Help Setting up my 125 Gallon Tank

A

arodz84

Reefing newb
Hello my name is anthony and i am new to all of this. Let me start by saying want i got and what i want. i have a 125 gallon tank that i had freshwater fish in about 7 month ago. now i want to setup a fish only saltwater aquarium. now i did some resreach and found that what i would need to get started is a wet/dry...protein skimmer...uv sterilizer....now i looked on ebay and found these item at reasonable prices...125 gallon wet/dry for about $200....coralife protein skimmers for about $120....coralife turbo-twist 3x 9 watt uv sterilizer for about $95....2 maxi-jet 1200 powerheads for about $50 and a digital heater for about $40...now this is all reasonable....now whats killing me is the prices of live rock...now i know the live rock is for looks and somekinda filter..do i really need to put live rock or can i do without it...if its for sometype of filter can i just add a canister or a hang-up filter instand of the live rock..now if live rock is really needed...i found this website called marcorocks.com and they have 75 Pounds of Key Largo dry Rock and
160 Pounds Bahamas Aragonite Sand for $269...can i get this and put it in my 125 or do i have to cure it and if i do have to cure it can i do it in the tank or do i have to setup something just to cure the dry rock...and another question a have is on a ro systen and what is a fose band or something like that.....can anyone help me on setup up my tank
 
does your last name by any chance start with a Cu?

anyway... personally i'd dump the wet/dry idea, you really dont need it, you can set up your own sump and end up with somethng better, and cheaper...

I dont have a uv on my system, i just havent seen the need, some people swear by them....

as for the live rock, yea, you really should have some, (acutally the normal reccomendation is 1.5 to 2 lbs per gallon of tank) if for no other reason than to give your fish some hideing places... but it is a wonderfull natural filter for the system... Its so good infact, that its the only filter i have in my system... its a place for all the "good" bacteria to grow, and clean the water...

the other thing that you might consider, is getting a smaller qty of live rock, and then make some yourself, like i did... i made more than half of the rock that is in my tank myself, at home, with basic tools, and stuff i got from the local home depot and the local fish store...

Either way, if your starting from a basically dry tank, i would also suggest that you look into drilling the tank, you'll wish you had later down the road if you dont... Thats not to say that there arent lots of us that have undrilled tanks, but, drilled is a cleaner looking setup, and personally i feel that it eliminates a couple potential failure points...

A RO system, or Reverso Osmosis/ DeIonizer filter, is something that you can get, and use at home so that you dont have to "go get water" like i do... see you cant just use tap water with de-chlorinator in a salt tank, well, ok, i guess you can, but i really dont suggest it, there are all sorts of stuff in our tap water, thats just fine for us, but not so good for the lives inside that tank... Well the filter takes almost all that stuff out of your tap water, so you can make your own water at home, rather than going to walmart or wherever you can to buy your water... for this you can look at www.purewaterclub.com thats where i placed my order for mine yesterday...(and i have a ups tracking # in my email right this min)
 
If you're new to all this I dont think you should drill your tank, let a pro do it, or someone with experience, you can destroy your tank in seconds. Get all the live rock you can afford, you can add more as you go, we all do it. I still move my rocks around all the time. Uv is optional. Have you heard of "cycling" the tank? YOu need to get some water in there and stablize the temp and stuff, then add some rock then the sand. No fish for a month! The tank will cycle and then you can add the skimmer and stuff. Also, I was going to do a FOWLR tank, thats fish only with live rock, but quickly went to a reef as soon as I saw all the cool corals you can get. So the point is you might need a better light down the road. We're here to help and we all like pictures too.
 
You can slowly add your rocks as you build your tank. Or buy a mix of some live rock, and some base rock. Scour craigslist for people taking down their tank...just beware of hitchikers in their rocks.
 
Na my last name doesn't being with cu....its rodriguez....ok so far my wife just bought me the wet.dry.....so I'm going to set that up with an over flow box....then ima buy the skimmer...the uv ster. And etc....sois it best for me to cycle the tank first....do I tank the empty tank and full it up with water and then cycle it then add all the sand and what ever rocks I but to the tank.....should I buy an ro system instead of puttin tap water...I think it might be ez for me as a beginner to put the ro system due to all the syht in new york water...lol....an ro system give me pure water then all I have to do is add the right amount of sand and the little extra....let me know guy....I'm dependin on all of ya...lol
 
You should put the sand and rocks in once you put in water (rinse out the sand if it's not live, otherwise it will make your tank cloudy everytime you stir the sand). You'll need them to grow your bacteria.

An ro/di is a good investment, but not necessary. I bought one, and it's been on of my best investments. I've got 3 kids and I can't always run to the store (nor do I want to) to get distilled water. Plus I don't always feel like spending. This way, even though it's using my own water, my bill hasn't significanly gone up anyway (except last month when I kept it running 2 1/2 days straight to fill up my 125g hehehe).
 
Thank u guys for the help....ok let me start by explain what I'm going do....from what you guys said and what I read on other websites.....I'm going to put a wet/dry with a over flow box...the wet/dry has enought room to put the protein skimmer ...heater...etc.....then I'm going to but from marcorocks.com the 70 lbs dry rock and 160 lbs sand and put all that in the tank....then I'm going to buy like 10. Lbs of live rock...I'm going to put tap water from my sink....now b4 I put the rock and sand...can I make the salt water in the tank it self then put the sand and rock in til it cycles for a while....now can someone tell me what next....if the cycle goes well ...then will I be ready for fish....someone then me know....thank
 
Be very careful about using tap water. I can't use it where I am because the dKH is through the roof. I would highly suggest you buy RO/DI water from say WalMart or get a unit to make your own. Some fish stores will also sell you water, but that may be a bit pricier.
 
It sounds like a good plan except for the tap water :)

I would make the saltwater in the tank first, give it a couple days to dissolve (use powerheads the whole time to keep it mixing), then when it is at the right salinity, add your rock and sand.
 

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