My First 225 Gallon Saltwater Tank

[Hamsnacks]

So decided I will be shutting down my freshwater tank and venturing into the Reef World.
I know it's not going to be easy and I am working with a large tank as my first try, so it's either going to be a complete disaster or a great success haha.
Apologies in advance for the long post.

Had a few questions before I started purchasing the necessary requirements.
It is a 225 Gallon Tank with a built in overflow box behind and a 90 Gallon Sump.
The plan/dream is a saltwater tank with Fish, Live Rock and Coral/Anemones

1) Water! From my understanding, once you have the desired salinity you no longer need to add salt to the aquarium when doing water changes, you simply just add new water, is that correct?
I know it is best to use a RO water but is possible to use just your tap water with Prime Conditioner?

2) Lighting, I currently have 7 T5HO light fixtures, can I purchase saltwater T5 bulbs or do they not stack up against the Kessil and Current USA light fixtures?

3) Sand, I prefer a deep sand bed, would 4" be a good amount?

4) In terms of Cycling the tank, the plan is to kind of "speed up" the process, I plan to purchase about 200lbs of live rock from other members in the city. Convert all my Freshwater media to saltwater and purchase beneficial bacteria.

In the sump, I just plan on using biological and mechanical media and a skimmer, will that be enough? Or should I also have sand and rocks in there as well?

5) Is CO2 injection commonly used in Reef tanks, do they help with coral and anemones?

I think that is all for my general questions, with more questions to follow once the processes has started.

Thanks again and sorry for the long post.

 

[steelwrap]

When you change water you MUST add salt and match salinty in the tank. When You top off tank You dont need to add salt, water evaporates salt does not. No You do not HAVE to use RO/DI water but with what You will have invested the cost of an Ro/di unit is cheap in comparison. Yes You should just be able to buy saltwater spectrum bulbs and just change them out.

 

[arturoo1977]

Welcome to reefing!
As for water, once you have salinity in place, only use Ro water to replenish evaporation, no salt needed. When doing water changes, you will need to prepare new salt water with same salinity as your old water.
For corals its very recomended you use RO/DI water, not just RO. But maybe you can do your first batch with tap water and conditioner, as by the time your tank is ready for corals you should perform quite a few water changes with RODI water.
For anemones and corals you will need very good lighting. You can start with your T5s and as progress go on, you can supplement with some LED fixtures.
In sump, your mechanical (socks and skimmer) and chemical (carbon) filtration will be enough, maybe in future you'll want to add a refugium with algae.
C02 in reefing is not a needed as far as I know.
Congrats on your new project! It will be very interesting to follow up.

 

[Peach02]

Welcome to the salty side of the hobby

now for your questions

1)Once you have your desired salinity you don't need to top off the tank with saltwater however you do need to use saltwater for water changes. This is due to salt having a much higher melting temperature than water so when there is evaporation the water escapes but the salt doesn't increasing the salinity. I remember it by inly using RO water for top up and saltwater for water changes. It is possible to use tap water with prime but it is not recommended.

2)LED vs T5 is a big debate at the moment
LED has more options and easier day / night cycle and dawn / dusk but T5 has better spread and is almost plug and play

3) deep sand beds can provide bacteria that reduce nitrates but can be a nutrient trap and potentially crash your tank. you can reduce this risk with regular syphoning and sand sifters

4) live rock and sand will speed it up but brings risk of hitchhikers such as aptasia. live rock and bacteria can get cycle time to a month IME

5) not commonly but some people use it to raise pH but their are easier and cheaper methods

feel free to ask more questions, the key to this hobby is patience and research. e.g. I skipped quarantine and am regretting it now

 

[Dragon52]

 

[Hamsnacks]

Thank you all for the quick responses and information.
Good thing I asked about the top offs and water changes.
I have decided to purchase an RO/DI system, not going to to lie, it's going to be tough knowing 4 gallons of water is going down the drain just like that. Hoping for some sales this Black Friday for a good unit.
What would you guys recommend a weekly water percentage be?

An update to my tank, a local owner is shutting down his tank and wants everything gone.
Has about 300lbs of Pukani rock, sand and fish he wants sold by next week, says it has a bunch of shelves and branches (still don't know what that means yet lol)
So I'm thinking, if I take his whole set up, on the condition it looks healthy and clean, I would already have a cycled tank correct?

In terms of lighting, would this be a suitable set up (6 bulbs in total)? And is it required the lights be on a sunrise sunset schedule, so like they don't all turn on at once type of thing?
x2 ATI Blue+
x1 ATI Purple+
x1 ATI Coral+
x2 ATI Actinic

And my last question is in regards to the sump, I have been reading up about refugiums and how if you have one going, that you really don't need any equipment in the sump, such as a protein skimmer and all. My question is, the sump is a 90 Gallon, with about 22 gallons of open space. I have attached a picture, the area I am referring to is the middle. Would that be enough if I put some live rock and sand in, with some biological media in the first chamber as well?

Thanks again for the help and sorry for the long post!

 

[Peach02]

Instead of putting the 4 gallons down the drain you could use it to water your garden or #reefsquad correct me if I’m wrong but you could drink waste RODI water right? It’s just cleaner tap water?

shelves means really flat and short plates of rock that can look really nice
Branches are kind of like a rock in the shape of a water bottle with a few bits breaking off. I personally don’t like them but many do

I would still leave room for a small cycle but it should be almost cycled by the time you get it their might be some die off or pests though from the transport or his tank

I don’t know enough about lighting to advice on T5 bulb choice but it’s advised to have a dawn dusk simulation in your reef

I wouldn’t reccomend using only a refugium for filtration in my understanding that’s a option when you have a exceptionally large refugium or a extremely well established tank, maybe somthing to look at down the road

 

[vetteguy53081]

Thank you all for the quick responses and information.
Good thing I asked about the top offs and water changes.
I have decided to purchase an RO/DI system, not going to to lie, it's going to be tough knowing 4 gallons of water is going down the drain just like that. Hoping for some sales this Black Friday for a good unit.
What would you guys recommend a weekly water percentage be?

An update to my tank, a local owner is shutting down his tank and wants everything gone.
Has about 300lbs of Pukani rock, sand and fish he wants sold by next week, says it has a bunch of shelves and branches (still don't know what that means yet lol)
So I'm thinking, if I take his whole set up, on the condition it looks healthy and clean, I would already have a cycled tank correct?

In terms of lighting, would this be a suitable set up (6 bulbs in total)? And is it required the lights be on a sunrise sunset schedule, so like they don't all turn on at once type of thing?
x2 ATI Blue+
x1 ATI Purple+
x1 ATI Coral+
x2 ATI Actinic

And my last question is in regards to the sump, I have been reading up about refugiums and how if you have one going, that you really don't need any equipment in the sump, such as a protein skimmer and all. My question is, the sump is a 90 Gallon, with about 22 gallons of open space. I have attached a picture, the area I am referring to is the middle. Would that be enough if I put some live rock and sand in, with some biological media in the first chamber as well?

Thanks again for the help and sorry for the long post!

You don’t have to send waste water down the drain. Use it to water your plants and flowers or even in a bucket to wash the car

 

[reef lover]

Instead of putting the 4 gallons down the drain you could use it to water your garden or #reefsquad correct me if I’m wrong but you could drink waste RODI water right? It’s just cleaner tap water?

shelves means really flat and short plates of rock that can look really nice
Branches are kind of like a rock in the shape of a water bottle with a few bits breaking off. I personally don’t like them but many do

I would still leave room for a small cycle but it should be almost cycled by the time you get it their might be some die off or pests though from the transport or his tank

I don’t know enough about lighting to advice on T5 bulb choice but it’s advised to have a dawn dusk simulation in your reef

I wouldn’t reccomend using only a refugium for filtration in my understanding that’s a option when you have a exceptionally large refugium or a extremely well established tank, maybe somthing to look at down the road

Use for anything except drinking...all the accumulated waste is coming out that line.

 

[Peach02]

Use for anything except drinking...all the accumulated waste is coming out that line.

Ah okay, my bad, I thought the waste was collected in the filter media not put out through the waste water

 

[arturoo1977]

You can also install a permeate pump to reduce waist water and have faster RO production.

 

[Wayne P.]

Welcome to R2R and reefing. Looks like you have a lot of experience with Freshwater, moving into Reef tank should be quite the experience. Good Luck. I will be following as I am relatively new myself.

 

[BeejReef]

I vote for smashing success!

If anything, reefers go out of their way to avoid Co2 in the never ending quest for a ph of 8.4

Buying live rock will def speed up your cycle. Frankly, you may not even have a nitrogen cycle. I used some wet live rock as well and would do so again. I get a little nervous when you say "from all over the city" though. A few hitchhikers or pests can be dealt with, but having so many potential rock "partners" feels risky in a 9th grade health class sort of way.

Do you want 4" of sand for the aesthetic or do you want to try to run a denitrifying deep sand bed? The way you've described it... the amount of rock and sand you mention for your dt... you probably won't need much more in the sump. If you're happy with the visual of 1-2" of sand in the DT, you could consider a remote DSB in the sump. Something in a tray or tub is nice bc it's easier to remove and clean.

 

[MERKEY]

HELLO AND WELCOME!!!

You got a lot of great advice, keep chugging along and post pics during the process. Cant wait to see this filled!!

 

[Hamsnacks]

Do you want 4" of sand for the aesthetic or do you want to try to run a denitrifying deep sand bed? The way you've described it... the amount of rock and sand you mention for your dt... you probably won't need much more in the sump. If you're happy with the visual of 1-2" of sand in the DT, you could consider a remote DSB in the sump. Something in a tray or tub is nice bc it's easier to remove and clean.

A bit of both, I like the look of it, and I did want it to be home to beneficial bacteria. The plan was to vacuum the sand every week, and the resulting water loss would be the water change amount, and then the top off amount.

I have attached another picture of my sump, before I changed it to freshwater use.

5: Intake Pipes
1: Filter Sock/ or keep it removed and use floss and sponge like the original picture
2: A protein skimmer, and then use the left over space for either live rock/sand for a real small refugium or just fill it with more bio balls and matrix
3: Baffles to get rid of bubbles
4: Return pump
6: ATO section to feed section 2.


Also, another local owner said in about a month he is planning on selling his livestock, and said he'd give me the following for close to nothing.

Foxface, Dwarf Lionfish, Yellow Tang, Engineer Goby, Brown Tang and 2 Blue Dampsels

Is that a somewhat good collection of fish, that won't cause me trouble in the future when I want to add new fish?

Hoping to have this tank running by next weekend.

Thanks again

 

[Wayne P.]

Your sump is about 20 times bigger than my tank~

 

[arturoo1977]

I'm not sure about the Lionfish.....

Also, sand vacuuming is not really necessary, your CUC will make most part of the job

 

[CasaReefer]

Welcome to R2R... Building for success your on your way.

 

[Hamsnacks]

Couple more questions please!

1) Is the Red Sea Marine Care Test Kit a good enough all around test kit?
2) When you guys are filling your tanks up for the first time, do you do do the mixing in the tank, or in a separate container? Asking just cause if it's done in a separate container, it would take about 3-4 days to complete, due to the RODI system.