Rob, Matt and the Talkingreef community, I just found about your podcasts a few days ago, I decided to download all of them and start hearing them on my way to work, I think I am at #19… I’m driving about 80 miles a day for the last couple of days
. I found the podcasts and this forum very informative, as you said as a beginner (me) some time its difficult to get the right information, but your information its practical and easy to understand.
I do have several question so far, I apologize in advance for any grammatical errors (my English is not that good).
My System (see photos).
144 Gal. Tank
Oceanic
Sump
Turbo-Sea 790P Pump (coralife) 790GPH
Turbo-Twist 3X UV Sterilizer (coralife)
Super
Skimmer (coralife) for 125gal (needle wheel)
2
HQI metal halide (hang-on) 150W, 20,000K
24” compact fluorescent (1 True
Actinic 65W, 1 10,000k 65W)
Fan
Attachment 18 Attachment 19 Attachment 20
This is my first Reef / Saltwater tank, I set it up the first week of December, and I believe it finished the cycle last week, I don’t know exactly what kind of corals I will put in yet, probably easy to keep ones at the beginning and as time comes will see if I can go with more challenging ones. I just add 2 fire goby and a few snails, they seem to be doing fine.
Ok, my questions (most are from the past episodes)
1. Circulation: the pump that I have pumps 725gph at 4 feet overhead, to be safe I will say 700
gph in my setup, I also have 3 powerheads (hagen) they pump 270gph each (all on the back left, center, right pointing at middle front area), the main pump also feed my UV (I put a ball valve to regulate the flow) I will say that takes about ¼ of the flow (525 remaining), If my calculations are right my tank is circulating 1,335
GPH (9 times per hour).I thought this was more than enough (it seems to have a nice flow) until I hear you say go for 15 to 20 times… I was in shock!.
a. Will the 15 to 20 times apply to all corals?, or mainly SPS?
b. The biggest Powerhead from Hagen pumps 400gph, do you suggest to add 2 more? how should I position 5 power heads in my tank?, wont that be too much of a direct impact?.
c. Do you recommend the use of a wave maker? if I use one then the total
GPH will be reduced even more, does it matter?.
2. Light: when I bought the fixtures I chose does because the odd shape of the tank, I have the
HQI on the center-back are, and the compacts on the center-front area, I though that the higher the K the better for corals, but on one of your podcast you recommended 10,000k to 14,000k (if I remember correctly), what’s wrong with the 20,000k?, what do you think of my light setup?...and if it depends on the type of coral that I will keep, can you tell me witch ones will benefit of it?, I guess I can always change the bulb for a smaller K right?.
3. Clean Sand: my sand has a bunch of dusty debris (I guess from curing the rocks), should I clean it? how? (I don’t like how it looks).
4. Top-Off water: the water is evaporating on a rate of about 2 gal per day, I guess because of the fan directed to the
sump (control temperature), should I raise the
PH of the purified water before adding it to the tank (from under 7 to 8.2)?
5. What should I add first, fish? corals?, cleaning crew?, those it mater?
6. Can you name 10 corals that you will recommend for a new tank and a beginner?
7. You recommend not to use glass tops, my tank has 4, 2 small one in the corners, and to bigger ones on the center, I have the 24” fixture in top of those and I took the small ones out, also it helps to reduce evaporation, will you still suggest to take those out taking in consideration the use of a
sump?, if so can I just lay the fixture in top of the egg grates that you mentioned?.
8.
Skimmer: as you can see my
skimmer is rated for 125gal, when I bought it I though it was fine since the rock will take a few gallons of water space, but I didn’t include the
sump volume, how will I know if my
skimmer is not able to handle the system, maybe by testing
nitrates?.
9. I need to re-check this, but when I test it for calcium and alkalinity, my calcium was around 450, but my alkalinity was very high…those it makes sense? is there any problem with high alkalinity? (I haven’t add anything to the water)
10. The inside of the fan is rusting already, do you think there is a risk of particles falling to the water?, if so what kind of fan is recommended?
11. Im using bio-balls on the plastic container where the water returns, and I dumped a few carbon bags in the
sump, I read somewhere that is not recomended to use bio-balls, true?
12. Any recommendations for my setup/installation?, plumbing looks right?
Wow, this post extended more than I thought, I hope not everyone got bored with my questions
I don’t know if this will be material for a podcast (or if it should be on the general discussion, please move if so), do you mind giving me your observations thru the forum….also any reply from another member will be greatly appreciated.
Thanks
Simon
