Help

[hugecoltsfan]

Ok I am new to this so please bare with me. I think I have been doing to much reading about starting a reef tank. So I am now to a point of confusion and a state of delay. I have a 65 gallon aquarium and I want to convert it into a reef tank. I have a 4 bulb T-5 lighting system with 39w bulbs in it. Also I have a fluval canaster filter from when it was a freash water tank. Here in Charlotte things are pretty limited as far as salt water fish stores. We have one big one but on the other side of town ( takes almost 30 minutes to get there). I am wanting to use TBS for live rock and other things. But I have been a little discourage with the potentional bad critters. I want to start with some dry rock just because of the cost. I do plan to get live sand from TBS and some Live rock to help the dry rock. So What do I need to do next. Is my lights good enough to start and then buy another one later or buy lights now? Should I buy a sump now or wait awhile? Should I have 2 or 3 or 4 power heads? or Can I use my fluval as a power head? Ok I am going to stop here but I know I will have more questions.

Please help,
Joe

[noahm]

Totally understand. It is good that you have been reading away. I think the idea of getting dry rock is a good idea if you are worried about bad critters. One thing you could do is is get just a small amount of TBS LR rubble-sized pieces (smaller pieces that you could easily eliminate baddies from) to seed the dry with. Just remember, it will take a little bit longer to cycle everything.

Your lights are adequate for a lot of stuff in a 65, just maybe not all SPS corals. Although you can use your fluval as a water polisher or a place to put carbon etc., you should invest in a decent skimmer. Reef octopus has some pretty good one's for the money, but f you don't have a sump (not necessary, but very useful), you would need to get a HOB (hang on back) model. I don't know who makes a good one, but you could post in the filtration forum here 'whats a good HOB skimmer for a 65?'

You can also ask what is a good bulb combo for your fixture in the T-5 thread in that forum. As far as powerheads go, I would think about maybe 2 Koralia K-3's for a tank that size. You could get a pair of Tunze, not sure what size would be best, but 2 powerheads + the fluval should be enough.

If you do get a sump, that changes a few things, but I think you could use the fluval as a return pump. The only concern with using a canister filter is that you have to make sure it gets cleaned regularly to avoid buildup.

So, the steps would be: decide on a few more things, set it all up, do a fresh water wet run and make sure you will be happy with the setup, order your sand, LR, and dry rock, then set it up w/salt water and enjoy the ride. Feel free and ask any questions. Somebody will give you some input. Use the 'reef discussion' forum to ask brand recommendations or size recommendations. If you are pretty specific in your thread title, you will usually get pretty quick responses.

Here are a few of my personal recommendations based on quality for the money.

Powerheads-Koralia, Tunze
Skimmers- Reef Octopus, MSX
Heater- Ebo Jeager
return pumps-eheim


Good luck,
Noah

[divemonster]

Hi Joe, welcome to Reef Central :)

I have a couple of questions for you. What changes have you made to the tank itself? Are you installing an overflow box? If so, have you drilled a hole for the bulkhead?

Noah made some good suggestions on powerheads and such. Just be careful in the lighting forum, some of those tankheads are fanatical about what they think is the correct way to light a reef tank :twitch:

[noahm]

Hi Joe, welcome to Reef Central :)

I have a couple of questions for you. What changes have you made to the tank itself? Are you installing an overflow box? If so, have you drilled a hole for the bulkhead?

Noah made some good suggestions on powerheads and such. Just be careful in the lighting forum, some of those tankheads are fanatical about what they think is the correct way to light a reef tank :twitch:

Oh yeah, if you decide you want to drill the tank or have it drilled (highly recommended over a siphon) for a sump, check out glass-holes.com for their overflow boxes. Very helpful guys all-around.

[hugecoltsfan]

Thanks for your help so far. But I really do not want to drill a hole in my tank. Right now all I have is the tank, lights, and crushed coral from when it was a cichlid tank. I want to do this with out drilling so I really need suggestions on this. I am thinking about going ahead and buying my cosmetics tonight or tomorrow like the test kits and possibly my power heads. I'm thinking about just leaving the fluval out of the tank and not using it at all. I just hate it because it was expensive.

[noahm]

It will be handy as a vacuum, or media reactor (carbon etc.), so don't sell it unless you need the $$.

[Yogre]

You really don't need to drill your tank. Before I left the cichlid world for salt, I switched my cichlid tank over to an overflow/sump setup.

There are a lot of different sump manufacturers out there. You can even make one yourself using a cheap glass fish tank. Lots of good advice on that here on RC.

Don't go cheap on the overflow box. The one I highly recommend (as do a lot of others) is the Lifereef overflow. It's easy to set up, and in the 18 years he's offered it Jeff Turchek (the owner of Lifereef) says he's never had one fail to restart after a power outage. I used mine for 2 years, every time I shut the pump off for maintenance in the tank it restarted flawlessly.

If you do decide to use TBS products for your new tank, you won't regret it. Richard is one of the most stand-up businessmen I've ever met, on-line or otherwise.:thumbsup:

[hugecoltsfan]

So if I buy a Sump Filter can I use my fluval as the return unit. Would this be a good idea also if I use a sump filter do I need an overflow. Also I am not going to use the bio balls but get some live rock rubble pieces and use the sump as a Refugium. Is this wise? Also how deep of a sand bed do I want and should I use my crush coral on the bottom under the sand?

[Yogre]

So if I buy a Sump Filter can I use my fluval as the return unit. Would this be a good idea also if I use a sump filter do I need an overflow. Also I am not going to use the bio balls but get some live rock rubble pieces and use the sump as a Refugium. Is this wise? Also how deep of a sand bed do I want and should I use my crush coral on the bottom under the sand?

All the canister filters I've used couldn't be used as a return from a sump. They can't really suck water out of a container from the same level they are, they need some head pressure provided by having their intake siphon-primed from the tank above... at least that's been my experience. A Mag-Drive pump from Drs. Foster & Smith is not too expensive and is very reliable.

You do need an overflow if you use a sump... you need some way to get the water from the tank to the sump and an overflow is going to be the most reliable way to do that, if you're not going to drill the tank.

I think using some live rock rubble in your sump is a fine plan. I have some of Richard's rock crunched up in my 'fuge as a "pod pile". Growing pods is especially important to me as I keep a mandarin dragonet.

I think Richard recommends about 1.5" of live sand in your tank as a substrate. I personally have a little more; I have fine sugar-size sand under my TBS sand for a total depth of about 4". I think you could use your crushed coral under the TBS sand, the choice would be yours to make.

Hope this helps a little,
Glen