Critique my setup please!

[anarchyx914]

Hello all,

I am pretty much BRAND NEW to the reefing hobby. I have purchased a few things based off of some BRS Recommendations, as well as some other things I have seen in successful reef tanks.

I wanted to make sure I had most of everything at the start of the hobby to ensure I am not killing off livestock.

So here goes, my current setup:

- 65 Gal Tank
- 20 Gal Long Sump (Refugium setup -- sump/refugium/return section)
- 50lbs of Dried Live Rock (Currently curing, on about 3rd week)
- BRS GFO+Carbon Reactor
- SWC 160 Skimmer (Overkill, probably)
- Two Hydor 1400 Recirculating Pumps
- Apex Neptune Controller
- 1200 gph overflow, return pump is a mag 7
- Roughly 140lbs of live sand -- Fiji Pink (I originally had crushed coral in tank, I drained it and removed that because I saw other people online had alot of issues with CC)
- (2) BRS dosing pumps to dose calcium/carb/mag once I get corals
- Reefbreeders Photon 24
- BRS Ro/DI Unit

I will admit I am a complete newbie when it comes to reefing, but I have had a small saltwater fish tank in the past, which to my understanding is much less complex.

[jBugg]

Hi, I am fairly new to the hobby too, so hopefully others can chime in as well.

I think you have too much sand. I recently upgraded to a 120 gallon and bought 120 lbs of sand. Unless you are putting the rest on your fuge for a deep sandbed. You will also need a RODI unit. It is a must for this hobby. Good luck!

[anarchyx914]

Hi, I am fairly new to the hobby too, so hopefully others can chime in as well.

I think you have too much sand. I recently upgraded to a 120 gallon and bought 120 lbs of sand. Unless you are putting the rest on your fuge for a deep sandbed. You will also need a RODI unit. It is a must for this hobby. Good luck!

I used a sand calculator, and it said for a 3" Bed to use about 120-140 lbs... I heard anything over 3" helps break down waste, but I could be wrong..

I also forgot to add, I do have the BRS RO/DI Unit as well.

[jaynigz]

Everything looks good, but probably one of the top 5 most important thing to have is an Auto Top Off

I seriously recommend getting an Auto Top Off. It will save you trouble of lugging a gallon of water every other day or less plus gives you peace of mind in case your timer is off and water is being evaporated quicker than your anticipated time.

I have an ATO connected to a slim 7 gallon container. I fill it up once a week. Set it and forget it. Tunze Osmollator. Can't go wrong.

[Darth Polymnus]

Looks like you have enough to start off successfully. Good luck! Post some pics once its up and running.

[anarchyx914]

I did purchase a float switch with hopes of wiring that into my apex controller, also a toms aqualifter pump to keep the sump topped off.

I forgot to include that as I have not yet installed it.

Should I stick with that or switch to the Tunze system? I've heard that float switches can fail alot..

[lilalove]

For your sump, I'd try to feed raw water to the 'fuge. The way I have mine set up is like this.

refugium >> return << skimmer

The 'fuge gets raw water from 2 drains and the skimmer chamber gets raw water from the 2 other drains that passes through filter socks first. Both sections then feed water to the return pump section.

[anarchyx914]

For your sump, I'd try to feed raw water to the 'fuge. The way I have mine set up is like this.

refugium >> return << skimmer

The 'fuge gets raw water from 2 drains and the skimmer chamber gets raw water from the 2 other drains that passes through filter socks first. Both sections then feed water to the return pump section.

I currently have the Skimmer directly in the section where the overflow water enters...

So it looks like this:

Overflow water / SKIMMER -- Section 1
Refugium (nothing in it atm) -- Section 2
Return Pump - Section 3

Heres what my sump looks like visually (LOL):

| Overflow Skimmer Section | refugium | return pump area |

[jBugg]

I used a sand calculator, and it said for a 3" Bed to use about 120-140 lbs... I heard anything over 3" helps break down waste, but I could be wrong..

I also forgot to add, I do have the BRS RO/DI Unit as well.

OK cool. I only have about 1.5-2 inches of sandbed on mine. I kept looking at how other 120 gal tanks are set up and most had 1 lb of sand per gallon so that's what I used to follow mine.

I think the deep sandbed (over 4 inches?) are supposed to be for a fuge. The sand on my fuge is about 3 inches and I also used all my leftover live rocks there.

So far so good on the setup. Post pics when you have a chance. :beer:

[jaynigz]

save the headache. I have a float switch on my tub for ro/di and it's been replaced a few times.

if you have money to spare, i'd hold off on fishes and corals and get a good dependable ATO.

[cvsailer]

Hello all,

I am pretty much BRAND NEW to the reefing hobby. I have purchased a few things based off of some BRS Recommendations, as well as some other things I have seen in successful reef tanks.

I wanted to make sure I had most of everything at the start of the hobby to ensure I am not killing off livestock.

So here goes, my current setup:

- 65 Gal Tank
- 20 Gal Long Sump (Refugium setup -- sump/refugium/return section)
- 50lbs of Dried Live Rock (Currently curing, on about 3rd week)
- BRS GFO+Carbon Reactor
- SWC 160 Skimmer (Overkill, probably)
- Two Hydor 1400 Recirculating Pumps
- Apex Neptune Controller
- 1200 gph overflow, return pump is a mag 7
- Roughly 140lbs of live sand -- Fiji Pink (I originally had crushed coral in tank, I drained it and removed that because I saw other people online had alot of issues with CC)
- (2) BRS dosing pumps to dose calcium/carb/mag once I get corals
- Reefbreeders Photon 24
- BRS Ro/DI Unit

I will admit I am a complete newbie when it comes to reefing, but I have had a small saltwater fish tank in the past, which to my understanding is much less complex.

Do you have both Hydor 1400 powerheads going in a 65gl tank? I bought two 1400s for my 92 gallon corner tank and ended up only using one. Maybe I should install the second one too?

[anarchyx914]

Do you have both Hydor 1400 powerheads going in a 65gl tank? I bought two 1400s for my 92 gallon corner tank and ended up only using one. Maybe I should install the second one too?

I have them both going. I actually bought the Hydor Wave Controller (For sale if you want -- lol).

I switched to an apex controller and now I dont need the wave maker -- it was a pretty neat unit though, allowed you to turn off the pumps for feeding, as well as alternate them to simulate waves sort of like the ocean.

It was brought to my attention that fish/coral do not like to be blasted 24/7 by moving water, so thats why I bought the controller from Hydor to make the water pulses variable.

[cvsailer]

I have them both going. I actually bought the Hydor Wave Controller (For sale if you want -- lol).

I switched to an apex controller and now I dont need the wave maker -- it was a pretty neat unit though, allowed you to turn off the pumps for feeding, as well as alternate them to simulate waves sort of like the ocean.

It was brought to my attention that fish/coral do not like to be blasted 24/7 by moving water, so thats why I bought the controller from Hydor to make the water pulses variable.

What made you switch from the Hydor Wave Controller to the the Apex? I'm not familiar at all with what these units do, what is the difference? Thanks!

[anarchyx914]

I also custom built my stand/canopy. The one that my stand came with only had a height of 20" in sump, and I couldn't fit a skimmer.

Here are some pics (Just finished it):

[anarchyx914]

What made you switch from the Hydor Wave Controller to the the Apex? I'm not familiar at all with what these units do, what is the difference? Thanks!

The Apex Neptune controls your whole saltwater system.. You can use it to control an Auto Top Off, PH levels, dosing pumps, return pumps, skimmers, etc.

Its a tool to help automate the system more (IE: Lets say your water gets too hot, it will kick on a fan to compensate)

It also has pretty much every outlet setup so it can be on a timer, and automate things like dosing pumps instead of having the crappy outlet timers.

On the bad side it costs like $660 for all the startup cost of it, where as the hydor controller costs like $65 lol.

[hawks66]

Sounds very silimiar to my system, i hope it works out for both of us.

[seuadr]

I also custom built my stand/canopy. The one that my stand came with only had a height of 20" in sump, and I couldn't fit a skimmer.

Here are some pics (Just finished it):
that is pretty slick.. did you by chance do a build thread for it? i'm curious about how it was done.

[anarchyx914]

I didn't do a thread on it but I should have. I learned how to do it based on some YouTube videos and also some of it I knew how to do. There is a really good YouTube vid on how to get started. Just search DIY fish tank stand and canopy

[worm5406]

I did purchase a float switch with hopes of wiring that into my apex controller, also a toms aqualifter pump to keep the sump topped off.

I forgot to include that as I have not yet installed it.

Should I stick with that or switch to the Tunze system? I've heard that float switches can fail alot..

I use my apex to mange my topoff. I have it set to alarm when running to long.

I didn't do a thread on it but I should have. I learned how to do it based on some YouTube videos and also some of it I knew how to do. There is a really good YouTube vid on how to get started. Just search DIY fish tank stand and canopy
Yes lets see some pictures of the rest of the build.

That will give others ideas and ask questions.