newbie need help

[pufferbob]

I am newbie to hobby, had a bad tank crash already, so starting over with new plan. The crash as far as I can tell was caused by coarse live agronite bed at 3 inches deep leaking detrious into tank water and a bit of stock over load, leading to mass onslaught.
I am checking to see if any of you have any thoughts on a few products... I am rebuilding my 29g and these are parts of my plan for FOWLR.

JEBO 1700 Powerhead (checking into)
Visi-Jet Ps100 Skimmer (already purchased, in transit)
Coralife Marine Salt (already purchased, on hand)
Aquarium Pharmacudicals Marine Test Kit (already purchased, on hand)
Walt Smith Fiji Premium Live Rock-Pre-Cured (already purchased, in transit)
Concrete Cynder Block for Base (checking into)

I have attempted looking up reviews on each of these products but cannot find them (except live rock)... Any thoughts, experiences, reviews, links, advise appreciated. Thank you!

Setup plan: 29g FOWLR, 2 aquaclear hob filters @ 200 gph each = 400 gph for mechanical purposes (have owned for a while), 1 150w Whisper heater (have owned for while), 2 40w "aquarium light" = 80w (have owned for while), Visi-Jet Ps100 protine skimmer, 30 lbs lr, bare bottom.

[AllenFord_SC]

What are your plans for the cinder block? Placing the LR on top of it? Crushing it into rubble? Not understanding this one. If you plan on adding any "foreign "items to your tank, like concrete for example, you should let it sit in a countainer of water until everything has leeched out of it. Check the water evryday as you would you tank for PH and other things such as phosphates and iron in the bucket. Don't add anything to your tank until you are sure it is not going to mess with your water parameters. Not so sure this is a good idea. But someone else might know.

[AllenFord_SC]

Also do water changes in the bucket everyother day so the chemicals are not being absorbed back into the cinder block. Personally I would just get some base rock from either of these places:

www.hirocks.com
www.reeferrocks.com

Just my .02

[pufferbob]

I found block that was as long and deep as standard cynder but 1/2 width and has 3 holes. I was thinking to leave in tact, lay down in whole, allowing for more surface area than plain rock to allow for atatching. But yes, to place lr on top.

[pufferbob]

Considering I am starting completely fresh, new water, rock, skimmer.... Would I still need to basicly quaretine the cynder? Would allowing this rock to cycle with the rest of tank not work?

[MBuck]

Hi Bob,
I think what Allen is concerned about is what might be "in" the cinder block. There is no cinder block naturally in the ocean. If you qt. it, you can check to make sure there are no toxins in it that will kill your fish, before you add it to your tank....Good Luck!

[techigirl78]

Never used most the equipment. The aquarium pharmacueticals tests kits are not very accurate, but seem better then test stripes (not saying much). I like my maxi-jets 1200s & tunze streams, never heard much about JEBO PHs. The CPR backup skimmer is a decent little skimmer for a smaller tank. Both would work well in your tank.

How much live rock did you get? I thought the min that Walt Smith's came in was 45 lbs? That should be enough if that is what you got. I would dump the cinder block ideal and make a pvc stand if you want to rock to sit higher. If your not sure what is in it, then don't add it. If you want to be creative, there's tons of threads of people making their own rocks, which would at least allow you know what's in them.

You don't need the HOB filters unless you want them for more flow. I like Ebo heaters. Never had problems with mine controller the temp, not sure about whisper.

Get starboard in the bottom of your tank. Looks nicer and if the rocks fall, it will protect the bottom of your tank.

You'll likely need to replace the light, is that NO flourescents? I thought 40 watt bulbs were 48" long, but a 29 gallon is only 30" long.

[TekCat]

Don't mess with Concrete, I think it is a recepie for a disaster. I am sure that some people successfuly use concrete-based rocks. But why risk it? Get some "regular" base rock, and don't worry :)

[SerLunchbox]

cinderblock is made from concrete ... you do NOT want to know what crap is in that stuff. Cinderblocks are usually made from old, leftover cement. I used to work with this stuff.

So the other lesson of the day is salt + Cement = cement becomes VERY weak, it becomes unstable, starts to crack and will eech more chemical compounds in it that you wouldn't believe ... all this will kill ANY fish.

there is only ONE type of concrete that is made to resist salt and at that, it isn't a 100% thing. This is called ferrous cement. As i said it resists salt but not completely. The other quality of this is that it CAN float on water (there is a person from my hometown that made a BOAT of of it ....) The problem with Ferrous cement is that a) it is flippin expensive and b) it is almost never used in making cinder blocks.

Steer clear of cement ... it is nothing but bad news and disaster in ANY aquarium application.

[Scuba_Steve]

if your getting 45lbs of walt smith do you really think you will need the extra rock anyways? 45lbs in a 29g should give you all the rock you will need, and fil up a decent amount of room in the tank. i would just use the live rock and not worry about adding base.

also i know someone who used a visijet skimmer, and they are pretty much garbage. sorry to tell you this after you already ordered it. but you might as well try it out and see for yourself if it works or not...or refuse delivery when it gets there;)

[Scuba_Steve]

wait i just read, 30lbs rock...thats still a decent amount, id still stick to that and try to find some real base rock later. i also noticed you will be using 2 aquaclear hobs. look around for instructions to mod them into mini refugiums. look in the diy forum.

[pufferbob]

Rock; I found a seller on eBay that sells by the pound, and very cheap too! I purchased 10 lbs for now being that I have tapperd all of my funds this week in the tank.
I have backed off of the concrete ideas, thank you all. Being that funds are tapped, I am now trying to figure out my best route to go. I cannot order from most online places bc I don't have a cc. eBay is about my only option, and there I am not finding quantities to fit my needs/budget.
My light is a 48". It works well for me because my 29g sits beside an 18g fresh.

[MBuck]

Check here for LR.....Cheap, and they take PayPal.....I was going to order some, but found enough locally form other reefers, so i didn't, but looks like pretty good stuff. They have free shipping sometimes too!!

Interantional marine (http://www.intmarinefish.com/)

[techigirl78]

Have you tried looking for reef groups in your area, you could put an order in a group with someone else if needed.

[pufferbob]

So yeah, I have the 10 lbs live in route, I finally found 20lbs base.
I bought the live rock at $18.00 for 10 lbs, spent $18.64 on shiping... Beautiful! The base I am looking at is 20 lbs for $12.50 plus $15.00 shipping... Seeing any paterns???

Now to the bioload... Seeing how I am planting this rock at 1 to 2 ratio, how well will this hold up to a fish once cycled? Remember, 10 lbs live (untill the other 20 gets seeded, which I know will take a long while) to 1 puffer. Possibly a rock janitor.

Skimmer... What was trash about the visi-jet? Did it skim anything, pull any waste out? How big was the tank it did not work with? This is rated for 70g, I am using it on 29g.

HOB... I have 2, mind you, that run 200 gph each. Do you think it would work to run one with sponge (for mechanical) and carbon (for chemical) while running the other with live rock debris (for bio), while still having the 30 lbs display in tank? Would this cut down my need for extra circulation (ie one ph instead of two), or would I still need to go the whole full force I can achieve in tank?

[techigirl78]

I don't think anyone mentioned trash about the visi-jet skimmer.

What kind of puffer are you looking at? With your setup, I'd say you could have a toby.

See the power consumption and then decide about the HOB filters. Some PHs are more efficient and cost less to run. Sponges just get all dirty and can become nitrate factories. Really, with a decent skimmer and live rock, no other mechancial filtration is really needed. Best I could say is run it on the tank and then move it to a QT when needed as the sponge will carry a bio-filter in it if you don't clean it. Use the other one as a mini-refugium. I've seen threads on it where people grow their macro in the HOB filters, worth a try.