Hi, my names Derek and I am about to start up my first reef tank. I am going to be starting with a 55 gallon and i have a few questions regarding a sump. What size sump should I have for the tank. Also what is a good brand of skimmer that isnt going to kill my fund because I am still in school and working part time. Also what kind of water pump is good for the sump. If there is a thread or a site with valuable information I can use, can you please direct me towards it. Thank you.
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Newbie Questions
- Thread starter DxSOR25
- Start date
welcome! glad you found this site.
the sump should be as big as you can afford/make it - but i'm assuming you are talking about under the tank/in the stand sump. If that is the case then you're limited to probably a 20 gallon sump or so.
In addition because of the space limitations - you could consider an aqua c ev 120. It's finicky but it did the job on my 55. However it might be a stretch for your budget. I dunno...different people have different "funds".
A standard mag drive pump would be useful to push water back.
the sump should be as big as you can afford/make it - but i'm assuming you are talking about under the tank/in the stand sump. If that is the case then you're limited to probably a 20 gallon sump or so.
In addition because of the space limitations - you could consider an aqua c ev 120. It's finicky but it did the job on my 55. However it might be a stretch for your budget. I dunno...different people have different "funds".
A standard mag drive pump would be useful to push water back.
I believe there is a sticky thread with different skimmers under equipment.
Building your own sump basically is getting a used 20G fishtank from someone some glass cut from homedepot and some silcone and you make your own...this is probably the cheapest way.
Small Mag 5 or 7 or a Quiet One pump.
One of the standard group buys we do is from www.premiumaquatics.com if you check it out you can go through various pumps for comparison and likely someone can chime in on them and the skimmers as a lot have been purchased there.
Is the 55G reef ready or are you going to drill it or go with a HOB(hang on back) overflow?
Generally speaking the Octopus skimmers are good value for the money. Don't just go for the cheapest skimmer in the catalog as you will likely be sorry, if you look at the thread about the most useless equipment we have bought I would guess 60% are skimmers. +1 for me on that.
Best thing you can start with is a decent book IMHO, and go from there.
Building your own sump basically is getting a used 20G fishtank from someone some glass cut from homedepot and some silcone and you make your own...this is probably the cheapest way.
Small Mag 5 or 7 or a Quiet One pump.
One of the standard group buys we do is from www.premiumaquatics.com if you check it out you can go through various pumps for comparison and likely someone can chime in on them and the skimmers as a lot have been purchased there.
Is the 55G reef ready or are you going to drill it or go with a HOB(hang on back) overflow?
Generally speaking the Octopus skimmers are good value for the money. Don't just go for the cheapest skimmer in the catalog as you will likely be sorry, if you look at the thread about the most useless equipment we have bought I would guess 60% are skimmers. +1 for me on that.
Best thing you can start with is a decent book IMHO, and go from there.
I have an Octopus 150 that I will sell in a couple of days. I just ordered a G3 and when that comes in I'll let go of the octo. Probably just let it go for 60.00 to you.
http://www.customaquatic.com/estore...ssionid=EE3FE3A39A4D470DF9159F45A5038F24.jvm1
http://www.customaquatic.com/estore...ssionid=EE3FE3A39A4D470DF9159F45A5038F24.jvm1
DxSOR25 said:
I live in Howell. My g3 should be in within the next couple of days
dangerbird said:
Thanks.. keep me updated on the skimmer! Another question. My friend was telling me for the initial filling of water, that it will be better to make my own salt water. He said i can get high quality salt with quality minerals or something for the same price as the crappy premixed salt water that i would buy in the LFS. I plan to purchase an RO maker. So my question is, what is a good brand of salt to make salt water for the tank?
If you don't have a book on reefkeeping now would be a great time. You can read a lot of the threads in this section it will be a good place to start. For a 55 G tank you are likely going to want to make your own water, but that comes with an issue of it's own. You will want to filter the water using a RO/DI filter, you want to make sure you don't have any algae food or harmful chemicals in your water before mixing the salt.
You can save some money by starting with a lower grade salt like Instant Oceans that is good but doesn't have all the calcium of a similar Reef Crystals......your first water is going to get changed out as you will want to do water changes. Strongly suggest getting a starter book on reefkeeping like the one by Brightwell.
You can save some money by starting with a lower grade salt like Instant Oceans that is good but doesn't have all the calcium of a similar Reef Crystals......your first water is going to get changed out as you will want to do water changes. Strongly suggest getting a starter book on reefkeeping like the one by Brightwell.
http://www.amazon.com/Marine-Aquari...=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1257612705&sr=8-1
i ordered this book already.. is it a good one? thanks for everything!
i ordered this book already.. is it a good one? thanks for everything!
that's a book that was originally written in 2000 ( you can figure that just by looking at the reviews). It may have been updated in 2007 with new pics/what not.
I like paletta's new world aquarium for new folks. More textbook reading would be the Reef Aquarium series by sprung/delbeek.
The AF mag is ok but the best mag subscription i've seen is called "Coral" though it is a bit pricier.
I like paletta's new world aquarium for new folks. More textbook reading would be the Reef Aquarium series by sprung/delbeek.
The AF mag is ok but the best mag subscription i've seen is called "Coral" though it is a bit pricier.