New Florida Reefer

[BanditoReefer]

Hello,
I am new to this forum and consider myself a beginner. I did have a nanocube 13 years ago which I really enjoyed. My brother has a 36g BF that he is passing on to me. He has drained the water and still has all his LR. He had his setup for fish only and most of his equipment is pretty old or needed to be replaced. With that being said, below you will find a few questions & list of what I intend to purchase in order to make this a reef & coral tank. I am definitely open to suggestions on equipment, setup and pointing me in the direction of threads I should read.

Questions:
1. I have not had my eye's on the tank since he drained, but I believe I will need to clean the glass. What would be the best method for this? Vinegar?
2. LR: Would you recommend I do anything prior to putting in the tank prior to cycling?

Equipment:
In my experience with my other hobbies, your equipment plays a vital roll in your success. Buy once cry once! As I don't have an open checkbook, this is what I was thinking. Please let me know what you think.

Light: Prime 16 HD LED Reef Light - Black Body - Aqua Illumination
Skimmer: Reef Octopus Classic 1000 Hang-on-Back Protein Skimmer
Heater: 100W Titanium Aquarium Heater w/ Helio Controller - Bulk Reef Supply
Powerhead: Nero 3 Powerhead (2000 GPH) - Aqua Illumination
Auto Top-off: Prism Auto Top Off - ReefBreeders
Testing Kit: BRS Master Test Kit Bundle - Bulk Reef Supply
RO Filter: Aquatic life RO Buddie plus DI four stage RO deionization unit 50 GPD

Thanks for your input.

 

[Peace River]

Welcome to Reef2Reef!!!

 

[Sean Clark]

Welcome to R2R.

 

[vetteguy53081]

 

[JZ199]

Welcome!! And welcome back to the hobby!!

My tank was disgusting when I got it and I couldn't get it cleaned for the life of me, someone told me ORIGINAL magic erasers, and that worked like magic making my tank look brand new with minimal effort, just be careful not to scratch it, and I wouldn't use it on acrylic

And your live rock are you getting from a store that's currently in a tank, or are you putting in dry rock to make it live?

 

[Jimbhoy13]

Welcome to R2R and back to the salty world. Lots of knowledgeable and helpful people here who will support and advise you when needed.

 

[CoralB]

Welcome !!!

 

[ShepherdReefer]

Hello there, and welcome to the channel.

 

[tharbin]

Welcome to R2R! The original magic erasers work very well. It depends on what you plan to keep and the tanks dimensions but I doubt that one AI Prime 16HD will be sufficient for anything other than a fish-only or softie tank of 36 gallons.

 

[dstockwell]

Welcome to the Reef

 

[shakacuz]

welcome aboard the r2r board!

 

[AydenLincoln]

 

[SPR1968]

Hi and welcome to Reef2Reef!

 

[Gumbies R Us]

Welcome to Reef2Reef

 

[SaltwaterandLime]

Welcome! Where at in Florida? As others have said, magic erasers are wonderful. Vinegar works but I prefer citric acid . It's a little bit more gentle on pumps and silicone also, plus it stinks a lot less. You can fill the tank up with water and citric acid and let it run for a day and then drain it and the scrubbing will be easier.

What kind of livestock do you plan on keeping? The single prime will probably be ok to start, but you might want to add a second if you want a lot of demanding corals.

 

[BamaCoastPyrat]

Welcome to R2R! What region of Florida are you in? I'm outside of Pensacola.

The only equipment listed here that I can speak about is your lighting. I have two AI prime 16HDs on a 40g tank. I ran one for a while and was able to grow softie corals with it but I had to position the corals directly under the single light and the edges of the tank were pretty dark. The concentrated puck on the AI prime puts out a ton of light but they don't spread the light out much, that seems to be mostly the norm with LED lighting. I am about to add this T5 fixture and I think it will help a lot with the spread and shadows. The other issue with the AI is the software that programs it is difficult to work with at times. All of that being said, I would probably choose the AI Primes again if I was starting over.

Also, BRS is a great resource for finding equipment and info, but shop each piece of equipment around. When I was setting everything up on my tank I just blindly purchased from BRS and then found many items were cheaper elsewhere.

 

[Reefer1978]

Welcome to R2R!!!

 

[RichWise73]

Welcome aboard

 

[Mschmidt]

Hello,
I am new to this forum and consider myself a beginner. I did have a nanocube 13 years ago which I really enjoyed. My brother has a 36g BF that he is passing on to me. He has drained the water and still has all his LR. He had his setup for fish only and most of his equipment is pretty old or needed to be replaced. With that being said, below you will find a few questions & list of what I intend to purchase in order to make this a reef & coral tank. I am definitely open to suggestions on equipment, setup and pointing me in the direction of threads I should read.

Questions:
1. I have not had my eye's on the tank since he drained, but I believe I will need to clean the glass. What would be the best method for this? Vinegar?
2. LR: Would you recommend I do anything prior to putting in the tank prior to cycling?

Equipment:
In my experience with my other hobbies, your equipment plays a vital roll in your success. Buy once cry once! As I don't have an open checkbook, this is what I was thinking. Please let me know what you think.

Light: Prime 16 HD LED Reef Light - Black Body - Aqua Illumination
Skimmer: Reef Octopus Classic 1000 Hang-on-Back Protein Skimmer
Heater: 100W Titanium Aquarium Heater w/ Helio Controller - Bulk Reef Supply
Powerhead: Nero 3 Powerhead (2000 GPH) - Aqua Illumination
Auto Top-off: Prism Auto Top Off - ReefBreeders
Testing Kit: BRS Master Test Kit Bundle - Bulk Reef Supply
RO Filter: Aquatic life RO Buddie plus DI four stage RO deionization unit 50 GPD

Thanks for your input.

welcome!

for your questions:
1. vinegar or citric acid. Citric acid doesn't make you smell like vin does.
2. at least one bug water change after you get the tank wet and before adding livestock. there will be a lot of die-off if it hasn't stayed active.

you look set up for success, but I would go with a bigger ro filter. 50 gpd is really not a lot. I would also add a way to mechanically remove solid waste, hob filter or sump.

 

[Fish Think Pink]

Hello,
I am new to this forum and consider myself a beginner. I did have a nanocube 13 years ago which I really enjoyed. My brother has a 36g BF that he is passing on to me. He has drained the water and still has all his LR. He had his setup for fish only and most of his equipment is pretty old or needed to be replaced. With that being said, below you will find a few questions & list of what I intend to purchase in order to make this a reef & coral tank. I am definitely open to suggestions on equipment, setup and pointing me in the direction of threads I should read.

Questions:
1. I have not had my eye's on the tank since he drained, but I believe I will need to clean the glass. What would be the best method for this? Vinegar?
2. LR: Would you recommend I do anything prior to putting in the tank prior to cycling?

Equipment:
In my experience with my other hobbies, your equipment plays a vital roll in your success. Buy once cry once! As I don't have an open checkbook, this is what I was thinking. Please let me know what you think.

Light: Prime 16 HD LED Reef Light - Black Body - Aqua Illumination
Skimmer: Reef Octopus Classic 1000 Hang-on-Back Protein Skimmer
Heater: 100W Titanium Aquarium Heater w/ Helio Controller - Bulk Reef Supply
Powerhead: Nero 3 Powerhead (2000 GPH) - Aqua Illumination
Auto Top-off: Prism Auto Top Off - ReefBreeders
Testing Kit: BRS Master Test Kit Bundle - Bulk Reef Supply
RO Filter: Aquatic life RO Buddie plus DI four stage RO deionization unit 50 GPD

Thanks for your input.

Welcome! Glad you joined.

Have you considered starting your build thread? I found its a great place to document my tank's evolution for myself. I started tank first then joined, so I'm still finding myself going back collecting pictures & updating historically as well as current state. Once you create your first post in your thread under Forum > Member Aquariums and link it to your account, they will give you build badge (look left, under my ID). Its never too early to start, and your above plans seem ideal to just copy into new thread to get it started!

This might help you find people local to you:

Local Reef Club Discussion

Looking for some locals to share frags and info with? This is the place! Find a local club that meets in your area! If you want to add your club just contact us.

www.reef2reef.com

This is a good reference book type online article I still review:

The Supreme Guide To Setting Up A Saltwater Reef Aquarium

This article was sponsored by @MarineDepot at www.marinedepot.com. Introduction The marine environment is one of the most complex systems on the planet. The aquarium you are about to set up is only a tiny sliver of the vast ocean, but it is no...

www.reef2reef.com