A Warm Hello To Fellow Salties

[Mackey256]

I just wanted to take a moment to say hello to my fellow saltwater enthusiasts in the Rockford area. I just recently stumbled upon your website by doing a search online (actually a guy at a party mentioned that there was a Rockford Reef club and I started to search online) which in turn sent me to this forum. I have been posting in the past in the www.aquariumadvice.com saltwater forums and just thought I would say hello to everyone locally.

We (my girlfriend and I) recently were given a saltwater tank when a relative moved out of state and I have spent the last few weeks learning about salt water tanks at an incredible rate. In fact I did so much research I started to have dreams about saltwater aquariums. :rolleyes:

Unfortunately I have learned that most if not all of the equipment in the aquarium isn’t all that it is cracked up to be. The filtrations system we have is noisy and about useless and the power heads are in desperate need of being upgraded. On the plus side our water levels are right on and the fish are still happy and swimming after a little over a month in our care. :)

We plan on upgrading both the filtration system, the power heads, as well as adding a bit of base rock to our tank eventually. I was leaning toward getting two AquaC Remora Pro filters with the Mag Drive 3 power heads, however now that I know people locally I was wondering if it would be more cost efficient to build a sump instead. I initially looked into this but was confused and decided to just go with a hang on the back protein skimmer.

Just thought I would chime in and see what everyone thought about that.

Hope to talk to everyone soon.

Thanks in advance,
Brad

[BenjieC]

Welcome To RC!!!!! If your in search of knowledge this is the place to be! I believe it's the largest marine board in the US and maybe the world. I would definitely go with a sump. Increased water volume, place for the unsightly things that are in a tank(skimmer/heater/etc), place for additional live rock, you could put a larger skimmer than a hang on the back skimmer(1 large instead of 2 HOB's), and you could put a refugium down there as well.

Good Luck! Rember the rule of thumb in this hobby is "nothing good happens fast"

[auto_loader]

I agree that having a sump is the way to go a single large skimmer instead of running 2. For the cost of 2 skimmers you could a single better one. The needlewheel skimmers like GEO an ASM require a lot less power to run you might want to check in those. You can do some good reading on some of the threads on these fourms about skimmer recommendions.

Depending on how handy you are with DIY stuff you can make your own sump quite cheap. Try to go to the meetings this club has. Ive learned something new at every one.

[Mackey256]

Yes I have been hoping to get to a meeting but I unfortunately work every Sunday so I don't see it happening. I used to go to the local brew club meeting for beer brewing but I also work Wednesdays so I haven't been to a brew club meeting in about two years. That really is sad because I still pay money for that club.

Anyway I'm leaning toward a sump and have been doing tons and tons of research online. I figure that I can build one out of just about anything and that could work out nicely for the tank.

Do you guys have any tips on building a sump?

Have you guys built a sump?

Just a few more questions from the newb, thanks for the help.
Brad

[BenjieC]

IMO the AGA 40g breeder makes a perfect sump. That is if you can fit it under your stand. This site has some good designs for sumps: http://www.melevsreef.com/

[Mackey256]

That is a great website. I had stumbled upon that a few weeks back during my initial research on sumps. I have been checking back on that for the last few days while I try to figure out how I’m going to build my sump.

When I originally looked into building a sump I got hung up on the overflow box aspect of it and I just couldn’t wrap my head around that. Eventually I gave up the idea of a sump and decided to look into HOB skimmers. Now that I have researched both I think I would prefer a sump over a HOB skimmer so I started to look into sumps again.

Right now I’m trying to decide between which types of sump to make as well as which in-sump skimmer to pick up. I have found that this hobby is a ton of research. I think you said it best when he said "nothing good happens fast."

Thanks,
Brad

[RobTop]

You mention overflow boxes. If you go with an over flow box the CPR ones are the best. But drilling a hole in the tank for a overflow is even better. If you want to drill the holes let me know, I have plenty of hole saws for it.

[Mackey256]

Although drilling a hole would be the best option I don't want to have to break down the tank to do it so I think I'm going to build an overflow box. Who knows I might just end up buying one but I would like to try and build one first.

Thanks for the offer, it's nice to know where I can find help if I need it.

[Bryan89]

I have an Lifereef overflow that I am not using that you can have very cheap. All it needs is a J tube and a little cleaning. I will do the cleaning, you provide the J tube. :) PM me if you are interested, I will be around all week.

Bryan