Tank Setup

Hello everyone, it has been a long while since I have had a marine tank mainly due to not having time. Any way I purchased from a friend a 80gal bowfront that also game with an eheim model 2215. Since I am disabled and can not work income is very limited, I am looking to set up a reef or have anemones with smaller fish and invertes. My questions are what would be a good skimmer that isn't to expensive, is the filter it came with good to use as long as a remove the bio media? or should I use Live sand and Live rock for filtration along with power heads, and if thats the case can I just use 40lbs of live sand and the rest another type of sand, also I will probably only be able to purchase maybe ten pounds of live rock and use base rock and additives to have the beneficial bacteria spread to the base.

 

Hi Mikey, and welcome to 3Reef!

First, a skimmer is not an absolute necessity, especially with smaller systems. Carbon in your canister will do the same job.

You can use the biomedia as long as you practice routine maintenance, but I'd still recommend live rock and sand.

For sand and rock, yes you can use mostly dry and seed it with just a small amount of live and/or a bottled bacterial supplement.

Hope this helps, and if you have any more questions, please feel free to ask.

 

Thank you, what dry sand do you recommend? ans just put that in first than the live on top of it?

Fr the filter besides carbon, I think they make a media that reduces the nitrates do you recommend that?

And with out a skimmer how often would you suggest water changes?

 

Dry Aragonite is best. You can find it in a variety of grain sizes.

I'd recommend researching any Nitrate-reduction media/chemicals by brand before buying. Find reviews from actual users, etc. Lots of do-nothing miracle snake oils on the market these days. I've never used any personally.

Water changes will be determined by the build-up of Nitrates in your tank, so you'll need to test periodically. Every system is different, so there really is no way to provide a guaranteed recommendation. If you're changing water without testing, you could be wasting water, salt, and time.

HTH

 

It would be okay to remove the biomedia and just use the carbon and filter pads with the live rock and sand?

Thank you.

The last time I had a tank was 2002 and it was a fowlr, a lot has changed since then, most things I have been reading had said that canister filters are trash just use a skimmer and live rock.
What chemicals do you recommend for coraline algae growth?

 

Regular water changes will keep the alk, cal, and mag in the right parameters to get the coralline algae growing. That and time.

 

+1 to ^^^

Yes.

Many say the same about UGFs and HOB filters, but they've always worked for me with no problem. Some still use canisters, and others, wet/dry trickle filters. With proper maintenance, most any filtration will work.

 

Another question that just came to me is the house we are moving to where my tank will be setup at is on a well, what should I do for water? can I just use water conditioners or should I go to a store that sells the water that you can purchase per gallon from the filtration machines they have?

 

Get a ro/di system. I'm on well water and use the ro for drinking too. If you get a ro/di you will save money. Cause you won't have to pay gas to drive to store and then you won't have to lug the water around as much. And then if you have a garden you can just have the waste water going out to the garden.

 

+1 on the ro/di system. If you can't get one right away your best bet is to buy water from your lfs.