Choosing right equipment for Reef tank

[Xclusive Reef]

Couple questions I have on maintaining a healthy reef of mixed fish and corals(mixed corals). Do you need :

Carbon, GFO and Biopellet media reactor needed?

what is needed for dosing? and coral food?
reef roids
Marine Snow (yes or no) ?
Reef frenzy, reef roids, aminos ?

ALK
CAL
MAG

 

[mtraylor]

Well I can chime in.

First and far most you need real good lighting and a real good skimmer and sump. Dump your money here first. This will be the heart of your system.
If you have made it past here. Then you can start looking at all the other stuff.

I personally run Carbon and GFO in the aquarium. You don't have to have them, but the carbon clarifies the water and the GFO keeps phosphates down.
I added these things to my aquarium as it has grown over the years and more demands from the living organisms have increased.

 

[rtparty]

Only things NEEDED are good light, good flow, stability and great water quality. How you get there is up to you.

Light and flow will depend on a few things. Budget, stocking plans, tank size...

Stability and water quality will depend on you.

Lots of ways to skin a cat.

 

[Xclusive Reef]

So you telling me
No all, car, mag is needed for coral growth?

 

[rtparty]

So you telling me
No all, car, mag is needed for coral growth?

Not what I said.

Those three items would fall under water quality.

 

[Lonely reefer's]

What size tank are you going to set up?

 

[Xclusive Reef]

What size tank are you going to set up?

75 gal

 

[CarrieB]

I recommend Bulk Reef Supplies 52 weeks of reefing videos, if you want to hear about all the options. There's too much information and choices to list in one post reply. It's like saying, I'm going to build a house, what should I put in it?

 

[Bpb]

I think the point everyone is attempting to make but perhaps not spelling out clear enough is that the things you listed in the original post are products designed to solve problems. Those are only a tiny portion of available products and methods to solve problems.

So...as mentioned. Good light, excellent water quality, and great flow. Those are the big 3 in reef keeping.

Carbon/gfo/biopellets are each just ONE way to address a water quality problem. Each of those addressing something specific and different. There are many other ways to address those problems.

The coral foods you listed are a few of many dozens and dozens of available options. Some people swear by them, others don't need them

Alkalinity, calcium, magnesium...three main elements we test for when keeping stony corals. All seawater needs those parameters to be stable and in range. Whether you need to purchase something to supplement them would depend on your tank entirely

So the jist of it is...are all those products necessary? Sometimes yes, sometimes no. Depends on the particular tank and what problems need solving.

For example. I ran without any additional filtration for years. Eventually my phosphates became elevated and would no longer come down on their own. So as you can guess, I now run a gfo reactor to keep my phosphates in check. Necessary for me right now but not for everyone all the time

 

[CarrieB]

I recommend Bulk Reef Supplies 52 weeks of reefing videos, if you want to hear about all the options. There's too much information and choices to list in one post reply. It's like saying, I'm going to build a house, what should I put in it?

Then you can come back with more specific questions and get more useful responses.

 

[Xclusive Reef]

I am just trying to figure out what i will need today and tomorrow or the next day so I can keep it in mind when I do my build. Don't want to do my plumbing and then have to redo everything over again.

 

[Xclusive Reef]

I think the point everyone is attempting to make but perhaps not spelling out clear enough is that the things you listed in the original post are products designed to solve problems. Those are only a tiny portion of available products and methods to solve problems.

So...as mentioned. Good light, excellent water quality, and great flow. Those are the big 3 in reef keeping.

Carbon/gfo/biopellets are each just ONE way to address a water quality problem. Each of those addressing something specific and different. There are many other ways to address those problems.

The coral foods you listed are a few of many dozens and dozens of available options. Some people swear by them, others don't need them

Alkalinity, calcium, magnesium...three main elements we test for when keeping stony corals. All seawater needs those parameters to be stable and in range. Whether you need to purchase something to supplement them would depend on your tank entirely

So the jist of it is...are all those products necessary? Sometimes yes, sometimes no. Depends on the particular tank and what problems need solving.

For example. I ran without any additional filtration for years. Eventually my phosphates became elevated and would no longer come down on their own. So as you can guess, I now run a gfo reactor to keep my phosphates in check. Necessary for me right now but not for everyone all the time

thank you for the explanation in detail. I appreciate it. I now know what I need to do.

 

[CarrieB]

I am just trying to figure out what i will need today and tomorrow or the next day so I can keep it in mind when I do my build. Don't want to do my plumbing and then have to redo everything over again.

Totally understandable, but everyone is going to give you different answers about what should be dosed. It depends on what you have in your tank and how you choose to take care of the occupants. Lots of people don't dose anything. Lots of people do.

Perhaps if you described your vision for the end goal of your tank, what you want in it, and what level of automation you would prefer.

 

[clekchau]

What kind of corals do you plan on keeping?

 

[rtparty]

I am just trying to figure out what i will need today and tomorrow or the next day so I can keep it in mind when I do my build. Don't want to do my plumbing and then have to redo everything over again.

Definitely watch the 52 weeks of reefing from Bulk Reef Supply. That should be the minimum before setting anything up

 

[Lonely reefer's]

I'm a nano reefer for many years but I I just set up a used 75g
Here what I have a basic to run a fish/corals
Tank
Light
Return pump
Heater
Ato(make life easier)
Skimmer(but not in use due to low biolode or you can add later but make sure you have space available)
Good saltmix( I wold buy affordable salt mix to cycle the tank for now)
Fish food( not necessary if you don't have live stocks yet)
Sum/refugim if not all in one tank you going to set up
Rodi water maker(make life easier)
---------- equipment /food you can add later---------
Corals foods(but not necessary if you feed the fish)
gfo/carbon reactor
3 parts doser(if your tank is loaded with sps)

 

[Xclusive Reef]

What kind of corals do you plan on keeping?

start off with soft corals then into some sps and lps. hope I can do a mixed bag, a little of everything but it can all change depending on how the tank reacts to the corals once I add them in.

 

[clekchau]

start off with soft corals then into some sps and lps. hope I can do a mixed bag, a little of everything but it can all change depending on how the tank reacts to the corals once I add them in.

I am helping someone set up a new tank now, they are selecting the equipment as we speak.

Essentials:
- good light, they picked sbreef lights
- good flow, they picked gyre x150
- good skimmer , still undecided but leaning towards aqua max
- test kit, Hanna for alk and calcium, Red Sea for ammonia, nitrites, nitrates
- hydrometer
- custom built acrylic sump
- brs dosing pump X 2
- dosing for alk and calcium
- weekly water change 10% , should keep mag at the right level

If you don't mind used you could save a lot buying an entire setup from someone leaving the hobby or upgrading

 

[Xclusive Reef]

I am helping someone set up a new tank now, they are selecting the equipment as we speak.

Essentials:
- good light, they picked sbreef lights
- good flow, they picked gyre x150
- good skimmer , still undecided but leaning towards aqua max
- test kit, Hanna for alk and calcium, Red Sea for ammonia, nitrites, nitrates
- hydrometer
- custom built acrylic sump
- brs dosing pump X 2
- dosing for alk and calcium
- weekly water change 10% , should keep mag at the right level

If you don't mind used you could save a lot buying an entire setup from someone leaving the hobby or upgrading

thanks for the comment. Here is my plan for equipment:

75 gal tank
largest sump i can fit
reef breeder photon led
2-3 Nanostream 6055
skimmer: Skimz Monzter SM161 Internal Protein Skimmer (132-317 gal tank)
live sand
dry rock