New guy who needs help and suggestions

[SeptorsReef]

Hello all, new reefer here. I've had small 10g and 40g tanks in the past, but no corals. I wasn't all that great at the hobby, but always loved it (no time and no knowledge of the hobby back then). Pretty much got out of the hobby in 2008, if I could even say that I was in the hobby to begin with. So, now in the ole year 2024, I decided to jump back in and boy oh boy, did I. I recently was in the middle of building our new house and decided that now would be a good time to install an aquarium under the staircase, in the wall, since it was "wasted room" in that area anyways :). So, I went to the contractor, and we came up with a halfass plan from the hip (wish I had planned this better, but thats life). Long story short, I was able to put a custom corner tank in the wall, so everyone could view the tank from two sides and I could enter the "coat closet door" under the stairs to enter my new fish room and service the tank. The tank is 39" on each side, 10" sides, then 41" across the back and 32" high (the two 39" sides are all that can be seen). So, this corner tank idea has its pros and cons indeed (I wanted a square tank, but the tank builder talked me out of it and told me it was a bad idea). I slapped (4) MP40's on her, so the flow is fixed. I've watched every video (almost) from BRSTV and WWC. I installed an Apex Pro and waiting to install my Trident. The tank is currently cycling, and now I'm kinda scratching my head on the lights and need your help. The tank is pretty dang deep at 32" and I have to snorkel to reach the bottom...

My little genius 'shoot from the hip' plan went from having an idea of a $7k to $10k investment, to now over $23k and I still haven't bought my lights... All I can do is laugh at myself at this point, but now I can say that I'm in this hobby for sure, whether my wife likes it or not, lol. I was able to have a sink installed in the room and I installed two 40g mixing containers in the room as well, so I'm happy to have everything in one spot, whicht was one perk to the build of the new home. I just wish I had planned a fish room off to the side and then made a bigger, rectangle tank down my living room wall, but I also wish I could win the lottery, so there's that. I have two DOS, a K2 Kalk stirrer and Ozone reactor from Avast, Trigger 39g platinum sump with fleece roller and an Octo Elite 150 INT skimmer as well. Tunze ATO. 7 stage RO. SO, I think I'm ready once the tank is cycled. All of that to ask this... What lights and how many do I need to have a mixed reef tank? I was thinking about two Radion XR30 G6 lights, but I don't want to gamble on $2k. I just don't want to waste any more money, however, if thats what I need, then so be it. If I need bigger, then thats what I need to know. Different spectrum for depth or whatever, i dont know.

As far as the rest of the planning goes, once the Kalkwasser isn't enough, I plan to dose 2part, but all of that is way in the future to worry too much about it at this time. Anyone see what I'm missing, or have any suggestions to what Ive done? I CANNOT get this stupid skimmer to adjust, but it has only been running for a few days. I had the skimmer in 7" of water and tried to play with picking it up and down and its just plain kicking my but. Have it dialed down to 1 and it sill pours over, regardless of water height...
Excited to be part of Reef2Reef! Thanks!

 

[SeptorsReef]

Pics of the ongoing setup. Still have to install Ozone reactor, Kalk stirrer, Trident and UV

 

[SeptorsReef]

My Vectra M2 is only pushing about 675gph at 100%, so I guess the 1" pipes and 6' height is too much for it, which is another bummer of this build.

 

[Cali Reef Life]

Everything looks really nice one thing id recommend is dont buy anything else but the lights without planning it.

Other then the return pump. Most of that stuff you haven't done is not needed for a new tank. Some may say ever unless your a gear guy which looks like you are.

Also my skimmer was too low in the water so i bought a cheap plastic bucket holder forgot actual name was like 2 or 3 inchs tall and put skimmer on it. I know they sell skimmer stands as well.

Lastly if your doing this much for this tank. I would look into a fish quarantine and coral qt tank. I have a cheap used 20 gallon tank i only setup for new fish and a little simple petco 10 gallon for coral I always run.

I would hate for you to get any pest or dieases in the new tank.

 

[SeptorsReef]

Everything looks really nice one thing id recommend is dont buy anything else but the lights without planning it.

Other then the return pump. Most of that stuff you haven't done is not needed for a new tank. Some may say ever unless your a gear guy which looks like you are.

Also my skimmer was too low in the water so i bought a cheap plastic bucket holder forgot actual name was like 2 or 3 inchs tall and put skimmer on it. I know they sell skimmer stands as well.

Lastly if your doing this much for this tank. I would look into a fish quarantine and coral qt tank. I have a cheap used 20 gallon tank i only setup for new fish and a little simple petco 10 gallon for coral I always run.

I would hate for you to get any pest or dieases in the new tank.

Thanks for the feedback. Yea, I bought some flat bio rock to have a little bio under the skimmer as well as lift it up more. We shall see how it works, or is that a bad idea? Yea, I wasn't going to hook up the Trident and Kalkwasser up yet, as my tank is too new and sadly, I have found that you're correct about too much stuff, lol. I have purchased too much stuff for the beginning of the tank's life, but mostly, I bought it all for automation and safety, as I'm away from the tank for extended periods of time. I want to make it as automated as possible, so my wife doesn't have to mess with it when I'm away and to protect our new home. The quarantine part....... I don't have room for one, but I also need a lot more research on the matter. I didn't want to quarantine every snail, shrimp, crab and fish, but many recommend it.... I need to dive into quarantine a bit more....

 

[Cali Reef Life]

That makes sense! An ounce of prevention could be worth thousands. Dip all corals at least and only paranoid people like myself qt cleanup crew.

Still recommend buying qt fish or setting a temporary one up. It only has to be up for a month then tear it down and store it in garage. You can deal with ich but some stuff is nasty.

Good luck and looking forward to an update.

 

[SeptorsReef]

That makes sense! An ounce of prevention could be worth thousands. Dip all corals at least and only paranoid people like myself qt cleanup crew.

Still recommend buying qt fish or setting a temporary one up. It only has to be up for a month then tear it down and store it in garage. You can deal with ich but some stuff is nasty.

Good luck and looking forward to an update.

Well, I was going to buy the qt fish until i started putting a dang price tag on qt fish, lol. Then thought that if i didn't qt my dang cleanup crew, then what would be the point. My luck really sucks, so if i need to qt, then i need to qt. Kinda hoping for lots of answers saying that i wouldn't need to, but thats my lazy side talking, lol. Honestly, thanks for the advice. Deep down i know that i need to qt and its just part this hobby, so I'll dive deeper into the qt hole. Thanks!

 

[Cali Reef Life]

No worries just know from someone that had to fallow for 3 months and it sucked...

You dont need to just highly recommended.

https://www.reefcleaners.org/ quarantines inverts for you as well!

 

[kevgib67]

Welcome to R2R, glad you are here!

 

[PharmrJohn]

Well, if I'm correct in my calculations, you have about 120g of you leave 2 inches from the top. Take a look at what Reefbreaders has for lighting. If you can install a Photon V2 (plus or pro) those are great lights. One should do it. Or two shorties. I really like the spectrum of these lights. I'll be installing two 48" on my upcoming 48x39x25 when it's time.

As for your skimmer, it's just busy getting the water clean. It'll come around in a bit. You probably should get a cup with a hook up available to catch skimmate in a large container. I did that with my old 90g. It can be done easily as a DYI. You may need to attach a small container where you have your air outlet filled with activated carbon to handle the bad smell. I did that and it worked like a charm.

Also, with lighting during the cycle. I'd encourage you to leave the lights off x3 months to let the bacterial population prosper and cover as much surface area as possible without feeding photosynthetic algae and the like during your cycle. That should decrease or possibly even negate the traditional ugly phase.

With fish, consider utilitarian fish that will aid as a CUC on their own. Think it out, do your research and come up with a list. Then post it and get feedback. I've done this already (and asked my mentor as well). I've actually had to update my fish list twice due to incompatibilities. Sorry for the long post. I am on a roll!!

 

[SeptorsReef]

Well, if I'm correct in my calculations, you have about 120g of you leave 2 inches from the top. Take a look at what Reefbreaders has for lighting. If you can install a Photon V2 (plus or pro) those are great lights. One should do it. Or two shorties. I really like the spectrum of these lights. I'll be installing two 48" on my upcoming 48x39x25 when it's time.

As for your skimmer, it's just busy getting the water clean. It'll come around in a bit. You probably should get a cup with a hook up available to catch skimmate in a large container. I did that with my old 90g. It can be done easily as a DYI. You may need to attach a small container where you have your air outlet filled with activated carbon to handle the bad smell. I did that and it worked like a charm.

Also, with lighting during the cycle. I'd encourage you to leave the lights off x3 months to let the bacterial population prosper and cover as much surface area as possible without feeding photosynthetic algae and the like during your cycle. That should decrease or possibly even negate the traditional ugly phase.

With fish, consider utilitarian fish that will aid as a CUC on their own. Think it out, do your research and come up with a list. Then post it and get feedback. I've done this already (and asked my mentor as well). I've actually had to update my fish list twice due to incompatibilities. Sorry for the long post. I am on a roll!!

Thanks for the feedback. Yea, I'm letting my tank cycle for 3 months before lighting everything, that's why I haven't even purchased lights yet (and to research a bit further in the lights). I am curious on the calculation that you have, to figure out the water column, because you're spot on. The BRS calculator says that it was a 150g tank, but they were off, unless I didn't input something right, which may be the case...

As with the fish..... lol, my list keeps changing as well and now I'm getting paranoid about QT, as I don't want to lose everything..

 

[dochoot]

Love the set up and you will be rewarded for your patience moving forward. My builder always joked that he was building a house around a fish tank.

 

[PharmrJohn]

Thanks for the feedback. Yea, I'm letting my tank cycle for 3 months before lighting everything, that's why I haven't even purchased lights yet (and to research a bit further in the lights). I am curious on the calculation that you have, to figure out the water column, because you're spot on. The BRS calculator says that it was a 150g tank, but they were off, unless I didn't input something right, which may be the case...

As with the fish..... lol, my list keeps changing as well and now I'm getting paranoid about QT, as I don't want to lose everything..

Yeah, the calculation was based off of height, length (39") and the front to back from point to back. I figured out point to back by using the Pathagorean Theorum. Since there was a right angle it was a²+b²=c². So half of 41 squared plus 39², then take the square root and get c (the hypotenuse). I think I did it right! It's been awhile!

 

[kevgib67]

Honky tonk!

 

[PharmrJohn]

And good job with your cycle. Mine is generally the same. I think we're following the same plan.

 

[PharmrJohn]

Honky tonk!

RIBS!

 

[kevgib67]

RIBS!

Ha, I posted this on the wrong thread :)

 

[EliMelly]

Thanks for the feedback. Yea, I bought some flat bio rock to have a little bio under the skimmer as well as lift it up more. We shall see how it works, or is that a bad idea? Yea, I wasn't going to hook up the Trident and Kalkwasser up yet, as my tank is too new and sadly, I have found that you're correct about too much stuff, lol. I have purchased too much stuff for the beginning of the tank's life, but mostly, I bought it all for automation and safety, as I'm away from the tank for extended periods of time. I want to make it as automated as possible, so my wife doesn't have to mess with it when I'm away and to protect our new home. The quarantine part....... I don't have room for one, but I also need a lot more research on the matter. I didn't want to quarantine every snail, shrimp, crab and fish, but many recommend it.... I need to dive into quarantine a bit more....

Hey just get some fish pre QT! The best of both worlds. In my opinion @Dr. Reef is the best out there and Mike will take care of you.

 

[kevgib67]

Honkytonk!

 

[kevgib67]

Did it again, sorry!