scubasteve020
Active Member
If you want to save money I would recommend dry rock it’s the safer way to go too. But coral rx works so does coral revive. Some people just use peroxide might want to look into that. Usually as a rule of thumb you do 1lb for every gallon in the tank don’t include sump volume. So I would recommend 100lbs and and see if that is enough and if it isn’t you could always add more. Thing is usually live rock is 7 dollars a lb and dry rock is around 2 to 3 dollars so it’s a lot cheaper.
That sand is good ,
The media reactor I have is from innovative marine . I put activated carbon in it. Mine is in a chamber in my external overflow, it sits in the the top sticking out. There is a pump on the bottom that pumps water through the tube and passes through the activated carbon and then overflows into an outer tube that lets the water come back into the tank. Activated carbon helps to remove many organic and inorganic materials dissolved in tank water -- it keeps the aquarium water clear, and removes odors.
You can get a reactor easily under 100 dollars and activated carbon is fairly cheap. Typically you change out the carbon in the reactor once a month. Highly recommend.
go with the protein skimmer and use the other section of the sump for Refugium. You will need to get another light for the Refugium. Don’t have to get anything fancy just look on marine depot or bulk reef supply. And no you don’t need a kessil Refugium light. They are nice but money can be better spent elsewhere.
Good biospira is a good starter bacteria.
For Uv sterilizer it depends on if you will be getting any fish that strictly rely on live copepods like a mandiran dragonet. The Uv sterilizer would kill the copepods. If you don’t plan on getting a fish like that and want the uv sterilizer running permanently then I would say yes it would be good to have.
You honestly will want to get different test kits that is the one thing you will learn to never cheap out on. Api rest kits can be sometimes hard to read and aren’t as accurate as other tests like Red Sea , salifert, and Hannah checkers.
Also since you are doing a reef tank you are going to want to get a dosing system. Price wise for budget get the Jeabo that has 4 dosing pumps and buy the containers. most people dose two part calcium and alkalinity using the brand B-ionic . You would set up the jeabo to dose an equal amount of each once a day at the same time. typically you would measure your calcium and alkalinity one day and then check it the next day at the same time and see how much your levels went down that way you can calculate how much you have to dose each day to have the levels stay the same. Then you program it. All you have to do then is check the container once in awhile to make sure you didn’t run out lol.
