my set up is taking shape, I'm going to buy the material by the end of June,
I've been told so many time to take my time in this hobby, and not to rush into anything, that I give myself another week or two to shop around and try to think of everything.
I also want to prepare the place where the aquarium will be installed as well as the water supply, dose, etc..
I decided to do this in 2 steps (maybe more? )
Step one, which I will start soon, is the purchasing of the following equipment.
And by the way, I don't know how it works for you in the US, but here in Canada, it's worth shopping around, I thought that when I walked into the store and said I was buying for 10K of stock, I could negotiate a bit, but it seems that it doesn't work that way in this hobby, to make a long story short, by buying from 3-4 different places, I can save close to $600, including shipping. I just have to be careful about availability, in covid time, stock is a bit scarcer, but I'll manage to find everything I need.
Red Sea reefer 425 xl, I thought for a while I'd take the 525, but space would be a bit tight, there is also that bigger reef means more light skimmer bigger water change bigger fish more corals and a lot more $$$$ to invest. I had to rationalize a bit ;-) (that was the hardest part lol...)
Skimmer Red Sea RSK 300,
Lighting 2 x Red Sea reef led 90: ah the question of lighting, I decided to go with these, telling myself that I don't have tons of corals at the moment and that for the first year I intend to limit my impulses and not to load it too much. after a year, I might upgrade to XR30 G5 radion if the needed, and I'll keep the red sea for my quarantine aquariums / in back up
Apex EL controller no need for the full Apex for me.
Neptune cor-20 lift pump I chose this one because it doesn't need the Apex to work, convenient in case of controller failure.
powerhead. 2 Neptne Wav pump, 1 red sea reefer wave 45. the red sea on one side, one Neptune in front, the other Neptune angled down, pointing on the back of the tank, on the other side back, I'll put one of the Jebao I already have. That way I think I'll eliminate all the dead spots.
Dosage 1 Neptune DOS to dose the 2 parts and another dosing pump for the automatic water changes.
Rocks 90 lbs of Marco dry rock, I'll take some pieces with a flat side, for the base of the aquascape, some "shelf" pieces to make trays for the corals and the rest in Marco premium.
correct my if i am wrong, but this dry rock that doesn't come from the ocean, but from a quarry, so it doesn't have to be cycled, just washed and seeded in the aquarium.
Sand 60-80 bs Araga live sand, I still hesitate for live sand or not, but I think that live sand, could help to diversify the bacteria needed to start.
For the start, I will seed with the Red Sea mature pro kit, a protocol that takes 21 days, and on which I read a lot of good things.
During this time, I will remove the live rocks from my current tank, which I think have accumulated all sorts of good and not so good things. They say that rocks accumulate the mistakes that have been made over the years, so I have no intention of using them again, I'm going to let them dry, bleach them, and see what I do with them. I will then isolate my corals to make sure I don't transfer any undesirables and make dips before I put them in the new tank.
When all my live stock will be in the new tank, I'm going to empty my little 50 gallons, clean it, fix the silicone, which is starting to be a little bit old after 17 years... and keep it for quarantine. I'm going to set up something where I put a small 8x14 tank of 2-3 gallons elevated and insulated inside the 50 gallon, but not sharing the same water. That way, both will have the same lighting but without water exchange, I will be able to isolate the corals and fish in quarantine, and treat the fish and corals separately with different quarantine protocols before putting them in my new set up, my quarantine tank will be supplied with water by the automatic water changes of the new set up.
phase 2
in the next year or two, I'm gonna add
a top off Apex, the Red Sea comes with its auto top off, but with the Apex I would have a bigger water reserve.
change the lights to Radion Gen 5 if necessary.
Add a 2nd back-up/redundancy pump
add an ecotech MP40 pump connected to a battery that will point to the top of the tank, to oxygenate the water in case of power failure.
I will also add redundancies for auto top off, automate the ro-di add a booster pump, flow monitor to be warned if something goes wrong, a leak detector, a neptune trident a fleece filter roller, a chiller etc.
the ultimate goal being an ultra low maintenance aquarium.
I will come back with pictures when the stock starts to arrive
I've been told so many time to take my time in this hobby, and not to rush into anything, that I give myself another week or two to shop around and try to think of everything.
I also want to prepare the place where the aquarium will be installed as well as the water supply, dose, etc..
I decided to do this in 2 steps (maybe more? )
Step one, which I will start soon, is the purchasing of the following equipment.
And by the way, I don't know how it works for you in the US, but here in Canada, it's worth shopping around, I thought that when I walked into the store and said I was buying for 10K of stock, I could negotiate a bit, but it seems that it doesn't work that way in this hobby, to make a long story short, by buying from 3-4 different places, I can save close to $600, including shipping. I just have to be careful about availability, in covid time, stock is a bit scarcer, but I'll manage to find everything I need.
Red Sea reefer 425 xl, I thought for a while I'd take the 525, but space would be a bit tight, there is also that bigger reef means more light skimmer bigger water change bigger fish more corals and a lot more $$$$ to invest. I had to rationalize a bit ;-) (that was the hardest part lol...)
Skimmer Red Sea RSK 300,
Lighting 2 x Red Sea reef led 90: ah the question of lighting, I decided to go with these, telling myself that I don't have tons of corals at the moment and that for the first year I intend to limit my impulses and not to load it too much. after a year, I might upgrade to XR30 G5 radion if the needed, and I'll keep the red sea for my quarantine aquariums / in back up
Apex EL controller no need for the full Apex for me.
Neptune cor-20 lift pump I chose this one because it doesn't need the Apex to work, convenient in case of controller failure.
powerhead. 2 Neptne Wav pump, 1 red sea reefer wave 45. the red sea on one side, one Neptune in front, the other Neptune angled down, pointing on the back of the tank, on the other side back, I'll put one of the Jebao I already have. That way I think I'll eliminate all the dead spots.
Dosage 1 Neptune DOS to dose the 2 parts and another dosing pump for the automatic water changes.
Rocks 90 lbs of Marco dry rock, I'll take some pieces with a flat side, for the base of the aquascape, some "shelf" pieces to make trays for the corals and the rest in Marco premium.
correct my if i am wrong, but this dry rock that doesn't come from the ocean, but from a quarry, so it doesn't have to be cycled, just washed and seeded in the aquarium.
Sand 60-80 bs Araga live sand, I still hesitate for live sand or not, but I think that live sand, could help to diversify the bacteria needed to start.
For the start, I will seed with the Red Sea mature pro kit, a protocol that takes 21 days, and on which I read a lot of good things.
During this time, I will remove the live rocks from my current tank, which I think have accumulated all sorts of good and not so good things. They say that rocks accumulate the mistakes that have been made over the years, so I have no intention of using them again, I'm going to let them dry, bleach them, and see what I do with them. I will then isolate my corals to make sure I don't transfer any undesirables and make dips before I put them in the new tank.
When all my live stock will be in the new tank, I'm going to empty my little 50 gallons, clean it, fix the silicone, which is starting to be a little bit old after 17 years... and keep it for quarantine. I'm going to set up something where I put a small 8x14 tank of 2-3 gallons elevated and insulated inside the 50 gallon, but not sharing the same water. That way, both will have the same lighting but without water exchange, I will be able to isolate the corals and fish in quarantine, and treat the fish and corals separately with different quarantine protocols before putting them in my new set up, my quarantine tank will be supplied with water by the automatic water changes of the new set up.
phase 2
in the next year or two, I'm gonna add
a top off Apex, the Red Sea comes with its auto top off, but with the Apex I would have a bigger water reserve.
change the lights to Radion Gen 5 if necessary.
Add a 2nd back-up/redundancy pump
add an ecotech MP40 pump connected to a battery that will point to the top of the tank, to oxygenate the water in case of power failure.
I will also add redundancies for auto top off, automate the ro-di add a booster pump, flow monitor to be warned if something goes wrong, a leak detector, a neptune trident a fleece filter roller, a chiller etc.
the ultimate goal being an ultra low maintenance aquarium.
I will come back with pictures when the stock starts to arrive
