Hello everyone. My first shot at reefing!!

[missionsix66]

Welcome to 3reef! Thanks for the pics. . Cool tank.

[Otty]

Welcome to 3reef, nice tank you have going for your first.

Go slow and let it grow and you will have many years of enjoyment out of it.

[omard]

Salutations and welcome.

Great looking tank...

Thanks for sharing.

Keep us posted on progress.

[Reeford]

Thanks everyone for the warm welcome.

So far, so good. I cleaned up the wiring a little since setting it up. I bought and read the saltwater aquariums for dummies book, and will have a professional maintainer come out wednesday to clean, do a water change, and teach me a few things. I will probably add some more to the cleaner crew as well.

Anyone have some input (links, personal experience, etc) as to the latest and greatest digital tank management system?? Any that I should avoid?

Thanks

J

[MAXreefer]

Very nice setup Reeford.
Good start and hope you will share your progress with us.

I have also a 95 WAVE tank and just love it.
I got the original stand but it is sometimes quite tricky to get everything in there. I just posted my setup here also: Link to post.

If you have any questions regarding my equipment just ask me. If I can help you I will.

I control the tank with a Aqua Controller 2 (older version of the 3). It gives you lots of options and is expandable.
I check TEMP, PH and ORP with it, control the pumps and lights but this thing can way more. I connected it to a PC and can now even check my tank remotely wherever I am in the world. It sends also alarms via pager or email.

[missionsix66]

Originally Posted by Reeford

Thanks everyone for the warm welcome.

So far, so good. I cleaned up the wiring a little since setting it up. I bought and read the saltwater aquariums for dummies book, and will have a professional maintainer come out wednesday to clean, do a water change, and teach me a few things. I will probably add some more to the cleaner crew as well.

Anyone have some input (links, personal experience, etc) as to the latest and greatest digital tank management system?? Any that I should avoid?

Thanks

J

I don't think you need a pro to come help you with water changes etc. . Why pay money when you can get all the advice you need here. (It's free). Hands on experience is better in my opinion. Either way it's your choice and if you feel more comfortable having someone in person kinda helping you out is cool. Ask alot of questions, you'll find they are readily answered here.
MISSIONSIX

[Reeford]

I think I can handle the cleaning myself too, the more I read, the more confident I feel. But I am still having him come for the first clean and water change, and Q&A with him..He helped me move it, and knows I plan to take full control of it myself very soon, I still need a few other equipment items first too.

I do have a question though. In my sump, it has a section split off from the live rock. Right now, the hose from the tank goes to the live rock, side (large side, and the pump goes back to the tank from the live rock side.
I did not hang the remora skimmer back on the main tank as it would not fit (height), so should I run the remora skimmer in the small side of the sump, and have the hose from the tank run to the side with the skimmer, then dump from the skimmer to the live rock side, then run the hose from that side back to the tank?
I also have a red sea protein skimmer (should I use it instead of the Remora), and a coralife UV, but am kinda lost on how to hook all these up, or if they are needed.

ALso, I have no light on the sump live rock, should I run one? and how long eace day. I do not have any sand or critters on that side and no algae.

Hope this is all clear, as its all a little hazy in my head.
Jason

[MAXreefer]

Hey Jason,
I am a little bit lost here.
Could you post a pic from the sump? Even a quick one would do it to get a better understanding (at least for me). Or is it a pre-made and you can tell me the manufacture and type so I could look it up?
I guess your sump has 3 compartments?
In the first one the water level is very high, then the water goes into the second where the level is much lower?

What type or Remora skimmer do you have? If you tell me I could help you where the best pace would be.

I have a Gamma UV sterilizer, As I have limited space in the cabinet I mounted him at the top shelf from the cabinet. I feed him with a small Maxi-Jet pump which sits in the second chamber from the sump and the return goes into the third and then pushed up by the main return pump back to the tank. The pump you will need depends on the recommendations from your UV manufacture.

Michael
MAXreefer

Originally Posted by Reeford

I think I can handle the cleaning myself too, the more I read, the more confident I feel. But I am still having him come for the first clean and water change, and Q&A with him..He helped me move it, and knows I plan to take full control of it myself very soon, I still need a few other equipment items first too.

I do have a question though. In my sump, it has a section split off from the live rock. Right now, the hose from the tank goes to the live rock, side (large side, and the pump goes back to the tank from the live rock side.
I did not hang the remora skimmer back on the main tank as it would not fit (height), so should I run the remora skimmer in the small side of the sump, and have the hose from the tank run to the side with the skimmer, then dump from the skimmer to the live rock side, then run the hose from that side back to the tank?
I also have a red sea protein skimmer (should I use it instead of the Remora), and a coralife UV, but am kinda lost on how to hook all these up, or if they are needed.

ALso, I have no light on the sump live rock, should I run one? and how long eace day. I do not have any sand or critters on that side and no algae.

Hope this is all clear, as its all a little hazy in my head.
Jason

[Reeford]

Ok,
Went and took some pics of the sump, but cannot upload them just yet. The probably didnt turn out very well anyhow.

If i miss letters in this post, blame my kids, as I am missing many letters on this keyboard, laptop..

But I do have more info for ya.

The sump is a "Oceanic Reef Ready Sump", from what I read around on it, it uses either filter media, bio bas, or natural biological filtration.

The tank is about 26" long, prob 16 high and 12 or so across. There is an open chamber on one end, with a glass plate that separates the sides, with a gap on the bottom, to let water in., it does not go to the top of the tank, just a little more than half way and water is the same height on both sides.. I have the live rock in the large side with the rock as high as the separating pane of glass between the two sides. Thats my best explanation of it.

As for the rest, the skimmer is a Remora Aqua C, and there is a pump that is a Sedra powerhead KSP-3500, 350 GPH (not sure if that went to the remora or what.
I also have a Rio 2500 submersible 2970 LPH, and a Rio 1400 submersible 1590 LPH.

The other protein skimmer is a Triple pass, Berlin by red sea.

The UV Steralizer I have is a Coralife turbotwist 12x.

There you have it. SO whaddya think. FYI the remora will fit on the side of the sump tank.

THanks
J

[MAXreefer]

hm..not easy.
Please bare with me keep asking questions but I want to be sure I give you the correct advice.
I googled the Oceanic sump and found a couple pictures but they didn't show really what I was looking for.
As far I could see there are 3 chambers.
*Chamber1: The water from the tank drains in this one and normally it holds the "bio balls" also. I guess you are not using those (good!!!!) and you have replaced them with your LR rubble? From there the water flows into the second chamber
*Chamber2: The water level in this level is lower as in the first one? and it is the biggest chamber
*Chamber3: Same water level as in chamber 2. No matter what this is the place to place your return pump.

IMO the Remora is a way better skimmer as the Red Sea so try to go with this one. As it is a "hang on" skimmer you can't place him into the sump but as you said you are able to hang him on the sump. Correct?
If possible let him take water from the second chamber and the outtake from the skimmer should go in the last chamber.
If this causes microbubbles then as the second solution I would say let him take water from the first chamber and return into the second chamber.

Before we go further installing the UV Sterlizer let's see if we can solve your skimmer issue first.

Michael
MAXreefer