6 small nano type fish along with a small clean up crew.

Thanks for the replies, keep em' coming

[tgriffin]

how much rock would you put in the sump? does it matter what kind or what size it is

[Sk8r]

I run a reef with no filtration at all except the live rock, aragonite sand, (1 lb per gallon of each) and my fuge and a skimmer 2x my tank volume (ev 120 for a 54g tank) LPS love that kind of arrangement. Read the * threads so marked at the top of the forum for a setup manual and discussion of why. Rock and sand in my fuge is the same ratio per gallon.

[tgriffin]

Sk8r

Thanks for the input.... I'll definitely check that out