New with a few questions

[lacosta28]

Hello everyone.

My name is Leonard and I have decided to purchase a 90g tank with my income tax. I have priced everything out but I have one little problem. I can't purchase everything right away with my federal return and will have to wait for the state to come which can take a week or more longer. I plan on buying everything except the skimmer. I will then get a skimmer with the state return. Looking at my pre-purchase reciept they have put 45 pounds of base rock and 45 pounds of live rock for the initial purchase. Of course I wont have any livestock such as fish or inverts to begin with. Will this setup be okay for the first week or more without a skimmer? I don't know if it is required with the live rock?

Also when I setup the tank where should I position the heater. I plan on purchasing a jbj true temp 300 watt heater. Should it be near the vortech pump or near the inlet and return? I planned on putting the return on one side and the vortech on the other. Is this even a good setup?

Any help is appreciated.

[saltymight]

Yes your tank will be fine with out the skimmer for the cycle. Do you plan on having a sump or just a tank. If just a tank I put my heaters right next to a power head. what are you planning on lights. are you doing sand? you have plenty of time to wait for your return. your tank will take about 6 weeks to cycle.

[saltymight]

oh ya since you are new where are you placing you tank. keep it away from an windows/ direct sunlit to help control algae blooms

[lacosta28]

Thank you saltymight. I have already ordered a sump and I will have a refugium setup. I am getting 4 T5 lights to start off with. I plan on adding either 2 or 4 more later on when I get some livestock. I am doing live sand. Since I will have a sump does it matter where I position the heater? Thanks for the information that puts an ease to my thoughts.

My local store did tell me about sunlight so I do have an area in the house that does not get much light. For the little light that does come in during the evening I plan on completely covering the window with extra materials eg. towels or something. I also heard you can tint your windows to not allow uv light. That might be over doing it though.

[small alien]

I don't think you need to worry about a little evening light. I love it when the sun hits my tank in the evening. Everything just looks so amazing with that full natural spectrum. You wouldn't want it all day, but a tiny bit is no biggie imo. Good luck. Oh, and get the light fixture you want eventually now. You'll save money in the long run.

[Pittman]

I'm extremely new as well but from what i been reading, the only effect sunlight will have on your tank is temp wise. If your tank is bathing in sunlight for a prolonged period of time it may raise your water temp to an undesired level.

[stingythingy45]

I'm extremely new as well but from what i been reading, the only effect sunlight will have on your tank is temp wise. If your tank is bathing in sunlight for a prolonged period of time it may raise your water temp to an undesired level.

It's all relative to the size of the tank and the water volume of the system.
I have my tank get bathed with sunlight for about 1/2 an hour during the spring before the sun rises enough to redirect to the floor.
I've never had any issues with nuisance algae because of this.

[saltymight]

Put your heater in the sump. for one it frees up space in the DT. and there wont be different temp areas in the DT. Ha always have towel up in my window haha. waht do you mean adding 2-4 more bulbs is it a DYI hood. and whats the watts of the bulbs.

[lacosta28]

Okay that sounds like a great idea so I will put the heater in the sump. The jbj comes with a probe, should I put the probe in the sump too?

Well the original quote my local store was 2400 dollars and that included 2 ballast and 8 bulbs. I am buyinig a tank setup that has a wood canopy and the lights would have to be installed in it. It shows GIE Actinic HO 54 watts x 4. So that must be the 4 whites. GIE Aqua blue x 2, GIE Pure Actinic x 2. for a total of 8 bulbs all at 54 watts each. This is a little expensive and I need to cut back to around 2200 dollars. She said if I need to go lower we can go with 4 bulbs instead of 8. I assume this would mean 2 of the GIE actinic HO and 1 each of the rest. Since the tank will be cycling I figured I could always purchase more bulbs later when I add livestock right?

They do have on the quote 90 pounds of rock too. 45 base and 45 live. My friend said I shouldn't put that much to start with. I could instead cut back the rock to reach my spending limit and keep 8 lights. What do you experts suggest?