fastredponycar Posted January 21, 2004 Share Posted January 21, 2004 What's up guys. I've got a 29 gal aquarium and looking to get into the salt water thing. I've had this and a few other smaller quariums for about 3 years breeding variuous types of fish (mainly african cichlids) but after 3 years, it's getting old and I want something that will really wow people when they walk in my living room. Please bear with this long post as I have a lot of questions and want to do things right the first time instead of learning from mistakes. I made several mistakes with the freshwater setups but these saltwater tanks are expensive! First off, what excatly is a nano reef aquarium?? I'm assuming it is referring to the small size of the quariums? So anyways, I went to our local pet store who overcharges for saltwater stuff since they're the only dealer spanning 100 miles of where I live. I bought a big bag of crushed coral to line the bottom of the tank with as well as about 9 lbs of cured Fiji rock and a few small pieces of coral along with a "Coralife" brand 10,000 K flourescent bulb. Here's where my questoins come into play because the women at the fish store tried to answer my questions by showing me expensive stuff that common sense told me I didn't need. First question: I got my tank at walmart. It came with a filter that hangs over the back of the tank and has twin blue material with carbon inside type filters. I also have a handfull of bio balls from my freshwater setup that I've kept in the back of the filter. Is this filter going to be adequate for this size tank? It worked for the fresh water setup. Second question: How much live rock do I need? I've got 4 lbs of Fiji right now and another 10lbs of specialty tonga should be at my door any day now. I've been told by a few people that 1lb of rock per gallon of water is good. The pictures of the rocks that the guy sold me look great. Price really isn't important. I just want the best looking rock I can get my hands on. so any suggestions would be great on that matter. Another question: Live sand, the lady at the store didn't have any live sand but petco does and I go there every now and then when i visit birmingham. Do I need live sand to go with the coral on the bottom of the aquarium? 4th quesiton: plants...what type of anomonies and what not would be good to start with? Preferrably low maintennce and something that will look nice also. fifth question! - What is a protein skimmer and do I need one? Final questoin! - Lighting...Is this light that I have good enough to run and if so, how long should it be run? I was told that it's blue color is to simulate mid day sunlight. There are other bulbs there that mimic morning and afternoon light. My canopy only holds 1 bulb but I think I might be able to retro fit it to hold a second bulb. I'm not sure if this is realistic and entirely necessary but I was thinking that I could use two timers. One to activate the reddish color light in the mornings and afternoons, shut off mid day and to have another timer activate the mid day light during mid day then shut off when the other light comes back on. Is this even necessary? Thanks for any responses guys. I really appreciate it!! Link to comment
caja Posted January 22, 2004 Share Posted January 22, 2004 whoa, could you resize that pic down significantly? Not to be a pain, but it's really hard to read your post when I have to scroll back and forth across the screen. More people will respond if you make it viewer friendly. Link to comment
Chyendra Posted January 22, 2004 Share Posted January 22, 2004 I'm kinda a newbie too, but one thing's for sure, Your going to need alot better lighting then that for corals. NO (normal output) florecents (which sounds like you have) are really only good for fish only tanks. You're going to want at least a good Power Compact set-up, or even better, metal halide! do a search on Lighting for 29 gallons and see what you get. That will help answer alot of questions. Use the search!! Link to comment
tylernt Posted January 22, 2004 Share Posted January 22, 2004 You may want to do some reading at http://www.nano-reef.com/articles/ and check out some nano tanks at http://www.nano-reef.com/members/ to get you started. It sounds like you are very experienced in FW but unfortunately, most of that experience is inapplicable to SW in general and reefkeeping in particular. Link to comment
tinyreef Posted January 22, 2004 Share Posted January 22, 2004 it's Mt. Wannahockaloogie! 1st rule of reef club: don't talk about the JCT 2nd rule of reef club: buy a book about SW 3rd rule of reef club: girl reefer q's are answered faster welcome to the reef club! edit: to answer some of the q's, fiji rock is the standard for looks imo. a protein skimmer is recommended (by me) but not necessary. crop/shrink future pics, please. hth Link to comment
fishtankbabe Posted January 22, 2004 Share Posted January 22, 2004 Okay, to make it easier I’ll try and answer your questions in order. 1. This filter will be of little use, other than water movement. Take all the filter materials out of it, and do not put in bio balls. In essence, bio balls work too well and will cause high nitrate levels. Not a big deal in a fresh tank, or even a fish only salt tank, but in a reef tank it is very bad. I come from a freshwater background too, and I had to break myself of the filter concept. A system like this uses natural filtration through live rock and sand, a protein skimmer if you want to add one, and a refugium if you want to add one. (I’ll explain what a protein skimmer is in a minute.) You will need more water flow also, look into getting some powerheads. 2. You need 1 to 1.5 pounds of live rock per gallon, so for a 30 gallon tank you want somewhere between 30 and 50 pounds. 3. Crushed coral is not good. You want aragonite sand with a small grain size. Don’t worry about it being live or not, it will become live in time. 4. Anemones and corals are not plants, they are animals. Anemones are not good for beginners, and some say that it is unethical for anyone to keep anemones in captivity. They can live to be over 100 years old in the wild, but rarely survive more than a few years in captivity. Good beginner corals are mushrooms, zoos, and ricordeas. 5. A protein skimmer removes organic waste from the water before it has a chance to go through the nitrogen cycle. I’m too lazy to explain how it works, but you can easily look this up on the internet. Whether you need one or not will depend on how heavily you plan to stock your tank. Fish create much more waste than corals, which includes leftover food the fish don’t eat. 6. If you want to keep corals, you will need a much better (read more expensive) light set-up. Probably not what you wanted to hear, I know, but it’s a fact. Regular fluorescent lights will not cut it. You need either power compact fluorescents, very high output (VHO) fluorescents, or metal halide. I would suggest that you do some more research before you put anything else in the tank (with the exception of the live rock you already have on the way.) Read the articles on this site, and just surf around reading some of the other posts. You will learn tons of great stuff. www.reefcentral.com is also a good resource. Also, don’t rely on what employees at the LFS tell you. Some of them are great and really knowledgeable, but others have no idea what they’re talking about and aren’t afraid to make it up as they go. Books and forums like this one are the best sources of information, IMO. Hope this helps, and welcome to Nano-reef.com! Link to comment
tylernt Posted January 22, 2004 Share Posted January 22, 2004 "Ah-Ha! All the clownfish and yellow tangs in the world can't help you now!" - Peter Griffin "The Family Guy"fishtankbabe, please tell me that is a real quote! I can't find it in Google anywhere, and if it IS real, I want a WAV for my computer startup/shutdown sound! Link to comment
fastredponycar Posted January 22, 2004 Author Share Posted January 22, 2004 heh sorry guys for the large image size. I'm used to my big monitor ??? OK, I checked the light and it's says high output 20W. As some of you have discovered, I am totally in the dark on this type of aquarium. I'm fixin to go check out the lighting portion of the board and see what I can come up with. Link to comment
fishtankbabe Posted January 22, 2004 Share Posted January 22, 2004 Tylernt - Yes it is a real quote. I'm not sure what the name of the episode is, but it's a Christmas one. Hilarious. One of the funniest episodes I've seen, and it's a pretty funny show. Do you get Cartoon Network? They show it every weeknight. If you keep watching you'll see it. Link to comment
Ike Posted January 22, 2004 Share Posted January 22, 2004 First, did you buy live corals already? Please take them out immediately and return them to the LFS. They are going to die in that tank the way it is. I'm going to bet that you haven'y cycled yet & even if you have, when you add your additional rock you're going to cycle again. Second, the light you have is pretty useless. The lighting that you will need is totally dependant on what you are going to keep in the tank. You can use NO bulbs, you'll just need LOTS of them. You can also choose form PC, VHO or MH lighting. No one is better than any others, since it really depends on what you are going to keep, they are different. Like comparing apples to oranges. Listen to everything fishtankbabe said. Go here http://www.nano-reef.com/articles/ and do some reading & research. Link to comment
Whitten Posted January 22, 2004 Share Posted January 22, 2004 Hey Drew.....hahah I knew that if I camped out on a Saltwater website long enough that you would pop up. Anyway, Alan and I have had our salts set up for quite some time now. You really should come by and check them out. Alan has his 10 Gallon, and my roomie Matt has a ten with about 15 lbs of live rock and a Coral Beauty Angel. And here I thought that you had done alot of salt water stuff before. Your tank is gonna need a few key things....one of which will be to stop going to that POS sorry excuse of a store called tropiquarium. As of right now I have abotu three corals in my aquarium(minibow 2.5) and Alan has about the same. He just ordered his PC lights, and will be taking delivery of them tommorow. As for me I already have my Power compacts set up and running. If you really want some help I would be more than willing to sit down and explain everythign to you and advise you on what you need and what you don't. There are many ways to do do it yourself stuff for your tank, and that will help with the cost. Let me know if you wanna come check out all of our mini reefs and hey I even have set up a tiny one in my g/f's room at her dorm. Link to comment
reefsrule Posted January 22, 2004 Share Posted January 22, 2004 Originally posted by fishtankbabe Tylernt - Yes it is a real quote. I'm not sure what the name of the episode is, but it's a Christmas one. Hilarious. One of the funniest episodes I've seen, and it's a pretty funny show. Do you get Cartoon Network? They show it every weeknight. If you keep watching you'll see it. I rarely ever watch that show but I did here that quote! Link to comment
fastredponycar Posted January 22, 2004 Author Share Posted January 22, 2004 no i haven't got any corals yet. just live rock. I'm trying to go slow and not put anything expensive into it that could die from an unprepared environment. I've been looking around and I've found a set of powerheads (Maxi jets) I'm thinking about getting as well as an Aquasea Remora skimmer. I'm just trying to find a decent lighting hood with a twin PC bulb setup preferably the 65 watt bulbs. Link to comment
reefsrule Posted January 22, 2004 Share Posted January 22, 2004 65 watts will limit you to mushrooms and non-photosythetics Link to comment
Whitten Posted January 22, 2004 Share Posted January 22, 2004 Drew, check my post above. And call my cell (770)-403-2972 (I want something fast) Link to comment
fastredponycar Posted January 22, 2004 Author Share Posted January 22, 2004 damn whitten, How'd you find me!? Man...the headswap is getting farther and farther away Yeah I need to come by and check out the setups. OK...so as far as what I need first, the only thing that I've committed to is the rock. That's it. That's all I've got so it's a fairly fresh slate. Do I need to get everything at once or is there one thing in particular that I need to kick things off with? Link to comment
Whitten Posted January 22, 2004 Share Posted January 22, 2004 Alright you are doing just fine, and don't worry about killing everything cause this is gonna be easy. As of right no you have what they call an HOB or hang on the back. I assume that you are moving around 300 gph or so, but that is gonna be the start. First thing is first we need to get your salinity correct, it should read right at 1.025 on the specific gravity. If that is cool, then we move on to substrate. Substrate like they said is gonna need to be very thin, and made of aragonite. This helps several things, one your critters can burrow, 2 you have created a mini habitat for microscopic critters called copopods....they are good dont worry, and three it will help make for a preatty landscape. Basicly you crushed coral can stay, but we can cover it with some thin arag sand. I myself use Araga-live since it helps to jumpstart the ecosystem, but it is fairy expensive from anywhere from 15 to 30 dollars a bag. Next we move to water movement. If you are gonna have a reef this is key My suggestion is that we look at getting you some power heads, and thenon down the road a piece look at that Remora Skimmer( that is what I am getting for my 30 gallon). Now that those things are tanken care of we can talk about lighting. This is very important dependign on several things one...what you want to keep, two your budget. My suggestions would be to get a halide setup of about 250 watts, and you will be straight. I know those seem very expensive but there are alot of diy projects that are cheap. After all of that is taken care of we put in the corals very slowly, and add some fish. It is best to take this slow, as letting a tank runn and cycle only helps. I will explian more when you come over some time. Link to comment
fastredponycar Posted January 22, 2004 Author Share Posted January 22, 2004 ahh... yeah i was looking at different types of aragonite. Well...that and I was looking at a couple of sites. not sure if these prices are good or a rip off. Mike, lemme know what you think about this. First site, looking at getting the rest of my live rock and sand from these guys. http://www.tbsaltwater.com/price.html# $2 per lb of sand, $5 per lb of live rock (which is $4 cheaper than what I paid at a store in phenix city, not those ho's over at tropiquarium) It's a pretty decent store with 2 30 gallon tanks with nothing but fiji rock curing. we took about 4 lbs of it home in a partially filled water styrofoam cooler to minimize decay or what not. This other guy I bought some tonga rock from overnighted 10lbs of it so it should be at my place hopefully my roomates have put it in the tank. I told both of em that it would be coming today and to throw it in. Salinty is floating just between 1.025 and 1.020 I'm guessign that I've got several water changes in the near future. (probably 1/4 water each week or twice a week mabey? That's what I did with the fresh water tanks) Where'd u get your sand? online or local? K, I just ordered 2 Maxijet 1200 powerheads. I'm still thinking of beign a cheap bastard and using the PC lights instead of halide. I can't find any twin lamp fixtures for my tank!! RAHH! We might have to do one of the DIY kits. So did you guys flush or grill big mouth billy bass? hahah Link to comment
fastredponycar Posted January 22, 2004 Author Share Posted January 22, 2004 hey mike, one more thing, do you think that we could ghetto rig a metal halide setup from supplies at lowes using shop lamps or something? Link to comment
fastredponycar Posted January 22, 2004 Author Share Posted January 22, 2004 AH HA! Not sure if this will work but I found some metal halide parts for contractors. Ballasts -M135 (ANSI) for $65 http://www.hidirect.com/end_user/endballas...lide%20Ballasts Bulbs - 400w MH mogul bulbs for $25 a pop http://www.hidirect.com/framesets/Officelamps.htm Is this even the right kinda stuff to be using? Link to comment
Whitten Posted January 23, 2004 Share Posted January 23, 2004 Hey Drew, Yes we can ghetto rig one for around 100.00 dollars. I have just the site for you to read about lighing. THis site has an entire tutorial about doing a 150-250 watt Halide, aswell as it being the proper wavelenghts, and proper kind of light. http://www.aquarium-lighting-guide.com/dir...iy_projects.php The deal here is that we will be using what they call a magnetic ballast that can create a signifcant amount of heat, and a little bit of a low hum. Best part is that you get alot of light for cheap, and it is better than some of the fixtures in the store cause it is completly custom. I am sure that we can get this figured out pronto since you seem ready to move on this quickly. The Halide setup all together looks like it will cost about 130 with everything shipped....unfortunatly it doesn't end there. We are gonna need to suppliment a little actinic light in there for both color and early day and evening lighing. So a 32 watt or so PC will do the trick. There are just so many options right now, as to what you want to do, and what you wanna allocate funds to. I vote to spend as little as possible on this, but still get the most since we are both handy. Then, after we get this thing rolling you have more money to spend on making that Stang a monster.....I must have your new heads on that car and making ungodly ammounts of power. I want you car to sound like this guys car in the vids... http://www.svtperformance.com/forums/showt...&threadid=76395. Link to comment
fastredponycar Posted January 23, 2004 Author Share Posted January 23, 2004 mmmm....cobra.....yeah 4 cams will do that. But more than likely, my car will sound like this beast... http://www.gladebankway.com/fstpony/Micool.MPG And good news. Last night, I found a reef aquarium...a NICE shop. They got tons of stuff and I'll probably get the rest of my rock from them as well as the sand. I'll just show up with a big cooler and fill it with rock and tons of sand then fill with water and drive home. I think I get paid today, if not, monday. I'll let this rock that's in the tank now get going then hit "tropical fantasies" next week for the rest of the stuff. And I guess after that, rig up some type of light. Link to comment
fastredponycar Posted January 23, 2004 Author Share Posted January 23, 2004 and I forgot to mention that that particular dyno pull yielded 648 rwhp Link to comment
Whitten Posted January 23, 2004 Share Posted January 23, 2004 YEah aquarium fanasies is good for live rock. We got there about 2 times a week....they are starting to recognize us. We have even been know to take trips to Atlanta to get stuff since they have awesome stores up there. Link to comment
fastredponycar Posted January 23, 2004 Author Share Posted January 23, 2004 ahhh...i would love to go to atl nex time. even if i don't buy anything, it'd be fun just to see what things i have to choose from. hey whitney's out of town this weekend. you guys wanna throw down? heheh Link to comment
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