First Salt Tank!

  • We are currently upgrading MFK. thanks! -neo
In my 90 I have a korilla 450 (or something similar) in the bottom back corner angleing towards the center of the tank, and its hardly enough, but with all the filters running theres enough current. All my stock doesnt require much current though, so I keep that tank on the low side.

You should still invest in a decent protein skimmer to go along with your AC110. And do 20-25% waterchanges weekly. More is always better. I usualy do about 33% every 5 days for my fw setups, and about 25-30% every 6-7 days for my sw tanks.
 
For my protein skimmer I think I'll be going with the Coralife 125 Hang-On version. I've read some reviews and while its not the highest quality, for its price range, it does a good job. With the weekly water changes, do you find you need to top up your system much? I'll be using a glass canopy with plastic trim sealing every hole I need. My hope is that I won't have enough evaporation to really effect my salinity during the week. On that note, what should I be going for as far a salinity?

SlipperyK, I noticed you live in Ontario, mind if I ask where you got your LR? I'm currently wavering back and forth between ordering 80lbs of "Reef Saver" rock from BRS (http://www.bulkreefsupply.com/brs-reef-saver-dry-aquarium-live-rock.html) The price itself isn't so bad its the fact that I'm paying almost $100 in shipping. Is there anywhere in Canada that sells LR for under $6+/Lb? I've found a product online that is called "Key Largo Marco Rock" and I can get 100lbs of it shipped to my door for $339. From the same site I could also get 80lbs of Caribsea's "Primo Reef Rock" for $220, and Caribsea's "South Sea Base Rock" for $212 again for 80lbs. My issue is just that I have no idea if this is a good quality product? I can't find much info on the rocks.

EDIT: Link for the other rock I mentioned, http://www.petsandponds.com/en/aquarium-supplies/c378148394/index.html .
 
Otherone said:
75 gal fowlr I'd go 2x either 300 or 400 gph which gives you approx. 10x over tank volume.
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I'll be going with two Hydor Koralia Evo 425's, I was originally looking at two Fluval Sea CP2's but I'm not going to risk my time or my money on them. I can't find any reviews and from what it appears they just use a suction cup to stick to the wall. At least the Koralia Evo's use a suction cup and a magnet so I don't need to worry about it falling off short of the Eel really smashing into it.

Slight update, I picked up two bulbs last night at work for the tank. Nothing special or amazing but I figure they will do the job well enough considering I'm just doing a FOWLR set up. I bought a 10,000K and an Actinic, there T8 32W bulbs by Coralife. My store doesn't have a whole lot of selection as far as Saltwater goes, just your basic stuff. Two bulbs is enough for my tank right? Would I see any benefit from picking up another 10,000K or a 50/50 aside from overall brightness?

For sand I'm looking at "Caribsea Ocean Direct Original Live Sand" only because I can pick it up at my store, is it an alright product? I don't really care much about the fact that it has bacteria in it already so if it actually works then it will be a pleasant surprise. Will the grain size be alright for an eel? Do I need something finer? On that note actually how much sand should I be looking at getting? How deep of a sand bed do I require?
 
Amaroq said:
I'll be going with two Hydor Koralia Evo 425's, I was originally looking at two Fluval Sea CP2's but I'm not going to risk my time or my money on them. I can't find any reviews and from what it appears they just use a suction cup to stick to the wall. At least the Koralia Evo's use a suction cup and a magnet so I don't need to worry about it falling off short of the Eel really smashing into it.

Slight update, I picked up two bulbs last night at work for the tank. Nothing special or amazing but I figure they will do the job well enough considering I'm just doing a FOWLR set up. I bought a 10,000K and an Actinic, there T8 32W bulbs by Coralife. My store doesn't have a whole lot of selection as far as Saltwater goes, just your basic stuff. Two bulbs is enough for my tank right? Would I see any benefit from picking up another 10,000K or a 50/50 aside from overall brightness?

For sand I'm looking at "Caribsea Ocean Direct Original Live Sand" only because I can pick it up at my store, is it an alright product? I don't really care much about the fact that it has bacteria in it already so if it actually works then it will be a pleasant surprise. Will the grain size be alright for an eel? Do I need something finer?
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Two 425s? You might want more then that, I have two 425s in my 20 gal nano reef.


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I'm not doing a reef though? I know reefs require ridiculous flow but with a FOWLR the consensus appears to be around 10x sometimes 20x, depends on the person it seems. I'm already sitting at 18x with my AC110 and the two 425's though, so I think I'll leave it at that and if I find I need more later I can easily add another powerhead or sell these two and upgrade them.

Not trying to call you out or anything like that, just wanna make sure I'm doing this right without going overkill :)
 
Amaroq said:
I'm not doing a reef though? I know reefs require ridiculous flow but with a FOWLR the consensus appears to be around 10x sometimes 20x, depends on the person it seems. I'm already sitting at 18x with my AC110 and the two 425's though, so I think I'll leave it at that and if I find I need more later I can easily add another powerhead or sell these two and upgrade them.

Not trying to call you out or anything like that, just wanna make sure I'm doing this right without going overkill :)
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Your fine with the two 425's. Your not doing a full reef setup so insane flow isnt required. You plan on keeping morays like I do, they dont require massive amounts of anything, other than food and a few good places to hide. You just need enough flow to circulate everything around in your tank, which you have done. As for sand the caribsea stuff should be fine, it may be a little cloudy for the first few days until it settles. Typically for fowlr setups you'd want a 2" sand bed, dig out the sand where you want to place the rocks, so when the moray burrows the LR wont topple over and crush him.
 
And for your Live Rock question, Im pretty sure location or collection point doesnt really matter (unless your picky about it), they all contain the same basic bacteria. I have stuff from all over the world, and i cant tell a difference on which ones came from where.
 
I think for the LR I'll be going with the Key Largo Marco Rock, I recently realized it was from Marco Rocks which is quite well known. So I'll be going with that, the only thing I'm unsure of is the fact that can only order 50lb or 100lb boxes. I know 50lbs won't be enough for a 75 gallon but 100lbs is a bit much right?
 
850 gph is fine we don't usually count external mechanical filtration flow rates as they don't really circulate the entire volume of water in the tank thru out.

You do realize that macro rock is dry and sterile - no bacteria so do 50 lbs and get 15-25 lbs more of LR to seed the bacteria least your lookin at a real lengthy cycle that eels might not be able to handle. It takes a year or more for denitrifying bacteria to mature with LR let alone without. Also 1lb rock per gal is a guideline not law, 0 ammonia 0 nitrite 20ppm nitrate is a better law - stock low and your rock demand lessons eels only require food once to twice a week which lowers bio demand

Live sand isn't really alive it lacks oxygen that aerobic bacteria needs so it's basically a bag of ammonia that jump starts the cycle once it's subjected to oxygenated water - the cycle won't be as extreme as it is with your rocks but enuff that it might not be wise with eel's. Smaller damsel type fish are more suited for the initial cycling
 
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