setup help
 

i am going to be starting up my first saltwater tank and was just wondering if this set up will work.

75-90 gallon tank

i have 65 watt pc lighting with 2 atinics and 2 others which i need to replace should i get 10000k for these daytime lights.

i will be buying a skimmer, and heaters to place in my sump

and will be buying 2 powerheads? what size or type do u recomend?

is there anything else i will need in the way of filtration or water circulaton?

I'd use 10000K's for the daylights and maybe replace the pure actinics with 50/50's, unless you want to be able to view the tank under pure actinic lighting at times. The 50/50's + 10000k's will make the tank brighter than the actinics + 10000k's will.

For powerheads I would use Hagen 402's or 802's or Maxijet 1200's. The maxijets are nice because they are smaller than the Hagen powerheads.

I recommend 4 powerheads. Two primarily for circulation and two primarily for surface agitation. I agree that the Maxi-Jet 1200s are good.
Something else to consider, although you don't need it is a fluidized bed filter. Excellent filter and it will increase your bio-load capacity.

Cheers,

http://www.duboisi.com/diy/BNfbf/bnfbf.htm

http://www.cichlid-forum.com/articles/diy_fbf.php

would these work. do they do the same thing as a store bought one and ne idea of the price differance because i will still have to buy a pump so it may end up being the same price.

also ne recomendations on the depth of my sand bed. i was thinking about one inch. how easy is this to clean and what type of clean up crew should i start lookin at getting

what do u mean by surface agitation

does ne one use these? what are they like? do u recomend them?

http://www.ah-supply.com/index.asp?P...S&Category=166

I have 2 620's and an 820 in my 77 gal plus the return from the sump = ~ 2800 gal /hr mmmmmm currenty

I suppose those would work. The first one looks kinda involved. The second one is more what I was thinking. If your good with DIY, then go for it. Personally, I'm not good at DIY and was thinking more along these lines: http://www.pentairaquatics.com/produ...dized_bed.html
I've got the 600 and have a Maxi-Jet 1200 powering it.
For the 300 and a powerhead to power it your lookin' at about $130 (before tax).

As for the sand bed, to be honest I'm 6 months new into this myself and from what I've read and heard... there are no definitive answers on sandbeds. Alot of people believe bare bottom is the way to go 'cause it's way easier to clean. Personally, I don't like the look of bare bottom and my sandbed is about 2 & 1/2" deep. I suspect I'm am going to pay for it by having to do a major sand replacement in the future due to nitrogen and hydrogen sulfide build up in the sand bed. I hear it's a horrible chore. Smells awful bad, apparently.

By surface agitation I mean that you want to "churn" the surface to facillitate good gas exchange. O2 and CO2 exchange occurs at the surface and is better carried out with a surface that is "agitating" (kinda boiling, so to speak). Any nitrogen gas, occuring from denitrification, that wants to escape will do so at the surface also. Powerheads come with a flow deflector attachment whereby you can direct the powerhead's flow up to the surface.

I have two Seio 1500 wavemakers. I'm just using them for water circulation. So far so good. But one thing I didn't like was I had to drill holes in one of the pieces for hanging and then use zap straps thru the holes to keep the unit from sliding off the hanging bracket.

Anyway, hope this helps. Like I say, I'm pretty new to this too and anything I've passed on to you I've just recently learned myself.
Maybe someone else that knows more about the fluidized bed DIY and sandbed issues could provide better info?

Cheers,

Fluidized filters, like bio-wheels, bio-balls, undergravels and so on, are only needed for bio filtration if enough live rock and/or sandbed are not used. There is usually no need for them in a reef aquarium.

If I was to use one, it would not be the fluidized filters. For small tanks the bio-wheel filters are the best way to go and for large, a sump with a wet/dry and bio balls.

If you chose to have a sandbed, an inch or so sounds fine. To generate enough current in a tank that size, I would use a decent return pump, matched to your overflow capacity. Either a good submersible like a Mag pump or an inline like the Mak 3 or Mak 4 pumps. Also many of the others mentioned in various threads here, like the Bluelines and such are good.

You could just use powerheads for current, like Maxi-Jets on a wavemaker or just linear current. I have always had good luck with Hagen powerheads myself. Plus there is always pumps like the Tunze stream pumps, albeit more expensive. The Seio streams seems to bea decent alternative, but I have never used one.

reply
 

Agreed, fluidized bed filters are a waste of money if you plan on getting live rock anyway. Seio pumps are really good but maxi jets are good for the price you pay. There are ways to modify maxi jets to get a more dispersed flow.

Re: reply
 

JYO. I agree. They are not needed as I originally stated. But I do believe they are useful and do increase the bio-load capacity. More filtration can not hurt. :smile:

Cheers,

Mark, they just create nitrates like wet drys, bio wheels and under gravels. Then water changes must be greater to remove the nitrates. However your correct in that they are very efficient at doing their job.

I would not use any of them unless needed for biological filtration, {less live rock and no sandbed.

Something like a Jaubert plenum would provide all the bio filtration needed, plus no nitrates. If so wished, a dsb and shallow sand bed, {somewhat}, will provide the same.

If I was doing a fish only, I would use an abundance of live rock to provide most of the bio filtration.

Isn't that their purpose? Nitrification.
Do you mean excessive nitrates?

Cheers,

yes. :smile:

Hmm. That is interesting. This is the first I have heard of that.

I have a Rainbow Lifegard 600 fluidized bed on my 135g reef tank, with a 33g sump, so 160g gross. 227 lbs of LR. Nitrates are still < 5mg, but the whole setup is still only 5 months old.

I also have a 600 on my 90g Discus tank, that has been running for 4? years. Of that tank and my other two FW tanks, 135g Cichlid tank and 70 African Cichlid tank, the Discus tank has the lowest nitrates (5mg) and is the easiest to manage. There are no fluidized beds on the other two FW tanks.
The only other difference is that the Discus tank is planted, whereas the other two are not.

Do you know of any source material on this matter that you can direct me toward?
I'd like to read up on this more.

Thanx much,
:smile:

PS I did a search on RC, but you know how that can sometimes go if your not a paying member

i bet if you removed your fluidized filter you wouldnt notice any diffrence at all. you would also get 10x the bang for the buck with a fuge!

I would love to set up a 'fuge, but my work situation makes it impractical. I'm away from home frequently and maintaining a 'fuge just can't be done when I'm not there. Someday, though and thanx for the input.

Cheers,

:rolleyes: what maintence? you cut back the macro every few weeks.

:rolleyes:
Okay, but I'm gone for as long as 4 weeks at a time, not just a few. If I could be guaranteed that there is no chance that the return pump strainer wouldn't get clogged with macro in that time, then ya, I'd do it. But that's a risk I'm not willing to take. Believe me, I've thought of doing a fuge before. Would love to do it. It's just too risky. (And in case you might be wonderin' "Well the guy's Discus tank is planted. Don't strainers get clogged in that tank?" The two 404 canisters I have on that tank are plumbed onto a UG filter and the fluidized has a pre filter foam on the powerhead, so there's no strainers to clog.)

Cheers,

As well...I've just read (I'm new to this and still learning) in "Reef Invertebrates", by Calfo & Fenner, that infrequent pruning of macro in a fuge can lead to the macro reaching sexual maturity and reproduction with "...numerous, dangerous implications..." as a result.
Another good reason, IMO, to not go fuge with a work sched that involves being away for 4 weeks.

Cheers,

unless you use chaeto.. :mrgreen:

or you light it 24/7.

if your leaving your tank alone for weeks at a time i suspect you have bigger issues than pruning your macros every once and awhile. just an fyi, that’s all i use for my filtration is a big fuge with a micron bag. with all the macro's i have i prune them once every 2 weeks or so. i have never once in 4 years had an issue with macro blocking my return pump because there are baffles between the fuge and the return. i also keep them lit 24/7 and as muck has said cheato cant go sexual and basically grows in a tight ball.

Okay, but I still see a risk of the return pump becoming clogged, which was the original reason for not going fuge.

And sorry for hijacking this thread. It just kinda evolved that way.

Cheers,

it might be hard to see but behind the upright are a few baffles, there is no way any macro is going to get thru that and then past gutter screen to block the return pump.

http://www.mayberryhq.com/images/otis/sump_c.jpg

1. bigger issues ? What do you mean?

2. So do you have filter material stuffed between the baffles?

Cheers,

Yes it is hard to see. I take it the flow is from left to right? So the upright you mention is the vertical glass the water is going over on the right? I can't make out the gutter screen. Is it visible?

Cheers,