Just wanted to thank everyones posts on this forum, I have took what I thought made sense too me on many, many posts. I think what I learned from doing investigations and reading forums is that there is many ways to do this hobby. By no means I believe that my way is the best way or the right way it was the way I did it with the information I gathered. As in this hobby you will realize 100 say do it a certain way and 100 say do it another certain way. Which for newbies like me it makes it hard what to believe. But you will find a way that works for you. There are certain things that I think this hobby you have to stick by which is a good RODI system is essential.
I purchased a Red Sea Max 650 tank 175 gallons off of Kijiji and it was the aquarium that thought would work best for me. It had the T5 light system that I wanted and they were plain and simple I went with 8 ATI. Front 4 lights on canopy - 2 Aqua blue, Blue plus, Coral plus. Back 4 lights on canopy - 4 Actinic.
I purchased a Red Sea Reefer protein skimmer 600, works amazing no issues. I added 100 pounds of Live Sand from Caribe Sea and found it was too fine so I added some bigger substrate. I switched out the return pump that came with it too a Life guard aquatics 991. I have 3.5 foot of lift and it cycles the tank 3 times an hour which is perfect. I also added 2 heaters Ehiem 300 watt, I keep the tank at 81'. I have some media underneath the skimmer, under the return pipes in the sump, I have some small pieces of live rock in my sump. I have about 140 pounds of rock which is low but with the added media it has been fine.
I let the tank cycle for 5 weeks and then added Dr. Tims, I also used Fritz Pro RPM salt. The salinity has been 1.024 from day one. I do 20 gallon water changes every week. As you can see with my RODI system it works out great for me those are 22 gallon bins, I have one bin I use to fill up my reservoir and the other on is on wheels so I can roll the water to the tank when the salt is ready and water is warmed to 78 degrees. I used Brute white 22 gallon bins with lids, more expensive but the look more professional with a clean look. I have a Spectapure 90 RODI system, all the investigation I have done this one looked for the best for me and it hasn't disappointed.
To start with I added 5 zombie snails and 5 hermit crabs 24 hours after adding Dr Tims. All levels were excellent, I added fish 48 hours after 2 vlamingi Tangs and 2 Naso Tangs, after 3 weeks I had to take one of the Vlamingi's back to the store due to them fighting really bad. In exchange I was given 2 small black and orange Ocellaris Clownfish. They are all getting alone better. I picked up a neon goby and a blue cleaner wrasse to help with the fish keeping healthy.
I will be starting a quarantine tank for new additions but from the start I did not, which I know is not recommended. So Thank you Reef 2 Reef, I came into this hobby 5 months ago reading and taking the dive into this hobby. Please reach out if you have any questions, I'm actually amazed how much knowledge you gain by diving in and asking questions etc, I'm learning day by day. For all you who are scared to jump in, my recommendation is that make sure you have a RODI system first and foremost. This will make things go smoothly and wont have too worry about unclean water and or going to the store to purchase RODI water. Good luck and have fun. Please see pics below. It took alot of help to get this tank in the house and I drove 2 hours one way 2 times to pick it up. Please see pics below, I think it turned out pretty sweet. Couldn't be happier. Happy Reefing.
I purchased a Red Sea Max 650 tank 175 gallons off of Kijiji and it was the aquarium that thought would work best for me. It had the T5 light system that I wanted and they were plain and simple I went with 8 ATI. Front 4 lights on canopy - 2 Aqua blue, Blue plus, Coral plus. Back 4 lights on canopy - 4 Actinic.
I purchased a Red Sea Reefer protein skimmer 600, works amazing no issues. I added 100 pounds of Live Sand from Caribe Sea and found it was too fine so I added some bigger substrate. I switched out the return pump that came with it too a Life guard aquatics 991. I have 3.5 foot of lift and it cycles the tank 3 times an hour which is perfect. I also added 2 heaters Ehiem 300 watt, I keep the tank at 81'. I have some media underneath the skimmer, under the return pipes in the sump, I have some small pieces of live rock in my sump. I have about 140 pounds of rock which is low but with the added media it has been fine.
I let the tank cycle for 5 weeks and then added Dr. Tims, I also used Fritz Pro RPM salt. The salinity has been 1.024 from day one. I do 20 gallon water changes every week. As you can see with my RODI system it works out great for me those are 22 gallon bins, I have one bin I use to fill up my reservoir and the other on is on wheels so I can roll the water to the tank when the salt is ready and water is warmed to 78 degrees. I used Brute white 22 gallon bins with lids, more expensive but the look more professional with a clean look. I have a Spectapure 90 RODI system, all the investigation I have done this one looked for the best for me and it hasn't disappointed.
To start with I added 5 zombie snails and 5 hermit crabs 24 hours after adding Dr Tims. All levels were excellent, I added fish 48 hours after 2 vlamingi Tangs and 2 Naso Tangs, after 3 weeks I had to take one of the Vlamingi's back to the store due to them fighting really bad. In exchange I was given 2 small black and orange Ocellaris Clownfish. They are all getting alone better. I picked up a neon goby and a blue cleaner wrasse to help with the fish keeping healthy.
I will be starting a quarantine tank for new additions but from the start I did not, which I know is not recommended. So Thank you Reef 2 Reef, I came into this hobby 5 months ago reading and taking the dive into this hobby. Please reach out if you have any questions, I'm actually amazed how much knowledge you gain by diving in and asking questions etc, I'm learning day by day. For all you who are scared to jump in, my recommendation is that make sure you have a RODI system first and foremost. This will make things go smoothly and wont have too worry about unclean water and or going to the store to purchase RODI water. Good luck and have fun. Please see pics below. It took alot of help to get this tank in the house and I drove 2 hours one way 2 times to pick it up. Please see pics below, I think it turned out pretty sweet. Couldn't be happier. Happy Reefing.
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