150gal cube setup help I'm new to saltwater

[James1227]

Hi I'm picking up a 150gallon cube tank this Sunday an I'm wanting to start a saltwater I've always heard the bigger the better for them the tank has a overflow setup with a little 10 gallon filter an I have some questions what all do I need with that filter or is that enough how much live rock do I need an how to mix the water do I do that inside of the tank thanks for the help

 

[domination2580]

Hi I'm picking up a 150gallon cube tank this Sunday an I'm wanting to start a saltwater I've always heard the bigger the better for them the tank has a overflow setup with a little 10 gallon filter an I have some questions what all do I need with that filter or is that enough how much live rock do I need an how to mix the water do I do that inside of the tank thanks for the help

Ok. One thing is a must in this hobby. Patience is key. As far as looking for info, you came to the right place, i dont know your lfs there but most ive heard about tells you things to get you to buy. By all means please check other sources before biting the bullet. As far as equipment. A skimmer is a huge thing in our hobby. Always buy a skimmer that most puerile would think is overkill for the tank. Ex. You have a 150 gallon tank, get a 200 gallon capable skimmer. Next thing is going to be lighting and flow. Lighting all depends on your preference. I go with led, can be costly but in the long run it pays itself in the end. I have sbreeflights. I love them and they grow coral very nicely. Ocean revives are another option. For the more pricier ones, there is kessil, hydras, and radions. All work well. I just don't want to fork up 1000$ for a light when i can get sbreeflights that cover more if the tank for much less. As far as flow goes i run jeabao rk4. It work for my tank. Your main goal for flow is to have enough to get to all the crooks and crannys but not enough to throw sand around. After getting coral you will be able to adjust to what they prefer. The next thing would be to chose sand or bare bottom. I use sand. I prefer it because it looks natural and does give a good bacteria population for my tank. Then the live rock comes into play. You can either get live rock or dry rock. Dry rock is less expensive. Once u get everything together your gonna wanna aquascape to your liking. Your going to need a heater as well. I like the titanium heaters that have a controller. As far as salt water goes. I suggest mixing in buckets so you mix all the salt and then add the aater to your tank. Once you have a decent ammount of water in the tank you can adjust salinity. The best way to do so is get yourself a refractometer. Your goal would be 35pt or 1.025. Once you have the tank setup and water in it, its gonna start your cycling process. You can either start it by putting a small chunk of food in and let it decay or you can go buy PURE ammonia and dose a little bit of it. You can then add live nitrifying bacteria if desired to get a boost at starting rhe bacteria population. What will happen is the nitrogen cycle. You will start with ammonia which will be turned into nitrite, then to nitrate. It will not be overnight due to the lack of bacteria when first started. You will want test kits to check the levels. After a week or so you will see your ammonia drop to zero, your nitrites rise and drop to zero as well. Essentially when you dose ammonia to the tank you are watching for the ammonia and nitrite to be consumed and at 0 overnight. That is when you can add your first fish. But remember to go slow so the bioload can keep up.

 

[James1227]

Ok cool a lot of help there in not worried about time I have all the time in the world I'm a patient person so I have lights already not sure what kind but that's the one thing that is coming with the tank an ad for skimmers what size tank could I make a sumo out of to work for a 150 gallon an how many pounds of rock do I need to ha ricks. The tank

 

[domination2580]

I personaly wouldnt go smaller than a 55 gallon. It all depends on what your wanting in a sump and what space is needed for all the equipment. And a good base is 1lb per gallon for rock.

 

[James1227]

Ok yea I was planning on a 40 galling because that's all that will fit under my stand an as far as to what goes in it I'm not sure any suggestions

 

[Germ42]

Ok. One thing is a must in this hobby. Patience is key. As far as looking for info, you came to the right place, i dont know your lfs there but most ive heard about tells you things to get you to buy. By all means please check other sources before biting the bullet. As far as equipment. A skimmer is a huge thing in our hobby. Always buy a skimmer that most puerile would think is overkill for the tank. Ex. You have a 150 gallon tank, get a 200 gallon capable skimmer. Next thing is going to be lighting and flow. Lighting all depends on your preference. I go with led, can be costly but in the long run it pays itself in the end. I have sbreeflights. I love them and they grow coral very nicely. Ocean revives are another option. For the more pricier ones, there is kessil, hydras, and radions. All work well. I just don't want to fork up 1000$ for a light when i can get sbreeflights that cover more if the tank for much less. As far as flow goes i run jeabao rk4. It work for my tank. Your main goal for flow is to have enough to get to all the crooks and crannys but not enough to throw sand around. After getting coral you will be able to adjust to what they prefer. The next thing would be to chose sand or bare bottom. I use sand. I prefer it because it looks natural and does give a good bacteria population for my tank. Then the live rock comes into play. You can either get live rock or dry rock. Dry rock is less expensive. Once u get everything together your gonna wanna aquascape to your liking. Your going to need a heater as well. I like the titanium heaters that have a controller. As far as salt water goes. I suggest mixing in buckets so you mix all the salt and then add the aater to your tank. Once you have a decent ammount of water in the tank you can adjust salinity. The best way to do so is get yourself a refractometer. Your goal would be 35pt or 1.025. Once you have the tank setup and water in it, its gonna start your cycling process. You can either start it by putting a small chunk of food in and let it decay or you can go buy PURE ammonia and dose a little bit of it. You can then add live nitrifying bacteria if desired to get a boost at starting rhe bacteria population. What will happen is the nitrogen cycle. You will start with ammonia which will be turned into nitrite, then to nitrate. It will not be overnight due to the lack of bacteria when first started. You will want test kits to check the levels. After a week or so you will see your ammonia drop to zero, your nitrites rise and drop to zero as well. Essentially when you dose ammonia to the tank you are watching for the ammonia and nitrite to be consumed and at 0 overnight. That is when you can add your first fish. But remember to go slow so the bioload can keep up.

Awesome info! Great way to help someone get into the hobby! Awesome feeling to know there are people like you, that are here to help the people wanting to start! Keep it up!

 

[Germ42]

Personally I always try to fit the biggest sump in anything because the more water the easier it is, the more water the more things are diluted! So I go for the biggest possible fitting sump I can make or get lol. For instance in my 65 DT i have a 30 gallons sump! Because the 29 was all I can fit under the stand but you can bet if I could fit a 125 in my cabinet I would totally use it lol

 

[domination2580]

Personally I always try to fit the biggest sump in anything because the more water the easier it is, the more water the more things are diluted! So I go for the biggest possible fitting sump I can make or get lol. For instance in my 65 DT i have a 30 gallons sump! Because the 29 was all I can fit under the stand but you can bet if I could fit a 125 in my cabinet I would totally use it lol

Thank you for the words sir! I appreciate it and always looking to get more people in the reefing community. And like you aid bigger the better and easier in this case.

 

[domination2580]

Ok yea I was planning on a 40 galling because that's all that will fit under my stand an as far as to what goes in it I'm not sure any suggestions

You can either do refugium style or just plain style. The refugium is going to give you the most benefits. In a refugium, people add macro algae. Macro algae will eat your excess nutrients like nitrates and phosphates which in return wp leave you a healthier tank. On order to grow the macro you will need a light for it. When it gets to be to much you can either cut it down amd sell or give away or throw it

 

[jkopfishman]

I have a 150 gal tank and i have a 30 gal sump for my skimmer, uv sterilizer, heater, filter socks/pads, return pump and live rock. Next to that i have a 20 gal refugium running from and back to my sump. Would of been easier to get a 55 with room for skimmer and refugium in one but didnt work out that way. The amount of live rock u need really depends on ur aquascape preference and what else u have for filtration. Get the best skimmer u can afford. If u like small aquascapes and more swimming room for fish then put more rock in ur sump. It also depends if ur gonna have alot of corals. More corals means u need more rock surface to put it on. But like others have said patience is huge in this hobby for so many reasons. Ive changed my aquascapes many times. As i accumulated more rock i added more to my tank. As i learned to aquascape i changed it around. Then i learned differnt types of aquascaping so i changed it around again and have less rock but more room for corals, then i added the extra rock to my sump for extra filtration. When u do water changes, never mix it in the aquarium. Good luck

 

[CastAway]

Hey @James1227! Welcome to The hobby and R2R! Great folks here. Take it all in, apply what you consistently hear.

Excellent choice in aquarium size.

Enjoy!

 

[Reef2zach]

In my experience don't buy cheap. Cause your gonna end up buying the nicer product later anyway when your not satisfied with performance. Also if your thinking about doing SPS your going to want a phosphate reactor to keep your phosphates from jumping. Some SPS are very finicky with phosphates. Also think about a quarantine tank to set up in a backroom. It sounds silly at first but your gonna be so happy when you drop your first tang in there and in a day it pops up with ick and now your main display isn't contaminated with ick parasites. There's honestly so many things to learn with reefing and saltwater. Reef slow and you'll grow. I still learn new stuff all the time and I've been doing this for 3 years now. GL with the tank!

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