New and need a few answers...

[budbreak96]

I am new to the saltwater thing and i have a 75 gallon tank. I got the tank and stand from a friend and it has about a 100 lbs of fiji live rock in it with some shrooms on it. I put new sand in it and all new water. Its cycling and the sand is turning brown and the rock is goldish brown. I hear this is good.


Well my questions are how many hermit crabs should i put in it to start out?

The tank had a 30 gallon tank under it with a nautaluis (spelled wrong) protien skimmer and the pumps and stuff. Well i did not use that stuff and instead put a Bio wheel Size 400 on it with two 1200 power heads and a heater in it. Is this set up ok? I am going to get a protien skimmer that hangs on the tank later on when i can. Someone told me that the bio wheels are no good and the lfs said its fine.

Any information at all on what i should do starting this tank up is greatly appericated.

Its been going for 2 weeks yesterday.

Thanks everyone, JOe

ps. i can take some pictures if ne one needs to see what all i have.

 

[dustin_P74]

hermit crabs are up to you, more people usually just stick to snails since snails will eat algae off of anything and if you mix the two the hermit carbs will eventually prey on the snails for their shells since hermit cant make new shells on their own, but a good rule is 1 animal of your clean up crew per gallon of water. also the bio wheel is no good, someone with more experience will explain why, all i know is they are notoriously no good

 

[Piggy]

Don't add anything to your tank until you finish your cycle. Which usally takes 6 weeks or so. Every tank is different. Just curious why you didn't use any of the sand or water? Is there anything else in the tank besides LR and coral? Post some pics so we can see your set up.

 

[RyanG]

JOE

You shouldve used the 30 gallon sump IMO. Its a good way to make your total water volume larger and it is also a great way to hide equiptment so that its not in the display tank. More natural looking...well as natural as a small reef in a house can look. Also the skimmers that you get for in sump use are superior typically to the hang on back(HOB) skimmers.

I personally wouldnt get any hermit crabs I would get a variety of snails. They will be more effective in cleaning your tank and the hermits will just eat them for their shells.

https://www.livingreefs.com/articles/setting-up-your-tank-f44.php

READ QUITE AFEW OF THE ABOVE LINKED ARTICLES. The articles section of this forum is great. Super Moderator Jhnrb has put a lot of time and effort into them. They are chocked full of great information from the beginning stages of a system to expert level coral care.

PS Welcome to the Reef. You should introduce yourself on the main page.

 

[Bifferwine]

Hi and welcome!

Using a sump is a much better choice than not. A sump under the tank adds more water voulme (so pollutants are diluted out more), it hides your equipment so you don't have crap taking up space in your display, and it's also a place to grow pods (live food for your tank) and macroalgae (which cuts down on algae in your main tank).

Biowheel filters are usually no good for saltwater tanks, as they tend to lead to high nitrate levels. High nitrates lead to algae problems galore. Fish can tolerate nitrates, but inverts (shrimp, crabs, snails, corals, clams, anemones, etc) cannot. If you plan on keeping inverts, I would ditch the biowheel. It just doesn't do a very good job for saltwater.

The most effective method of filtration for a reef tank is 1 to 2 lbs per gallon of live rock in combination with a protein skimmer, and like Ryan said, in-sump skimmers are way more effective than hang on back skimmers, which work, but don't work great, especially compared to one that sits in the sump.

They are also right about hermits, hermits will kill snails for their shells. If you don't mind replacing dead snails periodically, you can go for it, but many people do not put hermit crabs in their tanks for this reason.

 

[budbreak96]

 

[reeffreak]

Welcome Joe,

Wait until the cycle is complete before adding hermits(or anything that is alive).Hermits are a personal choice,they will/can kill snails for there shells.I find the small dwarf blue-legged hermits safer if you plan on keeping snails.Remember safer doesn't mean a guarantee that they still won't kill snails,just a reduce chance.I highly recommend an all snail cleanup crew when the time comes but the choice is really up to you.

Biowheels accumulate nitrifying bacteria.As there waste product is nitrate which can lead to high nitrates down the road if not cleaned on a weekly basis.Curious though?Why not go with the sump/skimmer that came with the setup?That is really a better filtration method,besides high nitrates,the biowheels get alot of saltcreep.

 

[budbreak96]

I just didnt want to deal with the tank underneath and some people told me that if you have a power outage the tank can overflow on the floor. I dont really know how to set all of it up and the guy that had it before me said the reason he was getting rid of it was because of the salt from the bottom tank messing up his wall behind the tank and then he had a problem with the power going off. But i really dont know how to set everthing up.

I am going to buy a protien skimmer later on down the road. Can i put one that goes inside the stand and the houses come up to the tank or what? can you give me some ideas and brands and different kinds that will work for my set up. Thanks for all the help so far.

 

[lightcs4]

I just didnt want to deal with the tank underneath and some people told me that if you have a power outage the tank can overflow on the floor.

There are ways of setting up the sump so that it doesn't siphon the water and create a flood. Unfortunately the sump is still on my to-do list, so I can't give you any first hand knowledge. However, do a search here or just ask and others can share how to set it up correctly. You are definitely better off with a sump w/skimmer instead of a HOB skimmer.

 

[Bifferwine]

If the guy had floods when the power was going out, he did not set up the sump correctly. If you set it up right, your system will be flood proof.

 

[dustin_P74]

i like your mushroom growth

 

[Piggy]

The rock looks great. Lots of coraline (purple stuff). Also love the mushrooms. Does the bottom of the stand open up? If you have the sump I would set it up. Like others said if properly set up you won't have any floods.

 

[McCrary]

The tank looks awesome, very clean and the rock looks like it has been there for a while. A sump is a must have, IMO and doesn't need to flood. My sump is able to hold all the water if I have a power outage, its just in the configuration. The tank is going to look much better with the heater, filter, skimmer and such down under to tank. Not to mention that the skimmer you will be able to get with a sump is going to be much better, which is a huge deal. The biowheel filter should go, it is only going to create nitrate problems, your rock is your filtration system and contains both aerobic and anaerobic bacteria, which means that you should have about 100lbs-150lbs. By me looking at your rock it seems that you might have 50lbs which probably isn't going to be enough, plus you are going to want the fish to be able to hide amongst the rock, so the open, minimalistic setup may not work well if you plan on having more than a couple fish. If you do plan on only having a couple fish than the rock should be sufficient. For flow, you should aim for around 1200gph inside the tank, which should show in the surface as ripples. The clean up crew should be composed of small scarlet leg or blue leg hermits, astrea snails are great for algae and don't get big like Turbos, the sand can be taken care of by nassarius snails. This clean up crew will take care of detritus in the rock, algae and your sand.

 

[budbreak96]

Thanks for all the replies. Any more help or advice would be greatly appericated.

As for McCrary I have a Natulius skimmer, its just not hooked up because i didnt want to fool with the sump. Im not going to have a bunch of coral so i am told that with the set up i have i will be fine by just doing 5gallon a week water changes.

I have the biowheel 400, One maxijet 1200 and 400 and a heater. Water temp is 80.2 to 80.4

I had another ballast with two 4 ft. tubes that i put in the hood a few days ago but i just dont like how hott the balast gets and all the wires are like a fire hazard. My lights turn on at 9am and go off at 9:30pm and then the lunar lights turn on and they go off at 7:30 am. Are my lights on to long?
Thanks everyone what a HELPFULLLLL place. Joe

 

[ladypheesh]

...The clean up crew should be composed of small scarlet leg or blue leg hermits....

...but only get hermits if you are willing to constantly replace your snails. We got the blue legged ones because we heard that they were the most peaceful. They ended up killing a LOT of snails and now they are all in our sump.

and I can't reccomend the sump enough. I really fought my husband on it at first (before I had done any research) because it seemed complicated and expensive, but he finally talked me into it. We're not huge do-it-yourselfers but our sump has worked extremely well even through some power outages. Just start reading up on it and be patient. It will be worth it!

 

[reeffreak]

6.5 hours a day sounds about right for the corals you have.You only have the mushrooms ,correct?They will be fine with even less hours(4 hrs),if you want to cut back.

 

[McCrary]

You can avoid having the snails killed by getting astrea snails, which have a small opening and a top designed shell. Hermits don't seem to use this shell unless they absolutely have to because the opening is so small and the shell is large. It makes it really tough for them to move around effectively. You can also get different size shells from your LFS and throw them into the rock or behind the rock or whatever. This creates opportunity for them to trade shells without going and killing snails for them. 99% of reefing is all in the little things and most of that just comes from experience.

budbreak96- If your not planning on coral and only a few fish than your setup will be just fine. It is a good looking tank and I'm sure it will be even more beautiful soon. Try turning your lights on at noon rather than at 9am, this will reduce the amount of algae you get initially and also reduce how hot the tank gets (although 80.2-80.4 is fine for a temp, 81 might be a little high).

 

[budbreak96]

thanks alot Mccrary, I changed my lights to come on at noon and go off at 9pm. I just put two damsels in yesterday and so far so good. I bought a blue and a blue fin damsel. I am going to take the top off today and cut out a spot for a fan to go in becuase the light gets so hot. I think im just going to go to a computer store and get a fan from them. Any suggestions?

 

[McCrary]

I have been using the Icecap variable speed fans for a couple years with no problems, they go faster as my canopy rises in temperature, so they're nice and quiet at night. Computer fans work well too, but I'm not sure how they will do in an environment so close to saltwater, sometimes rust can be problematic on components that aren't designed to handle an environment like a reef tank. My fans are placed on either side of my canopy and are blowing out, this allows cool air to be pulled through the back of the canopy, which is open, and blown through the sides. I don't run a chiller and my tank stays pretty cool with this method. Other people have one fan facing in and another facing out, so the air travels through, but having both mine facing out works better for me. A lot of getting a tank running well is simply trial and error, don't be afraid to experiment and see what works better. Oh, be careful of damsels, they get big and can be nasty, just a warning, most people end up tearing down their tanks to get them out after about a year because they tend to think the whole tanks theirs and kill things that are added later, especially more docile fish that usually do well in reef tanks.

 

[Bifferwine]

Computer fans work great. Is your tank covered with a glass top? If so, removing the glass and replacing it with egg crate will help cool it greatly. You can buy egg crate in the lighting section at Home Depot or Lowe's.

Damsels are notoriously aggressive fish. They have a tendency to kill other fish (and I even had one that killed any coral I put in its territory). If you can, I'd catch the damsels and take them back to the store. You can use a more docile fish that is just as hardy for the first fish in your tank -- green chromis are great (they are a type of damsel, but are not aggressive at all). It's just that the damsels (especially blue, domino and striped, I've found) are just nasty nasty fish.