New Tank - 100 Gallon Seaclear system II Set up advice

ProtectTheReef13 · Jan 11, 2022

Hi everyone,

This is my first post of hopefully many as I set up my first salt water tank. I have had fish tanks almost my entire life and always wanted to get into saltwater but never really had the financial capability to do it the way I wanted. I've had multiple South American Cichlid, African Cichlid, and at one point even had a piranha tank. They ranged from 10 gallons to 150 gallons. I recently purchased a 100-gallon seaclear system II acrylic tank used. I was planning to make another nice African cichlid tank but decided I wanted to jump in with both feet to saltwater. Needless to say, I am drowning in information and differences of opinion. Obviously, I am trying to stay financially responsible but understand that there is a large commitment to setting up a tank properly. I have a few questions I am hoping someone with experience (hopefully with the seaclear system) can help me with.

Filteration
- The Seaclear system II does not give a lot of information on how to set up the internal filtration system for saltwater - The back of the tank has a built-in filtration system. This is the only video I could find that gives any sort of guidance: https://fishtanksdirect.com/fish-tanks/fish-tanks-by-brand/seaclear/seaclear-system-2-aquariums/
- I have not put anything into the tank or filtration system at this point - The previous owner had fresh water so I decided to start from scratch and purchase a new pump and throw out all of the bio-balls and filters.
  - I purchased a new pump that I am hoping will be more than sufficient, as long as it fits in the designed area:
  - I have been looking for a protein skimmer that will fit this design of a tank but most of the hang-on skimmers are not designed for a tank this large and there is limited room in the internal filtration system. I was wondering if anyone had experience with these tanks specifically or recommendations. I may just need to buy a separate sump but almost feel like that makes the design of this system redundant.
  - Do you have any recommendations on whether or not to utilize bio balls, live rock, or other items that have worked well for you in place of the bio balls that go in the middle of the filtration system? I have gotten a lot of mixed reviews from my research online.
Lighting
- The tank came with old T5 lights so I am planning to replace those - My cousin has a 200-gallon reef tank and he recommended these for a beginner: https://www.amazon.com/VIPARSPECTRA...ncoding=UTF8&refRID=NCAWBD150G30ZCFR0H2H&th=1
  He said 2 or 3 165W should be plenty of light and I could always upgrade at a later date.
- The tank itself does not have a hood, so I was considering looking into lights that mount to the back of the tank instead of hanging them from the ceiling. With the number of options available I just wanted to see if anyone had a good quality lighting system for this size tank that I wouldn't have to sacrifice my firstborn to purchase.
Flow
- I understand I am going to need to purchase a circulation pump - There seems to be a lot of differences in quality and price. I wanted to see if anyone had recommendations for a pump set up for this size tank. I also wanted to see if anyone had experience in the differences in quality. Are the cheap pumps sufficient? Is it worth buying a top-quality pump? I don't mind spending the money on this project but I feel like I am not experienced enough to understand where I need to make sure I have quality and where it would be fine to upgrade at a later date when I get a little more experienced.
Aquascape
- Luckily the guy I purchased the tank off of wanted to do saltwater but decided to only have fresh water in the tank - He did throw in around 200 lbs of rock to create my own design in the tank. The rock looks like it is designed for saltwater but I'm not sure what type of rock it is. A few of the pieces were in the tank when the other owner had it and they have a nice green film. My question is, does the type of rock play a major factor in having a reef tank? Would you recommend that I just purchase something new so I know what I have? Do you have any recommendations on how to clean the rock prior to adding it to the tank? I have purchased live sand to add to the tank and a RO system that should be hooked up by the weekend. I would like to add the rock prior to putting in sand and water so I can create a design and either drill/fiberglass the design together or use adhesive to ensure it won't fall.

I know this is a lot and I really am trying to set the tank up properly - I have been to multiple fish stores in the area (Cleveland, Ohio) and received some good input but also a lot of kids that had no idea what they are talking about. I going to document this process and what I have learned good and bad as I build this tank, but advice or experience you might be willing to share would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks,

Andy

vetteguy53081 · Jan 11, 2022

This unit has rear internal sump in which you’ll utilize return pump, heater…. And internal protein skimmer such as ice cap K2-50
You can add media such as chemipure blue or a media basket as well as carbon reactor

ProtectTheReef13 · Jan 11, 2022

vetteguy53081 said:
This unit has rear internal sump in which you’ll utilize return pump, heater…. And internal protein skimmer such as ice cap K2-50
You can add media such as chemipure blue or a media basket as well as carbon reactor

Thank you - I really appreciate it. I will likely pick up the K2. Any thoughts on lighting?

Malcontent · Jan 11, 2022

I have a 125 gal (freshwater) and mostly in stock configuration. The pump got noisy after a few years and I had to buy around a half dozen replacements until I found one that had the right flow rate and size. The pump chamber has really odd dimensions so pumps that fit are often too weak.

The pump I settled on is an Innovative Marine MightyJet 538 GPH with the impeller guard removed. I still had to really force it in place.

vetteguy53081 · Jan 11, 2022

ProtectTheReef13 said:
Thank you - I really appreciate it. I will likely pick up the K2. Any thoughts on lighting?

Ai hydra 26 would do great or economically vivarspectra 165wt

ProtectTheReef13 · Jan 27, 2022

Thought I would give everyone an update - I’m waiting for my water tester to come in before I add fish. I decided to hold off on the protein skimmer until I get a few fish in there.

I know 1.026 is optimum for salinity. I’m sitting at 1.025 using the Hanna Salinity tester and 76 degrees. Do you think that would be fine to get a few fish in there? I went a little lower because I’m not sure how quickly the water will evaporate. I used live sand and added Dr. Timms live bacteria. I also am waiting on the SENEYE Reef Aquarium Monitor and Par Meter to come in to adjust the three Viparspectra lights.

cbusteach · Jul 26, 2022

I’m setting up that same SeaClear tank for saltwater as a write this. I don’t have any fish yet, fishless cycling so far. My question is: did you find a protein skimmer that fit into the rear sump area yet? would love to hear if that K2 worked out. If you’re still on here, let me know…thanks!

Screwgunner · Jul 26, 2022

Sounds like your basic trickle filter . Do you know if the skimmer is included with it if not you will probably have to get one from sea clear.

Screwgunner · Jul 26, 2022

Run your vipers at 20% white 70% blue that will grow sps nicely. Turn temp up to 78

Screwgunner · Jul 26, 2022

Looks nice. In the old days we just put a couple fish in and let the cycle begin. Clowns are very hardy damsels too. Put two of them in for a month and start adding fish slow. No more than 20 inches of fish at there full grown state.

cbusteach · Jul 26, 2022

Screwgunner said:
Sounds like your basic trickle filter . Do you know if the skimmer is included with it if not you will probably have to get one from sea clear.

No skimmer included, but i have some space behind/beside the tank to add one later. In the research phase for skimmer now

cdnco2004 · Aug 14, 2022

I have the 50 Gallon version. Did you guys find a good Skimmer that fits in these small spaces?

cbusteach · Aug 18, 2022

cdnco2004 said:
I have the 50 Gallon version. Did you guys find a good Skimmer that fits in these small spaces?

I squeezed a sea clone 100, pump into the first zone right up against the front/back skimmer, the rest is hanging off the back, pouring back into the second chamber. It’s only been a week so who knows how well it will work. The first issue I see is it’s foam pump cover, it’s wedged and compressed along that skimmer line. But again just starting this tank, no foam, just put in 2 clowns today. Bring on the protein!

cdnco2004 · Aug 18, 2022

In thinking about getting rid of my bio balls replace with bio ceramic squares stacked up half way and put a Skimmer on that.

cdnco2004 · Aug 19, 2022

So I decided to get a Tunez Doc 9004 DC Skimmer, Its way to big to fit in the section for the protein skimmer. Not many skimmers that are smaller than 3.7" wide. So I am just going to replace the bio balls with small stackable bio ceramic bricks. All of them will take up less than half the space the bio balls took. I will mount the Tunez with the magnet mount just above the bricks. That still leaves almost 25% of the bio ball section open so I will put cheto in there with a small USB grow light. That should provide effective filtration with the LR and LS in the display.

cdnco2004 · Aug 19, 2022

I put in the links to the bricks and skimmer but the system changed them to media links and nothing displays.... dumb....

cdnco2004 · Aug 19, 2022

So Bricks: https:// www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08JTTJGJH/
And Skimmer: https:// www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01KHWLR2U/

cdnco2004 · Aug 20, 2022

The new skimmer and stuff has not even arrived yet, but I found that the return pump on the system failed. I have been fighting with these guys to replace the pump that came with the system that arrived with a broken tab that holds the front on the pump. They still have not sent me a replacement for it. Luckily or not depending on how you look at it this was the replacement system they sent out when the first one arrived with the tank broken. So it took 2 months to get them to send me a replacement tank. I was able to use the pump form the first tank but now that has failed so I am SOL and like I said I never was able to get them to replace the first pump. Does any one know of a pump that will fit in that small cramped butt space? When the tank first arrived I wanted to replace the pump with a better one because it is a pretty crappy pump but could not find one to fit. Now I am stressing about what to do for a return pump. I have my gyre pump keeping flow moving so I am only out filtration at the moment but I need to get that AIO back in operation.

vvillaluna81 · Sep 28, 2022

cdnco2004 said:
The new skimmer and stuff has not even arrived yet, but I found that the return pump on the system failed. I have been fighting with these guys to replace the pump that came with the system that arrived with a broken tab that holds the front on the pump. They still have not sent me a replacement for it. Luckily or not depending on how you look at it this was the replacement system they sent out when the first one arrived with the tank broken. So it took 2 months to get them to send me a replacement tank. I was able to use the pump form the first tank but now that has failed so I am SOL and like I said I never was able to get them to replace the first pump. Does any one know of a pump that will fit in that small cramped butt space? When the tank first arrived I wanted to replace the pump with a better one because it is a pretty crappy pump but could not find one to fit. Now I am stressing about what to do for a return pump. I have my gyre pump keeping flow moving so I am only out filtration at the moment but I need to get that AIO back in operation.

Sorry to open up an old thread, however, I am setting up a 75 gallon myself that I got 2nd hand.

No bioballs or bio cubes.. essentially it has all the parts but no pre filter and bioballs.

Question for anyone on this... On the right side of the tank looking at it from the front... There's a hole where I assume the pump spills into. How do you connect the tubing into that? Is that dry water simply flows into that from the pump? Or is there a piece that I am missing that I need to go find somewhere?