New to FishKeeping and Reefing

[MrHermit85]

Hi all,

I Thought I would introduce myself as I am nearly ready to start my saltwater tank build and I will most cirtainly need a lot of advice. I decided to get into reefing after quite a bit of research and of course seing my brother inlaws success with his 29 Biocube. I have never owned a fishtank before so I know it is a huge step to just jump into saltwater  :? !!!

My current plan is for a 75 softy tank with peacefull fish and nothing too demanding. Trying to keep it simple!!!

Cheers!

 

[Salty Cracker]

Setup looks like a better start than most have when they get started so that's good. 

If you're like most of us, the fish quickly fade into the background when you catch coral fever.  I think I've got 6 in a 125 gallon

Just ask, we're brutally honest and aren't out to sell you anything.  EXCEPT PASSES TO THE LONDON FRAGFEST!!! 

 

[AdamS]

Slow and steady...

Looks great, but i would consider finding a better location for the canister filters. Will be hard to change them in the display tank.  ;D

 

[MrHermit85]

Setup looks like a better start than most have when they get started so that's good. 

If you're like most of us, the fish quickly fade into the background when you catch coral fever.  I think I've got 6 in a 125 gallon

Just ask, we're brutally honest and aren't out to sell you anything.  EXCEPT PASSES TO THE LONDON FRAGFEST!!! 

I know, I think I have already caught the bug, every time I visit a LFS I quickly move to the coral section!!! I read about the LONDON FRAGFEST last night, I will be dragging the wife along to show our support! Cant wait!!!

Slow and steady...

Looks great, but i would consider finding a better location for the canister filters. Will be hard to change them in the display tank.  ;D

LOL!!! I have just been trying to keep everything out of the way  ;D The RO/DI unit will be mounted in the laundry room this week hopefully!

 

[Salty Cracker]

Slow and steady...

Looks great, but i would consider finding a better location for the canister filters. Will be hard to change them in the display tank.  ;D

That's an RO/DI.  I noticed he didn't have GFO and carbon chambers yet... but we will convert him. 

 

[MrHermit85]

[quote author=AdamS link=topic=5204.msg49040#msg49040 date=1366642903]
Slow and steady...

Looks great, but i would consider finding a better location for the canister filters. Will be hard to change them in the display tank.  ;D

That's an RO/DI.  I noticed he didn't have GFO and carbon chambers yet... but we will convert him. 
[/quote]

I have been on the fence with regards to running media, I have heard good things about products like Seachem Seagel which do both except you only need one reactor which would be great as I have limited space. Is it better to run two reactors with seperate medias though?

 

[Salty Cracker]

[quote author=Salty Cracker link=topic=5204.msg49043#msg49043 date=1366643937]
[quote author=AdamS link=topic=5204.msg49040#msg49040 date=1366642903]
Slow and steady...

Looks great, but i would consider finding a better location for the canister filters. Will be hard to change them in the display tank.  ;D

That's an RO/DI.  I noticed he didn't have GFO and carbon chambers yet... but we will convert him. 
[/quote]

I have been on the fence with regards to running media, I have heard good things about products like Seachem Seagel which do both except you only need one reactor which would be great as I have limited space. Is it better to run two reactors with seperate medias though?
[/quote]

Again... very opinionated people here.  ;D

I absolutely despise seachem products.  If you want to run one reactor, do a gfo one (or at the very least use ROWA.).  The 'all in one' products always have drawbacks, like leeching.  bulk GFO is relatively cheap, and doesn't leech at all.  Every couple of months remove the gfo and run carbon for a week or so, to clarify the water, then go back to gfo.  Much much much better than a chemical soup pack.  It's funny to note that seachem 'elite' just added ferric oxide to their mash... anyway, just my opinion of course, at the very very least, avoid media that is white, that stuff works too fast and leeches who knows what.  Your tank will likely start out very clean unless you get used liverock from a nasty tank, then you could be starting out with phosphates, and heavy metals \m/. 

 

[MrHermit85]

[quote author=Salty Cracker link=topic=5204.msg49043#msg49043 date=1366643937]
[quote author=AdamS link=topic=5204.msg49040#msg49040 date=1366642903]
Slow and steady...

Looks great, but i would consider finding a better location for the canister filters. Will be hard to change them in the display tank.  ;D

That's an RO/DI.  I noticed he didn't have GFO and carbon chambers yet... but we will convert him. 
[/quote]

I have been on the fence with regards to running media, I have heard good things about products like Seachem Seagel which do both except you only need one reactor which would be great as I have limited space. Is it better to run two reactors with seperate medias though?
[/quote]

I will think twice before using "fix all medias",I will probably go with a dual media reactor then and run the two medias seperate as I don't want to mess around with the possibilities of leaching!!! Spectrapure has a nice dual chamber reactor that I will go with then. Thanks for the advice!

 

[Petercar (RIP Dec 2017)]

I think reefreak has a dual media from brs for sale ..i read differnet opions on using dual and 2 singles  ..pros and cons

 

[Poseidon]

prob with duals is adjusting the flow rate.
if you cant adjust seperate flow rates then you cant run different things,
eg. biopellets with gfo

 

[MrHermit85]

Valid points with regards to the flow restrictions when wanting to run seperate medias. The spectrapure one has seperate valves for each canister though (Link: http://www.goreef.com/Spectrapure-dual-chamber-media-reactor.html)
Which would allow you to restrict or open up the flow rates for each individual canister allowing for tumbling or low flow needs...

 

[Salty Cracker]

Hadn't even seen that one before, it looks pretty good for the money!

 

[MrHermit85]

Hadn't even seen that one before, it looks pretty good for the money!

My sentiments exactly, spectrapure has a good name for their RO/DI units so I dont see why these would be any different... 

 

[Salty Cracker]

http://spectrapure.com/MR-DUAL-Dual-Chamber-Media-Reactor

Even cheaper direct.  I am setting up a new system, might grab these... I love everything spectrapure. 

See, there is always something new to learn, gotta love the forums! thanks for the tip

 

[Salty Cracker]

[quote author=Salty Cracker link=topic=5204.msg49073#msg49073 date=1366660765]
http://spectrapure.com/MR-DUAL-Dual-Chamber-Media-Reactor

Even cheaper direct.  I am setting up a new system, might grab these... I love everything spectrapure. 

See, there is always something new to learn, gotta love the forums! thanks for the tip

Awesome, cheaper is music to my ears!!!

They dont seem to have shipping costs to Canada though... I see you are in London, if you are keen we could order together and split the shipping costs?

:-X
[/quote]

That could work if you can get a $$ on shipping. 

 

[MrHermit85]

Thanks for all the welcomes fellow reefers!!! I look forward to sharing my progess with you all!!!

 

[nitro069]

Looks like you have a great start and have done your homework. cant wait to see it up and running

 

[MrHermit85]

[quote author=MrHermit85 link=topic=5204.msg49077#msg49077 date=1366662588]
[quote author=Salty Cracker link=topic=5204.msg49073#msg49073 date=1366660765]
http://spectrapure.com/MR-DUAL-Dual-Chamber-Media-Reactor

Even cheaper direct.  I am setting up a new system, might grab these... I love everything spectrapure. 

See, there is always something new to learn, gotta love the forums! thanks for the tip

Awesome, cheaper is music to my ears!!!

They don't seem to have shipping costs to Canada though... I see you are in London, if you are keen we could order together and split the shipping costs?

:-X
[/quote]

That could work if you can get a $$ on shipping. 

[/quote]

Yeah, I contacted them and they charge $33-$35 per reactor for shipping so that pushes the cost for each individual reactor up to $100 which is more than GOREEF's $85 + 13%... DARN SHIPPING!!! :'(. That's why I deleted the post suggesting it  . Oh well it was worth a try. If you order for more than $150 with GOREEF they have free shipping so I will just order some GFO and carbon with it and call it a day!!!

 

[MrHermit85]

Looks like you have a great start and have done your homework. cant wait to see it up and running

Thanks!!! I hope to have everything switched on after my wife's and my vacation in June. I have had nightmares of starting the cycle and leaving the house for 5 days and coming back to either a flood or a really messed up tank  . So I thought it best to wait so that I can baby it through the process...

Yup I have researched and researched some more. I started planning my build when I moved to London which was in November 2011 so I have been planning for a little too long I guess ha ha. It has allowed me to spread the cost out but I think the warrenties on some of my equipment is now up...  :? .