SneakyPete
07/02/2011, 08:40 PM
Hi All,
So after doing some research (I've read much online and also read "The New Marine Aquarium" by Paletta and "The Conscientious Marine Aquarist" by Fenner), I'm going to be buying my initial set up for my aquarium and I need some advice.
So first off, I'll go over what I currently have planned. This is going to be a FOWLR tank for now as I don't have enough money saved up to go all out and buy reef lighting yet. I plan only stocking fishes and inverts that are reef safe so if I decide later to add coral, I can upgrade lighting and make it a true reef tank.
Originally, I was only going to build a small tank. 20 gallons just to get my feet wet. Then when I suggested that at my LFS (which unfortunately is an hour away from where I live), they told me that as weird as it sounds, a bigger tank is better for beginners than a smaller tank (same guy also recommended "The New Marine Aquarium"). So now, I'm debating between a 40 or a 55 gallon tank. I'm also probably going to build a sump. My initial setup will be about 40 lbs of live rock. Once that cycles, I'm going to add in some tank janitors (probably 2 hermits and a few snails, maybe a cleaner shrimp) followed by 2 clowns initially.
So here is the current list of questions that I have about sumps: (I'm a complete newbie to sumps as neither of the books I have say much about them other than they are for "advanced" aquarists, however I think that having a sump is more reliable than a HOB protein skimmer):
1) I'm going to be building a sump probably from a 10 or 20 gallon tank. Can I get a recommendation for a good in sump protein skimmer?
2) Do I need to have anything in my sump beyond my heater and protein skimmer, and power filter?
3) How do I calculate how much water is going to be coming into my sump? I'm going to be using an overflow, not one that will drain from the bottom of the tank.
For aquascaping, i want to set up a PVC skeleton to have a cave on the left side of the tank and an overhang to another stack of rock on the right (no opening facing forward. see attachments and excuse the rough drawings. I don't have measurements yet since I don't know the exact space of the tank I am going to get.
4) Is there anything I need to do special to the PVC beyond washing it? Should i wash it in tap water or salt water?
5) Is it safe to zip-tie LR to the PVC?
6) I'm concerned about lack of flow int he PVC. I plan to drill holes in the PVC every 2 inches or so. Will that be good enough assuming I have a 10x water flow? How about with the portion of the PVC that is under the substrate?
The last set are just a few random questions.
7) If I am going to go with a sump, does that count toward the overall current of the tank? IE if I am using an overflow and have my return on the opposite side about half way down (with a hole near the surface for safeties sake), and that pumps 300 gph, to hit my 10x, do i just need powerheads that will do the remaining 250 gph or do I need powerheads that combined will move the 550?
8) A question about ambient lighting. The room that I am going to put my tank in (my office at my house) gets some additional lighting due to it being my office. I have 1 window in there (west facing with blinds, so probably not an issue), but often I am up until 12:00-1:00 AM doing work. This would put my room light and 2 monitors on for the additional time with lighting. I know that marine fishes in the tropics usually have 12 hours of daylight and 12 hours of night time. If I have my aquarium lights on for 12 hours per day (say from 10:00 AM to 10:00 PM), will the additional light from the morning (sun comes up at 6:00 or so here in the summer) and from me being in my office late cause issues and/or troublsome algae growth?
I'm probably going to be buying some equipment to start building my sump and such on the 4th or maybe next weekend. Hope to be starting the cycle before the end of July.
Thank you all for your help and I apologize for all the questions and the novel of a post. As somebody new to the hobby, I truly appreciate the help! I like to be thorough before doing into anything.
Pete
So after doing some research (I've read much online and also read "The New Marine Aquarium" by Paletta and "The Conscientious Marine Aquarist" by Fenner), I'm going to be buying my initial set up for my aquarium and I need some advice.
So first off, I'll go over what I currently have planned. This is going to be a FOWLR tank for now as I don't have enough money saved up to go all out and buy reef lighting yet. I plan only stocking fishes and inverts that are reef safe so if I decide later to add coral, I can upgrade lighting and make it a true reef tank.
Originally, I was only going to build a small tank. 20 gallons just to get my feet wet. Then when I suggested that at my LFS (which unfortunately is an hour away from where I live), they told me that as weird as it sounds, a bigger tank is better for beginners than a smaller tank (same guy also recommended "The New Marine Aquarium"). So now, I'm debating between a 40 or a 55 gallon tank. I'm also probably going to build a sump. My initial setup will be about 40 lbs of live rock. Once that cycles, I'm going to add in some tank janitors (probably 2 hermits and a few snails, maybe a cleaner shrimp) followed by 2 clowns initially.
So here is the current list of questions that I have about sumps: (I'm a complete newbie to sumps as neither of the books I have say much about them other than they are for "advanced" aquarists, however I think that having a sump is more reliable than a HOB protein skimmer):
1) I'm going to be building a sump probably from a 10 or 20 gallon tank. Can I get a recommendation for a good in sump protein skimmer?
2) Do I need to have anything in my sump beyond my heater and protein skimmer, and power filter?
3) How do I calculate how much water is going to be coming into my sump? I'm going to be using an overflow, not one that will drain from the bottom of the tank.
For aquascaping, i want to set up a PVC skeleton to have a cave on the left side of the tank and an overhang to another stack of rock on the right (no opening facing forward. see attachments and excuse the rough drawings. I don't have measurements yet since I don't know the exact space of the tank I am going to get.
4) Is there anything I need to do special to the PVC beyond washing it? Should i wash it in tap water or salt water?
5) Is it safe to zip-tie LR to the PVC?
6) I'm concerned about lack of flow int he PVC. I plan to drill holes in the PVC every 2 inches or so. Will that be good enough assuming I have a 10x water flow? How about with the portion of the PVC that is under the substrate?
The last set are just a few random questions.
7) If I am going to go with a sump, does that count toward the overall current of the tank? IE if I am using an overflow and have my return on the opposite side about half way down (with a hole near the surface for safeties sake), and that pumps 300 gph, to hit my 10x, do i just need powerheads that will do the remaining 250 gph or do I need powerheads that combined will move the 550?
8) A question about ambient lighting. The room that I am going to put my tank in (my office at my house) gets some additional lighting due to it being my office. I have 1 window in there (west facing with blinds, so probably not an issue), but often I am up until 12:00-1:00 AM doing work. This would put my room light and 2 monitors on for the additional time with lighting. I know that marine fishes in the tropics usually have 12 hours of daylight and 12 hours of night time. If I have my aquarium lights on for 12 hours per day (say from 10:00 AM to 10:00 PM), will the additional light from the morning (sun comes up at 6:00 or so here in the summer) and from me being in my office late cause issues and/or troublsome algae growth?
I'm probably going to be buying some equipment to start building my sump and such on the 4th or maybe next weekend. Hope to be starting the cycle before the end of July.
Thank you all for your help and I apologize for all the questions and the novel of a post. As somebody new to the hobby, I truly appreciate the help! I like to be thorough before doing into anything.
Pete