Discus veteran new to marine advice needed

[Aquariumaddictuk]

Good evening all

Ive kept asian and stendker discus succesfully for some time and through countless hours of tinkering with remineralised RODI & water changes/additives had a lot of pleasure keeping them.
I have a sumped EA setup & a seperate tank running a cannister.
Im lookimg to set up a reef tank next & looking for advice on setup.

My goals are: lots of zoanthids, some mushrooms, torches & 2 clownfish.
Id also like to add a decent CUC.

Im adding caribsea arag-alive live sand & caribsea life rock before i start cycle

Im buying aN aquaone 120 & looking to ditch the standard pumps & skimmer

Upgraded equipment will include:

TMC 4000 DC reef pump for return
Sicce nano 2000 wavemaker
Eheim jager 200
Inkbird wifi temp controller
AI HD 32 light
Skimmer nyos 120 or bubble magus curve 7


Im unsure on dosing or skimmer currently

My local LFS has assured me the salty side is less stressful than discus but id be grateful for any advice on setup, dosing & skimmer choice As its a bit of a minefield!

 

[Subsea]

Welcome to the hobby. I jave 51 years of Reefing addiction.

Leas technology & more biology was what John Tullock said in the Natural Reef Aquarium. I am all about KISS: keeping it simple stupid.

First your live sand & live rock from CaribSea is only inoculated with bacteria. This is live rock

Gulf Live Rock.com

gulfliverock.com

 

[Subsea]

The dual 55G tanks are 2yr set up on top and 2month set up on bottom.

Both tanks are skimmerless and sumpless

 

[YOYOYOReefer]

salts easy compared to breeding discus..

i would suggest starting with dosing kalk , with what you want on your stocking list to keep it will probably be all you ever need.

you dont mention an ATO (auto to off)... i would get this before all your other upgrades... basically you need to keep salinity stable and concentrate on alk and the rest of the parameters will magically fall in line.
like discus, nothing good happens fast, there are not miracle bottles to fix bad habits etc.

you hook the kalkreactor to the ato and your replacement water is now working for the reef.

 

[Aquariumaddictuk]

salts easy compared to breeding discus..

i would suggest starting with dosing kalk , with what you want on your stocking list to keep it will probably be all you ever need.

you dont mention an ATO (auto to off)... i would get this before all your other upgrades... basically you need to keep salinity stable and concentrate on alk and the rest of the parameters will magically fall in line.
like discus, nothing good happens fast, there are not miracle bottles to fix bad habits etc.

you hook the kalkreactor to the ato and your replacement water is now working for the reef.

A very good point!
Ive got to invest in an ATO & research kalk dosing.
Is chaeto necessary or overkill for my relatively simple plans?
I run purigen reactors & pristine dosing on discus tanks & its been a godsend for keeping dissolved organics/TDS down.
Happy to invest in the right equipment.
Anything is easier than doing large daily waterchanges!

 

[YOYOYOReefer]

Cheato if you want a fuge is a great idea.
you can also add that in anytime down the road.

whatever you do , a basic way to think about it is "dont put anything into your system that you cant test for" (magic potions etc)

i would say for a beginner get a hydrometer or a salinity meter, a good ato, and ro/di .. once you have those you have a solid foundation to build off of. start with real live rock is also going to put you way ahead of the curve

 

[Aquariumaddictuk]

Cheato if you want a fuge is a great idea.
you can also add that in anytime down the road.

whatever you do , a basic way to think about it is "dont put anything into your system that you cant test for" (magic potions etc)

i would say for a beginner get a hydrometer or a salinity meter, a good ato, and ro/di .. once you have those you have a solid foundation to build off of. start with real live rock is also going to put you way ahead of the curve

Excellent advice thankyou!
I have a pretty industrial RODI setup for the discus currently as my water is incredibly hard/high in nitrates & generally horrible.
Salinity tester is ordered.
As far as salt-is the redsea coral pro ok or is the "blue bucket" better?
I did buy the "life rock" from caribsea which i now regret but presumably i could add some live rock from local marine shop to help "seed" that

 

[Aquariumaddictuk]

Welcome to the hobby. I jave 51 years of Reefing addiction.

Leas technology & more biology was what John Tullock said in the Natural Reef Aquarium. I am all about KISS: keeping it simple stupid.

First your live sand & live rock from CaribSea is only inoculated with bacteria. This is live rock

Gulf Live Rock.com

gulfliverock.com

Ill defo add some live rock as suggested

 

[Hemmdog]

Welcome to salt

 

[Subsea]

In my experiences, I do not focus on alkalinity because in 51 years of Reefing I staid clear of high alkalinity demanding SPS. Passive bufferring is accomplished by aroggonite dissolving during nighttime of low pH & low oxygen. Normal pH fluctuation on a healthy IndoPacific reef Is 7.8 -8.2. Low oxygen at nighttime kills fish, not low pH.

@aquariumaddictuk
In reading your first paragraph of first post, I gathered you were a techie who was looking for an easier way.

I say emulate Nature.

PS: The Dicuss are gorgeous
PSS: I am not familiar with your equipment list.. What size tank is this?

 

[Subsea]

With respect to longevity of system, consider using your arogonite substrate on top of a plenum with a reverse flow, in that way your focus is oxydation chemistry not reducing chemistry. More importantly, your substrate is a matrix for diverse micro fauna & fana to process both inorganic & organic nutrients into live food for hungry mouths via the ”microbial loop”

I have cannister filters on every system I operate and am using them as cryptic refugiums.

My bad for the double post.

 

[Subsea]

A very good point!
Ive got to invest in an ATO & research kalk dosing.
Is chaeto necessary or overkill for my relatively simple plans?
I run purigen reactors & pristine dosing on discus tanks & its been a godsend for keeping dissolved organics/TDS down.
Happy to invest in the right equipment.
Anything is easier than doing large daily waterchanges!

If you have a small tank, then ATO will dampen fluctuations, in my experiences not absolutely necessary but worth the investment. I have eight tanks in my living area, so I am frugal with equipment. On a young system, wait on Chaeto refugium. I use ornamental seaweed in my display.

Iights on 5 minutes:

 

[Rusty_L_Shackleford]

Ill defo add some live rock as suggested

I would go a step add try to add rock from multiple sources if possible. Extra biodiversity couldnt hurt.

Welcome to salt. Reefing even more addicting than discus.