First of all let me say hello to all and introduce myself real quick.
This is a new hobbie/lifestyle for me and I need as much help as possible. As for now I work in the law enforcement world and my hobbies now are custom building HARLEY'S and building my TOYOTA 4runner and tubbing hot rods working on a 70 split bumper 70 CAMARO and a 63 CHEVY II aka NOVA.
A couple pictures so you can get an idea of the things I am doing now
HERE IS MY 1998 HARLEY DRESSER
MY PRIDE AND JOY MY 1955 PANHEAD
MY 1990 TOYOTA 4RUNNER
THESE TIRES WILL FIT ON THIS CAR WHEN FINISHED TUBBING
THE 1970 SPLIT BUMPER CAMARO
So now that I have decided to take on the saltwater world I am clueless but willing to learn and do what is nessacery to build my tank to what I want but need a lot of info to get it right the first time and not waste my time and money and grow bored with it.
So here's where I am at
I just got a really nice 110 gallon tank for 50 bucks it has no overflows or anything else for saltwater built into to it so everything is going to have to be external. I was thinking of useing livesand , liverock , and fish to create the world underwater that I envision and not sure what that set up would be called. I see things like a FOWLER , REEF , and CORALREEF but not sure what the differents are. I have been looking at a REFUGUIM but not sure if I will need a canister or pump with it?? What size will I need to make it work correctily? Any suggestions on what I will need to make it work and keep everything alive and happy.
Anyway sorry to run on but please any help or suggestions wouild be great thanks in advance for your time and ideas.
My biggest suggestion would be to purchase decent equipment from the get-go. Are you going to put an MSD ignition on the Camaro, or will a Chinese made look alike work for you? This is the attitude to take with salt water equipment; it runs in a rather hostile medium and must be well made to work for years.
You will need to purchase an RO/DI water filter. At a minimum, it should have a pressure gauge, vertical DI resin canister and a Filmtec RO membrane which makes 75gpd at 98% rejection. It should have a high quality carbon filter, not granular activated carbon. In other words, stay away from ebay. Buckeye field supply, air water ice, filter guys, or Spectrapure are where you should shop for this. Water is the most important ingredient; 89 octane gas with some octane boost is not a substitute for C16 on race day.
The next piece of equipment you should invest in is a refractometer. Check the home page of RAG for one of the nicer ones. This allows you to properly check the salinity of the water you make; actually it uses refractive index, but lets not get too technical. Hydrometers have fallen out of favor over the years.
You will need lots of salt. Water changes are an important part of filtration for a successful reef tank. The usual rule of thumb is 10% every week. You can tailor this to your needs or the needs of your tank. High quality salt is much easier to work with than low quality stuff which is usually lacking in many elements in their proper portions.
Take your time, go slow, read some books, ask questions, ask more questions, and welcome to RAG.
__________________
I predict future happiness for Americans if they can prevent the government from wasting the labors of the people under the pretense of taking care of them. -Thomas Jefferson
Spend the $30 and drill the tank to accept an internal overflow! Otherwise you will be spending your time fixing your walls and floors instead of fixing your motorcycles and cars!
...So now that I have decided to take on the saltwater world I am clueless but willing to learn and do what is nessacery to build my tank to what I want ...
Welcome to RAG!
The most important item you need right now is information on salt water reef systems. I can not over emphasize this enough. Do not think that you can get all this from reading a few web pages on the net. While the net is great for something very specific, it does rather poorly at providing background information that is required for salt water systems.
What you want to do is to obtaining several good books on state of the are salt water reef systems. Two excellent ones to start with are The New Marine Aquarium by Michael S. Paletta and The Conscientious Marine Aquarist by Robert M. Fenner.
At this point you need good, solid, basic information. Read, study, and understand the material, and at that point you'll be able to ask intelligent questions and you will also have a reasonable chance of success.
Just about the worst think you can do is to run out and buy a lot of equipment, before you even know what you need. This approach almost always results is a tank of very dead fish, and a lot of money wasted.
Once you have the basics down, your next step will be to figure out want you want to keep. This will govern equipment selections to some extent.
Lastly, before you purchase anything, make sure you can afford the hobby. Like anything else, this hobby can get very expensive, very fast. Generally you will spend between $35 and $50 per gallon of water in the main display tank. This means that you will spend between $3500 and $5000 by the time you have that 110 gal tank set up.
Thank you all for your responses I will be building a stand for the tank this weekend so I can at least look like I have made some kind of progress.
I was wondering if it is possible to drill tempered glass I was told that it is not possible is this true??
Can I build a overflow or two into the tank or is it better to just go all external with everything??
I have a line on a 36 x 24 x 24 refugium with bio balls pump and hoses for $100 bucks that is two months old and the person never set up a tank so it is unused and built for according to him a 120-250 gallon tank would this be a good deal or money wasted ??
Thanks again guys I will try to keep updating so you can track my progress and help me avoid costly mistakes
I recommend that you do not attempt to build a stand until you figure out the filtration system you are going to use and where you are going to locate it. I know you want to get going on this project, but it's a mistake to start building things just yet. This is a weekend for reading. (See my previous post)
That is correct. Trying to drill tempered glass will shatter it.
Avoid the CPR overflows sold by many online vendors. They have many inherent design and manufacturing defects, and they are very prone to cause floods or otherwise fail.
A refugium usually doesn't usually have bioballs. What you are looking at is more likely a trickle filter. They are not generally considered a state of the art way of doing things. They do work but they have some limitations. Ask yourself why is it only $100 and why was it never used?
Depending upon exactly what it is, it could be a good deal. It could also be a complete waste of money.
One further thing about equipment. Always buy top quality equipment. It will last, and you will not have any problems with it. This doesn't mean you need to get the most expensive. There are often less expensive alternatives that are sill top quality.
I recommend that you do not attempt to build a stand until you figure out the filtration system you are going to use and where you are going to locate it. I know you want to get going on this project, but it's a mistake to start building things just yet. This is a weekend for reading. (See my previous post)
That is correct. Trying to drill tempered glass will shatter it.
Avoid the CPR overflows sold by many online vendors. They have many inherent design and manufacturing defects, and they are very prone to cause floods or otherwise fail.
A refugium usually doesn't usually have bioballs. What you are looking at is more likely a trickle filter. They are not generally considered a state of the art way of doing things. They do work but they have some limitations. Ask yourself why is it only $100 and why was it never used?
Depending upon exactly what it is, it could be a good deal. It could also be a complete waste of money.
One further thing about equipment. Always buy top quality equipment. It will last, and you will not have any problems with it. This doesn't mean you need to get the most expensive. There are often less expensive alternatives that are sill top quality.
Here is the info/ad from craigslist I talked to the guy and he told me he would let me have it for $100 is it worth it or wasting money?
This is a 2 month old acrylic sump (30 x 14 x14"),overflow box, bioballs and pump. $150
I can't seem to get the picture to copy and transfer but it really looks new
Bioballs are worthless in a reef system but they are ok for a fish only system. What kind of pump? There are very few pumps that are good quality and actually last a long time with out restart issues in power outages and so forth. So with that in mind, is the sump worth it?????
What kind of acrylic cast or extruded, what brand acrylic was it made of, how good are the seams and workmanship that built it. How thick is the acrylic. Does it have eurobracing. Will the skimmer chamber be big enough for the skimmer you want to use. Will the return and overflow of the sump chambers be big enough to get the micro bubbles from re-entering your tank. It may be a heck of a deal and then again it might not fit your purposes at all.
As you can see all your questions end up in a big circle, that is because you do not know what you want to keep, and you do not have the basic knowledge yet. Now if you can answer those questions about the sump, it might be a heck of a deal. However, as of right now or after we figure out if you should buy that sump, quit looking at equipment and spend $24 on one of the books Dave mentioned.
OK so after a lot of reading I have picked up or will on wensday a 30 gallon tank for making a refugium. Now I have a couple more questions
1. Should I use the skimmer post or pre refugium?
2. Do I need mud and sand or just sand in it?
3. Where should I place the ro/di set up I will be getting?
4. Should I use a pump in the refugium or just the skimmer?
Any advice would be great and again thanks so much for the help so far fellas.
Hope to be starting the set up sometime soon and atleast building the stand this weekend now that I have an idea on which way I will be going and the size of the refugium set up iI have in mind.
1. Pre-refugium for no specific reason other than you want the skimmer to have first crack at the water.
2. It's up to you.
3. I put mine in the laundry room. This allows me to use the waste water to wash clothes.
4. It depends on your setup and how you will configure everything.
__________________
I predict future happiness for Americans if they can prevent the government from wasting the labors of the people under the pretense of taking care of them. -Thomas Jefferson
Starting 110 gallon saltwater tank
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