Questions?

[DarkSide]

Okay, so i've got a 55 (US)gallon aquarium that i've been meaning to set-up. I was going to save it for later and make an Amazon River Basin biome, but i've been looking at the diffrent pictures of well-established reefs and nano-aquariums and found them to be absoulutly beautiful. I'm also a brand-new addition to the marine aquarist hobby so i'm not aware of many of the diffrent aspects, only the same that are used for freshwater. So my first questions are:

1) Are there any disadvantages to having such a large tank turned into a reef tank?
2) Would it be alot easier to make a nano reef in an un-used 5 (US)gallon tank I have?
3) What kind of equipment would I need?
4) How does one go about making a refugium and what are its main advantages and disadvantages?
5) How does Silica sand compare to live sand? I find that live sand tends to be large clumpish shapes, while I prefer soft, fine grade sand.
6) How much live rock would be suitable for my tank?
7) What exactly does people use for base rock? Where would I get it?
8) I've heard that the larger the reef tank the easier it is to maintain. Is this true?
9) How many/how powerful of a powerhead would I need?
10) What are lighting requirements for reef tanks generally?

Sorry for the amount of questions, i'm sure I have more, but i'll have to think about it for a while.

Thank you very very much.

-Joel. Happy day after Canada day.

 

[shibby]

il try and answer best i can


1. no apart from if you want to go harder corals your need powerful halides.

2. might be easier to get lighting and flow better but harder to keep parameters correct

3. heater, powerheads, refractometer, strong lighting (dependant on what corals you want), thermometer, possibly an external filter, a skimmer would be recomended for corals on the 55 tank but water changes would be ok for croals on the nano tank.

4. im not sure how to make one .... soemne else will field this one, theres a couple tiopics about them around actually.

5. use aroganite sdand seems tro be the poular choice, live sand is a gimic, and somewherre i think i heard silic sand wont buffer enough ...

6. live rock yoru looking at 20-25kg if you want it for sufficent filtration, and to make the tank look fuller and more aesthically pleasing imo.

7. peopel use base rock to bulk up the quantiy of rock in the tank, its best to go all live rock, though i believe base rock will turn live after a while.

8. yes in a way larger tanks r easier to maintain, easier to control parameters, temp and salintiy and also if ssomething dies or goes wrong your got a bigger water mass to deal with it.

9. recomend at least 2 incase one fails or breaks, and you looking at 20x turnover i beleive.

10. depends on what corals u want ...

i hope this helps a bit, read through journals they help wth set up!

 

[AK77]

1) The bigger the better. As Shibby said, lighting will be more of an issue - more water, bigger area = more light wattage. If you are keeping a fish only or fish only with live rock tank, then lighting isn't going to be so much of an issue. If you intend to have a reef aquarium then multiple T5 lighting or Metal Halides would be best.

2) Nano reefs are potentially more difficult for beginners to keep. The smaller size means that changes in water chemistry can happen much faster than a bigger aquarium, which if unchecked, will result in the death of the inhabitants.

3) What shibby said

4) A refugium is just another tank which is usually positioned above the display tank, where algaes and small marine life can grow and flourish. There are really two types of refugium, those that are meant to be displayed and are literally just a safe place for seahorses, some shrimps and copepods etc. The other type is used primarily as a means to filtrate the water by placing macro algaes in it which will grow nad absorb nitrates and phosphates etc. The latter is usually located in the sump beneath the main tank. Try checking out Melev's website and looking at various designs and uses. You don't have to use acrylic. Just converting an regular glass tank is much easier.

5) If memory serves me correct you want to avoid silica sand as it contains silicates and will cause huge micro algae blooms in your main tank. Use aragonite or crushed coral substrate.

6) About 1.5lbs per gallon is the general rule of thumb. The more LR you have, the more efficient the filtration

7) What shibby said

8 ) Yes and no. They are easy to maintain in terms of the water chemistry being easier to maintain. Cleaning the tank will take longer etc.

9) What Shibby said. Seio are a good option or if you can afford it, Tunze. I will be using 2 x 2500 LPH hailea pumps with hydor deflectors.

10) Soft corals can do well under T5 lighting. Hard corals require stronger lighting and so Metal Halides are utilized. I have 2 x 150w for a 40G/180 Litre (UK) tank.

 

[DarkSide]

Okay! Thanks alot. This really helped me out.

I was thinking about this alot last night and I was having troubles getting to sleep. Another question I have is how many fish/invertabrates would I be allowed to keep?


-Joel.

 

[shibby]

inverts quite a few since they dotn have a huge impact on bioload! prob about 1 per gallon would be sufficent, obviously things like shrimp will count as 2-3 in that count!

fish i woul say you sud look at between 8-10 but stocking slowly so to get up to that stocking level you should be patient take it slow, more susceptable to swings in the first few months ... better safe then sorry


do some research make a list and people here will eb able to tell wether its compatable then! though there will always be mixed reviews and dont always beleive places like liveaquaria thehy dont always get it right but its a good start cus they no most things

 

[DarkSide]

Yeah, i've been using liveaquaria for alot of my ideas, looking around at what I like and such. For fish, i'm not going to get anything to large, and my largest fish would probably be one of the smaller species of lionfish, like a Zebra Lionfish. Lots of the fish that I would like to have are not listed as being reef compatible on liveaquaria due to the fact they eat coral and such. Which brings me to another question. Is there any specific amount of coral that I should be able to put into my tank?

Also i'm still having trouble figuring out how to set-up the plumbing for a refugium, aswell would a 5 (US)gallon tank be enough of a refugium for a 55 gallon tank? Beside that i'm wondering how people keep corraline algae of the front and side of their tanks, so that they don't block the veiw?

 

[steelhealr]

Do the 55. Although modding the nano section, they are a challenge. Most people go for and get 'instant gratification' by cycling their tank and then 'plopping' in a reef. The real headaches come later down the line. The larger, the better. You can always start up a smaller nano after you get the hang of things. JMO. SH

 

[shibby]

which im planning to do set up a nano so i can have non reef safe fish in my bigger tank


also be careful with the dwarflionfish, they will still eat anything that they can fit in there mouth! this includes clownfish, small wrasses, cardinals, gobys etc. some will be fine for ages then one day just feel like eating a clown or something! they are stunning fish though, just need big tankmates for it !

 

[DarkSide]

which im planning to do set up a nano so i can have non reef safe fish in my bigger tank


also be careful with the dwarflionfish, they will still eat anything that they can fit in there mouth! this includes clownfish, small wrasses, cardinals, gobys etc. some will be fine for ages then one day just feel like eating a clown or something! they are stunning fish though, just need big tankmates for it !

I was thinking about that yesterday, lol. I realized that lionfish have fairly big mouths, and that my other fish are going to be fairly small. So I think I might swap the dwarf lionfish for a dwarf angelfish. On that is not particularilly bad with corals.

 

[shibby]

yeh thats what i did got a coral beauty instead, i think lionfish are stunning, but im glad i have options to get clowns and wrasses now

 

[DarkSide]

Anyone else have any answers for my unanswered questions?

 

[kkyyllee]

shrimp will have very little effect on the bioload

i would do a 10 galln for the refugium, gives you more space to work with

 

[n3ont3tra]

Dwarf Lions still get about 6 or 7 inches. That's big, IMO. Angelfish are hit and miss, some will never eat corals their whole life, some eat everything. You could also get one that is fine and then all of a sudden eats all the corals in your tank.

Inverts are pretty much unlimited, just make sure that you have food for them if they eat all of the algae.

 

[DarkSide]

So another question i'm having in my mind is: filtration.

I know that my live rock and refugium will provide alot of the natural filtration.

Along with this is there anything i'm supposed to run. I believe some of the members run Power filters without the filter screens in them, i'm not sure what purpose this is, so could someone please clerify? Also is there anything else that should be specifically set-up?

 

[shibby]

alot of people run external filters, with the sponge media removed and rowaphos or live rock put in its place, you can keep the carbon in there. the rowaphos will remove phosphate which i believe will control algae or something along those lines...the external can also act as extra flow rate.