Questions on new tank

[Peter Peng]

Tank is almost done cycling. looking for some answers to questions that rised up.

- What should I change to my rockscape in preperation for coral placement? Looking to keep a mix of SPS , LPS and softies. Light is extremely intense in center powered by led's that are adjustable while the sides of the tank gets dual T5 coverage.

- Would a coralife 65g be enough for my system?

- How do I tune my skimmer?

- Should I leave diatoms alone or scrub them off?

Thanks


http://i.imgur.com/RajWkFO.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/PomZXRU.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/bDceYBB.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/StkPBKq.jpg

[Aquattro]

You're really limiting yourself on coral placement/exposure to light with that arrangement. I would lower the structures to give you room on top, spread it out a bit more OR get lighting that covers the full width of the tank.

Leave diatoms, they'll just go away on their own in time.

Skimmer will depend on model, that one, no idea.

[Myka]

Those skimmer are finicky - prone to overflowing. Since you have it as a hang-on it will make your floor wet. You should have made the baffles in your sump lower so that you could put the skimmer in the sump, so when it overflows it just goes back into the sump. I'd rather have the skimmer in the sump than have a refugium. I also would not have put sand in the refugium - since it not a DSB (not just as simple as just adding a bunch of sand) all it will function as is a great place to collect detritus and pollute your tank. IMO, I'd redesign the sump, get that skimmer in there - number one priority. The skimmer itself should be fine for that size tank.

What type of LEDs do you have? Four T5s is plenty of light for a 40-gallon breeder tank. I'd just skip the LEDs or turn only the blues on. Is the LED adjustable in color/strength?

I agree with Brad that you should probably lower your lights. If you want to put SPS in there they will go at the top, and in general they grow much faster than LPS corals, so they will grow out of the water in no time.

As far as the cycle goes, I'd strongly recommend you use the product called Prodibio Start Up. Just buy the one small pack (about $25-30) and follow the directions for the amount to use until you run out. For a tank starting with dry rock, it will really help with the good bacteria population.

[Dearth]

Diatom bloom-natural part of the cycle you will get those quite a bit in new tank setups no need to worry they will disappear on their own in time

That sump needs to be redesigned lower the baffles considerably get rid of the sand in the refugium as Mindy said it will cause nothing but troubles in your tank later on. Ideally your sump should be big enough that if you lose power or a return pump dies the sump will contain the excess water draining from your display

While I like your rock work you are really limiting yourself to what you can and cannot put for corals in your tank some minor redesigning of the rock work should make more of it available to put coral on

Other than that it looks good