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  • looking for someone to help guide me.

    So I'm looking into setting up a 40 breeder reef tank. I have the tank and stand already and am not sure what else I willNEED to get started. Like do I really need a skimmer and bio reacter and all that fancy stuff. also I am new to sumps and don't know 100% on what it takes to run one. I currently have a 125,100 and some other smaller freshwater tanks so I'm not new to the whole nitrogen cycle and the other basics. I live in Santa Fe tx, if anyone that lives close could allow me to peek at their operation and give me some knowledge on the topic it would be greatly appreciated. Thanks Bryan.

  • #2
    Okay... i'll bite....

    Sounds like this is your first SW tank. My first piece of advise is that before you start, read as much as you can from forums, articles and talk to as many people as you can. There are some good LFS around with nice knowledgeable folk who can help you out. Hear people's opinions and understand the reasons why some people prefer to go one way and others decide to go another. You'll find quickly that the SW community have very strong personal feelings about doing certain things a certain way. Compare pros and cons and see which one fits your situation / expectation.

    Stuff to get educated about:
    1) Saltwater Water Chemistry (Salinity, Specific Gravity, Temperature, Carbonate Hardness, Calcium, pH, waterchange requirements)
    2) Equipment - Skimmer, Refugium, Heating, Auxillary pumps, Sump, Overflows, Durso standpipes, pump returns etc.
    3) Livestock. - Compatibility, hardiness, feeding requirements

    As for my personal advice:
    I would go for a FOWLR (fish only with live rock) tank. As you get more comfortable with SW, you can start adding other stuff.
    Personally (and other folk my disagree), but i would recommend for a Minimum the following:
    1) Live rock in your main tank. Rule of thumb is 1 lb per gal of tank.
    2) Skimmer. For a 40gal, depending on your stocking level, you may be able to get a way with an airstone driven skimmer or a hang on back model. If you choose go the route of a refugium / sump, then i would recommend an impeller driven model.
    3) Refugium / Sump. I am a big believer in this for many reasons. Not just for the physical health and water quality of the tank, but you can hide away a lot of ugly equipment under your main tank. IMHO, if you can, go for a fuge / sump with an overflow and return. Use Chaetomopha in your refugium
    4) Livestock. Start out with hardier (and cheaper) fish such as damsels and ocellaris clowns.
    5) Lighting. I would recommend using T5-NOs to start (they are somewhat affordable). If you decide down the line that you want to grow your SW habit by adding stuff like coral, then you can upgrade the lighting to T5-HO's or other .
    6) Get yourself a good refractometer / specific gravity meter.


    Its hard to answer such a general question, but if you have specific questions, feel free to ask.
    Good Luck!
    www.ventralfins.com

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    • #3
      Thanks nacra. I know I it was a really general question but I guess that is how much I don't know yet. I've been reading up a lot on it. I'm taking your advice and doing a FOWLR tank first. Is there a certain ratio for how big the dumps should be in relation to the display tank?

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      • #4
        Nacra gave you a pretty great answer. I just thought i would add that I liked the BRS (bulk reef supply) videos on youtube. They had a short series setting up a 40 gal tank.


        200 - African cichlids
        72 - Salty Bow Front
        33 Cube - community
        10's - Freshwater Shrimp


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        • #5
          thank you brAin ive been watching a lot of those videos and it has helped out a lot of my questions. now for a real life question ive found a 75 gallon saltwater tank with fish and no corals. he is not sure what is exactly in there but he said there is a tang. some "butterfly fish" (not sure what that is) and a trigger. I know the trigger will prob have to go before adding corals. but I plan on keeping them until I get the hang of saltwater. now the question, how can I transport this stuff to my house? its 30 minutes away. I plan on keeping a little water in the tank to keep the bacteria in the substrate alive during transport. put the fish in a cooler prob with a heater till the tank gets going. how can I mix the salt and the water?? what do yall do? is it that crucial to mix the salt and the water before adding it to the tank?? thanks for the replies. I am getting the tank today so any help would be appreciated thanks!

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          • #6
            also if some one is free today and wants to help out that would be cool! text or call 712-830-0788.< it is an iowa number

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            • #7
              Originally posted by topout24 View Post
              ... dumps...
              I'm going to assume that you are saying "sump".

              My advise is "As big as possible".
              1) Greater volume of water means the water chemistry and temp are going to be a bit more stable
              2) You need space for stuff like heaters, skimmer, refugium (optional but recommended), but yet be able to fit under your tank. If you are going to do a 75 gal, i found that a old converted 29gal (30") is the perfect size to fit under there.
              Here are some pics of my 75 with a 29gal sump.



              www.ventralfins.com

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              • #8
                75 gal is a a nice size IMHO. The larger water volume allows the chemistry and temperature to be a little bit more forgiving than the smaller "nano" tanks. I'm not sure if tangs and triggers make good beginner fish. Do note that tangs are vegetarian.

                If you intend on keeping the fish, there is a high chance that if you intend to remove the fish later on (like you said) that you will probably have to tear all the rock apart trying to catch them.

                I don't want to poo poo your enthusiasm what you are doing with the 75 gal tank, but i would suggest you figure out some of your stated questions BEFORE you pick up the tank... such as how you are going to mix saltwater. If you don't have a large drum or another large fishtank to mix the water, then you are going to mix the saltwater water in-tank, which will probably mean that you will need to have somewhere to house the fish and live rock temporarily.

                The other question would be where you are going to get your freshwater for mixing from. Some people do it, but i would HIGHLY dissuade anyone from using straight up tapwater. Because you will more likely than not, experience pretty bad algae problems from the trace nutrients in municipal tap water. I would highly recommend RO water which you will either need to buy or make yourself (do you have an RO unit?.. if not.. there's another thing to think about).

                The bacteria in the substrate and live rock are hardier than we expect. They will be ok for a couple of hours if you keep it moist. Just drape a wet towel over the live rock to keep them from drying out.

                My humble opinion (drawn from many failures): take it slow and slowly collect the bits and pieces you need for your tank. Buying somebody's already running tank may be cheaper and convenient, but then the learning curve is huge! You not only need to very quickly learn about SW tanks in general, but then you also have to deal with the nuances of this particular foreign tank setup. I personllay would advise starting from scratch using good (used) equipment. That way you can take your time and research and also figure out some logistics along the way (like where and how to mix water) and also plan your own tank layout.

                good luck!
                www.ventralfins.com

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                • #9
                  Ice chest is the best way to transport in my opinion.

                  Always mix your saltwater in a seperate container.
                  Use a Reverse Osmosis water filter to clean your tap water. This will take hours or days depending on the filter. Then add your salt of choice to the water and mix with a power head while heating to correct temperature. Then after verifying salinity and temp transfer to your tank.


                  200 - African cichlids
                  72 - Salty Bow Front
                  33 Cube - community
                  10's - Freshwater Shrimp


                  Comment


                  • #10
                    ok so I went and looked at the tank and it had no live rock (I was hoping it had some) just cheap coral decorations. it had some nice sized fish in it put it was poorly maintained. it just had a cascade canister filter running it. so I backed out and im glad I did because that made me think exactly what yall mentioned about not being properly prepared. but it did get another wheel turning. I have a 75 sitting empty now. I think ill be looking for a 29g tank to convert to a sump and so on gathering a protein skimmer and pumps. taking it slow is the best bet I agree. I just have to pull back on the reigns now and again. thanks for the help guys.

                    Nacra99 what do you have in your sump? ie, whar size protein skimmer? do you like that model? did you do a deep sand bed? what else do you have in the refugium?

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                    • #11
                      From just a glancing look, it looks like he has a reef octopus skimmer, some cheato (green material in center) along with most of his equipment, heater, ATO (Auto Top Off) most of his chems and a small amount of live rock in the middle. Basically a sump is an area where you can hide all of your equipment so you dont spoil the view of your main display. Nacra said it right, read read read read. I wold look into Reef Ready types of tanks so you can save yourself from some costly events in the future (money and experience). Keep your first tank small like everyone is saying and look at reviews apart from this forum there are some other great resources out there including but not limited to, Marsh (which is houston based) and Reefcentral who has a big following and very helpful people. Take a look at the used equipment section of the forum. With any luck you can get started with your addiction on the cheap, by the way what kind of budget do you have for your new habit?

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