New reef tank for an old school guy

[Smitty126]

Excited here . Finally starting to fill the new tank this week hopefully . Have some questions. First I’ve been out of the hobby for about 10-12 years. Had a very established 55gal reef. Metal halide vho actinics, reef octo skimmer 40-50 lbs rock deep sand bed . As I’m starting up this new one I read a lot of new things starting with cycle.
New tank is just a 32 biocube. Right now has a kessel 80 blue on it( bought tank used ) live sand is on the way, planning on using dry rock( from old tank that’s been in a bucket for all those years) should I rinse or just put in tank dry? Dr Tim’s? As opposed to raw shrimp cycle( again I’m old school) coral pro salt , to/di water for sure ,should I use bio balls in the basket in back( have the drop in filter addition) no skimmer yet as waiting on cycle to finish . Again a lot has changed . Understand everyone’s two cents worth is different so lemme have it . May do a start up and pic thread as well

 

[lapin]

Go with what you got. You can always upgrade stuff later. New stuff cost money. They think we tank keepers will buy anything . And most do.
I would rinse and soak the rock with a power head and some lanthium chloride to pull out some accumulated phosphate.
Welcome back to the hobby

 

[X-37B]

Old school reefers use live rock. Save yourself the hassle of dead and get 20lbs live mixed with a few pieces of dead on top of the live sand.
You can start adding coral in a few weeks.
Either way

 

[Smitty126]

Old school reefers use live rock. Save yourself the hassle of dead and get 20lbs live mixed with a few pieces of dead on to pf the live sand.
You can start adding coral in a few weeks.
Either way

Old school reefers use live rock. Save yourself the hassle of dead and get 20lbs live mixed with a few pieces of dead on to pf the live sand.
You can start adding coral in a few weeks.
Either way

I’m using live sand which back in the day we didn’t have but I do need to visit a store maybe get a couple piece's of live . Didn’t know if the sand would seed it or not .

 

[Lowell Lemon]

Upgrade your light. You will need more for most applications. Old reefer here. I have a 150 watt hanging pendant if you want old school easy. German made. Double ended HQI bulbs.

 

[Smitty126]

Upgrade your light. You will need more for most applications. Old reefer here. I have a 150 watt hanging pendant if you want old school easy. German made. Double ended HQI bulbs.

I’m planning that in future looking at the kessel 360. I really like the shimmer effect . The 80 was in the hood when I got the tank cheap. Guess I’ll start the cycle of the dry rock today after I’ve been reading. So much has changed .

 

[kevgib67]

After sixteen years of reefing I too returned after 10 years. I’m running my current tank similar to how I ran the tank I started in the mid nineties.

 

[The_Bro]

Bioballs are kinda veered away from these days. They get dirty and become nitrate factories, then cleaning them destroys your some of your biological filter... Id use the drop in filter ( Which is prob one of those In Tank Media baskets) with some filter floss on the top level. Your rockwork should supply all the area the bacteria need.

 

[Smitty126]

Bioballs are kinda veered away from these days. They get dirty and become nitrate factories, then cleaning them destroys your some of your biological filter... Id use the drop in filter ( Which is prob one of those In Tank Media baskets) with some filter floss on the top level. Your rockwork should supply all the area the bacteria need.

I have that in tank mediabasket that drops in the middle chamber on the biocube . has three compartments . Thinking of filter floss on top. After established chemi pure maybe . Haven’t figured out the other two slots yet. Playin with the notion of cheato with a light that attaches to the back for growth . Still working on that . My last tank was running for like 15 or so years it ran itself with water changes . No bioballs then . Sound like canister filters and nitrates . Thanks . So many new things

 

[BeanAnimal]

. Understand everyone’s two cents worth is different so lemme have it . May do a start up and pic thread as well

What has changed? Nobody has convinced me yet that much of anything has other than — bad advice moves faster than it used to — and more people than ever say ridiculous things in the name of trying to make a name for themselves.

 

[kevgib67]

I have that in tank mediabasket that drops in the middle chamber on the biocube . has three compartments . Thinking of filter floss on top. After established chemi pure maybe . Haven’t figured out the other two slots yet. Playin with the notion of cheato with a light that attaches to the back for growth . Still working on that . My last tank was running for like 15 or so years it ran itself with water changes . No bioballs then . Sound like canister filters and nitrates . Thanks . So many new things

I have a protein skimmer in the first and a return pump in the third. The middle I based on the video that I will post.

 

[kevgib67]

 

[Maho.B]

Welcome back. If you were happy with your established 55 gallon back then, do the same with the new one now. The science hasn't changed from back then. Just way more gadgets, not that all the new stuff is bad. But if you had a successful reef then, just repeat it. Best of luck!

 

[CHSUB]

Bioballs?? J Sprung has a whole chapter in his book about not using or removing them in 1994.

 

[Smitty126]

The lights are mostly led now and I don’t plan on halide anymore .learning the ins and outs of those have been different. Lots of stuff to cycle the tank . Awesome vid on the tank thanks. I forgot about purigen .

 

[BeanAnimal]

The lights are mostly led now and I don’t plan on halide anymore .learning the ins and outs of those have been different. Lots of stuff to cycle the tank . Awesome vid on the tank thanks. I forgot about purigen .

Cycling is still cycling and there really isn’t anything new other than creative marketing aimed at getting you to dump (pun intended) more unneeded product into the tank.

LEDs? Throw a reputable one above the tank that is marketed to that size and run it at or near 100% output and coral will grow.

There are more snake oil products than ever, and more snake oil fans than ever and snake oil salesman then ever. The science of reefing really hasn’t progressed much since you have been gone, even if somebody on YouTube or a podcast swears it has. Most of them are just vested in saying something, anything, so as to generate content.

We do have more captive bred fish then before, and only maricultured live rock vs that plucked from the reef.

 

[Gregg @ ADP]

Yeah, I haven’t touched a bio-ball since I stopped doing fish-only systems 20+ years ago. Have never used them on a reef.

I’m an algae fan. Even if I had low surface area within the system, I wouldn’t even think about it, due to direct uptake of ammonia by algae and coral. If you want to minimize algae at all costs in your system, you will still have more than enough SA in your system to support the bacteria you would need.

 

[Back to the salt~]

regarding new tank cycle; I'm doing no fish cycle with 3% ammonia; trying to reach 2ppm but noticed my ammonia test kit is expired about 10 months; Do you think its still fairly accurate?

 

[Back to the salt~]

Cycling is still cycling and there really isn’t anything new other than creative marketing aimed at getting you to dump (pun intended) more unneeded product into the tank.

LEDs? Throw a reputable one above the tank that is marketed to that size and run it at or near 100% output and coral will grow.

There are more snake oil products than ever, and more snake oil fans than ever and snake oil salesman then ever. The science of reefing really hasn’t progressed much since you have been gone, even if somebody on YouTube or a podcast swears it has. Most of them are just vested in saying something, anything, so as to generate content.

We do have more captive bred fish then before, and only maricultured live rock vs that plucked from the reef.

Good Morning ;regarding new tank cycle; I'm doing no fish cycle with 3% ammonia; trying to reach 2ppm but noticed my ammonia test kit is expired about 10 months; Do you think its still fairly accurate?

 

[BeanAnimal]

I would assume it could read a bit low, but it is easy enough to test. Mix a small batch with RO water to a known concentration and test it.

1% = 10,000 ppm
So 3% = 30,000 ppm

If we want a 1 ppm test solution, we need a 30,000:1 dilution from ammonia in RO water.

First, take exactly 1 mL of ammonia and add it to 99 mL of RO water.
You now have a stock solution of 300 ppm ammonia.

Next, take 1 mL of that solution and add it to 299 mL of RO water.
You now have a final solution of 1 ppm ammonia.

Make sure you rinse everything between solution one and solution two.

Test it with your kit to verify.

Or save the hassle and spend $10 on a new API test kit.