Noob.. walk me through my first setup!

[hazyreefer]

Hey guys.. I'm new to the hobby. The only knowledge I have on SW is what I've been reading on here the past couple months. Taxes are on the way!!! So ill have the extra money laying around to get this started . I'm hoping you guys can help me along my way. I've got a 40b that I picked up from a rummage sale for $5.00.. and I also just purchased a 55gal from a friend. I originally wanted to go with the 40 because I liked how wide it was.. now that I found a complete 55gal with stand and all I figure I'm just going to go with that. I plan on going fowlr.. and after getting the hang of maintenance.. ill add a few easy to care for corals.. eventually working my way to the harder stuff. I would like to go sumpless just to keep things simple and a little lighter on the pockets (hopefully). With that being said I'm looking for input from you guys on equipment. I do plan on getting a RODI. Id like my sand bed to be around 3" as for what kind or brand IDK??? I understand I'm going to need a skimmer I was thinking the Reef Octo. bh1000 or bh2000 I don't mind paying the extra $30 for the bh2000 if you guys recommend it. What kind/brand test kit should I look for to get me through cycling? What am I gonna need further down the road after the cycle?

[hazyreefer]

What about water circulation.. how many gph should I look for?

[thegrun]

For a fish only tank I would shoot for about 20 times your DT in GPH split between two powerheads. API test kits for ammonia, nitrites and nitrates are fine to start off with. They are not the most accurate tests available but for starting a fish only tank during the cycle they are fine (and inexpensive).

[hazyreefer]

What if I plan on adding coral? Will it require more gph? If so.. it wouldnt hurt to start with a higher turn around would it?

[Kyle918]

Start with 20-40x the turnover rate for a reef tank with softies and lps coral. It would not hurt to start with a higher turnover rate. In fact, it will only help to keep your tank cleaner as less detritus will accumulate on the sand bed. I would advise you get a sump if at all possible. A sump will allow you to hide certain equipment below the stand, such as heaters, skimmer, reactors, etc. It will also give you extra water volume to work with. Water changes can be simplified if you think it through. If you will be manually doing water changes, it will be less work to lift buckets to sump level vs to the display tank level. The initial setup may be more involved but other than plumbing water to the sump then back to the display, it is relatively easy. Where will this tank be located? My thoughts with a sump would be that unless you can construct a bean animal overflow (totally silent), the water noise traveling to the sump may be annoying if you are like me.

I just ordered 90 lbs of tropic eden miniflakes. I've heard great things about it. I am going for a 2 - 2.5 inch sand bed only because I want to have a goby and pistol shrimp pair. They need deeper sand to burrow in. If it wasn't for that, I would go with half an inch purely for aesthetic reasons. The reason being is that sand traps detritus. This is especially true for larger grain sand. Even if stirred well by a CUC, clean up crew, it will probably still require regular vacuuming to remove poo from making its way down into the sand and decaying. The other alternative is going with a DSP, deep sand bed. But from what I've read, it needs to be in the ballpark of 6-8 inches to realistically be effective over time.

I haven't done much research on HOB skimmers so I can't really comment on what skimmer but Reef Octopus is highly recommend from what I've read and is what I plan to buy when the time is right.

I used the cheaper API salt water test kit. It test ammonia, nitrite, nitirate and pH. The first three are critical for cycling. Once the cycle is over, ammonia and nitrite should always, always be zero else something is the matter and needs immediate attention. Most people stop testing for those as time goes on. You could cheat sort-of-say like I do and use an ammonia badge that sticks to the inside of the glass

Also, will you be quarantining? I say will, but I do highly advise it as it is beneficial for numerous reasons. If anything, quarantining makes acclimating new fish super easy. I match my QT to the local fish store I am buy a fish from. Just ask, they can tell you the salinity in their various tanks. This way, with temp and salinity already matched, I can acclimate for 20 minutes then drop the fish into the QT for a few weeks. Over a few weeks, I slowly raise the salinity of the QT. This can be easily done if you do a water change on the display tank and use that water to do a water change on the QT. Over time, the parameters of the QT should match that of the DT, making the transfer between the two much easier on the fish. QT should be a minimum of 4 weeks. I do 9 for various reason.

You have a lot ahead of you, I would urge you to read, read then go back and read again. The stickies in this and the reef discussion forum are excellent and helped me a ton.

But to answer your question, after the cycle, focus on stability. Try to make sure ammonia and nitrite are zero at all times through new fish additions. Keep your nitrate and phosphate low which will lessen nuisance algae although you should expect a few algae outbreaks as the tank reaches 6 - 12 months. Practice good techniques, IE regular water changes, cleaning any filters or skimmers and pay attention to the tank as it matures. Stability is the key to long term success in the hobby.

Happy reefing!!