Working on my first Saltwater tank

jasonjmcgee

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I have had a fish tank both fresh and brackish for 16 years and FINALLY made the jump from my 35g to a 46 bow tank bought the largest tank the wife would let me have. I am going to set this tank up as a saltwater to house my already puffer i have in my other tank as he is getting bigger so much help would be appreciated for a filter system. All i have in the tank thus far is live sand 40lbs and 10 lbs of crushed coral. Thanks for your feedback and help.

PS happy to be a part of the forum
 

revhtree

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Hello and welcome to R2R!! Is the tank drilled?
 
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jasonjmcgee

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No its not and i had read up on drilling it but didnt find the little info before i bought the tank. Is there that large of an advantage to have that in a reef tank? And since i dont do i cut a hole or just do a different filter?
 

bct15

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Hey buddy,

If you are somewhat handy with tools or know somebody who is, you might want to try drilling the tank yourself (since you already have it). It is not hard at all and this is a good website to visit or info on drilling tanks and a good source to get everything you need www.glass-holes.com. They sell kits that pretty much cover what you need, you'll just need to buy am extra bulkhead for your return (same site) and the plumbing pieces from your local hardware store. If you don't have any liverock, heated or powerheads yet, you want to start there. Get yourself some liverock, a heater, and a powerhead, if you don't mind buying sight unseen then check out www.liveaquaria.com, they have a very good price per pound once you figure in shipping. Let the liverock sit in your tank for a couple weeks before you add anything else, with a powerhead or two circulating the water. Then the next main piece f equipment you'll want is a protien skimmer, so shop around for one that suits your needs. If you drill you'll want an insump skimmer, if you don't then get yourself a hang on back skimmer. After those pieces of equipment I mentioned, everything becomes personal preference like lights, reactors, dosing pumps, controllers, chillers etc.

Hope I was some help. Also, you should skim through aquarium equipment threads here on r2r which you'll probably find a lot of threads with questions you may want to ask already answered.
 

_Alex_

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drilling the tank is not the hard. just get a good drill bit a good drill, a hose and a guide for the drill bit you can clamp to the tank. go slow let the drill be the pressure on the glass dont push on it, let the drill do all the work and just take it slow and USE LOTS OF WATER!!!! keep it cool you can run it slowly on the bit while drilling if you use a longer one or not go so fast you sling it everywhere... put ductape on the other side so that the piece doesnt just fall out and hit the other side, they hvae broke on people doing that, it also helps to keep the glass on the other side from chipping when you cut threw
 
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jasonjmcgee

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Thanks for the help everyone. I am in construction so i already have the diamond hole saw bits but is that type of filter system that much better to spend the time on it? Also before adding live rock dont i need to get the tank to acclimate?
 

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