1st saltwater tank.
 

Hi everyone.
I'm new to this forum and to salt.I have had freshwater tanks for a long time and finally decided to do a FOWLR aquarium.
I have done a bit of research and have started to aquire equipment.
Some opinions would be great.
This is what I got so far.
-I bought a used 120 gal 48x24x24 starphire glass tank with corner overflow,stand and 70 gal sump and mag 18 return pump.
-Ordered a SWC extreme 200 skimmer
-Ordered 100 lbs eco rock
-have two 24" glo t5 h0 light fixtures,heater and tunze auto topoff for sump.
Questions.
I removed the baffles in the sump so I can custom it for the equipment I have and a refuge.Sump is 40" x 20"w x 18"t Ideas?
Can I downgrade from the mag 18 to a eheim 1262 ?
The drilled return and overflow holes are drilled pretty big.Will this be an issue.?
Tank will be in the living room and not sure how loud the mag 18 will be or if I need that much flow for a fowlr.
Want to do a sandbed and a glass top as a wrasse might be on my list.
Stumped on the sand.How deep and what kind?
Was thinking some type of caribsea brand.
Hints on cycling and adding live rock to seed would be great.
Still going over the fish list so will have more Q's if you folks don't mind.
Great site.
Thanks
Rob

Welcome to Canreef!:smile:

I'm not familiar with most of the equipment that you listed, but with the other things:
How large are the overflow holes that you mentioned?
You will probably be needing to be vacuuming your sand as part of maintenance, so appearance is what would be most important. There are different colours - white, pink, black. Caribsea select size would do. I wouldn't go too much bigger. 2" depth at the most.
Get at least one piece of live rock to go with your eco rock and let the sand and all the rock live in your fully set up and running system for around 4 weeks. The best indicator is your ammonia. Test your ammonia level every few days. Once your ammonia registers then goes down to zero,you can start adding other livestock slowly.
Let us know what your livestock wish list is.

Mitch

Agree about the live rock. The eco rock will not provide you any of the "goodies" that live rock has.

I am not sure on time length to seed, or whether or not one piece is enough.... but you should definitely add some live rock for sure.

Seems like you have a lot of bases covered already. As for a top.... avoid a glass cover. It traps heat and gases. Make a screen cover that is closed around all edges. You can get screen for screen doors or knitting screen form a place like Michaels (As recommended to me in another thread.

K, I'll go against the grain here. For a fowler tank, aragonite sand and dry rock is fine. No need for live rock but a little seed wont hurt. Treat as you would a fresh tank for cycling. either hardy fish or add amonia/fishfood/ect to start because there won't be enough die off of live rock to get it started. monitor parameters. the nitrates aren't as much of a concern with a fowler but do water changes when they (or ammonia, or nitrite ) creep up. eventually the nitrate eaters will establish on the rock and they will fall also.

Go for the glass top if you want. T5's don't put out much and the skimmer gives tons of gas exchange.

my 2 cents

theres a few points here i disagree with the first being the liverock.....you need liverock because the bacteria will eat up amonia as fast as it is produced via your bio-load(your tank inhabitants) your gonna need min 1lb/gallon in a folwr but the more the merrior. you can seed the dry rock you have but it will take a few months to seed fully which is ok if you keep your bio load low so that you can keep up with the amount of amonia that is produced.

t5's are great and many people rather them over halides they can be as strong as you need them to be and can grow any coral just the same as halides. its the maintanance and heating and cost you need to decide on.

dont use the glass top as pat mentioned yur gonna need to have some sort of sir exchange and this is especially so in larger aquariums.mesh works fine:)


nitrates and phosphates are very important in fowlr as they are food for algae and if its there then so will algae.its easiest to get your nitrates low in the beginning and keep them there via water changes and good maintance.use ro water and invest in some reactors.



some key points 1) lots of live rock the more the merrior
2) invest in a controller or at least a timer for your lights
3) invest in a reactor for carbon and one for phosphates
4)water changes once a week or at least every two and this is very important
5)set up a quarantine tank for new fish
6) ask here for every move and you cant go wrong were all here to help:)



cheers on the new tank im looking forward to some pics:):)

1st saltwater tank
 

Hi The tank came with the plumbing.
The intake pvc is 1 1/2" inside diameter and the return looks like 1"
The mag 18 pump that came with it is 1800gph and 145 watts.
The eheim is 910gph and 80 watts.
Would the eheim be enough for this tank with a good skimmer and a powerhead?
Thanks for the sand info.Might go with the pink caribsea.
Screen for the top is a great idea.I like the open top but hate fish on the floor.
Got advice to start with eco rock and add a reliable source of live rock to seed.Less chance to get unwanted stuff and a little cheaper. Not sure on how this changes the cycle time.
As for fish list this is a rough start.Let me know what you think?

1 or 2 percula clownfish
Royal Gramma
Blue Throat Trigger (might be too big but seen it done on a forum)
Flame Angel
Blue Spotted Puffer
Flame Hawkfish
Dragon Wrasse juvenile (know they change and get 1' but heard there ok in a non reef setup for a while).
Was thinking goby or lawnmower blenny but if I get the wrasse will there be issues.
Something else?
Thanks for the input

dragon wrasses are awesome fish but im guessing you kow they doint look the same as adults and they are also nick named rock movers for a reason lol mine could smash off chunks and then pull them over him in the night to sleep.:):)

trigger will probably get to big but would be fine for a bit if you got one as a juvie.

lawnmower blennys are better suited in established aquariums with algae:):)

Why bother with fish that are gonna get to big for you? Seems like a waste to me. What you need to do is take a little info from here and a little from there and go with what makes sense to you. There's a lot of views out there on what to do and what not to! It's all about the common sense in the end. Good luck and hope to see pictures soon.

if your worried about flow from the mag18 you can always install a ball avlve and choke it back slightly , if you come to edmonton i would exchange your 18 for a 12 im looking for a 18 for my new set up:):)

1st saltwater tank
 

Thanks for all the advice.
Planning on setting up a Q tank right away.
Whats the best size/setup for a cheap Q tank.
sponge or hob ect.
LFS has a Dragon Wrasse in their display reef.Been there a while.
Might be on my list for now(cool fish)
Got time to think it over.
Input on my plumbing would be great.