new to mfk and the salt water community

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bmxnick7

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Nov 10, 2008
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New england
hey guy first thing i want to do is say whats up my name is nick, i am new to this salt water stuff, i am probally going to have a lot of questions, i just purchased a 90g tankk with a stand coral life light, fluval 405 filter osilating power head, and a rea sea prizim skimmer. are these good items, and i cant seem to get the prizim to work
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Welcome, What do you plan on stocking with? Do you plan on having a reef setup or fish only? Prizms suck if you can return it that would be your best bet. I have a octopus, there are alot of different skimmers out there
 
im not a very big fan of prizm skimmers. Something for you to look into would be getting an AquaC remora skimmer or even a coralife. I had good luck with the coralife model Hang on style and no experience with remoras, but have heard very good things.

We need to know a lot more about the lights. Preferebly what type, Compact, T-5 basic or good old Flouro's. My guess is compact, and your not going to be able to keep very much with it. First and foremost your tank is deep, much deeper then PC's will be able to penetrate with usable light for corals. With that said most of your coral will have to be mid tank or higher, depending on what you get. Stay away from SPS as you do not have sufficient lighting for 90% of there needs. Some LPS corals may not fair to well under those types of lights either but everybody has different experiences. Keep in mind that if you really want a good reef system, then lighting is a very high importance and doing a lot of research of corals and types of lights will give you a better understanding of what you'll be able to keep. If you have any questions i have a ton of articles i can find for you and i can also share the basic differences and the average output of each light, types of corals that do best with those lights, etc.......

Try adding a few more power heads. Im a fan of the koralia models but mainly any power head will work. Something nice about Koralia and other similar models is the spread of current vs. being so direct.

the canister will serve its purpose just fine, however care should be taken about your maintanence. Cleaning the filter often will prevent any huge increase in nitrate. There known to be a Nitrate "bomb", meaning that with laxed cleaning, they will slowly increase your nitarte until its to a level that start effecting your fish, corals and inverts.

add a lot of Live Rock, for a reef its a good idea to have at least 1.5 lbs of LR per gallon. IMO shoot for 2 lbs per gallon, this will give you better biological filtration and more hiding holes for those smaller nervous reef safe fish you may be getting.
 
sweeTang21;2432278; said:
im not a very big fan of prizm skimmers. Something for you to look into would be getting an AquaC remora skimmer or even a coralife. I had good luck with the coralife model Hang on style and no experience with remoras, but have heard very good things.

We need to know a lot more about the lights. Preferebly what type, Compact, T-5 basic or good old Flouro's. My guess is compact, and your not going to be able to keep very much with it. First and foremost your tank is deep, much deeper then PC's will be able to penetrate with usable light for corals. With that said most of your coral will have to be mid tank or higher, depending on what you get. Stay away from SPS as you do not have sufficient lighting for 90% of there needs. Some LPS corals may not fair to well under those types of lights either but everybody has different experiences. Keep in mind that if you really want a good reef system, then lighting is a very high importance and doing a lot of research of corals and types of lights will give you a better understanding of what you'll be able to keep. If you have any questions i have a ton of articles i can find for you and i can also share the basic differences and the average output of each light, types of corals that do best with those lights, etc.......

Try adding a few more power heads. Im a fan of the koralia models but mainly any power head will work. Something nice about Koralia and other similar models is the spread of current vs. being so direct.

the canister will serve its purpose just fine, however care should be taken about your maintanence. Cleaning the filter often will prevent any huge increase in nitrate. There known to be a Nitrate "bomb", meaning that with laxed cleaning, they will slowly increase your nitarte until its to a level that start effecting your fish, corals and inverts.

add a lot of Live Rock, for a reef its a good idea to have at least 1.5 lbs of LR per gallon. IMO shoot for 2 lbs per gallon, this will give you better biological filtration and more hiding holes for those smaller nervous reef safe fish you may be getting.
Click to expand...


couldn't have said it any better

also look into bakpak skimmers.. i have a BP dual on my 75 and that thing is a beast
also look more into Tr lighting and other options.. besides LED lighting i think T5s are best for delivering high intensity lighting without the heat of lights like HQI and halides.. but cost significantly less than any of the options, about as much as a compact floro light would cost.

and of course, take care of the fish, have fun, and welcome to the forum!
:)



P.S. the folk here REALLY like pics.. so get snapping
 
thanks for all the help the lights are 260 watts which is about 2.8 wats per gallon, i am still wondering about this cycle thing, how will i know when it is finished, and what kind of test kit should get.
 
every fish owner should go out any buy test kits for at LEAST ammonia, nitrite and nitrate.. and maybe pH.

these are going to be the best early warning system you can get for a tank

since it's not a reef tank, but you do have one, you should also look into getting ones for calcium, phosphate, and alkalinity.
if they're just things like shrooms, zoos, and xenia these aren't too too important, and frequent water changes should give them all they'd need to survive
 
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