Preparation for first saltwater tank!

[SInMontreal]

Hi Guys! I'm Sin from Montreal, QC Canada. I'm about to make my dream come true :p MY FIRST SALTWATER AQUARIUM ;););) I have watch a lot of video and read article to prepare for this.
I wonder if you guys could give me some advises for my first aquarium.

I would like to have a pair of Ocellaris clownfish and some anemones for them to host and maybe some corals. I will also have some cleaning crew like shrimp and hermit crab. They are adorable :p

I make a list what to buy next week for my first aquarium and here the list:

Aquarium :
- Innovative Marine NUVO Aquarium - Fusion Lagoon 25 :
Acrylic Filter Wall with dial overflow
2 Pre-molded Micron Sock
2 ajustable Return Flare Nozzles
211 Gallons Per hours Pump
Designated Heater column
Designated Skimmer column

Equipment and Decors:
- Aqua Illumination Prime HD Marine
- Spectrapure CSPDI 90GPD 4 stage w/ TDS meter
- Cobalt Neo-Therm Heater - 75W
- Coral Box Quiet Pump QP-5 Wavemaker (Max 1320GPH)
- Aquaforest Reef Salt Bucket 22kg
- CaribSea Arag Alive Special Grade Reef Sand 20 lbs - Live Sand (00790)
- CaribSea Liferock Base Rock - 10 LBS
- Aqua Illumination Prime Tank Mount
- Innovative Marine AUQA Gadget Ghost Protein Skimmer - MidSize
- Boston Aqua Farms Small Stony Coral Cutters
- Innovative Marine Auqa Gadget AccuDrip Acclimator
- Salinity measurement tool
- thermometric

Biomedia & filtration:
- Boyd Chemi-Pure Blue Nano (5 pack)
- Seachem Matrix Bio Media - 1 Liter
- Seachem Purigen
- Marinepure High Performance Biofilter Media - 1.9L (1.5")

Supplement & additives:
- Coral RX Coral Dip - 8oz
- Red Sea Reef Energy A Coral Nutrition Program (500ml)
- Red Sea Reef Energy B Coral Nutrition Program (500ml)
- Red Sea Reef Foundation C Elements - Mg (500ml)
- Red Sea Reef Foundation B Elements - Alk (500ml)
- Red Sea Reef Foundation A Element - Ca (500ml)

For Cycling my tank: I bought :
- DrTim's Aquatics 830 Ammonium chloride for aquarium
- Instant Ocean Bio-spira water treatment for aquariums
- I also have Seachem stability, seachem prime, seachem pristine, seachem Paraguard, seachem Stressguard, Seachem focus, Hikari Prazipro, Hikari


Thank you guys so much :)

 

[Barry_Cuda]

I can't offer any insight on the equipment you've listed - I don't have experience with any of it - but don't forget to budget for test kits! Ammonia (although many people prefer the SeaChem Ammonia Alert badge over an ammonia kit), nitrite (really only useful when cycling), nitrate, alk, Ca, Mg, pH, refractometer, etc. I bought the cheaper API kits for ammonia/nitrite/nitrate because a) they were cheap and b) they were what my LFS had in stock, but I'm regretting it and finding that I'm spending money over again to replace those with Salifert kits that give better readings.

 

[JasonK84]

 

[SInMontreal]

I can't offer any insight on the equipment you've listed - I don't have experience with any of it - but don't forget to budget for test kits! Ammonia (although many people prefer the SeaChem Ammonia Alert badge over an ammonia kit), nitrite (really only useful when cycling), nitrate, alk, Ca, Mg, pH, refractometer, etc. I bought the cheaper API kits for ammonia/nitrite/nitrate because a) they were cheap and b) they were what my LFS had in stock, but I'm regretting it and finding that I'm spending money over again to replace those with Salifert kits that give better readings.

Thank you so much I though about buying API saltwater master kid and API reef master kid. But since you said it's not so good. I will probably buy another mark like aquaforest or redsea kit. Do you have any idea witch kit is the good one ?

 

[Barry_Cuda]

Others will have more-informed opinions. I've just switched from API to Salifert kits for most parameters, and I like that they give a more precise reading. They're a little bit more complicated to use, but still very manageable. I know lots of people love the Red Sea kits too, but I don't have any experience with them. If you're willing to spend a little more money, lots of people here really seem to like the Hanna checkers. They give a nice digital readout and are pretty simple to use, from what I've seen.

 

[SInMontreal]

Others will have more-informed opinions. I've just switched from API to Salifert kits for most parameters, and I like that they give a more precise reading. They're a little bit more complicated to use, but still very manageable. I know lots of people love the Red Sea kits too, but I don't have any experience with them. If you're willing to spend a little more money, lots of people here really seem to like the Hanna checkers. They give a nice digital readout and are pretty simple to use, from what I've seen.

Thank you :D I will go check at my lfs and see what they have to offer. I'm not sure if they have Salifert kit but i know they have Redsea, API and aquaforest. I will go check that on amazon too :) Thank you :)

 

[JasonK84]

+1 for checking out Hanna checkers. I've only got the copper checker for my QT process but it leaves no guessing or trying to match colors. I don't run a reef. I do fish only and I wish they made a nitrate model but not yet. The copper checker was $50 but this last round of fish I QT'd was so easy and I checked levels less often because the readings were so precise and I wasn't second guessing and checking every couple days to verify.

 

[SPR1968]

Hi Sin and firstly welcome to R2R and thanks for joining us!

You will need some good test kits and The Red Sea test kits are a good solid choice to start with and then you can try others as you go, for example I prefer Hanna for alkalinity and phosphate but they are a lot more expensive. But it’s all personal preference and I also now use NYOS for nitrate

There are a lot of things in particular supplements on your list that you won’t need for a while and also you probably won’t need all the biomedia to start with until you get everything running and creating enough waste etc. You will probably not need to add much to the water in terms of foundation elements as water changes will replenish much of these until the system is established

Just remember, if your not testing to see if it’s needed, don’t add it until it is.

It’s very easy to see all the products around and think there needed.

You might find this useful

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/the-supreme-guide-to-setting-up-a-saltwater-reef-aquarium.138750/

http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2004-05/rhf/

As an alternative, and since it’s very exciting times, and if your like me, just get the lot! Lol

And we need lots of pictures on here!

 

[reef lover]

#Welcometor2r !!

 

[SInMontreal]

Hi Sin and firstly welcome to R2R and thanks for joining us!

You will need some good test kits and The Red Sea test kits are a good solid choice to start with and then you can try others as you go, for example I prefer Hanna for alkalinity and phosphate but they are a lot more expensive. But it’s all personal preference and I also now use NYOS for nitrate

There are a lot of things in particular supplements on your list that you won’t need for a while and also you probably won’t need all the biomedia to start with until you get everything running and creating enough waste etc. You will probably not need to add much to the water in terms of foundation elements as water changes will replenish much of these until the system is established

Just remember, if your not testing to see if it’s needed, don’t add it until it is.

It’s very easy to see all the products around and think there needed.

You might find this useful

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/the-supreme-guide-to-setting-up-a-saltwater-reef-aquarium.138750/

http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2004-05/rhf/

As an alternative, and since it’s very exciting times, and if your like me, just get the lot! Lol

And we need lots of pictures on here!

Thank you so much :D those articles are amazing for beginners like me ;) I will follow those instructions :D

 

[Aqua_KRiS]

Welcome to R2R !

 

[Captain Quint]

@SInMontreal Welcome and it appears you are off to a great start my friend. I really like my IM25 Lagoon AIO and pretty much used the same stuff you have listed with a couple of exceptions.

If you would like some really great flow in the system a swap out good choice is the MaxiJet1200. Your flow would be amazing and you'd have the original for a backup although the 1200s are little reliable powerhouses.

You did mention you have a 'Salinity measurement tool'. Is it a refractometer or hydrometer?

Good info on the test kits. API is not great but somewhat okay to get a pretty good idea of your top 3 tests while cycling a tank (ammonia/nitrite/nitrate) ultimately switching to a testing kit you feel confident about or the Hanna products.

~cheers~

 

[BedrockIOMC]

Well come to R2R

I would go with a larger return pump for sure. You need at least a 7x your tank size per hour. A lot of people, me included, like to have 10x return. just remember as well. 99.9% of the the time you also do get pumped what the box says the pump will do. so with a 211GPH you might get about 175-180 out of it as well.

 

[Geebs19]

Welcome to R2R!!

 

[SInMontreal]

@SInMontreal Welcome and it appears you are off to a great start my friend. I really like my IM25 Lagoon AIO and pretty much used the same stuff you have listed with a couple of exceptions.

If you would like some really great flow in the system a swap out good choice is the MaxiJet1200. Your flow would be amazing and you'd have the original for a backup although the 1200s are little reliable powerhouses.

You did mention you have a 'Salinity measurement tool'. Is it a refractometer or hydrometer?

Good info on the test kits. API is not great but somewhat okay to get a pretty good idea of your top 3 tests while cycling a tank (ammonia/nitrite/nitrate) ultimately switching to a testing kit you feel confident about or the Hanna products.

~cheers~

Thank you for your info :) I will go for redsea test kit instead of API since they have it at my lfs. It seems reliable base on the review :) and yes it's a redsea refractometer. :)

 

[SInMontreal]

Well come to R2R

I would go with a larger return pump for sure. You need at least a 7x your tank size per hour. A lot of people, me included, like to have 10x return. just remember as well. 99.9% of the the time you also do get pumped what the box says the pump will do. so with a 211GPH you might get about 175-180 out of it as well.

Thank you :) I will buy a stronger pump and keep the original one for back up :)

 

[Captain Quint]

Thank you :) I will buy a stronger pump and keep the original one for back up :)

I promise the MJ1200 will please you and make a huge difference in from decent flow o great flow throughout the IM25 Lagoon.

Please post progress pics under the 'Build Thread' so you can get a nifty Build Thread Contributor ribbon. :) Plus we love pics. ;)