New to Marine Aquariums

Doth · #1 01/21/2006, 01:26 PM

Hello Everybody,

I live in San Jose, CA. I am new to the marine aquariums. I have had a few fresh water aquariums in the past and a pretty cool one running now.

I have purchased a 12G aquapod and have gotten it up and running (I know about the recall and have that worked out).

I am have read a ton of books and done as much research as time allows. Most of you have beautiful nano reefs. They are so awesome. My problem is that even though I have read so much, I don't understand much of what you all are talking about.

I look at all the mods and wonder what is necessary and what is not, and I get so confused. Most of the mods look like elaborate versions of what is included in the back of my tank. The sump tanks seem to be remote with some form of live rock or plant in them. Is all of this necessary or is it more for fun to enjoy the hobby? I am not sure I totally understand a protein skimmer, but it seems like the grate thing at the top of one of my rear chambers is one of them. Should I look into another one?

My goal is to have a colorful, healthy mini-reef. So far, I have set up the tank, in the back I have four chambers, I have one that is full of a huge synthetic sponge,. I filled the bottom of two of them with bio balls, then covered them with those white ring things (I forgot the name, but they are in a bag that is clearly permeable by water). I am not using the charcoal. In the fourth chamber is where the pump sits and is pretty much empty after that. I am planning on putting a heater in there to keep the temp constant (my house fluctauates greatly during the day). I mixed my water with Coralife Salt and have been checking the specific gravity and it keeps coming up in the safe bracket. I added 10 lbs of rock that came in a bag with water and had a shelflife of 12 months. I don't remember the brand name, but it looks a lot like what people here call live sand. I have a few fresh water test kits, but I am going to take the water to my LFS for testing.

I am hoping that today I can add some rock structures. I really like how many of you create an inverted "U". This seems to allow a lot of surface area for the corals and hiding places for the fish.

As for the stocking. I am really leaning towards corals, but all of the names seem so confusing. It seems the same thing is called by multiple names. I am going to do my best with some polyps and zoos to start. The only fish I plan on adding are maybe one or two clowns. I get confused by what fragging is, and when you search for it on websites or google, you don't really get specific information. I am assuming it is splitting invertibrates up in some manner. I am one of the goofy people that enjoy even the clean up crew, so I am open to suggestions for these. I think a turbo snail would be great. I have had snails in my other tanks and they are all named, "Slurpee".

I know this is a long post, but I figured it would be best to say it all at once rather than keep responding as the thread wore on. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated and if you know any answers to any of my questions, please reply.

Have a great weekend guys and girls,
D

Billy1234 · #2 01/21/2006, 02:58 PM

Let me start off by saying

To Reef Central

This is an article from Melev's reef. It explains pretty much everything you need to know about sumps.

And this is an article from WetWebMedia about skimmers. Covers the topic pretty thoroughly.

And, last but not least, here is a link that explains fragging briefly.

Hope that helps,

Billy

Doth · #3 01/21/2006, 10:55 PM

I thought I would post a pic of the first day that I added rocks. Let me know what you think of my design and if you have any suggestions.

Doth · #4 01/21/2006, 11:06 PM

Ok,

That wasn't very easy to post. How do all of you get such big and clear pictures with a 50K limit?

Hanauma-Reef · #5 01/22/2006, 09:11 AM

Doth I live in Gilroy and also have an aquapod 12...just get some good live rock. Where did you get your rock?? Watch out for Aptasia and other pests when you first start out. Alot of times the rock will have it on there. Aquatic Gallery in Milpitas is a great store for corals...and brians fish world is a great fish store. Both are very helpful. I would start getting some books on reef setup to start...If you want to do a reef pull out the sponge and all the bio filter media they give you with the tank....here's my aquapod when i first got it...I bought the skimmer also...where did you buy it????

Doth · #6 01/22/2006, 09:34 AM

Hanauma-Reef,

There are a few places in SJ, but I went to Aquatic Variations in Mountain View. There is a pretty smart young guy there that is very nice and takes his time with me when I ask all my dumb questions. He has also helped me a ton with my freshwater tanks.

Dolphin Pet Village is very near my house and they have a ton of Marine stuff. Have you ever been there? I haven't bought anything from Dolphin though. They actually run a website that is very similiar to this forum.

I have gotten a couple of books, the problem that I have noticed with books is they are almost all hopefully out of date by the time you read them.

Hanauma-Reef · #7 01/22/2006, 09:45 AM

well it depends on how much you get into it...I haven't been to aquatic variations...Aquatic gallery in milpitas is the most helpful I have seen and the owner is the guy that helps me...check out there website. I buy water from brians fish world for a 1$ a gallon....alot easier than mixing it. what kind of water are you using for your makeup water???

Doth · #8 01/22/2006, 09:51 AM

I have only had water in the tank for a week. I used Coralife salt to mix it, is that right?

Hanauma-Reef · #9 01/22/2006, 10:03 AM

Yes thats right, but what kind of water did you use to mix with it??I would not recommend using tap water due to the high number of dissolved solids in it. If you can get some sort of DI water or just buy premade saltwater from a store like brians fish world. If you use regular tap water you'll get alot of cyano bacteria in the tank. I'v bought corals from Dolphin..nice store. Tyler I think is the guys name that works the reef department there...very helpful.

Doth · #10 01/22/2006, 10:05 AM

I used regular old fashion tap water. Should I drain and start over?

Hanauma-Reef · #11 01/22/2006, 10:34 AM

did you condition the water at all??? Here's some new pics of my tank...u can see the 2 fish I have. A neon dottyback and a neon goby

kjoz · #12 01/22/2006, 10:56 AM

Welcome Doth,

I have been out of the hobby for 2 years and I feel the same way you do. There have been SO many changes in just that short time. I had a 75 gal reef tank set up for 10 years before I got out of the hobby. I started that tank with the help of Martin Moe's "The Marine Aquarium Reference" and "Tha Marine Aquarium Handbook". I have since added quite a few books to my library,but like someone said, in this hobby, by the time your finished reading it, it is out of date.

I didn't want to go back that big, so I started a 12 gal Aquapod on New Year's Eve. After reading on this forum, I have removed the sponge from the back of the filter chamber. I never put the bio balls in because at some point before, I had removed my bio balls from my sump and replaced that area with live sand, live rock and macro algae. Something I read about mud filters or something. I need to get some live rock rubble for one of the chambers. I do have the bag of ceramic rings and the bag of carbon in a chamber. I do have a question about the ceramic rings. Are these to be banished from the overflow chamber as well? I kind of thought they would serve the same purpose as the rock in that they are porous and would hold water. Ah, I think I get it. They are holding the water as well as the nasties and leaching this back into the tank??? Am I right? If so these rings are worse that the bio balls.

Hanauma-Reef · #13 01/22/2006, 11:00 AM

Correct....if you set up a reef tank all you want in there is live rock or microalgae. I occasionally run some carbon but only for a short time. Right now I have nothing in my chambers except my fission skimmer and a heater..

Hanauma-Reef · #14 01/22/2006, 11:07 AM

The best books you can get are by Julian Sprung..The reef aquarium volumes one through three...There expensive about 60-80 bucks each but well worth it. I can say I'm no expert, I've been keeping fish for only 2 years..but I've read alot and my tanks are pretty healthly at this point. I've made stupid mistakes too. I remember buying my first saltwater tank and adding biospira to try and cycle the tank. I bought a yellow tang, flame angel and 2 false perc clowns in my 29gallon. They all died within a week... At that point I was determined to do it right the second time. I bought my first book the new marine aquarium and followed it step by step..it worked and now my 29gallon is awesome...

kjoz · #15 01/22/2006, 11:08 AM

Great, thanks. I am doing a water change this afternoon, so I will remove the rings and the carbon at that time. I got a 9.31 lb live Fiji rock yesterday. I didn't think it was that big, but this will be the only piece of live rock I will need to put in there. I have left plenty of room for corals attached to rocks I want to add later. I got 4 turbo snails and 6 blue leg hermit crabs yesterday too. Off to a good start. Now in two weeks I can get some rock rubble for the back chamber an a fish. Thanks for the help.

kjoz · #16 01/22/2006, 11:19 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by Hanauma-Reef
The best books you can get are by Julian Sprung..The reef aquarium volumes one through three...

I do have Volume one. Autographed by Julian Sprung himself. I met him and Martin Moe at MACNA one year in Cincinnati, OH. Got my picture taken with Martin and his wife. He is the Marine hobby pioneer as far as I am concerned. Albert Thiel is another pioneer for the Berlin method of the marine/reef hobby. Sorry, I guess I just had a burst of old memories.

I do enjoy this hobby and am so excited to be back into it.

Doth · #17 01/22/2006, 12:05 PM

I did condition the water with Amquell (sp?).

If you take out the sponge, what kind of mechanical filter do you have to remove particals?

Hanauma-Reef · #18 01/22/2006, 09:30 PM

Nothing..just the skimmer...thats it. Mechanical filters tend to trap debris and leave it exposed to the water causing the nitrates and phosphates to increase. Just regular water changes every week are usually enough even without a skimmer on a nano...I use a turkey baster to get rid of detrius or algae on the sand.

NanoReefer53 · #19 01/22/2006, 10:50 PM

If you're ever in the Milpitas area, check out Aquatic Gallery. The staff there is very helpful and would gladly help you start up your aquarium step by step. Talk to Dr.Le of some of the staff. http://aquatic-gallery.com . They helped my friend almost step by step and didn't try to sell him stuff to make a quick buck. They made him wait for cycling and water testing before even selling him livestock so that's a true sign of passion for the hobby.