Help! Another new guy starting a tank

ckcdrummer · May 31, 2013

EastBay said:
Trust me, you'll want a skimmer. I didn't have one for a few months and then my whole tanked crashed! Got one after that.

As for the live/dead rock debate, it's 6 on one hand, 1/2 dozen on the other: You don't need live rock if you have enough bio filtration. The live rock essentially serves as a bio filter in the tank, plus, it grows the pretty purple and red coralline algae, but if you don't care about that, you can just increase your bio filtration and use dead rock - would be a lot cheaper - but the saving would probably be eaten up having to clean/change the bio filtration. Remember, you have to be a lot more strict with your tank maintenance with a SW tank compared to FW. Lag on water changes/maintenance with a SW tank and thing can go south in a hurry!

Agreed, its especially helpful for if some reason you can't do a water change in time, it'll help keep the ammonia down which is the most helpful thing IMO.

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ckcdrummer · May 31, 2013

Also check out Reefcleaners.com, they have great deals on some good lookin dry rock, free shipping as well.

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Butthorn · May 31, 2013

Thanks a lot guys! I really appreciate the help and pointing me in the right direction. I defiantly could use it.
As far as skimmers go- what would be a for real one to get for a 125? I didn't want to spend a ton of $, but if I'm going to get one, I don't want to half ass it. Pros / cons of a hob vrs. In sump? Thanks

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EastBay · Jun 1, 2013

I had a 90g and used a remora skimmer (forget the brand, but definitely a well-known brand).I think it was rated to 100g, so you would probably want to get something bigger. Stay away from anything that says "Skilter" on it (don't know if they're still made but from all reviews I read several years ago, they were junk). Personally, I had my in the sump - less clutter in the tank b/c you're going to have powerheads, a theromometer (which I also kept in the sump) and it just looks messy with so much equipment in the tank. But, my skimmer was a hang-on type skimmer, just hung it off my sump!

ckcdrummer · Jun 1, 2013

You could look at the coralife super skimmer needle wheel protein skimmer, I bought the 65 and some people say they don't like it and some people say they do and personally I like it, you could a make a few modifications to it if you want as I did but overall it's a good skimmer for a really good price.

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Nighthawk · Jun 1, 2013

Reef Octopus and Eshopps make decent HOB skimmers

Butthorn · Jun 6, 2013

Well my tank is up and running. 80 lbs of crushed coral for the bed, I have about 100 lbs of Fiji live uncured rock and another 30 lbs of Fiji lr covered w/ coralline to help seed the rest. Got a few t5 & two small LEDs for light. I will be making a sump w/ room for a protein skimmer, but for now I have a wet/dry & two 405s going(just because I have them). Have one blue damsel & a figure 8 in the tank right now that seem to be just fine. Going to give it a few weeks to balance out & go from there.
Wanted to thank everyone for helping so far & I'll update in few.

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~ocean · Jun 7, 2013

Congrats! To be honest, with some live rock and a nice skimmer you really won't need any external filters unless you're running medication in them. And your lighting sounds great! One suggestion, fish-less cycle is generally a bit better then fish cycling in my opinion, but they're about the same speed. By the way, if you have time, I'd love some pics!

Butthorn · Jun 8, 2013

~ocean said:
Congrats! To be honest, with some live rock and a nice skimmer you really won't need any external filters unless you're running medication in them. And your lighting sounds great! One suggestion, fish-less cycle is generally a bit better then fish cycling in my opinion, but they're about the same speed. By the way, if you have time, I'd love some pics!

Thanks. I'm really only using the canister filters so I get some water movement for now. I will be picking up a few circulation pumps soon. I plan on losing them once I do. I'll get a pic up soon.

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