New 48 Gallon Saltwater Help

[zbk]

Hello! I have been in the fish keeping hobby for around 4 years at this point (I'm still in highschool). I have had one 20 gallon freshwater tank which I recently had to get rid of to clear room and currently have a 10 gallon saltwater tank running with a Watchman Goby and Candy Cane pistol shrimp pair along with some assorted hermits and a xenia frag. The reason I cleared way from the 20 gallon was I found a really nice 48 gallon tank for sale for a great price with no leaks (I have already cleaned it up and did a leak test). I plan on turning it into a giant mixed reef tank and transferring everything from my 10 gallon over while adding some new things as well. Now, I'm still not fully knowledgeable in reef keeping and wanted some assistance to make sure I do everything right. The tank did come with a AquaClear 70 I believe with a sponge and some live rock inside along with a nice heater which I'm not completely sure which model but it is a Aquatop 200 watt heater with 50hz-60hz. It also has a Beamswork light which I know definitely won't work for future corals but will suffice until I can buy what I think is a good one called a Red Sea ReefLED G2 60. I wanted to try and use this equipment temporarily and transfer my current livestock over until I can get a Seachem Tidal 110 and other equipment. I'm also unsure how flow works but I was thinking maybe 2 Jebao SLW-10 powerheads? Eventually I'll get an ATO and dosing and protein skimmer and all of the other stuff but right now I'm just working on getting it set up and running. For sand I plan on a 1.8-2 inch bed with 40 lbs fiji, 20 lbs special grade, and rinsing and reusing my 10 gallon tank's sand as a bottom layer. Another question I had is how should I layer my filter? So far I plan on using filter pads, seachem matrix, purigen, and chemi-pure elite. It was also suggested to me by a manager at my local reef store to put the media from my old filter into my new one so I can immediately transfer my old fish in once temperature and levels are equivalent. He had told me the live rock I currently have is fine because the amount of live rock should be proportional to the number of fish? If I need more live rock however I have a friend that has many pounds of it from an old tank which I most definitely will be taking regardless. Any advice or assistance is truly greatly appreciated sorry for such a long list of questions lol.

One final thing, the photos are one of my current 10 gallon set up and the 48 gallon and how it currently is.

 

[xeqtologist]

Dont reuse your old sand, it likely has nitrogen pockets in it and wont benefit you. just go by the common 1lbs per gallon for rock and sand. 1 of the jebao powerheads and your hob filter will be fine for now, but i wouldn't rely on that tank being amazing for growing coral. its possible but there's alot of reasons why sumps are so popular. one of them being their accessibility to higher filtration capabilities. The light isnt a huge deal, as long as it's delivering proper par levels and has proper blue channels and spectrum, itll grow coral. most of the time the light manufacturing companies will supply a layout of what led color channels they have. I would honestly just get 2 ai primes or a 30 inch blade and use that instead of a red sea light but its personal preference.

Personally I think you're overcomplicating it, just take it slow. patience is key.

 

[NeedAReef]

all that stuff? I feel like you might overdoing it and over thinking it at this stage. All those chemicals and dosing and filtering with such a low population is likely overkill and may hurt more than help. Don't dose until you know what you need. That means testing, and not just the cheap tests, use a good ATI ICP test that you send away to get tested, might even spring for the one that tests your RO water too. You can find on amazon.
This allows you to establish a baseline.
In this hobby NOTHING GOOD comes from going fast. You are going to 4x your tank size and water volume without 4X the pollution from inhabitants or 4x the good bacteria etc. IMO go slow...real slow. The lights will suffice for low light coral like mushrooms. Moving your sand and rock will help for sure.
Skimmer and water flow next, you have heater, then, when you know what you want to keep, save up for lights and better filter or you have room for a sump, use the 20 as a sump? with a little work you can make that a sump for sure, no need to drill a HOB overflow will do just fine.
You are well on your way, now just keep posting pics we love those and good luck

 

[zbk]

all that stuff? I feel like you might overdoing it and over thinking it at this stage. All those chemicals and dosing and filtering with such a low population is likely overkill and may hurt more than help. Don't dose until you know what you need. That means testing, and not just the cheap tests, use a good ATI ICP test that you send away to get tested, might even spring for the one that tests your RO water too. You can find on amazon.
This allows you to establish a baseline.
In this hobby NOTHING GOOD comes from going fast. You are going to 4x your tank size and water volume without 4X the pollution from inhabitants or 4x the good bacteria etc. IMO go slow...real slow. The lights will suffice for low light coral like mushrooms. Moving your sand and rock will help for sure.
Skimmer and water flow next, you have heater, then, when you know what you want to keep, save up for lights and better filter or you have room for a sump, use the 20 as a sump? with a little work you can make that a sump for sure, no need to drill a HOB overflow will do just fine.
You are well on your way, now just keep posting pics we love those and good luck

Thank you so much! I do plan on expanding my stocking in livestock eventually in the future which is where I'm assuming I'll add the dosing and chemicals and stuff once there are more fish and a heavier bioload but not anytime soon! I just like planning ahead for the future lol. For now, once I get the initial setup it will only be my goby/pistol shrimp and hermit crabs and maybe a couple snails or a cleaner shrimp in about 3 weeks after getting my initial stock in. Regarding the sump I am unsure if I will do that due to the fact I do plan on giving the tank to someone else I'm close to who's livestock definitely needs the space upgrade but possibly I could use the 10 gallon or I could do a display refugium within the 48 gallon? Just something I thought I could experiment with.

 

[ScottJ]

Give this a look. It has good info for you.

The Supreme Guide To Setting Up A Saltwater Reef Aquarium

 

[TJ42]

I am using a couple of the Red Sea G2 115's. They are great lights.

 

[Mr. Mojo Rising]

IMO choose a different light, its only 60 watts, I have 55 watts on my 15 gallon and 150 watts over my 40 gallon, IMO get something stronger.

Get stronger powerheads, go for a pair of MLW-10 instead, even the MLW-10 is not that strong. My 40 gallon has the return pump plus 2 gyres plus the jeabao MLW-10 behind the rocks. Don't underestimate the importance of flow.

Don't worry about sponges and media and filter pads for the filter, hob filters don't provide great filtration, water changes will be your main source of filtration. My hob filters run with rock rubble and bags of activated carbon. Consider down the road to invest in a protein skimmer. A skimmer plus a hob filter is a good combo IMO

 

[zbk]

IMO choose a different light, its only 60 watts, I have 55 watts on my 15 gallon and 150 watts over my 40 gallon, IMO get something stronger.

Get stronger powerheads, go for a pair of MLW-10 instead, even the MLW-10 is not that strong. My 40 gallon has the return pump plus 2 gyres plus the jeabao MLW-10 behind the rocks. Don't underestimate the importance of flow.

Don't worry about sponges and media and filter pads for the filter, hob filters don't provide great filtration, water changes will be your main source of filtration. My hob filters run with rock rubble and bags of activated carbon. Consider down the road to invest in a protein skimmer. A skimmer plus a hob filter is a good combo IMO

Do you have any suggested lights I could use? I don't have the craziest budget but still something to work with. I'm looking for easy corals to start out like soft corals, a few lps like Duncan, Hammer, and Frogspawn. I was possibly looking into bta as well for some either ocellaris or percula clownfish.

 

[Mr. Mojo Rising]

Do you have any suggested lights I could use? I don't have the craziest budget but still something to work with. I'm looking for easy corals to start out like soft corals, a few lps like Duncan, Hammer, and Frogspawn. I was possibly looking into bta as well for some either ocellaris or percula clownfish.

The good quality low budget brands that have good comments are Nicrew, Vivarspectra, Smatfarm, Noopsyche, Popbloom (I’m sure I’m missing some). You can plug any of these into the search on this site and you will get lots of threads and info and suggestions on settings. Good luck.

 

[zbk]

Hello! I have been in the fish keeping hobby for around 4 years at this point (I'm still in highschool). I have had one 20 gallon freshwater tank which I recently had to get rid of to clear room and currently have a 10 gallon saltwater tank running with a Watchman Goby and Candy Cane pistol shrimp pair along with some assorted hermits and a xenia frag. The reason I cleared way from the 20 gallon was I found a really nice 48 gallon tank for sale for a great price with no leaks (I have already cleaned it up and did a leak test). I plan on turning it into a giant mixed reef tank and transferring everything from my 10 gallon over while adding some new things as well. Now, I'm still not fully knowledgeable in reef keeping and wanted some assistance to make sure I do everything right. The tank did come with a AquaClear 70 I believe with a sponge and some live rock inside along with a nice heater which I'm not completely sure which model but it is a Aquatop 200 watt heater with 50hz-60hz. It also has a Beamswork light which I know definitely won't work for future corals but will suffice until I can buy what I think is a good one called a Red Sea ReefLED G2 60. I wanted to try and use this equipment temporarily and transfer my current livestock over until I can get a Seachem Tidal 110 and other equipment. I'm also unsure how flow works but I was thinking maybe 2 Jebao SLW-10 powerheads? Eventually I'll get an ATO and dosing and protein skimmer and all of the other stuff but right now I'm just working on getting it set up and running. For sand I plan on a 1.8-2 inch bed with 40 lbs fiji, 20 lbs special grade, and rinsing and reusing my 10 gallon tank's sand as a bottom layer. Another question I had is how should I layer my filter? So far I plan on using filter pads, seachem matrix, purigen, and chemi-pure elite. It was also suggested to me by a manager at my local reef store to put the media from my old filter into my new one so I can immediately transfer my old fish in once temperature and levels are equivalent. He had told me the live rock I currently have is fine because the amount of live rock should be proportional to the number of fish? If I need more live rock however I have a friend that has many pounds of it from an old tank which I most definitely will be taking regardless. Any advice or assistance is truly greatly appreciated sorry for such a long list of questions lol.

One final thing, the photos are one of my current 10 gallon set up and the 48 gallon and how it currently is.

Also I just want to hear suggestions and inputs from personal experiences but my next major step I'm looking at within the next day or so is purchasing the sand. I have been researching and leaning towards using pink fiji mixed with special grade, especially since I have burrowers I was thinking of a sand bed around 1.5-2 inches. Again just for reference, my stocking is probably gonna be mostly soft corals and lps and I do have the goby/shrimp pair that will dig tunnels. Any other sand suggestions based on the corals I'm looking for and stocking?