Mostly Live Rock questions for a newbie

[ChrisRD]

For a 55 gallon tank the Octopus NW-150 would be a good option for a budget in-sump skimmer.

 

[metalac]

For a 55 gallon tank the Octopus NW-150 would be a good option for a budget in-sump skimmer.

Yeah I saw this one somewhere while I was searching, and it seems farily decent. The price is very good.

Also since I won't have any corals for the first few months, what are the light requirements? I know that if I use corals I'd probably need 3W/gallon minimum, but what is it if I don't have corals?

 

[ChrisRD]

If you're not keeping any photosynthetic corals/inverts and you're not trying to keep any photosynthetic hitchhikers on your live rock alive, you can use whatever you want for lighting. The beneficial bacteria in/on the live rock do not require light.

Personally, even in fish-only systems I like to run a regular night/day lighting cycle (I usually go 12 hours on / 12 off). I generally use at least a couple of normal output fluorescent tubes - one daylight, one actinic - to show off their colors.

JMO...

 

[metalac]

So I found this place: www.tampabaysaltwater.com seems that they have top of the line live rock, but I'm wondering if it's worth paying extra for their rock? some other places sell rock for $3/lbs and this is $5/lbs, but I was thinking of getting one of the packages, like a 25 gallon package, and then add some more rock to it. What do you guys think?

 

[mr_X]

i wouldn't consider florida live rock "the best" by any means. my advice to you is "don't believe the hype"


if you can't go to a local store and hand pick your rock(which is what i would suggest) then, give it a shot. you can always cover the rock you don't like with rock aquired elsewhere.
i have heard someone's testimony on this forum that said they were happy with their purchase of florida rock, but i also hear that florida live rock is home for some nasty predatory hitch hikers like mantis shrimp.

also, alot of those pretty colorful sponges will die during shipping. they don't do too well when exposed to air, so, even if you whip a multicolored rock out of the shipping box, 3 weeks later it could be a plain old brown rock.
i have no experience with florida rock, but i have purchased pieces of live rock that were very colorful, and they didn't stay colorful for long.

alot of people seem to be happy with purchases or live rock from www.premiumaquatics.com

 

[metalac]

yeah I've been looking around for some live rock a lot lately, and my biggest problem is the shipping since it's definitely some major porking going on there, so I'm thinking of doing that airport to airport.

The reason why I don't want to get it from my LFS is because around here it's like $7.99/lbs, which is HUGE.

 

[Bojangles]

If I had to buy rock again I'd go with kaelini. That and marshall are my favorite. Heres a link

http://www.premiumaquatics.com/Merchant ... e=Liverock

 

[mr_X]

-again...just because it's very colorful in those pics, it doesn't necessarily mean that's what you are going to get, or even that if you do get that, that the stuff will live the shipping, and exposure to air/heat/cold...

try a mix. i have fiji and marshall island in my tank. it seems to work ok.

 

[ChrisRD]

I agree that most rock doesn't look all that impressive when your first receive it, but personally, I've never had a problem with it not coloring back up after a month or two (provided you have good water quality, flow, lighting and Ca/Alk levels are reasonable).

I've bought Fiji rock from www.premiumaquatics.com several times over the years and I've always been satisfied. Personally, I'm not a big fan of the Florida stuff and prefer Pacific rock like Fiji, Marshall, etc.

JMO

 

[metalac]

Well they use SouthWest for their shipping and the price of the shipping is a bit too high for me. I'm thinking of getting some rock from them for diversity (about 20lbs) and get rest of my rock from the guys at Aquatic Technology.

 

[metalac]

So now I'm getting ready to buy all this stuff. But I have one, hopefuly last, question. I'm trying to figure out where to put the skimmer in regards to the sump. I'd like to use the following sump setup:

http://www.reefs.org/library/mechanical ... ?b_start=0

So where do I put the protein skimmer in this case? Do i go from that black fitting named "bulkhead" and go to the input of the skimmer and then let the output of the skimmer go into the sump, or do I hook it up to the output of the sump that goes back into the tank? And can this work with only one pump or will the skimmer need one pump and I'll have to have another pump as shown in the diagram?

Thanks.

 

[mr_X]

you can put it wherever you want it, but i prefer feeding the skimmer from water directly from the tank. water comes from the tank, to the sump and hits the skimmer before anything else. i like it this way because the particles of unwanted matter in the water column get as little chance as possible to settle somewhere and cause trouble.

as far as pumps, it all depends what kind of skimmer you get. some need a feed pump, and some just rely on the needle wheel pump to draw the water(this is what i prefer).
the diagram shows a return pump though. you will need this. it's to send the water back to the tank. a skimmer won't do that for you.

 

[Bojangles]

Oh my 55g I'm going to use that same plumbing scheme except that I'm going to drill my skimmer in-line instead of in-sump.

I'm probably going to install a bulkhead into both sides of the tank so I can put the skimmer on the side water comes in from the tank and the return pump on the opposite side.

 

[Bojangles]

Hey if you're looking to buy the Octopus 150 you can go to this site, its alittle cheaper.

http://octopusskimmer.com/

Its also on the sponsors page if you need it.

 

[metalac]

Oh my 55g I'm going to use that same plumbing scheme except that I'm going to drill my skimmer in-line instead of in-sump.

I'm probably going to install a bulkhead into both sides of the tank so I can put the skimmer on the side water comes in from the tank and the return pump on the opposite side.

What kind of light do you play to use? I'm thinking of using the Nova Extreme T5s it's 4x54. I hope that this would be plenty for some nice coral growth.

 

[mr_X]

i think it would depend on the coral you choose. i don't think that's enough light for all corals.

 

[metalac]

i think it would depend on the coral you choose. i don't think that's enough light for all corals.

well my tank is only 15" deep. Does that help? And will it be enough for more than 50% of corals out there?

 

[mr_X]

15"? well that changes things. sure, that would be ok. i was picturing a standard 55

 

[metalac]

15"? well that changes things. sure, that would be ok. i was picturing a standard 55

I have a rather weird setup . I acctually kind of like it. It's 48x16x15. It's long enough so I get a pretty good viewing area, and it's also not too shallow like most of the ones they make these days with 12" depth and 18" height. Plus on mine I'll have couple of inches of sand so it will make it even easier for the light to go to the bottom.

I really like this Nova Extreme unit, since it has built-in lunar lights as well as a fan, and it doesn't take up the whole length of the aquarium, thus allowing fairly easy access for feeding and what not.