whats the right way to set up a marine aquaruim ?

[lil-adz]

hi my name is adam im very new to this site and this is my first post

i have had tropical fish for a while and never had any problems now i have just got a 850lt marine tank with a sump
i also have been told by many fish keepers the bigger the better but the more expensive it can become is this true?.

i wanted to know whats the best and well cheapest way to fully set up a full reef tank with fish
thanks for looking

 

[glb]

That's a beautiful tank! As far as your question about bigger is better, there's pros and cons to any size tank. A big tank has much better stability. For example if the a/c goes out, it will take a lot longer for a big tank to heat up. Same with changes in water chemistry. The big tank also allows you to give your livestock plenty of room, including keeping corals at a safe distance from each other if they are aggressive.

The down sides of a big tank are that they are more expensive to operate and maintenance is more time consuming. The equipment and everything else, such as dosing solutions, live rock, filter media, etc. will cost more.

Hope others with more experience than me will chime in. Good luck!

 

[glb]

As far as safe ways to keep the costs down, you could start with dry live rock instead of wet cured live rock. It will take a little longer because it has to become live, but it's a legitimate way to save money. I wouldn't try to save on skimmers or lights. Those should be the best you can get. They are both critical to your tanks' success so you don't want to go cheap and then have to replace down the line. I save money by not buying expensive fish or coral. I've been an aquarist for years but am newer to corals, so it's far less stressful for me on the learning curve as I make mistakes. There are plenty of beautiful fish and corals that are great for newcomers to saltwater. I also wouldn't skimp on test kits. I started with API but you really need more accuracy. I use salifert for nitrates, Red Sea for mg and ca and hanna checkers for alk and phosphates.
More to come...

 

[Reefing Madness]

#1-Dry Rock, there are a few hitchhikers on Live Rock that people want to stay away from, so they opt for using Dry Rock, or Dead Rock. Macro Rock is a good place to start looking for that. Either way you go you will need a minimum of 1lb per gallon. You can use Fully Cured Live Rock, and have the tank cycled in just a few days also. Other way is to use just a couple of pounds of Live Rock and the rest Macro or Dry Rock.

#2-Replacement filter media like filter floss and activated carbon (if you get a filter) Which is really not necessary.

#3-Multiple Power heads (2 or 3) 10x your water volume for just a Fish Only With Live Rock, and at least 20x your water volume for a Reef Tank. So lets say your going reef, and you have a 100g tank, you would need flow in that tank at minimum of 2000gph, or 2 1000gph power heads.

#4-Protein Skimmer, rated at 2 times your water volume. Unless your tank is under 30g, in which case you can do 10% water changes a week to rid the system of detrius. But, you'll have to watch the water parameters close, if things go haywire, you'll have to do more water changes.

#5-Saltwater Test Kits. Reef Test Kit. Test for Ammonia, Nitrites, Nitrates, PH, Phosphates, Calcium, ALK and Magnesium.

#6-Saltwater fish food. Mysis Shrimp, Squid, Cyclopease, Algae Sheets, Romaine . Flake food is not really a good food to feed your marine fish.

#7-Aquarium vacuum. This one is iffy. Most don't use one, if you have enough flow in the tank you won’t need one

#8-Rubber kitchen gloves

#9-Fish net

#10-Two, clean, never used before, 5-gallon buckets

#11-Aquarium thermometer, digital being the best.

#12-Brush with plastic bristles (old tooth brush) - needed for cleaning the live rock if you don't get Fully Cured Live Rock.

#13-Power Strip, possibly GFCI outlets by the tank.

#14-Optional but definitely recommend getting a Reverse Osmosis or RO/Deionization filter for the make-up water, and a barrel for storing the water.

#15-Possibly a Quarantine Tank for your new fish. They sit in here for a few weeks to kill off parasites and bacteria, to keep it from getting in your main tank

#16-Heater rated for your size tank.

#17-Saltwater Mix. Marine Salt. Instant Ocean is the cheap Salt that beginners and Advanced use alike.

#18-Saltwater Hydrometer or even better a Refractometer, which is more accurate. There is also a Digital Meter that is way advanced if you have the cash.

#19-Aquarium filter (not absolutely necessary if running with adequate amounts of live rock, but nice to have if you need to use a mechanical filter or activated carbon, or GFO and such)

#20-Aquarium substrate such as live sand or crushed coral. Some go bare Bottom, others choose the 2-3" bottom, others, more advanced will try the Deep Sand Bed, which is over 6" deep.

http://znnea.rmuvx.servertrust.com/default.asp

http://www.americanaquariumproducts.com/Nitrogen_Cycle.html

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http://www.marcorocks.com/

http://www.bulkreefsupply.com/bulk-dry-live-rock.html

Live Rock and Live Sand: Live Saltwater Aquarium Rock and Sand

http://www.drsfostersmith.com/fish-supplies/aquarium-substrate/ps/c/3578/9805

http://www.americanaquariumproducts.com/Aquarium_Lighting.html

http://live-plants.com/

http://successfulreefkeeping.com/learn/what-your-coral-needs/

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[lil-adz]

thanks for answering my questions one thing i forgot to say is i have a 3ft sump underneath what would be the best way to set a sump up i heard live plants in the sump could help keep nitrates down. also how much live rock would i need to start cycling the tank and could i add it over time ? thanks again for looking

 

[revhtree]

Welcome to R2R! Check out this article: How to set up a saltwater reef aquarium tank- REEFEDITION

 

[Reefing Madness]

thanks for answering my questions one thing i forgot to say is i have a 3ft sump underneath what would be the best way to set a sump up i heard live plants in the sump could help keep nitrates down. also how much live rock would i need to start cycling the tank and could i add it over time ? thanks again for looking

Live Plants are great for a new set up. Macro Algae is another system booster, they help remove excess nutrients from the water column. To start with you'll want at least 1lb of LR per gallon, reef tanks require over 2lbs per gallon. This is where your bacteria grows to maintain Nitrates. You can add more overtime, but once the tank is established it gets a bit trickier, you can only seed with a few pounds at a time, unless using fully cured Live Rock. Dry rock at that point would be great also. You could put quite a few lbs of dry rock in at a time, as its not going to have any die off.