Returning To The Hobby - Page 5

Nick30G · 10/03/2016, 02:12 PM

Also another thing I thought about adding in the future of the tank was a Phosphate Reactor possibly. Im still not 100% sure what a Phosphate reactor does. I know you can put like carbon and phosban or something like that. Would you recommend one to me in the future (not right now though). I will pull the trigger on those Powerheads, that will save me some money.

SFish · 10/03/2016, 06:35 PM

Just know the power heads aren't going to last a really lomg time for that price when they die you can just buy another set. You can run carbon in a reactor or just put a bag of it in your sump. Most people don't realize their water has a yellow color to it the carbon will take that out. A phosphate reactor removes phosphate from your water. It helps stop algae growth in your tank. It's just one of many options for controlling algae. You want to have some way of to keeping algae out of your tank.

SFish · 10/03/2016, 06:55 PM

Some ways of dealing PO4

http://www.saltwatersmarts.com/gfo-r...-control-3000/

http://reefkeeping.com/joomla/index....arine-aquarium

https://saltwater-conversion.com/pages/carbon-dosing

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/sh....php?t=1226721

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Algae_scrubber

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/sh....php?t=1977420

See video

http://www.bulkreefsupply.com/vertex...e-reactor.html

See video

http://www.bulkreefsupply.com/brs-bi...combo-kit.html

SFish · 10/03/2016, 07:17 PM

PO4 info

http://www.algone.com/the-cause-and-...n-the-aquarium

Nick30G · 10/04/2016, 02:05 PM

Current Part List (Subject to Change)
Overflow - Eshopps PF-300
Return Pump - Eheim 1250 317GPH
Protein Skimmer - Reef Octopus 110
ATO - JBJ ATO with Tom's Aqua Lifter Pump
Lighting - Ocean Revive T247
Powerheads - 1x 800GPH
Im not sure the Reef Octopus 110 will fit nicely in my sump. I measured the width of the 10 gallon sump and its exactly 10 inches on the inside. Websites are saying either 10" or 10.6 Inches length for the skimmer. If so its going to be a tight fit or it wont fit at all. And I dont want the skimmer taking half the sump up. I want the length of the skimmer to be able to fit the width of the sump/tank so I save alot of space. Should I go for it? As for everything else, I believe I found everything else fine, the skimmer is the only thing I can really think about as of now.

SFish · 10/05/2016, 05:58 AM

That skimmer is probably not going to fit that way. You need a wider tank to do what you want. If you can't get a wider tank in the stand then you would have to make a sump out of acrylic but it will cost you more money. Probably in the $100 to $200 range. You would have to price it out. Maybe you could get away with 1/4" which would lower the cost. You would have to post in the acrylic thread and ask. Then again now that I think about it I only paid $75 to make my sump out of acrylic it depends on how much acrylic you need and how thick it is.

Nick30G · 10/05/2016, 06:52 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SFish

That skimmer is probably not going to fit that way. You need a wider tank to do what you want. If you can't get a wider tank in the stand then you would have to make a sump out of acrylic but it will cost you more money. Probably in the $100 to $200 range. You would have to price it out. Maybe you could get away with 1/4" which would lower the cost. You would have to post in the acrylic thread and ask. Then again now that I think about it I only paid $75 to make my sump out of acrylic it depends on how much acrylic you need and how thick it is.

I want to save as much money as possible. I could just get the Reef Octopus 150sss which would fit just fine but it would cost about $40 more

SFish · 10/05/2016, 11:54 AM

That maybe your cheapest option then.

Nick30G · 10/06/2016, 10:17 AM

I actually found that a 37g has the same length and width of a 29g but has 4 extra inches of height. So I guess if I can find a 37g I will get it over a 29g. Since my lighting is powerful enough to go another 4 inches anyway.

SFish · 10/06/2016, 12:05 PM

U can't fit a 40 breeder on your stand can you?

Nick30G · 10/06/2016, 12:17 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SFish

U can't fit a 40 breeder on your stand can you?

No I can not

SFish · 10/06/2016, 12:58 PM

It's up to you if you want the height but it's really width that will make a big difference in your aquascape 12" is very narrow. It kinda forces you to center the rocks. You can't really work the foreground and background very well. You also can't angle rocks all that much.

Nick30G · 10/16/2016, 09:32 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SFish

It's up to you if you want the height but it's really width that will make a big difference in your aquascape 12" is very narrow. It kinda forces you to center the rocks. You can't really work the foreground and background very well. You also can't angle rocks all that much.

Went to another LFS. This LFS is the closest to me and is the best one in the entire state. Huge selection of Corals, Saltwater and Freshwater fish there, this is where I will be getting my stuff. Their equipment is also reasonably priced. Anyway They had one of the tanks I was looking for. The 37G tank, made by Deep Blue. I was thinking about ditching a HOB Overflow, and making my LFS drill the tank so I can guarantee it wont lose siphon. The tank is Tempered on the bottom so that is a no go, but the sides and ends are non-tempered so maybe I will get them to drill one of the sides for the overflow. As for fish selection, they had a bunch of Cleaner, Fire, Peppermint shrimp, Yellow Watchman Gobys with a pistol shrimp, flameangels, Six Line wrasses, all fish that I am interested in. For corals they primiarly had small frags of LPS and softies and a few SPS. They Had Torch, Frogspawn, and Hammer corals, Toadstool Leathers, Bubble tipped anemones, Green Bubble Corals, all of which im interested in because I want the tank to be LPS dominant. Im probally going to go with some kind of dry rock for my tank because I do not want parasites and stuff in my tank in the future and I like the look of dry rock. Anyway if I were to drill the tank, what size should I make the hole?

SFish · 10/16/2016, 11:09 AM

Dilling the tank is by far the way to go if you can.

http://gmacreef.com/herbie-overflow-...method-basics/

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/sh...readid=1310585

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=_OBDWRpqgOU

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=mv-5zft2DTw

Nick30G · 10/17/2016, 06:09 PM

I plan on going with dry rock and dry sand for the tank and aquascape. Reason is, I like the look of dry rock and I want to be free of any pests. I want a fine type sand, but not too fine because the powerheads will blow the sand around but fine enough that sand sifters like gobys will be fine. I was lookibg at the Fiji Pink Arag type sand. In the sump I plan on having 5-10 of live rock to get the tank cycle going because dry rock dosent have bacteria on it. Do you think that 5-10 pounds of live rock rubble in the sump will get the cycle going? Or should I also do the shrimp cycling method or adding bacteria in the tank through additives?

SFish · 10/17/2016, 08:27 PM

The cycle will happen no matter what. Using some live rock will speed things up but it doesn't have to be done. Adding shrimp or fish food can also help to get things going. I'm not really a fan of this but it does work. There's also stuff like this

http://m.drsfostersmith.com/product/...2&pcatid=25252

SFish · 10/17/2016, 08:54 PM

Fiji Pink Is live sand. Dry rock is a personal choice really. Some people only use live rock. Dry rock will become live rock in any case.

Nick30G · 10/23/2016, 08:25 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SFish

Fiji Pink Is live sand. Dry rock is a personal choice really. Some people only use live rock. Dry rock will become live rock in any case.

Picked up my 37 gallon tank at my lfs yesterday. Tons of vertical room, good amount of length, although a bit limited on the width but I can make it work. I plan on Having a tall vertical type of aquascape. Do you think I can just stack the rocks on top of each other or will they fall off? If so what should I use to glue the rocks together. And Im going to try to keep the rocks off the glass for good circulation and easy maintenance. Over the next few months I will buy pieces of filtration/sump equipment so I dont have to buy it all at once until my stand construction is completed.

SFish · 10/23/2016, 05:51 PM

Really depends on the scape you want to make. Some people bond the rocks together others just stack them. I've seen people use silicone rods. The rods are probably the way to go as far as stacking rock up high. I have never used them or bonded rocks together so I can't really give you much advice as to how to go about it. They make putty for bonding rocks together but again I've never done before so I can't really say what works well. My scape is a 3D rock wall and I will have rocks placed in the foreground as well. It's totally different from what your doing. You'll find 12 or 13" of width is going to be very narrow. It's going to limit what you can do with rock work. Most people would take a 40 breeder over a 37.

http://www.bulkreefsupply.com/two-li...oxy-putty.html

http://youtu.be/mzDc44HtuZI

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/sh....php?t=2217633

Nick30G · 10/24/2016, 06:54 AM

Should I add live sand in the refigium as well? And maybe a few hermit crabs down there in the refigium as well?

SFish · 10/24/2016, 02:40 PM

There are so many ways to set up a refigium. You can add live sand some people do that. I would add live rock as well.

SFish · 10/25/2016, 05:03 AM

Some people like this

http://m.petco.com/shop/en/petcostor...-aquarium-sand

SFish · 10/25/2016, 02:20 PM

You could also grow cheato or run an ATS.

Nick30G · 10/31/2016, 02:36 PM

Current Part List (Subject to Change) New Update:
Overflow - Eshopps PF-300 (Or Internal Overflow Box/Drilled)
Return Pump - EHEIM Compact+ 2000
Protein Skimmer - Reef Octopus 110SSS
ATO - JBJ ATO with Tom's Aqua Lifter Pump
Lighting - Ocean Revive T247
Powerheads - Maxspect Gyre XF130
Been doing more research and buying little things for my tanks for the past few weeks/months. I have been planning on out my sump, and have decided to go with two baffles. First baffle on the skimmer side is 7.5 inches (Reef Octopus 110SSS needs 7-8 inches of water height), and another single baffle at the end of the sump at 6.5 inches (no bubble trap). Basically my goal with planning out this sump is to conserve as much space as possible for the fuge. Equipment changes, I changed the Reef Octopus 150SSS to the 110SSS, after talking to a few people here on the forum about it, and they said the 110SSS is fine, and it will save me about a 1 or 2 for the fuge compared to using the 150SSS. I changed the Eheim 1250 return pump to Eheim compact+ 2000. Why? Because again Im trying to conserve space in the sump for the fuge. This saves me about another 2-3 inches for the fuge. The compact series also has great reviews and is slightly cheaper and I can adjust my GPH between 265-528GPH. In total my fuge room is about 9 inches of length, compared to like 5 inches length before i made modifications to my plans. This should give me a decent sized fuge. Also Decided on getting the Maxspect XF130 gyre, To reduce the cluttered, un-natural look of multiple powerheads in my tank.

10/03/2016, 06:55 PM	#103
SFish Registered Member Join Date: Dec 2013 Posts: 2,062	Some ways of dealing PO4 http://www.saltwatersmarts.com/gfo-r...-control-3000/ http://reefkeeping.com/joomla/index....arine-aquarium https://saltwater-conversion.com/pages/carbon-dosing http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/sh....php?t=1226721 https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Algae_scrubber http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/sh....php?t=1977420 See video http://www.bulkreefsupply.com/vertex...e-reactor.html See video http://www.bulkreefsupply.com/brs-bi...combo-kit.html Last edited by SFish; 10/03/2016 at 07:11 PM.

10/05/2016, 05:58 AM	#106
SFish Registered Member Join Date: Dec 2013 Posts: 2,062	That skimmer is probably not going to fit that way. You need a wider tank to do what you want. If you can't get a wider tank in the stand then you would have to make a sump out of acrylic but it will cost you more money. Probably in the $100 to $200 range. You would have to price it out. Maybe you could get away with 1/4" which would lower the cost. You would have to post in the acrylic thread and ask. Then again now that I think about it I only paid $75 to make my sump out of acrylic it depends on how much acrylic you need and how thick it is. Last edited by SFish; 10/05/2016 at 06:10 AM.

10/06/2016, 12:58 PM	#112
SFish Registered Member Join Date: Dec 2013 Posts: 2,062	It's up to you if you want the height but it's really width that will make a big difference in your aquascape 12" is very narrow. It kinda forces you to center the rocks. You can't really work the foreground and background very well. You also can't angle rocks all that much. Last edited by SFish; 10/06/2016 at 01:06 PM.

10/16/2016, 11:09 AM	#114
SFish Registered Member Join Date: Dec 2013 Posts: 2,062	Dilling the tank is by far the way to go if you can. http://gmacreef.com/herbie-overflow-...method-basics/ http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/sh...readid=1310585 https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=_OBDWRpqgOU https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=mv-5zft2DTw Last edited by SFish; 10/16/2016 at 11:21 AM.

10/17/2016, 08:27 PM	#116
SFish Registered Member Join Date: Dec 2013 Posts: 2,062	The cycle will happen no matter what. Using some live rock will speed things up but it doesn't have to be done. Adding shrimp or fish food can also help to get things going. I'm not really a fan of this but it does work. There's also stuff like this http://m.drsfostersmith.com/product/...2&pcatid=25252 Last edited by SFish; 10/17/2016 at 08:52 PM.

10/03/2016, 02:12 PM	#101
Nick30G Registered Member Join Date: Sep 2016 Posts: 265	Also another thing I thought about adding in the future of the tank was a Phosphate Reactor possibly. Im still not 100% sure what a Phosphate reactor does. I know you can put like carbon and phosban or something like that. Would you recommend one to me in the future (not right now though). I will pull the trigger on those Powerheads, that will save me some money.

10/03/2016, 06:35 PM	#102
SFish Registered Member Join Date: Dec 2013 Posts: 2,062	Just know the power heads aren't going to last a really lomg time for that price when they die you can just buy another set. You can run carbon in a reactor or just put a bag of it in your sump. Most people don't realize their water has a yellow color to it the carbon will take that out. A phosphate reactor removes phosphate from your water. It helps stop algae growth in your tank. It's just one of many options for controlling algae. You want to have some way of to keeping algae out of your tank.

10/03/2016, 07:17 PM	#104
SFish Registered Member Join Date: Dec 2013 Posts: 2,062	PO4 info http://www.algone.com/the-cause-and-...n-the-aquarium

10/04/2016, 02:05 PM	#105
Nick30G Registered Member Join Date: Sep 2016 Posts: 265	Current Part List (Subject to Change) Overflow - Eshopps PF-300 Return Pump - Eheim 1250 317GPH Protein Skimmer - Reef Octopus 110 ATO - JBJ ATO with Tom's Aqua Lifter Pump Lighting - Ocean Revive T247 Powerheads - 1x 800GPH Im not sure the Reef Octopus 110 will fit nicely in my sump. I measured the width of the 10 gallon sump and its exactly 10 inches on the inside. Websites are saying either 10" or 10.6 Inches length for the skimmer. If so its going to be a tight fit or it wont fit at all. And I dont want the skimmer taking half the sump up. I want the length of the skimmer to be able to fit the width of the sump/tank so I save alot of space. Should I go for it? As for everything else, I believe I found everything else fine, the skimmer is the only thing I can really think about as of now.

10/05/2016, 11:54 AM	#108
SFish Registered Member Join Date: Dec 2013 Posts: 2,062	That maybe your cheapest option then.

10/06/2016, 10:17 AM	#109
Nick30G Registered Member Join Date: Sep 2016 Posts: 265	I actually found that a 37g has the same length and width of a 29g but has 4 extra inches of height. So I guess if I can find a 37g I will get it over a 29g. Since my lighting is powerful enough to go another 4 inches anyway.

10/06/2016, 12:05 PM	#110
SFish Registered Member Join Date: Dec 2013 Posts: 2,062	U can't fit a 40 breeder on your stand can you?

10/17/2016, 06:09 PM	#115
Nick30G Registered Member Join Date: Sep 2016 Posts: 265	I plan on going with dry rock and dry sand for the tank and aquascape. Reason is, I like the look of dry rock and I want to be free of any pests. I want a fine type sand, but not too fine because the powerheads will blow the sand around but fine enough that sand sifters like gobys will be fine. I was lookibg at the Fiji Pink Arag type sand. In the sump I plan on having 5-10 of live rock to get the tank cycle going because dry rock dosent have bacteria on it. Do you think that 5-10 pounds of live rock rubble in the sump will get the cycle going? Or should I also do the shrimp cycling method or adding bacteria in the tank through additives?

10/17/2016, 08:54 PM	#117
SFish Registered Member Join Date: Dec 2013 Posts: 2,062	Fiji Pink Is live sand. Dry rock is a personal choice really. Some people only use live rock. Dry rock will become live rock in any case.

10/23/2016, 05:51 PM	#119
SFish Registered Member Join Date: Dec 2013 Posts: 2,062	Really depends on the scape you want to make. Some people bond the rocks together others just stack them. I've seen people use silicone rods. The rods are probably the way to go as far as stacking rock up high. I have never used them or bonded rocks together so I can't really give you much advice as to how to go about it. They make putty for bonding rocks together but again I've never done before so I can't really say what works well. My scape is a 3D rock wall and I will have rocks placed in the foreground as well. It's totally different from what your doing. You'll find 12 or 13" of width is going to be very narrow. It's going to limit what you can do with rock work. Most people would take a 40 breeder over a 37. http://www.bulkreefsupply.com/two-li...oxy-putty.html http://youtu.be/mzDc44HtuZI http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/sh....php?t=2217633 Last edited by SFish; 10/23/2016 at 06:26 PM.

10/24/2016, 06:54 AM	#120
Nick30G Registered Member Join Date: Sep 2016 Posts: 265	Should I add live sand in the refigium as well? And maybe a few hermit crabs down there in the refigium as well?

10/24/2016, 02:40 PM	#121
SFish Registered Member Join Date: Dec 2013 Posts: 2,062	There are so many ways to set up a refigium. You can add live sand some people do that. I would add live rock as well.

10/25/2016, 05:03 AM	#122
SFish Registered Member Join Date: Dec 2013 Posts: 2,062	Some people like this http://m.petco.com/shop/en/petcostor...-aquarium-sand

10/25/2016, 02:20 PM	#123
SFish Registered Member Join Date: Dec 2013 Posts: 2,062	You could also grow cheato or run an ATS.

10/31/2016, 02:36 PM	#124
Nick30G Registered Member Join Date: Sep 2016 Posts: 265	Current Part List (Subject to Change) New Update: Overflow - Eshopps PF-300 (Or Internal Overflow Box/Drilled) Return Pump - EHEIM Compact+ 2000 Protein Skimmer - Reef Octopus 110SSS ATO - JBJ ATO with Tom's Aqua Lifter Pump Lighting - Ocean Revive T247 Powerheads - Maxspect Gyre XF130 Been doing more research and buying little things for my tanks for the past few weeks/months. I have been planning on out my sump, and have decided to go with two baffles. First baffle on the skimmer side is 7.5 inches (Reef Octopus 110SSS needs 7-8 inches of water height), and another single baffle at the end of the sump at 6.5 inches (no bubble trap). Basically my goal with planning out this sump is to conserve as much space as possible for the fuge. Equipment changes, I changed the Reef Octopus 150SSS to the 110SSS, after talking to a few people here on the forum about it, and they said the 110SSS is fine, and it will save me about a 1 or 2 for the fuge compared to using the 150SSS. I changed the Eheim 1250 return pump to Eheim compact+ 2000. Why? Because again Im trying to conserve space in the sump for the fuge. This saves me about another 2-3 inches for the fuge. The compact series also has great reviews and is slightly cheaper and I can adjust my GPH between 265-528GPH. In total my fuge room is about 9 inches of length, compared to like 5 inches length before i made modifications to my plans. This should give me a decent sized fuge. Also Decided on getting the Maxspect XF130 gyre, To reduce the cluttered, un-natural look of multiple powerheads in my tank.