new to marine

hail

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Jul 14, 2013
5
0
0
australia
hey guys i am new to marine i am in the planing of setting up one i am planning on having a 4x2x2 fish tank with a 3 foot sump ive done abit of research but thought i would ask for some personal opinions like on the sump i am thinking of having some bio balls in one chamber then live rock in the next chamber then to the pump and back into the tank in the tank i think i will have a inch of coral sand and only a few rock i just want it to be a fish only tank for now and when i learn more i might get some coarls in the tank there will be 2x 3000l/ph wave makers and no more than 5 fish of 10cm max lighting will just be a led light from a lfs and all of my water changes will be done weekly with water brought from my lfs

so my questions are is that enough for a sump i will i need to do more?

and will i need a protein skimmer?

also if you see any issues with anything plese tell me
 

Aw3s0m3

Piranha
MFK Member
May 6, 2012
3,188
82
81
Over there
I would scratch the bioballs and add more live rock. Live rock is more porous and can hold more bacteria than the bioballs can. Practically all of your biological filtration is gonna be from the rock and sand. And you definitely would need a skimmer for a tank that size. I would get the largest skimmer you can fit. What kind of fish do you plan on keeping?


Sent from my iPhone using MonsterAquariaNetwork app
 

3dees

Gambusia
MFK Member
May 23, 2010
669
10
16
Chicago suburb
fish only or fish only with live rock? live rock in the tank is the best way to go. you can do base rock and add some live to seed it. a skimmer is the best way to go, but I have seen skimmerless fowlr tanks that do quite well. you just have to do larger and more wc's. with a 120 gal. tank tou are going to want to add some other fish. just clowns is not a good idea. they will kill each other until there is only one or maybe a pair. with a tank that size you can choose between many species. if you are going to add corals at some point, make sure you only add fish that are reef safe. I agree that bioballs are useless. they are nothing more than nitrate factories.
 

~ocean

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
May 12, 2009
2,130
1
0
Stoon
Hey welcome to MFK and 'the dark side.' Seems like you read up well; you know what you're talking about. One thing you didn't talk about for sump design was a protein skimmer; when it comes to equipment, I'd say the skimmer is the most important (after the necessities like water, flow, etc). aw3som3 is fairly right - bioballs would be better replaced by more lr or a refugium with some chaeto or some algae if you want. Btw - you should have most of your lr in your main tank, along with the fish. And with clownfish I highly recommend a host (anemone), which would require decent lighting. What kind of LED do you plan on using? Everything else sounds fine - just make sure not to do too big of a water change like 50% or something - that'd be bad for the bacteria that creates nitrogenous gas from fish poop.
 

hail

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Jul 14, 2013
5
0
0
australia
i only really want a pair of clown fish and anything else is a maybee a gombie or 2 yep i will definetly looking into the skimmer i will just have cheap led nothing special but if i do get to coarl stage i will use a metal halide light (i have a few from a fresh water tank) i know my chances are slim but i would like to try to get the clown fish breeding (whether i will raise the fry is a differnt story) thanks for the info guys
 

Otherone

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Feb 2, 2009
2,683
4
0
Lancaster,PA USA
Hey welcome to MFK and 'the dark side.' Seems like you read up well; you know what you're talking about. One thing you didn't talk about for sump design was a protein skimmer; when it comes to equipment, I'd say the skimmer is the most important (after the necessities like water, flow, etc). aw3som3 is fairly right - bioballs would be better replaced by more lr or a refugium with some chaeto or some algae if you want. Btw - you should have most of your lr in your main tank, along with the fish. And with clownfish I highly recommend a host (anemone), which would require decent lighting. What kind of LED do you plan on using? Everything else sounds fine - just make sure not to do too big of a water change like 50% or something - that'd be bad for the bacteria that creates nitrogenous gas from fish poop.



Nicely put................

I'd find a pair of clowns of the same species already inhabiting a nem- easiest way to get m+f in safety to breed and weed out farm raised clowns. Feed the nem silverside chucks once a week. MH lighting is hot.... might need a chiller + nems don't like MH.
 

Aw3s0m3

Piranha
MFK Member
May 6, 2012
3,188
82
81
Over there
Nicely put................

I'd find a pair of clowns of the same species already inhabiting a nem- easiest way to get m+f in safety to breed and weed out farm raised clowns. Feed the nem silverside chucks once a week. MH lighting is hot.... might need a chiller + nems don't like MH.
It depends on the anemone. Since they're mobile, they can move around till they find the perfect spot.
If you wanna breed the clowns, you'll definitely want an anemone, just don't get a condylactis because where they're found in nature, there are no clownfish that host in them and they have the tendency to eat any fish they can catch, including clowns.


Sent from my iPhone using MonsterAquariaNetwork app
 

fish042099

Fire Eel
MFK Member
Nov 24, 2011
2,947
0
66
Northern N.J.
Bubbletip nems are best
 

ckcdrummer

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Feb 21, 2012
1,062
0
0
CA
I would skip the bio-balls and go for live rock and a skimmer. In fact I would just get ride of any mechanical filtration you plan to have cause eventually it'll just be more of a pain then a help. Also are you planning to keep corals?
 
zoomed.com
hikariusa.com
aqaimports.com
Store